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FINE ARTS, &c. 



BY the appearance of this our number for May, the rooms of the 

 Royal Academy will have been made public. The series of portraits, 

 the mass of landscapes, and the poverty of historical pieces, will have 

 attracted the serpent eyes of the critics ; our newspaper pages will be 

 crammedjwith lengthened notices, our artists will be quarrelling, and 

 the whole, and not little world of the Fine Arts, will be in arms 

 cursing the ranging committee,, and the ill-will of various members.* 



We hear much of Wilkie's pieces, a full length of the Duke of 

 Wellington an unrivalled picture, entitled " Not at Home" a Spa- 

 nish Lady on a settee, with her child fondling round her neck a full 

 length of the Queen, and a portrait of the late Sir John Leslie. 

 Allen's powers will be shown as on the increase, and, by-the-by, may 

 we ask the Academicians why Mr. A. is not an "Esquire?" The 

 members will understand what we mean ! 



Leslie, the painter, is on his return from America ; the land of the 

 Jonathans, and his native land have not realized one-half of his ex- 

 pectations. 



Mr. Murray has published two or three numbers of his " Landscape 

 Illustrations to the Bible," from drawings by Turner, Callcott, Stan- 

 field, and Roberts ; and engraved by the Findens. Though since 

 the days of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the judges, the scenes 

 must have materially changed, yet one still feels an inward glow at 

 beholding localities so hallowed to us all. The views are well handled 

 and cleverly engraved. 



Mr. Westall, the Academician, and John Martin, have tried their 

 hands in embodying the actions of our forefathers, and imagining 

 chaos and the flood. To many these designs will be more welcome 

 than Mr. Murray's, or rather Mr. Finden's, Illustrations ; numerous 

 old ladies love to see the deeds of Scripture placed before their eyes, 

 with the painter's and engraver's magic skill; and Messrs. Bull and 

 Churton have allowed them to do so cheaply for here are eight 

 engravings for one shilling ! not forgetting some clear descriptive 

 writing by Mr. Gaunter, whose pen we recognize from our acquaint- 

 ance with the " Oriental Annual." 



Mr. Alfred Martin, eldest son of the great painter of that name, 

 bids fair to tread successfully in the path of mezzitinto engraving ; 

 we only trust (and our wish is not wicked) that young Mr. M. will 

 not tread on the feet of his father. His Queen Esther is lucidly 

 touched, and everywhere very skilfully finished. It forms a nice 

 companion plate to his father's famous series of Bible Illustrations, 

 which have been for some time in the course of publication. 

 . Nqs. 7 and 8 of Mr. Major's Cabinet Gallery deserve the attention 

 we paid to some former parts. We find no reason to diminish our 

 praise ; the engravings are wonderfully executed, and the letter press, 

 for criticism and general knowledge, altogether unequalled. 



* In our next we ourselves will have a word to say upon the Academy, and 

 the Academy exhibitors. 



