very characteristic of the hearty old baronet; but Sir Thomas has lengthened his neck considerably,-an uncomfortable operation when it takes place in real life. The head is vigorous, the other parts are slight-this is reversed, we believe, in the original. No. 107.-Portrait of a Young Lady in the Florentine Costume of 1500. H. Howard, RA.-When we see want of patronage compel a man of Mr. Howard's genius to descend to portrait painting, we blush for our country. But there appears to be no help for it. Remonstrance or Recommendation would be alike thrown away on those who have the means but want the mind to give encouragement to the highest department of art. The truth, we fear, is, that as a nation we have not the soul to admire historical pictures. Those which are bought up are purchased from some less pure motive than the love of the art: ostentation, or cupidity, or the love of that fame which belongs to the possessor of what is generally esteemed valuable, seem in general to be the main spring of that dubious zeal for the cause which is displayed in the high prices given for old pic tures. Quitting history, Mr. Howard has here presented us with a picture having all the merit of one of the highest class. Simple in the extreme, it is in admirable contrast with No. 99, as to style; and not inferior to it in any respect. It pleases, from possessing the very opposite qualities; resembling, both in expression and colour, the works of the earliest pain ters, and particularly of Leonardo da Vinci:-we have heard that it is a portrait of Miss Howard, the artist's daughter. No. 56.-Lord Acheson in the Dress worn by the Pages at the Coronation. T. Phillips, RA.-We have here a daring attempt of the artist to fill his canvass entirely with colour, but he has certainly not succeeded in producing the effect he intended. The prodigious quantity of red gives the picture a heavy appearance; and its extreme heat is not relieved, as it ought to be, by pearly tints or cool draperies. The head wants roundness, and the colour of the flesh is sacrificed to the dress and the back ground. The masses of drapery, however, are grand in design, and JUNE, 1824. had they been more broken it might have made an effective picture.No. 65, The Portrait of Her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland, by the same artist. From the lowness of its tone, the effect of this picture will not be fully understood till it is taken out of the exhibition; this, however, is not the fault of the picture, but of the room, the walls of which are so deep and distant from the windows, that all the pictures are thrown into half tint. Mr. Phillips's portraits generally suffer from this circumstance, because they are all too much toned down for the Exhibition: but it unfortunately happens in the case before us, that the disadvantage arising from this peculiarity is increased by the picture being placed in close contact with the President's portrait of the Duchess of Gloucester. We cannot say much in praise of No. 96, Portraits of the Three younger Daughters of C. Lyell, Esq. by the same artist; but his Portrait of a Gentleman, No. 204, is very finely coloured, and his best picture. No. 60.-Love taught by the Graces. W. Hilton, RA.-In these allegorical pictures, Mr. Hilton displays a fine poetic fancy, by means of which he contrives to insinuate some pleasing or useful truth into the mind, while he gratifies the eye with the rich and luxuriant colour in which such subjects allow him to indulge. The moral of his "Nature blowing Bubbles for her Children," who were pursuing them, in every way, with as much eagerness as "children of a larger growth," gave that picture a deep and almost melancholy interest, independent of its great merit as a picture. The present has similar power of mind in its conception. The embodying of a thought in this manner resembles the method used by Pythagoras, to convey his prudential maxims; viz. Eat not the Heart, abstain from Beans, &c. which had a literal sense interesting enough to those common minds which sought no farther knowledge, while the initiated were taught by them to shun unavailing regret, and to avoid popular elections. The figures in this picture are beautiful, graceful, and vigorously painted-the colour is deeper in tone than we remember to have observed in any former produc 2 U tion of this artist. And, except that one of the Graces is perhaps of too Asiatic a cast, we know not what to object to. This picture, which is certainly one of the most striking of the Exhibition, is purchased, we have heard, by Mr. Phillips, MP. No. 74-Portrait of the Bishop of Durham. By W. Owen, RA. This is an old picture-we remember it many years ago. The drapery and the sleeves have been newly put in, the necessity for which we are not surprised at, considering the length of time they have been in wear. Some of the clergy began to think the lawn was everlasting, and regarded the renewal, we thought, with woful faces. It is deeply to be regretted, that a man of Mr. Owen's great talents should be unable to practise his art. He was in great request, and high repute, and had just taken a large house, when the calamity befel him three or four years ago, which deprived him of the use of his hands, and reduced him to the necessity of lying constantly on his back, in which situation he contrives to amuse himself with drawing. The loss is a great one to the artist; but it is also severely felt by the Academy. No. 83.-Portrait of Sir Anthony Carlisle. M. A. Shee, RA.—This is Mr. Shee's best picture: it is an excellent likeness; the distribution of light and shade is very judicious; and there is very little of this artist's peculiar manner in the execution. No.84.-Portrait of Madame Riego. J. Hayes. This is truly the portrait of a widow, evidently of a noble mind, entirely abstracted from the world and dwelling intensely on the memory of her husband. Though merely a head, and the countenance not particularly beautiful, it forms a deeply pathetic picture, and would be useful as a study in the cabinet of any despotic prince. Mr. Hayes is an artist of considerable ability and much promise we have noticed his works for some time, and are glad to see him coming forward. He had a clever picture in the Exhibition last year; and this is still better. the more we look at it, the more we are surprised and pleased. It is wonderfully skilful in composition, singularly chaste in colour, and beautifully executed. We have heard it objected to the Duchess that she wants animation, and does not sufficiently enter into the mirth of the scene; but, in our opinion, there is a decorum in this which evinces great discernment and delicacy of mind in the painter. Her countenance is very beautiful, and though placid is full of enjoyment, but it is intellectual joy. Her sunny smile does not dwell on the mouth alone, but diffuses a light over all her features, and shows that kind of pleasure, which an intelligent mind feels when it is gratified, and which is well contrasted with the excessive risibility, which the same story excites in the uneducated negro girl, whose laughing mouth is indeed most admirably painted. Mr. Leslie has shown equal judgment also in his portraiture of Sancho, making him not so mirthful himself, as the cause of it in others. There is a sly hit at a part of poor Sancho's character in the half-picked bone sticking out of his pocket. We were much struck with the remarkable elegance of the female figures, particularly of the one who leans over Sancho:-but we must find some fault, and will therefore add, that the Duenna is perhaps a little too rigid. As a picture of familiar life, it is no inconsiderable praise to say, that it is far removed from all vulgarity; and that the artist has the rare merit of being highly humourous without bordering on caricature. No. 110.-Smugglers offering run Goods for Sale or Concealment. D. Wilkie, RA.-This great favourite of all who visit the Exhibition, has not much exerted himself this year. We have only this small picture, and another intitled The Cottage Toilette, neither of them prominent subjects. Mr. Wilkie has lately fallen into the imitation of Rembrandt,—he has deserted the freshness of nature to take up with depth of tone; but we prophesy that he will quit this style ere long, for he has certainly not yet accomplished all that he wishes to do. No. 113.-The Widow. W. Mulready, RA.-The artist has shewn very bad taste in the choice of the subject of this picture. A man of successful performances. The atmospheric tints are true, beautiful, highly wrought, and perfect in effect. The boats are elegantly group Mr. Mulready's acknowledged powers should be more careful how he employs them. There is great merit in the painting, but it cannot redeem the faults of caricature and a disgusted, but we think they want breadth: ing subject. the effect is, perhaps, too much scattered. Had they been all dark, and more in masses, it would have been better. No. 116.-King William the Third, Lord Coningsby, and the First Earl of Portland. A. Cooper, RA.-This picture is not placed in so conspicuous a situation as it deserves; indeed, we have remarked that all Mr. Cooper's pictures this year are unfavourably hung; they are so much below the eye, that they cannot be understood. Works of this class are entitled, we should think, to better treatment. 3 No. 126The Oriental Love Letter. H. W. Pickersgill, A.-A very pretty thought has been wrought up here into a most pleasing picture. It is beautifully arranged, but rather vapid in colour; so many pale reds and pale blues rendering it weak. Mr. Pickersgill is a rapidly improving artist, and this is one of his best pieces. No. 158.-Portrait of Lady Caroline Macdonald. J. Jackson, RA The friends of this lady, who is unfortunately dead since the portrait was sent to the Exhibition, endeavoured to get it withdrawn, but without success: as the portrait of a young and beautiful woman, it exhibits therefore a sad memorial of the uncertainty of life, and is the more affecting from being strongly in contrast with those feelings which it was intended to gratify. The pic ture is broad and of a good colour; but we are almost tired of Mr. Jack son's eternal hat and feathers. He has outvied the Chapeau de Paille. 1 No. 161-Amorett delivered by Britomart from the Spell of Busyrane. H. Fuseli, RA.-This old picture affords a very admirable specimen of Mr. Fuseli's extraordinary powers. It has less extravagance than is usual with him. The tone of colouring is particularly grand, and more historic than is usually seen in the Academy. No. 180.-A Boat passing a Lock. J. Constable, A.-The character of Mr. Constable's style is peculiarly English. This Landscape is very fresh, clear, and pure in colour, and deep in tone; and the distance is very clever; but it wants breadth. We lament to see that Mr. Constable has not reformed that spotty manner of laying on his colour, which makes it seem as if it had been dredg ed upon the canvass. No. 192.-A Modern Picture Gallery, by W. F. Witherington, is a very pleasing and amusing picture. It is filled with beautiful copies of many of the leading pictures of the English school, and is a perfect gallery in itself.-The yellow of the frames of the imaginary pictures is too violent, and the supposed real objects are too little distinguished from those in the pictures; but perhaps the desire to give greater distinctness to the copies has been the cause of this: they are very finely executed. No. 197.-Monsieur de Pourteaugnac, or the Patient in Spite of Himself. G. S. Newton. There is much merit in this piece, but it borders too closely on caricature: on the whole, it is not equal to this artist's former productions. No. 160.-Rochester, from the River below the Bridge. A. W. Callcott, RA.-Mr. Callcott painted this river scene for Mr. Phillips, the purchaser of Mr. Hilton's picture. We wish that some one would give Mr. Callcott a commission for a genuine land- No. 213.-Pandora, by W. Etty, scape: these river and sea pieces all is a very extraordinary picture, so much resemble each other. A remarkable for its fine execution landscape from his pencil, now that and colour,-some bits of which are Turner has relinquished the high exquisite, though the flesh is too ground on which he formerly stood, brown. Its fault is a want of comwould fill up a vacuum which is felt mon sense, the figures are doing in the present Exhibition, and would nothing; there is no purpose in them. redound, we are sure, to the very The cloud on which they rest is like great credit of the artist. The present white marble. The shadows are picture is one of Mr. Callcott's most hard and dense that fall upon it, and the finger of Pandora touching it, is turned back as if pressed upon a table.-After Mr. Etty's return from Italy, it was indiscreet in him to send out a picture so hastily got up ;-it may prejudice his interest. No. 251.-Stage Coach Travellers. -Mr. Rippingille has shown great discrimination of character in this picture, but the execution is inferior to the conception. It is deficient in mechanism, hard in manner, and opaque. He will do well to study the masters of the Dutch school. The story is admirably told. No. 285.-Lord Patrick Lindesay and Lord Wm. Ruthven compelling Mary Queen of Scots to sign her Abdication, by W. Allan, has been painted with great care, but is not effective. The colours are cold, and the heads are some of them transferred from other characters to which they seem more properly to belong, No. 288.-Persuasion, and No. 296. -The Morning Lecture, by T. Clater, are cleverly painted pictures, familiar and yet not gross. He is an improving young artist. No. 350.-Sunset at Sea after a Storm. F. Danby.-We remember indeed it would be difficult to forget, a very affecting picture by this artist, about three years ago, of a Girl tearing a Love Letter, and throwing the fragments into a dark stream: the subject before us is one, if possible, of still deeper pathos. Through the gloom which hangs over the ocean, a raft is seen, with some exhausted mariners faintly attempting to guide it with the oars; some of their companions are dying around them, and a shark is waiting for his prey. The setting sun is of a blood red, and glares upon the waters with a tremendously grand effect. There is evidently no hope. The conception of this scene displays astonishing imagination. We are not so well satisfied with the upper part of the picture, the sky is too stringy. Four of the principal places in the Great Room are occupied with very uninteresting common-place landscapes, by the two Messrs. Daniells. This we mention for the sake of condemning the principle wnich would appear to govern the conduct of the arranging committee. We cannot suppose that it proceeds from want of judgment. We need not detain our readers long with the architectural drawings and miniatures. Mr. Cockerell's Athens is interesting, as giving a good idea of an ancient city-and Mr. Gandy's (Jun.) cork model of a church is very clever.-Messrs. Ross, Robertson, Denning, Rochard, and Engleheart, Mrs. Green, Miss Anne Sharpe, and Miss Jones, excel, as usual, in miniatures. The Drawings of Family Groupes, by A. E. Chalons, are particularly good, and some of the Enamels also deserve praise. But the gem of the room is Mr. Wilkie's Sketch of Commodore Trunnion, which is admirably characteristic, and a drawing of great spirit. SCULPTURE. No. 983.-A Bacchante asleep, by R. W. Sievier, is a well designed figure.-No. 987, Pysche, by R. G. Freebairn, is good, but rather affected in attitude.-No. 995, Bust of Mr. Liston, by S. Joseph, is very like, and, we must add, not particularly handsome: it is Liston, divested of all his comicality.-No. 1005, Bust of J. G. Lambton, Esq. by W. Behnes, is a good portrait, and well executed.-No. 1007, Statue in Marble of the Infant Son of Thomas Hope, Esq. by the same artist, is meagre in form. The Model Academy is rich this year in grand subjects.-1006, The Statue of the late Dr. Cyril Jackson, is very dignified, and a most majestic figure. This is Mr. Chantrey's chief work, but it is placed in a wretched situation. What a disgrace it is to the Academy that this branch of the art, in other respects so highly patronized, is not provided with a better room for its exhibition! One of the finest heads that Chantrey ever produced is here lost for want of proper light and shade. 1010. Statue of the late James Watt, by the same artist, though essentially different from the former, being represented in ordinary costume, and having no masses of drapery to give it dignity, possesses a high degree of merit. The figure is very simple and interesting, and the head is deeply marked with a fine thoughtful character.-1008. Statue of the late Countess of Liverpool, by the same, is perhaps not equal to the preceding; but it displays, nevertheless, the usual ability of the artist. 1009. A Nymph, Statue in Marble, by R. Westmacott, RA.,-though an ideal figure, is deficient in grace, and true simplicity: it is beautifully finished.-1019. Bust in Marble of H. Fuseli, Esq. KRA. by E. H. Baily, RA. as a likeness is singularly characteristic, but we regret that Mr. Baily has nothing in the Exhibition of a higher class.-1028, The Pastoral Apollo, a Marble Statue, by J. Flaxman, RA. is beautifully conceived, but imperfect in outline. This statue we believe is unfinished.-1032. Adam consoling Eve, by J. Sconlar, is clever in composition, but the forms are not good. THE DRAMA. COVENT GARDEN THEATRE. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth. WE very well remember seeing (for the memories of critics are longer than the Swiss giantess) the name of John Kemble underlined in the bills of Covent Garden Theatre, for the part of Falstaff: this memorable promise was given a short time previous to the great tragedian's retire ment from the stage, and much curiosity was excited on the occasion. But whether from a self-misgiving, or from the judicious persuasion of friends, John Kemble and John Falstaff never swelled together under the same waistcoat. It was well that he never played the part: complete success in such a character would have injured him as a tragedian, and partial success or failure would have clouded the lustre of his setting sun! Mr. Charles Kemble, the brother (and a brother worthy of the name) of the gone Coriolanus, has had the same Falstaff fever, and, indeed, with greater virulence, for in the latter it has come to its height, and the lamps have seen him in his white hairs. His performance of Falstaff will not, in our opinion, add much to his popularity-" quite the reverse."-In the first place, an audience goes not to see Falstaff but Charles Kemble; and then he is surrounded by a host of his friendsFalconbridge-Edgar-Charles Surface Don Felix Macduff, and Romeo; and, let Falstaff strive as he will, the cluster will not be put aside or forgotten. Mr. Kemble has a fine conception of the part, but he is unable to fill up his own outline. He walks under his huge legs" (the Irish must please to look on this tenderly) with forced difficulty and vigorous imbecility. You see that he is not really helpless. His voice, too, maintains not its disguise of hoarseness throughout the play,but lean sounds mingle with the fat ones, and Falstaff therefore speaks but at intervals. On the whole we could wish that Mr. C. Kemble had left the Knight of the Buck-basket to other men. fat enough. His humour is not The play has been got up at a vast expense, and with great labour and care-as the bills very profusely inform us. Medals, tombstones, and illuminated MSS. have been rausacked for absolute helmets and caps, and indisputable breeches. Those who wish to see the real men of the time, as far as looks go, should not omit this exhibition. It is a far better picture than any at Sir Thomas Lawrence's theatre. Cooper makes a melancholy Prince Hal! DRURY-LANE THEATRE. This house has been putting Munden to the concern as a wheel horse; and as it is the last season of his appearing in harness, the red and flaming appeals in the play-bills, with his own inimitable acting, have had their due effect. The last day of this month is the last of Munden's professional existence,-unless he is flattered into "more last words of Mr. Baxter." We shall see him, and speak of him as he has been when next we write. The Spirit of the Star still hovers over deserted benches. Kean has been ill-used, and Braham abused, by the Manager, if report whisper correctly. Mr. Elliston really should not speak so to his company. |