198 FINE ARTS. 



pencil; 137 — a capital gallery picture of "Christ disputing with the 

 Doctors," by R. Westall, R. A. The composition is full but not crowded. 

 The various workings of the passions are strongly marked in the old 

 heads, and the meek fervour, in the countenance of Christ, is a fine 

 specimen of expression ; the light and shadow are well diffused, and the 

 general effect is solemn and reposive. ** 152 — The Calling of Samuel," 

 by W. Green. This is intended for a gallery, and if the artist has not 

 wholly overcome all the difficulties of the subject, he has evinced much 

 practical skill and originality of invention. " 157 — Eve," by J. Mills, is 

 rather a small size, and, being hung at the top of the room, is too high 

 for critical inspection. 



There are, in this room, two interesting scenes from Lord Byron ; 

 " 1 1 — Haidee and her Attendants recovering Don Juan after his Shipwreck," 

 a free, tasteful, sketchy performance, by S. Drummond, A. R. A. ; and 

 '* 57 — Haidee aroused from her Trance by the sound of Music," by H. G. 

 HurUtone. These figures are half-lengths, about the size of life, and 

 cleverly composed. The expression, particularly the vague unsettled 

 gaze which betrays the disturbed mind of the heroine, is very good. 

 The characters of the Corsair and Harper are strikingly defined, and the 

 young attendant is well introduced. There is an ideal elegance in the 

 forms of Haidee's head, neck, shoulders, bosom, and extended arm ; and 

 the execution is loose and full. The colouring, in general, is mellow ; 

 but the cold purple drapery descending from her shoulders forms a line 

 down the middle of the composition, which disturbs the union, and, as it 

 were, divides the effect into two. As this artist is skilled in the science 

 of scumbling and glazing, a very little effort of his able pencil would 

 bring this cold drapery into tone, and remove the only flaw in this, 

 otherwise, commanding picture. 



In this first room there are also twenty-eight fancy subjects, single 

 figures or groups, inventions from nature, or striking incidents from 

 modern novels, &c. There is one composition, "25 — Eylas and the 

 Nymphs," from "Apollonius Rhodius," by Wm. Etty, R.A. — but that 

 one, though not without some of what Pope, in referring to Homer, has 

 termed, " brave neglects," is an exhibition in itself. This precious work 

 of art is now the envied property of Vincent Thompson, Esq. This 

 room also contains sixty-nine landscapes, thirty- five portraits of ladies, 

 gentlemen, and children, fourteen pictures of dogs, horses, cows, a 

 Spanish ass and foal, one of fish, and four of dead game. It will be 

 seen from this rough and hasty classification, how the public taste runs ; 

 and sorry am I to observe that the taste for British historical painting is 

 not advancing. On the contrary, judging from this, and other recent 

 exhibitions, in London and elsewhere, it is rather losing than gaining 

 ground. 



Again I remind the amateur reader, and the candid artist, that the 

 necessity of hastening this manuscript to the Editor, allows only a few 

 opportunities of detail, and obliges me, unwillingly, to confine myself to 

 a very concise and scanty general idea. The superior class of landscapes 

 is numerous, but amidst this rich harvest, I can only name a few, and if 

 some commendation escapes from me on any work of excellence, I feel 

 like a criminal, in being forced to pass the next, perhaps of equal or 

 superior merit, without a name or notice ! Among these treasures 

 of art, are, ** 9 — A landscape," with boatmen in a market-barge on a 

 river, in the dusk of evening, and a sullen gleam of sunny reflection still 

 lingering on the horizon of a sombre sky ; a picture of a deep, low tone, 

 and prodigious power. When I first saw it, some years ago, it was 

 much clearer j it is now loaded with smoke, or impure varnish, which gives 



