102 BIRMINGHAM SOCIETY OF ARTS. 



48. Portrait of Miss Gronorv. — F. Y, Hurlsione. Few pictures 

 in the exhilntion can compete with this in nature, interest,, or beau- 

 ty. The head of the rosy, laughing, bright-eyed, and black-haired 

 child is exquisitely painted ; and the donkey on which she is care- 

 lessly mounted, seems fairly stepping from the canvas. A young, 

 rough, shaggy, coltish-looking creature is this same steed, painted 

 up to nature in every point of form and character ; with a spice of 

 the hereditary obstinacy of his tribe written on his long-eared vis- 

 age. The picture reminds us of Miss IMitford's writings ; it is so 

 worthy of the graphic pen with which she would beautifully sketch 

 both child and donkey, in one of her delightful village scenes. This 

 is the finest of Mr. Hurlstone's works we have yet seen, and we 

 hope to greet many more of like feeling and excellence. 



49. Duncan's Horses. — J. Ward, R. A. A most extraordinary 

 illustration of a passage in IMacbeth, act 2nd, scene 4th, where 

 Rosse describes the escape of Duncan's horses, and their eating each 

 other. The animals, individually, are finely designed, and in the 

 most difficult positions ; but, as a whole, the picture is monstrous. 

 The encounters and combustions of the heavy stone-like clouds 

 above, are full as strange as the civil war among the steeds below, 

 who are racing, rolling, and devouring in every direction, and in 

 such troops as give one a splendid notion of poor King Duncan's 

 stud. The landscape is laboriously painted — but highly fantastic 

 and absurd. 



51. The Ornithologist . — H. Wyatt. Here our artist is in his 

 element, and the grace, beauty, and interest of this little picture 

 makes us yet more regret that Whitnash Smithy should ever have 

 led him from his own particular path in art. 



5Q. Portrait of a Lady. — E Coleman. White satin dress, and a 

 red geranium by way ot taking off the chill. (Had not Partridge 

 a lovely picture in the last Exhibition, arrayed in precisely the 

 same costume ?) The head of the lady is painted with great clear- 

 ness and delicacy. 



57. Scene near Axminster — F. W. Watts ; and 31, Heath Scene, 

 b> the same artist, are two faithful and pleasing transcripts of fa- 

 miliar scenes, in which, after all, 'lies the true pleasure of pictures. 

 Mr. Watts's landscapes are clear, sparkling, dewy-looking scenes, 

 with all the fresh and cheering look of nature. 



58. A Lady in a fancy Costume. — Mrs. Joanna Cox. " So full 

 of shapes is fancy, that it alone is high fantastical." The fair artist 

 seems partial to the fancy line, for we have a '' Portrait of a Turk, 

 late tailor to the Dey of Algiers," in a very fanciful costume indeed. 

 But the triumph of Mrs. Joanna Cox in the temple of fancy, is "^ A 

 Female weeping over the Tomb of her Lover," whom we, very un- 

 sentimentally, mistook for a cook-maid suffering from tooth-ache, 

 leaning on the kitchen dresser, with a blue apron over her head. 



67. Portrait of a Lady, J- Hollins. We can scarcely believe this 

 to be painted by the same hand as the lovely portraits which Mr. 

 HoUins exhibited last year. It is harsh in colour, and utterly void 

 of taste in arrangement. The likeness, we understand, is correct. 



