The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1844-10-29 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

WALKS THROUGH THE EXHIBITION OF THE LIVERPOOL ACADEMY, 1844.  WALK TDB SECOND.  We commence our peregrinations this day wheiT last week we ended them, viz., at the Water Colour portion of tl.e Exhibition, which contains several pictures, besides those already noticed, of great merit. But first let us dispose of one of the pictures in oil, contained in the same room— No. 544. " Morbid Sympathy," by E. Prentis.. The subject here is happily chosen, as a hit at one of the most revolting follies of the day. The painting is divided into two scenes. In the first we see a ruffian just issuing from tha house in which he has been committing a deed of blrod. The features of the murderer, the midnight scene, with the dark lantern shedding its baleful light through the open door from which he steals, are powerfully painted. In the second scene we see the same tigu- e in the, cell of a prison, in which he is visited, as an object of the " morbid sympathy" of the present day, by two philanthropic ladies, and an elderly sentimental male tabby of the same species. The features of the hero of the dungeon, in the first scene expressing vulgar briitality combined with natural horror, are here screwed up into an ugly expression of self-satisfied vanity. The murderer has become a " lion " for a time, and is evidently making the most of his had eminence: The whole painting is one of the most cutting and wholesome satires, seriously conveyed, which we have lately seen. Nos. 492, 493, 501, and 5022—portraits perayons of Hopwood, Esq. of Hopwood, Lancashire, the Hon. Caryl Molyneux, Miss Hopwood of Knowsley, and Viscount Melyneux, by E. Warren,—are excellent specimens of the 'art.  - 507, " Durham from the New Bridge," and 498, " Durham," are very spirited drawings. The latter is very good. The old abbey, standing out in bold relief in the centre of the picture, is a noble object. 4J4, "The Pass of _Llanberis," by W. Collingwood, is a spirited picture. 473, " Work and Play," by Mrs. W. Hawkins, is a very pretty subject, well conceived, and executed with great skill and taste.  " Newhaven Pier," by apley Fielding, is a picture of great merit, by an artist who seldom fails to produce something worthy of praise. 396, " The Pedlar," by Miss Fairhurst, is a very pleasing painting. The boy, who is bartering his old shoe for some of the wares carried by the old crone, is quite a character ; and the girl, watching the result of her brother's bargain, is well painted. 380, " The Firstborn," by G. H. Harrison, is a romantic affair, well painted, but not very natural. The rustic felicity pourtrayed here is not met with in these hard, utilitarian times. Bowers of roses are seldom the lot of agricultural labourers, or even of small farmers, nowadays.  354, "Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogene," by W. S. P. Hende, son, a painting in three compartments, is the story of the old ballad excellently told. The ghostly figure of Alonzo, in the third scene, is ably and effectivelyconceived.  293, ‘:The Ferry Boat at Butterby, near Durham," by E. Hast ngs, is a pleasingly-drawn picture of a very fine landscape. The sky, however, is a little ton " beautifully blue" for our northern climate.—The same artist has two other paintings in the exhibition, 231 and 144 ; the latter of which, " The Gamekeeper's Lodge,' is infinitely the most talented. The older of the two figures in this picture is a very racy specimen of the fine Old English class of sportsmen to which he belongs ; and the whole subject is well treated. The dog, however, is a sad drawback upon the picture. It is neither a game dog nor any other breed with which we are acquainted. We understand that this is the first time that Mr. Hastings has contributed any paintings to the Liverpool Exhibition ; and we trust that he will be ind'ueed to favour us ,with further specimens of his pencil.  A