j?64 FINE ARTS. 



ruined paling. These, with some rustic figures, the good man, his 

 dame, and one or two chubby children ; his dog, a cow, cocks and hens, 

 an old ragged horse or ass turned out to graze in the green lane, or by 

 the road side, formed his usual favourites. His gray, sober titTts, his 

 dark verdure, his adherence to truth, often reminded me of Ruysdael, 

 "Wynants, Hobbema, and other of the best Dutch and Flemish masters, 

 and showed that he had closely studied their style, perhaps too much so, 

 as it is possible for a man of genius to lose somewhat of the freshness of 

 nature in looking too intently at the beauties of art. But no artist is 

 equal in all his works ; and we must not judge of Linnel, who has pro- 

 duced so many excellent pictures, by the one now under notice. I may 

 he mistaken, but to me the cow-yard appears to be a very early per- 

 formance, and changed through the effect of time. The white cow 

 in the centre, is formal, and but ill connected with the other figures ; 

 the penciling is too much laboured, and the colouring somewhat dry and 

 hard. There is, also, a want of gradation in the light and shadow, and 

 of clearness in the effect, although all the parts are good in themselves. 



*' 23 — Portrait of Wm. Hollins, Esq.," little more than the bust, by 

 H. Room. This is a well-drawn head, warmly coloured, with a bold 

 open breadth of light ; a strong, unaffected look of nature, much freedom 

 of pencil, and a mellow effect. 



"337 — View in the Neighbourhood of Clifton, the Severn and the Coast 

 of Wales in the distance," by J. J. Chalons. This justly admired prospect, 

 which commands so great an extent and rich a variety of land and 

 water, of level and mountainous country, affords a fine study. The 

 artist has kept the colouring cool and chaste ; but produced a bright, 

 bold effect, by spirited shadows. The eye is carried over the remotest 

 passages with felicitous illusion. In this diflncult point of aerial per- 

 spective, he has been eminently successful, and the scenery has lost none 

 of its romantic interest in his transcript. A rough, white horse is grazing 

 near the fore-ground ; and on the same line, under some towering trees, 

 a rustic man and woman, in a low cart, and a back-view, are driving up 

 into the country. There is a magnificent breadth of light diffused over 

 the sky, the river, and landscape ; and the disagreeable hard manner of 

 penciling, which, in some of this artist's pictures, offends the eye, is not 

 noticeable here. 



"470 — The Quarrel of Adam and Eve," by H. F. Goblet, a large upright 

 cabinet size, of great merit. Adam is in a posture of extreme agitation, 

 turning away from Eve, and attempting to bury his face in his hand, as it 

 were to bide himself from earth and heaven ; his other arm is extended, 

 in the act of repulsing her supplications. The action is vehement, but 

 not extravagant; and his head, shoulders, chest, and all the upper part 

 of his figure, are well designed ; the hands and arms particularly so. 

 The st}le, in which the muscular details are marked, is vigorous and in 

 good taste ; it shows that the artist has closely and successfully studied 

 the living model. The general effect suffers, perhaps, a little, by the 

 breadth of shadow across the middle of his person, but that is a point 

 relative to the light and shadow ; it does not lessen the merit of the 

 drawing, expression, or action. He stands firmly. Eve is a good figure. 

 She rests on one knee, with her arms extended, as if about to rise and 

 prevent his abandoning her, by soothing him into forgiveness. In such an 

 imploring attitude, it is very difficult to avoid an appearance ot wild- 

 ness in the limbs, or to prevent the light from being, in some degree, 

 broken against a dark back-ground, by their extension. But there is 

 much strong feeling and just conception in the design, and of elegance in 

 her form. The colouring is not rich, but mellow, and of a sound his- 



