320 



FINE ARTS. 



consequence of the inability of the artists to 

 master the technical processes of fresco, and 

 partly from the defects of the "building in 

 which they were required to revive this spe- 

 cies of painting. The series of works left un- 

 finished by Mr. Dyce have made no advance 

 since his death, and it seems unlikely that any 

 living English painter can complete them in 

 accordance with the original designs. Maclise 

 has finished his " Death of Nelson " in the 

 Royal Gallery ; Herbert is about to commence 

 his "Judgment of Daniel," and Cope is putting 

 the finishing touches upon the last of the series 

 of eight works undertaken by him. The sub- 

 ject is " Speaker Lenthall asserting the Privi- 

 leges of a Free Parliament." Many blank 

 spaces, however, remain to be filled; and in 

 view of the defective light and the dampness 

 of the building, which mar the appearance of 

 the completed works, it is possible that they 

 may never be filled. The works of Herbert 

 and Watts, in the "Poets' Hall," are fast disap- 

 pearing under the influences of the humid at- 

 mosphere, which in winter prevails in that 

 part of the building, and no attempts at resto- 

 ration have availed to overcome this radical 

 defect. Efforts to improve the light in certain 

 corridors, decorated with frescoes, have proved 

 partially successful. The series of designs in 

 these buildings, by Maclise, known as the " Sto- 

 ry of the Norman Conquest," together with his 

 " Meeting of Wellington and Blucher after the 

 Battle of Waterloo," and "Death of Nelson," 

 are to be engraved for distribution by the Art- 

 Union of London. Apart from the numerous 

 specimens of excellent engraving annually put 

 forth in England, there were published in 1866 

 two works, illustrated by the prolific pencil of 

 Gustave Dor6, which are remarkable as his 

 first attempts to render the text of great Eng- 

 lish poets. These were Milton's "Paradise 

 Lost," and Tennyson's " Elaine." The designs 

 of the former seem to have been hastily and 

 crudely executed ; but in those of the latter, 

 which have been engraved on steel, he labored 

 with genuine enthusiasm, wishing to make his 

 performance a monument of his own powers as 

 well as to the poet. The result has been very 

 creditable to him. The Arundel Society pur- 

 sues its useful career as a promoter of art cul- 

 ture by producing chromo-lithographic fac- 

 similes of the masterpieces of the old painters. 

 The " Annunciation," by Fra Bartolommeo, the 

 "Last Supper," by Ghirlandajp, and the "Ado- 

 ration of the Magi," by Luini, are among the 

 copies recently executed under its auspicies, 

 and it is about to reproduce specimens by the 

 Van Eycks. The "Fine Arts Quarterly Re- 

 view," a publication of great value to art stu- 

 dents, contains also many excellent examples, in 

 color or engraved, of the works of old and mod- 

 ern masters. The limits of this article will not 

 admit of any other than a brief allusion to pic- 

 torial art outside of the British metropolis. Al- 

 most every considerable provincial town has 

 its school of art, so called, and one or more an- 



nual exhibitions, contributed to mostly by local 

 artists. The standard reached in these, if not a 

 high one, is above mediocrity, and there is 

 every reason to believe that under the influences 

 at work throughout the United Kingdom an 

 increasing interest in matters pertaining to art 

 will be manifested, and a higher culture de- 

 veloped. Edinburgh has recently inaugurated a 

 Museum of Science and Art, erected by means 

 of special and successive grants by Parliament 

 since 1854; and in Dublin an Irish National 

 Picture Gallery is reported to be 'making most 

 favorable progress. The works already col- 

 lected have cost 10,000, of which 6,000 were 

 raised by local subscriptions. 



Plastic art has of late years been very gen- 

 erally employed in Great Britain to commemo- 

 rate the acts or services of public men, and the 

 past year witnessed no diminution of activity in 

 this direction. Statues, busts, or structures 

 of a purely memorial character are multiplying 

 all over the land, and though in respect to the 

 higher qualities of sculpture these productions 

 will not stand the test of searching criticism, 

 they present good average design and work- 

 manship. Signs of promise may be recognized 

 in the greater attention yearly given to the study 

 of form, in efforts to throw off the conventional- 

 isms with which the schools are overgrown, 

 and in the higher standard of criticism already 

 attained, which has damaged more than one 

 reputation resting on no more solid basis than 

 superficial, showy effectiveness. Of the na- 

 tional monuments in progress, the most impor- 

 tant and elaborate is that to the late Prince 

 Consort, in Hyde Park, of which a description 

 was given in our last volume. Only the sub- 

 structure was completed at the close of the 

 year, but much of the finished material is on 

 the ground, ready to be put in place, and the 

 mosaics and sculptures, on which the best 

 talent of the country is engaged, are under- 

 stood to be in hand. The popular affection for 

 Prince Albert continues to manifest itself in 

 the number and \ariety of the memorials erected 

 to him. A copy of Thorneycroft's bronze eques- 

 trian statue of him has been placed in front of 

 St. George's Hall, Liverpool. Another is des- 

 tined for Wolverhampton, and a third for 

 Halifax, besides several for the provinces. The 

 Albert memorial at Manchester is completed. 

 The four colossal bronze lions, from designs by 

 Sir Edwin Landseer, intended for the base of 

 the Nelson monument in Trafalgar Square, after 

 a delay of many years, were announced at the 

 close of 1866 to be ready, and early in 1867 

 they were actually set up in public. Another 

 work long delayed is the completion of the 

 bas-reliefs in the pedestal of Baron Marochetti's 

 statue of Richard Co3iir de Lion, one of which 

 was inserted in the latter part of the year. It 

 is described as puerile in design, and executed 

 with little care or knowledge. A monument to 

 the Duke of Wellington was voted by Parlia- 

 ment ten years ago, but has never been even 

 commenced. This neglect of the Great Duk 



