118 



Fine Arts' Exhibitions. 



[JULY, 



gree hypocritical expression. It is an ex- 

 traordinary picture. 'I'hc Pope, on the other 

 hand, sinks feebly into his stately chair; 

 and, with all the attributes of decay stamped 

 upon his brow, seems to maintain the ur- 

 banity of his nature and smiles on you to 

 the last. What could any one but Lawrence 

 have done with such a man as this and yet 

 what a picture has he produced ! 



Opposite to these stands Charles of France, 

 with his cocked-hat on his arm, smiling and 

 chattering like a lacquey in a farce. This is 

 forcibly contrasted with the deep, rich, quiet 

 beauty of its immediate companion, the por- 

 trait of the Emperor of Austria, one of the 

 very finest of the imperial group that of 

 Alexander being the worst, unworthy alike 

 of the artist and the autocrat. 



The other rooms are adorned with many 

 old portraits. The finest of these are the 

 portraits of Lady A gar Ellis and her son, 

 Miss Croker, the Marchioness of London- 

 derry, the Duchess of Richmond, Lord 

 Liverpool, Master Lambton, and " the 

 greatest is behind" Lady Gower; which is 

 beyond all comparison the highest achieve- 

 ment of Lawrence in female portraiture. He 

 has in this picture gone far beyond the mere 

 display of vulgar and uninspired beauty, 

 and has realized the poetry of domestic life. 

 In Canning's portrait, with the arm extended 

 as if in the energy of eloquent denunciation, 

 Lawrence has attempted a very peculiar 

 illustration of character ; but, through well 

 drawn, it is not a pleasing picture. In the 

 first place, a figure in action requires the 

 presence of other figures to account for its 

 position; and in the next, the expression 

 and the attitude are utterly at variance the 

 one being all energy, the other all repose and 

 placidity. 



Of the large picture of Satan, the only 

 great effort of Lawrence in historic design, 

 we do not think very highly. The exquisite 

 taste with which the artist so skilfully 

 handled the materials found in the palace 

 and the drawing-room, was utterly useless 

 when required to exert itself in the wild 

 region of poetry, and grapple with the colos- 

 sal forms of Milton's imagination. Law- 

 rence could only seek for assistance in the 

 plaster-rooms at the academy ; beyond these, 

 except in dimensions, his poetic fervour has 

 not carried him far. It may, however, be 

 regarded as a glorious promise, an omen of 

 might for it is comparatively an early work. 

 It is well for certain ladies, whatever it may 

 be for the world, that the great portrait- 

 painter was not encouraged to proceed in 

 poetical design. Instead of giving, in Pope's 

 phrase, " dross to duchesses," he has clothed 

 them in living gold, and- covered them with 

 immortality. 



EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF PAIN- 

 TERS IN WATER COLOUR. 



We take censure to ourselves for omitting 

 to notice this exhibition until it is just on the 

 point of being closed ; and the more so, be- 



cause we invariably see it with more un- 

 mixed pleasure and a purer sense of satisfac- 

 tion than any other. One cause of this, per- 

 haps, is, that it is so entirely and essentially 

 English in its character that it is some- 

 thing peculiar to itself, and has no parallel ; 

 and unquestionably another cause is to be 

 traced to the fact that, in this collection, 

 there are no bad pictures no miserable 

 make-weights. If there 'is not an equal de- 

 gree of excellence in all, there is something 

 in every picture which the eye of taste will 

 discern as worthy of admiration and encou- 

 ragement. 



We can r.ow afford but a very hasty view 

 of them. Prout has first caught our eye. 

 His contributions this year are not so nume- 

 rous, but they are quite as excellent as upon 

 former occasions. One picture of his the 

 Ducal Palace at Venice is a most rich and 

 lovely composition. It would require a vo- 

 lume to do justice to Copley Fielding, whose 

 pictures would alone form an exhibition of 

 no mean attraction ; we cannot even enume- 

 rate a tenth part of them perhaps we prefer 

 (for it is very difficult to choose) No. 64, a 

 Gale coming on at S^a and No. 38, Nau- 

 sica and her attendants the one for its wild, 

 natural effect, and its beautiful back-ground 

 and the other for the classical spirit and 

 grandeur that pervade it. The Misses 

 Sharpe have several very exquisite pictures. 

 In Miss E. Sharpe's 73, the children two 

 repeating their prayers and one on the lap of 

 its mother are painted with extreme feeling 

 and delicacy ; while in the scene from the 

 Vicar of Wakefield, by Miss L. Sharpe, we 

 were charmed with the free, fresh and grace- 

 ful beauty that is thrown over our favourites. 

 We like the colouring, the composition, and 

 some of the characters those of the " ladies 

 from town" especially. Barret again has 

 several pictures, all of them faithful yet poe- 

 tical transcripts of nature. His twilights are 

 the very creations of truth yet they realize 

 the loveliest dreams of fiction. Dewint has 

 also some fine performances finer perhaps 

 than usual ; the Views of Lincoln awaken a 

 recollection of the old fable of the devil look- 

 ing over that celebrated city : we can ad- 

 mire his taste, and we wish he could see Mr. 

 Dewint's landscapes. Robson, Hunt, Hard- 

 ing, and Varley, have each their share of 

 beauties ; more indeed than we can particu- 

 larize. Cattermole also stands conspicuous 

 for his gloomy, but in some respects grand 

 and powerful sketches ; his scene from the 

 Merchant of Venice is an extravagant but a 

 clever composition. We were much pleased 

 likewise with some graceful and spirited pic- 

 tures by Stephanoff. The collection al- 

 together this year is calculated to advance 

 the taste for this branch of art, and is wor- 

 thy of its predecessors. 



WORKS OF ART. 



A Cameo enamel of George IV. has made 

 its appearance, under the immediate patron- 

 age of their Royal Highnesses the Duchess 



