472 



Fine Arts' Exhibitions. 



Q APRIL j 



two or three clever and agreeable pieces, by 

 J.Wilson ; some very excellent architectural 

 scenes, by Roberts ; and a scene, which is 

 much better executed than conceived, by 

 W. Kidd, from the novel of Rob Roy (450). 

 The extremely clever pieces, by Inskipp, in 

 these two rooms, we have noticed above. 

 ', Our limits compel us to take an abrupt 

 leave of this exhibition, with an expression 

 of regret, that it has called forth so little 

 praise at our hands, and that it deserves so 

 much more censure than we have either the 

 space or the inclination to bestow upon it. 



Mr. Haydoii's Eucles and Punch. 

 These two new productions of Mr. Haydon, 

 display great, various, and most valuable 

 powers 4 and if they include faults which 

 are nearly as conspicuous and manifold as 

 their beauties, they are at least not faults of 

 omission or of ignorance, but of a mistaken 

 or a perverse notion of the claims and capa- 

 bilities of art. In Seeking to accomplish 

 more than his subjects, respectively, were 

 susceptible of, Mr. Haydon has, in some 

 degree, missed the general effect aimed at ; 

 and in over-informing his individual figures 

 and expressions, he has injured their truth, 

 at least, if not their individuality. In the 

 Punch, the funeral and the wedding are 

 superfluities, at best ; perhaps they deserve 

 to be ranked as injudicious and injurious 

 obtrusions ; the latter of them, however, 

 we can well forgive, on account of the two 

 admirable expressions to which it has given 

 rise, in the coachman and the black footman. 

 They are pieces of conception and execution 

 that would have excited marked attention, 

 if they had occurred (as they almost might) 

 in some of Hogarth's best works. The 

 figure that best pleases us in the Punch, is 

 that of the admiring countryman ; and the 

 only two which do not please us at all, are 

 ". the young men of fashion." 



In the Eucles there is great power of exe- 

 cution displayed : perhaps in the instance of 

 the figure whose back is to the spectator, 

 more than has before been exhibited by any 

 living artist, Mr. Haydon himself included. 

 There are few things in Rubens superior to 

 this figure. The colouring, too, is excel- 

 lent, and the composition is at once elabo- 

 rate, simple, and complete. 



These two works will undoubtedly raise 



the reputation, and, we hope, the fortunes, 

 of this distinguished artist ; but they still 

 leave us much to hope from his future exer- 

 tions. 



Howard's Outline Illustrations of Shak- 

 speare. The sixteenth and seventeenth 

 numbers of this excellent and most interest- 

 ing work are, in most respects, answerable 

 to those which have preceded them. No. 1 6 

 includes Othello and Titus Andronicus. 

 The first of these dramas affords full s cope 

 to that simplicity of composition which is 

 so well adapted to the outline mode of de- 

 lineation ; and in all the plates of Othello, 

 the two chief characters (the Moor and 

 lago) are admirably characterized and dis- 

 tinguished. The address of Othello to the 

 assembled senators, is full of a grand sim- 

 plicity ; in the first insinuations, of lago 

 (plate 4), the whole design, expression, 

 and composition is capital ; and the death- 

 scene of Desdemona is beautifully impres- 

 sive and pathetic, even in its incipient pre- 

 paration. The scenes from Titus Andro- 

 nicus are infinitely more crowded and com- 

 plicated, so much so, as to sometimes need 

 the effect of light and shade. 

 . No. 17 includes Romeo and Juliet, and 

 Timon of Athens. In the illustrations of 

 the first-named of these plays, we must con- 

 fess ourselves disappointed probably on 

 account of the exaggerated associations 

 which most of us are happy enough to have 

 connected with this divine composition, 

 from reading and learning to appreciate it, 

 in early life. Putting all stage recollections 

 out of question, neither the Juliet, nor the 

 Romeo, nor any one of their looks, move- 

 ments, and expressions, are exactly answer- 

 able to our ideal of the star-crossed lovers. 

 The scene of the balcony, however, where 

 the couple are taking leave, after Romeo's ba- 

 nishment, is full of passion and poetry ; the 

 scene in the tomb, where he is gazing on 

 her supposed corpse, is intent and striking ; 

 and the two next, the concluding ones, are 

 designed with equal skill and originality. 

 The Timon is treated with unusual brevity, 

 and on account of the absence of female cha- 

 racters, it affords inadequate scope to the 

 artist's skill. Much, however, is effected, 

 and all with unusual originality of feeling 

 and conception. 







A *ss "ft 



