453 

 FINE ARTS, &c. 



WE attended the private exhibition at Suffolk Street Gallery on 

 Saturday the 22d. Among an immense number of indifferent pic- 

 tures, some of very great merit may be found, but portraits still pre- 

 dominate. 



Our landscape school of painting appears to be in its greatest glory. 

 We have no Wilson's or Gainsborough's, but we have Turner's, Call- 

 cott's, and Fielding's, Stanfield's Roberts' and Linton's ; the rich mas- 

 synessof one side has descended to glittering splendour, a momentary 

 attraction in place of lasting beauties, we see the beauty of the mo- 

 derns at one glance the others time shows us, the more we look the 

 more we see. 



In Linton's picture of " Marius sitting among the ruins of Car- 

 thage" the power of our modern school is most visible, and this 

 is where its beauty lies. We meditate with Marius, and deplore the 

 fallen state of the great city ; its magnificence is seen at once. Had 

 Claude or Wilson treated it, we should have felt the situation of 

 Marius, but not the splendour of Carthage. 



Roberts' " Moorish Town at Seville " is a good architectural paint- 

 ing, well-drawn and well-treated ; it has attractions that other fac- 

 simile pictures cannot boast of. 



The " Head of Haidee" in Hurlston's large canvas is expressive ; 

 the other figures are but indifferent. 



There is an enchanting little landscape by Creswick ; the heat of 

 the room caused a wish that we might for an hour or two be laid on 

 the bank of that cooling water you have, friend Creswick, so well 

 limned. 



Like Sir Joshua, speaking of the Dutch painters, none are named 

 but to praise ; we will finish then by writing the name of Mrs. 

 Carpenter. 



The last meeting of the artists and amateurs at the Freemasons' 

 Tavern was badly attended, and indifferently lined with pictures ; 

 there is little pleasure in viewing barren spots, and gracing tame 

 meetings. 



The Graphic Society had good attendance and good pictures. Mr. 

 Wadmore exhibited a portfolio of original drawings, containing a 

 capital pen-and-ink sketch by Rembrandt, two beautiful sets of 

 human figures by Rubens, fleshy and natural. But the gem and 

 curiosity was a coloured sketch by John Burnet, our great engraver, 

 of the interior of a cathedral with monks and processions, on whom a 

 rich light was thrown from one of the windows ; and this was began 

 and finished in three hours without the aid of a pencil or friend to rub 

 up his colours. If ever we wished to possess a great painter's sketch, 

 it was this. Mr. Wood lent a three-quarter length of Miss Sheridan, 

 of comic celebrity; we would inquire of the painter whether the 

 dress was made for the lady or the lady for the dress ? The room 

 was well attended, and furnished with some interesting drawings. 



