1828. ] Modern Pictures. 371 
we cannot but grieve for the loss which has consequently been sustained, 
in the want of that unity and simplicity for which even the old masters 
themselves had too little respect, but the occasional absence of which 
was rendered more excusable in them, on account of the miraculous 
powers of execution which they for the most part displayed. We will 
gladly admit, too, in the present instance, that much has been gained, on 
the score of mere execution, by the mode of treatment of which we com- 
plain: for, in fact, the fallen figure to which we have just alluded, and 
the action and expression of Joseph, are among the finest parts of the 
picture. 
The other picture to which we would direct attention, as illustrative of 
the present condition of Art, is from the pencil of a foreigner ; but should 
not, on that account, be passed over by us. On the contrary, it may be 
adduced as a new and striking evidence of the progress which a love for 
the art is making among us, since it was painted with an express view 
to exhibition and sale in this country. The Death of Virginia, by M. 
Le Thiere, is, upon the whole, the very best work we have yet seen 
from a French hand ; and, putting all national comparisons out of the 
question, it is, in point of mere composition and execution, a fine and 
striking production. What it fails in are those points in which the 
French have hitherto always failed, and in every department of Fine Art, 
whether Painting, Sculpture, Poetry, or Music—namely, those points 
which depend for their success on a due blending together of the sensi- 
bilities and the imagination. The French have little of either of these, 
and what little they have lies exclusively on the surface ; and the conse- 
quence is, that all which they have is displayed on every occasion equally, 
and that there is no such thing to be found, in any of their productions, 
as a striking concentration of these to any one particular point. The 
groupings of this work are composed and arranged with great skill and 
judgment ; each separate figure is designed (generally speaking) with 
force, truth, and spirit ; the colourings of the various parts have sufficient 
correspondence, each with the other, to produce an harmonious and con- 
sistent general effect ; and the composition of the whole, as a whole, is at 
once simple and comprehensive. In short, there wants but one thing to 
make this a fine and admirable work of Art; but that one thing is not 
only the most important of all, but is more important than all others 
united, since it may compensate in a great degree for the absence of 
them, while they can never do as much for the absence of it:—we mean 
truth, depth, force, and variety of individual expression. In a word, the 
Death of Virginia is a masterly production, in all which depends upon 
the mechanism of Art; and if that vital flame of expression is wanting, the 
presence of which is the sure, and the only sure, indication of high genius, 
it must be conceded that this divine quality, or rather condition, of the 
human mind, is not to be looked for now as it once was, when every thing 
connected with human society was as favourable to its development as it is 
now unfavourable. For this fact alone, if for nothing else, it would be 
no less unreasonable than unjust to institute any direct comparisons 
between collections of “ Old Pictures,” and modern ones. 
It was our intention to have concluded this paper by a brief estimate 
of the merits of our principal Living Painters; as a set-off, no less against 
the fulsome panegyrics of their pretended admirers, than against the 
unmeaning but mischievous sneers of those who equally pretend to 
despise them. But our limits warn us that we must defer the fulfilment. 
of our intention till a future opportunity. 
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