1831.] 



Fine Arts' Publications. 



341 



point and pun. The face of the ex-king 

 presents a fair subject, and is made the 

 most of, in many ingenious shapes. 

 They have, of course, been popular 

 enough in Paris; and, next to Paris, 

 they ought to be most popular in Lon- 

 don. The interest of them is not likely 

 to die away. 



We must not forget to notice three 

 portraits of the female nobility, that are 

 lying before us, forming three graces 

 as fascinating as any that fiction ever 

 gave birth to, and certainly not less 

 fascinating for being likenesses of living 

 beauties. These prints form the embel- 

 lishments of the three numbers of La 

 Belle Assemblie^ that have appeared this 

 year ; and are well entitled to be admit- 

 ted into the Portrait Gallery of illus- 

 trious females that distinguishes that 

 work. The first is the Princess Ester- 

 hazy, by Dean, a very sweet engraving, 

 exhibiting a style of beauty not to be 

 resisted a mixture of voluptuousness 

 and sentiment. The next is a portrait 

 of Lady Durham, daughter of Earl 

 Grey ; it is touched with all the charm 

 of Lawrence's pencil, and is doubly in- 

 teresting for its resemblance, in charac- 

 ter and general expression, to the pre- 

 mier. The third, embellishing the 

 number for March, is a portrait of the 

 Dowager Countess of Errol; this is 

 engraved by Dean, and forms an attrac- 

 tive picture the black veil thrown 

 gracefully over the head and shoulders, 

 and the open volume, adding an air of 

 pensiveness to the general interest of 

 the features, and giving sentiment to 

 the rich expression of the eyes. 



BRITISH INSTITUTION". 



A few bright mornings at this season 

 of the year are invaluable for many 

 reasons ; and for none more than for the 

 opportunities which they present to the 

 lover of art, and to the admirer of beau- 

 ties of all kinds, for visiting the British 

 Institution. Beauties he will here 

 meet, and colours that burst upon the 

 eye with the brilliancy of an artificial 

 summer, and look like a satire upon the 

 climate. He will also find, what indeed 

 he has but too much reason to expect, 

 a sufficient number of anti-beautiful 

 objects to relieve him from all danger of 

 being cloyed by a feast of sweets, and 

 to make him seize upon what is really 

 delightful with a double relish. We 

 shall begin with the first, which is cer- 

 tainly not the fairest, in the collection. 

 It grieves us to differ with such a per- 

 sonage as the President of any Royal 

 Academy in existence ; but we must 

 confess that Sir Martin Archer Shee's 

 Lavinia is a very different being from 

 our beau ideal of Thomson's " lovely, 

 young Lavinia." 



Next follows an admirable group of 



terriers and other doge, who are pre- 

 vented from " supping their parritch 

 o'er hot," by the warning finger of a 

 Scotch boy, who seems to take pride in 

 presiding at such a mess. A glance at 

 the fidelity to nature, and the clearness 

 of colour and tone, was sufficient to make 

 us regard the name of Edwin Landseer 

 in the catalogue as superfluous. We 

 have to congratulate him on his lately 

 and justly attained honours. We wish 

 he had not sent 25. It is evidently a 

 hurried production, and quite foreign 

 to his usual choice of subject. Nothing 

 can be more felicitous than his Two 

 Dogs, 248. Whitechapel never pro- 

 duced a more finished specimen of its 

 " low life" than the ugly, vulgar-looking 

 animal, who sits in 'the back kitchen, 

 surrounded by the evidences of his mas- 

 ter's habits: the pipe, the porter-pot, 

 shabby hat, and greasy top-boots, are 

 all in admirable keeping. The contrast 

 is delightful. The gentle face and ele- 

 gant form of the other, harmonize well 

 with the rug on which he is reposing, in 

 the chamber of a baronial castle. They 

 are both clever dogs, and tell their 

 stories well. The Highland Cradle, 

 283, and Highland Game, 289, by the 

 same hand, are pictures not to be hastily 

 passed. 



Roberts has given a finely painted 

 interior, 12. 



Collins's Nutting Party, 29, is spark- 

 ling and natural, but the boy on the 

 left hand has the face of an old man. 



Copley Fielding's 30, and 478, are 

 spirited and masterly sketches. 



Mr. Boxall has a very beautiful female 

 head, illustrative of a no less beautiful 

 line of Shakspeare, misquoted in the 

 catalogue, " A quest of thoughts, all 

 tenants of the heart." The feeling 

 and sentiment of this picture are de- 

 lightful ; and the whole arrangement of 

 it exquisitely tasteful. 



Mr. J. Wood's Affectionate Sisters, 

 charms both the eye and the heart. It 

 is a very lovely composition. There are 

 two other pictures by the same artist, 

 equally creditable to his taste and feel- 

 ing. One of these, " The Orphans," 

 was engraved for one of the annuals. 



Stump's 73, is well painted, but badly 

 named, if he means it for the Sir Edward 

 Mortimer of Colman the Falkland of 

 Godwin. 



It was considerate of Mr. Liverseege 

 to print in large letters, beneath 80, 

 " Captain Mackheath," for who could 

 have guessed that a man with musta- 

 chios, and lip a la Henri Quatre, in a 

 pair of most exemplary life-guard boots, 

 could be mistaken for Gay's hero. Be- 

 sides, even in Newgate, Macheath was 

 too much of a gentleman to drink his 

 wine out of an ale-glass. Had the fet- 

 ters been omitted, and the picture 



