87 



January 22, 1849. 

 ft. ItATHBONE, Esq., in the Chair. 



Messrs. H. Thorp, H. Curry, and J. Campbell were elected 

 Members of the Society. 



Mr. Barber then read the following Essay on the Charac- 

 teristics of the English School of Painting : — 



In a Paper of this kind I cannot attempt a full descrip- 

 tion of any particular School of Painting, but refer to those 

 Masters whose acknowledged fame has made the posses- 

 sion of their works an object of importance to men of taste, 

 whose resources enable them to procure the best examples of 

 both ancient and modern times ; but before I enter upon the 

 immediate object of this Paper it may not be improper to re- 

 mark that, in speaking on works of art, we must give to each 

 department its due portion of merit, differing in rank, accord- 

 ing to the degree of mind employed in its production : as an 

 instance, we cannot bestow upon a simple imitation of nature, 

 a mere copy of animate or inanimate objects, the same rank 

 with works which require a mind stored with creative powers, 

 or with the imaginings of a brilliant and vivid fancy. When 

 we contemplate an accurate and carefully painted imitation 

 of such objects as painters call " still life," we must consider 

 them as mere fac-similes of that class of nature, differing 

 widely, and having no claim to imaginative art ; as a piece of 

 patient labour such a picture will have its reward, but not as 

 a work of mind. They will, however, in general, be esti- 

 mated by the power of judgment in the spectator, rather than 

 by any abstract rules which either artists or amateurs may have 

 formed ; and to the mass of mankind such works will always 

 claim a large share of attention, simply because they do not 



