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BRITISH INSTITUTION. 



THE exhibition in Pall Mall this year presents many objects of high 

 interest and attraction, and is on the whole extremely satisfactory ; 

 but the Directors might have spared the expression of their regret 

 at being obliged to ' return several works of considerable merit" 

 a declaration which casts an imputation on their judgment or 

 impartiality for there are many detestable daubs, scarcely fit to 

 be hung up on sign-posts, and which occupy a considerable space 5 

 these ought unquestionably to have given place to the " works of 

 considerable merit," if the directors be impartial ; and if they thought 

 them good, and therefore give them room on the walls, Heaven help 

 their judgment! However, our present object is to criticise the 

 pictures (and there are many excellent ones), and so we will let the 

 directors alone. To begin then from the first, we have, 



No. 1. Zarah, by F. Grant. A work of considerable merit on a 

 very grand scale. The figure is much larger than life, the atti- 

 tude well 'chosen, and the costume picturesque. 



No. 3. Pilot Boat, running into St. Peter's, Guernsey. No. 19. 

 Rigging Hulk and Frigate, by E. W. Cooke. These little picture* 

 are exquisitely wrought, and with a fidelity almost unknown to 

 landscape painters of the present day, who for the most part sacri- 

 fice the view to the effect, to that degree that the spot they have 

 depicted is seldom recognizable even by those best acquainted 

 with it. 



Nos. 40, 41, and 42, all by the same hand, are equally true to 

 nature. We predict confidently that a very few years will see 

 Mr. Cooke at the head of his profession. 



No. 12. Scene on the Lynn, North Devon. J. B. Pyne. A very 

 clever picture. It struck us as a remarkable defect, that the moun- 

 tains were too blue or too near. Everyone knows that the hills 

 only acquire that atmospheric tint when seen from considerable dis- 

 tances, and in this case we think the colouring or the perspective or 

 both are at fault. The water falling down the rock is beautifully 

 clear and pellucid. 



No. 16. Windsor from the Thames, by the same artist, deserves 

 praise. 



No. 26. The Twin Sisters. A charming little picture by Mrs. 

 Carpenter of two very pretty children. This is one of the best 

 works we have seen of this very talented lady, whose abilities have 

 secured her a rank among artists alike honourable to herself, her 

 sex, and her country. 



No. 72. Piazelu at Venice, by J. Inskipp. A very clever, very 

 odd sketch, of a dark-eyed Italian Girl, with a few indications of 

 figures in the back ground. The style is peculiar, perhaps we 

 might call it eccentric; but the effect is very pleasing. 



No. 112. Greenwich Pensioners, J. Burnet. There is much 

 praise due to this picture, and it is also in some measure a matter 

 to be astonished at, that an artist who has devoted himself principally 



