340 



Fine ArW Exhibitions. 



QSept. 



tiine can ever again give to another, and 

 wliich no time can take way from this : we 

 mean Mount Olympus. Another object of 

 deep interest is Leander's Tower, which is 

 so placed, in relation to the supposed posi- 

 tion of the spectator, that it occupies tlie 

 nearest point of his obser\'ation, and, con- 

 sequently, the most striking and conspicu- 

 ous. The {iround work, too, (so to speak) 

 on which all these objects are depicted, (the 

 uniting seas of 3Iarmora and the Bosplio- 

 rus,) is rendered highly interesting by the 

 objects with which it is studded in all direc 

 tions — the magniticent Turkish man-of- 

 war that rises close to the spectator>« eye — 

 the distant fleet of the same that studs the 

 receding face of the Bosphorus — the stately 

 and singularly elegant gondolas of the SiU- 

 tan and his suite — the winged and bird- 

 like skiffs tliat glide over the glassy surface 

 of the sea of Jlarmora — and, finally, the 

 little overloaded domestic canoe tliat seems 

 to go tituping over the water as if a breath 

 would upset it. 



The original drawings, from which the 

 panorama is painted, are entirely from the 

 pencil of Mr. Burford. 



British Institution. — An unavoidable 

 circumstance prevented us from concluding, 

 last month, our account of the works by the 

 Old Masters at the British Institution; 

 but as tljey are of a kind which can well 

 afford to wait for their fame, and which 

 produce impressions that do not (like those 

 from ordinary works of arts) pass away 

 almost as soon as they are received ; we 

 sliall make no apology for returning to tlie 

 subject at this late hour, especially as the 

 season is one which puts forth little else 

 claiming detailed notice. In our last paper 

 on this subject, we passed through the cata- 

 logue regularly from its commencement to 

 "So. 1 10, in the middle room, particularizing 

 as many of the most conspicuous works as 

 our confined Umits woidd admit. Proceed- 

 ing in the numerical order of the arrange- 

 ment, we arrive at 127, an Italian Land- 

 scape, with figures and a waterfall, by 

 Both. It is seldom if ever that we have 

 seen a nobler production by this artist, or 

 one which conveys at once so characteristic 

 and so favourable an impression of his style. 

 It presents little, ifany, of the artist's faulty 

 manner, of his fifiikin and affected hand- 

 ling, or his false tone of colouring ; and it 

 includes aU his best attributes —his glow- 

 ing warmth — his delicate discrimination in 

 the character of individual objects — and 

 his fine taste and true feeling for natural 

 beauty in the choice of them. 128 is an 

 excellent Landscape, by Ruysdael, also 

 with a waterfall ; and hanging, as it does, 

 in almost immediate contact with the above, 

 it offers an interesting opportunity of com- 

 paring and contrasting tlie characteristic 

 tliiFerences and distinctions between the 

 style of these two artists — each admirably 

 conformable with nature, yet bearing no 

 resemblance whatever to each other, except 



in that conformity. We must not stay to 

 point out tlie particulars in which these 

 ilifferences and this conformity are observa- 

 ble, but pass on to 129, one of the finest 

 works in the collection, but one that will, 

 on account of its perfect truth and simpji- 

 city, not be likely to attract or fix general 

 attention. It is a Holy Family, with St. 

 Catharine, by Titian, 12!). It consists of 

 tv/o distinct groups — the Virgin and Child 

 forming one, and Joseph and St. Cathe- 

 rine the other ; and it is impossible to pic- 

 ture to the imagination a more exquisite 

 conformity than that which subsists between 

 tlie two groups — blending their beauty into 

 one general effect, yet preserving the dis- 

 tinctness of each. This, no doubt, is 

 partly effected by tlie consistency of expres- 

 sion whicli prevails in all the faces and 

 fonus ; but the effect is chiefly produced by 

 the rich liannony of the colouring, which 

 gives to the whole the effect of one object. 

 Passing, with a mere word of recognition, 

 an exquisite view of Dort, by Cuy]) (31 ), 

 a Holy Family, by the elegant and tastefiil 

 Garafalo (132), and a most interesting por- 

 trait of Guido, by himself (138), we arrive 

 at an exquisite little work, said to be by 

 Raphael. M'hetheritisreally by that astonish- 

 ing artist, we will not wait to inquire ; for 

 tlie truth is, that of all the distinguished 

 painters that ever lived, he is the one who 

 has not merely the least of mere manner, 

 but so little of it as scarcely to admit of a 

 positive recognition, even by the most prac- 

 tised eye. But his pictures have this pecu- 

 liarity about them — that we can tell at once 

 wlio tliey were not painted by. Now tlie 

 picture before us, the Holy Family with St. 

 John (141), has decidedly that about it 

 which is beyond the reach of any other 

 painter but Raphael ; not that it includes 

 a greater degree of grace, or sweetness, or 

 dignity, or purity, or elegance, or general 

 power of style and expression ; but it in- 

 cludes a something blended witli these, 

 which none but Raphael ever did blend 

 with them. Therefore it is that we believe 

 it to be by him. In fact, there is that asto- 

 nisliing consistency and conformity of every 

 part with all the rest, which we do not find 

 in the works of any other painter : we find 

 it, indeed, in the colouring of some — Titian 

 for example — but not in the whole produc- 

 tion, the conception, design, expression, co- 

 louring, style, and mechanical execution of 

 any one, Raphael alone excepted. 



Pointing for a moment to a Lady in a 

 Fancy Dress, by Dietricy (147), on account 

 of its striking resemblance, in style, to the 

 works of one of the very cleverest and most 

 original artists of our day — Newton, we 

 pass on to a noble piece of execution, by 

 Salvator Rosa (149). It consists of a wild 

 woody scene, about every touch of whicli 

 there is a life and power that is to be found 

 in the productions of no other hand what- 

 ever. Salvator's works, at least this class 

 of tlicm — for the historical ones we do not 



