1830.] 



Fine Arts' Exhibitions. 



719 



SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY has not dis- 

 appointed us, for we have long since ceased 

 to expect. We can assure him, however, 

 that his reputation will not be injured by his 

 present pictures, for they are at least as bad 

 as the worst of his former productions. They 

 exhibit the same amount of despicable draw- 

 ing and still more despicable colouring. The 

 Duke of Somerset, who figures in a fine 

 frame, No. 47, is a very ill-used nobleman ; 

 and as for the " gentleman" whose picture 

 is numbered 302, he would be justified in 

 challenging Sir William, or at least in com- 

 mencing an action for libel. They have 

 made us laugh, however, and we will not be 

 ungrateful. 



JACKSON shines this year in the full 

 blaze of his mediocrity ; and if he gives us 

 no great deal to censure, he gives us still less 

 to admire. In his portrait of the Marquis 

 of Chandos the point of sight is too low it 

 would be impossible to see the figure as it is 

 placed. The back-ground is composed en- 

 tirely of smoke and cloud ; and the Marquis 

 is made to appear like a gentleman in nubi- 

 bus, or like Mr. Sadler just escaped from a 

 balloon. 



ROTH WELL. This artist will, we feel 

 convinced, appear to infinitely greater ad- 

 vantage next year, when there are no pictures 

 of Lawrence's to overshadow him. He has 

 little to fear from others. The raptures that 

 preceded his appearance must have done him 

 considerable injury, by exciting expectations, 

 and occasioning a feeling somewhat akin 

 to disappointment. His 347 and 447 are 

 perhaps his best pictures. His "Lord 

 Downes" and "Col. D'Aguilar" are both 

 good likenesses. 



J. WARD'S Fall of Phaeton, No. 53, is 

 a weak imitation of Rubens. It is spirited, 

 but not poetical. The picture should have 

 been called " Astley's broke loose." Phaeton 

 looks extremely like Mr. Ducrow flying after 

 his stud. This artist's picture of " Venus 

 rising from her Couch" is poor in all respects, 

 but in colour especially. The Venus is 

 worthy of attention on the score of origina- 

 lity ; the artist has successfully got rid of the 

 vulgar idea of grace and beauty that has 

 been hitherto associated with his subject. 



SHEE, though still inferior to many of his 

 brethren in art, has taken great pains this 

 year. Of his several pictures " Lavinia" 

 is, perhaps, the worst. It is meagre in form 

 and composition, impure in colour, and utter- 

 ly destitute of natural grace and sweetness of 

 expression. His portrait of Mr. Wynne is 

 carefully finished ; but he apparently cannot 

 divest himself of a certain waxen appearance 

 in his flesh. This is most evident in his 

 female portraits, which generally look as if 

 they had been copied from Mrs. Salmon's 

 studies. He is too fond of touches of ver- 

 million in his shadows they tend to give a 

 heated and unnatural effect to many of his 

 pictures. 



WILKIE'S best picture thisyearis the Gue- 

 fs Return. His portrait of the king has 



disappointed us. There is no defined out- 

 line in this picture the limbs are rounded 

 off into air ; the figure seems melting away 

 in a Scotch mist. In " Holyrood" he has 

 grappled a very difficult subject with much 

 vigour and success. The principal figure, 

 however, is painted in a very quizzical spirit. 

 The effect of the colouring is somewhat in- 

 jured, by a broad brown shade extending over 

 the back ground ; this should have been, as 

 in nature, more grey in parts. 



WE STALL is this year precisely where he 

 was many years ago there is no alteration, 

 no acquirement of ease and freedom of style. 

 In his portrait of the princess Victoria, he 

 has tried to make a pleasing little girl look 

 as much like a princess as possible; but 

 the picture is, to our taste, lamentably ludi- 

 crous. His " Sister of Viola" is crude, hard, 

 and singularly innocent of all pretension to 

 character. 



LAWRENCE. The pictures of this master 

 of grace are hallowed they are the last upon 

 which his pencil was employed. The por- 

 traits of Miss Fry, Moore, and Lord Aber- 

 deen are, we think, the finest that of An- 

 gerstein the most finished. We shall see no 

 more such portraits. 



CALLCOTT'S Italian composition Morn- 

 ingis, perhaps we are saying a great deal 

 the very best that he has painted. It has 

 all the quiet and sweetness of Claude it is 

 full of air. The gradations of tint from 

 warm to cold are exquisite and imper- 

 ceptible. 



HOWARD'S May Morning is a complete 

 contradiction to the description ; instead of 

 " dancing from the east," it is a mere piece 

 of still-life. His picture of " Shakspeare" 

 has been called sublime it is nearer to it 

 than many may imagine ; according to Na- 

 poleon, it is but a step off. Nothing can 

 exceed the want of taste evinced in this com- 

 position; it is the work of an ambitious 

 imagination that " falls on the other side." 



EAST LAKE'S Una delivering the Red 

 Cross Knight is finished with great care; 

 but there is a want of originality in it. The 

 imaginative parts are the worst. 



MULREADY is becoming a mannerist, 

 and copies from himself. His " Dog of two 

 minds" displays but little humour, and is 

 far too hotly coloured. 



DANIEL has a Scene from the Red Rover. 

 The sky and sea are very well painted, and 

 there is little else in the picture. The effect, 

 however, is striking. 



PICKERSGILL has nothing this year equal 

 to his Jeremy Bentham in the last exhibi- 

 tion. We may say of Pickersgill that he 

 never offends, and that he seems satisfied 

 with merely pleasing. His females want 

 the mental charm that all great pictures 

 should possess. His portrait of Lockhart is 

 a good likeness. 



NEWTON is a wonderful example of what 

 taste and feeling will do without much ele- 

 mentary knowledge of art. His " Shylock 

 and Jessica" has less of this knowledge 



