FINE ARTS. 



351 



delighted the readers of the London " Punch," 

 each the work of a few minutes ; and yet so 

 eagerly were these slight efforts sought after, 

 that they sold at prices varying from 3 and 4 

 guineas up to 15 or 16. The celebrated series 

 illustrating the sporting career of " Mr. Briggs," 

 ranged from 49 to 110 guineas each ; indeed, 

 there was not a scrap of paper bearing a few 

 scratches of the pencil of this universally popular 

 and lamented artist that was not valued at many 

 hundred times its weight in gold. In May the 

 sale of the drawings, sketches,^and pictures, in oils 

 and water-colors, of another popular artist, the 

 late David Eoberts, E. A., took place, occupying 

 six days, and realizing 16,425. Here, also, 

 trifling efforts of the deceased artist realized 

 large sums. On May llth and 12th a collection 

 of 260 works, mostly water-color drawings, 

 belonging to Mr. Thomas Greenwood, was sold 

 for 10,250 ; and on the 20th a small but valu- 

 able collection owned by Mr. Dnncan Fletcher 

 was dispersed at auction. It included "The 

 Prize Calf," by Landseer, 1,370 guineas, and a 

 " Landscape, with Cattle," by Callcott and 

 Landseer, 2,000 guineas. It is worthy of notice, 

 however, that these as well as other works 

 originally belonging to the Bicknell collection, 

 were sold at a considerable reduction from pre- 

 vious prices. On the 27th of May a collection 

 of 200 water-color drawings by Turner, W. 

 Hunt, D. Oox, Copley Fielding, and other dis- 

 tinguished artists in this department, character- 

 ized as the finest submitted for many years to 

 public auction, was disposed of for upwards of 

 16,000. A number of other collections were 

 sold during the season, to which it is impossible 

 to refer with particularity. Probably the num- 

 ber of separate works equalled 3,000, and the 

 aggregate amount realized fell but little under, 

 if it did not exceed, 200,000. These were 

 almost without exception the productions of 

 modern British artists. But an insignificant 

 number by Continental painters were sold, and 

 by " old masters " none at all, so far as reports 

 indicate. 



Of the annual Exhibitions of the Eoyal Acad- 

 emy, the Society of British Artists, the Gen- 

 eral Exhibition of Water-Color Drawings, and 

 other collections of new works by contempo- 

 rary British artists, there is nothing especial to 

 say. They contained individual pictures of con- 

 siderable merit in each department of painting, 

 but the greater part of such collections were, 

 according even to local critics, distinguished 

 rather by a " dead level of mediocrity and in- 

 sipidity" than by any promise of healthful 

 development in art. The painters seem to be 

 more of mannerists than of creators of ideas, 

 and overlay their works with gaudy and incon- 

 gruous coloring, while conventionalism in ex- 

 pression, form, and composition is everywhere 

 most unpleasantly conspicuous. So apparent were 

 these defects in the Exhibition of the Society 

 of British Artists that out of more than a thou- 

 sand pictures which it contained, few, it is said, 

 rose above the most common average of picture- 



making, while the greater part of them fell 

 below it. It would be unfair, however, to sup- 

 pose from these annual exhibitions that the pic- 

 torial art of the country is unable to produce 

 works of merit. Many of the best artists do 

 not contribute to these exhibitions, and not a 

 few of eminence and reputation have been of 

 late years too much occupied with great public 

 works to undertake private commissions. In 

 this latter class may be included men like 

 Maclise, Herbert, Watts, and Dyce, whose fres- 

 coes in the Houses of Parliament and other 

 public buildings are creditable specimens of the 

 first modern attempts in England to revive the 

 practice of this branch of the art. During the 

 year Maclise has been occupied in putting the 

 finishing touches to his great fresco in the Palace 

 at Westminster, representing the "Death of 

 Nelson," which is described as a natural and 

 emotional work, singularly free from exaggera- 

 tion, sentimentality, or conventionalism. At 

 last accounts the work was completed with the 

 exception of the application of the coating of 

 water glass, which is intended to fix the colors 

 and render the whole durable as stone. With 

 respect to the whole series of mural decorations 

 of the Houses of Parliament, two serious obsta- 

 cles have been encountered a deficiency of light 

 and a tendency in some of them to premature 

 decay. Whether the latter circumstance is 

 owing to defective processes or to the natural 

 dampness of the building, has not yet been satis- 

 factorily determined. In the way of restoration, 

 nothing has been done to these works except 

 by Mr. Herbert, who has repainted a single 

 head in a composition illustrating a scene from 

 "King Lear," which is probably an experiment 

 in a direction different from that taken in the 

 first working of the picture. The restoration 

 of the whole work, if possible, will be com- 

 menced when the experiments of the painter 

 are completed. The deficiency of light is an 

 obstacle less easy to surmount. Gilding has 

 been attempted in some instances as a means of 

 relief, but with very moderate success ; and there 

 is reason to apprehend that the absence of direct 

 light in many parts of the building will prove 

 an insuperable objection to any extensive system 

 of pictorial ornamentation. During the sunr 

 mer of 1865 three pictures by Mr. F. E. Church, 

 the American landscape painter, " Chimborazo," 

 "Cotopaxi," and "The Aurora Borealis," were 

 exhibited in London, and elicited high enco- 

 miums from the English art critics, one of whom 

 described them as " works of thoroughly legiti- 

 mate, refined, classical art,' not perfect, it may 

 be, but combining more of the elements of great 

 landscape painting than any thing we have of 

 late ourselves produced; great in conception, 

 brilliant in execution, and with a finer percep- 

 tion of the beautiful, a more tender and elevated 

 poetical feeling, than have been displayed in 

 this branch of the art since Turner." Among 

 the most noticeable pictures of the year was 

 "The Marriage of the Prince and Princess of 

 Wales," by William P. Frith, E. A., well known 



