io6 



NA TURE 



\yune I, 1876 



and gurnard, which lie in well-arranged confusion at a 

 little distance, whilst in No. 186, a carefully-painted dog- 

 fish and skate are seen lying on some crab-pots. In No. 

 234, *' Crabbers," there is abundance of motion in the 

 boat which is just taking in a wave over the bows as 

 one of the fishermen hauls in the crab-pot, but what shall 

 we say of the fine male crab which he is extracting } 

 The face of the crustacean is towards the spectator, but 

 will it be believed that an artist of Mr. Hook's experience 

 has actually placed the huge cXk^s behind \hQ. legs, instead 

 of in \\\e /ro7it / Think of the outcry there would have 

 been, if in that over-discussed horse in the "Roll-call," 

 about whose action nobody could agree, the artist had 

 chosen to put the fore-legs where the hind-limbs should 

 have been : it would have been treated as an insult to 

 common sense, for every one knows, or thinks he knows, 

 the points of a horse. But a mere crab, poor cancer 

 pagurus, what does it matter where his nippers are 

 placed ? We sincerely hope that when Mr. Hook has 

 occasion to paint a live lobster he will not paint it red, 

 although this would be by far the more trivial error of the 

 two. 



It is needless to say anything of Mr. T. S. Cooper's 

 cattle pictures, for we have seen the same kind of thing as 

 long as we can remember. In 243, " An Inquisitive 

 Magpie," Mr. Jones has some brown sheep in a brown 

 atmosphere, contemplating a stuffed magpie on a hurdle ; 

 the picture is hopelessly " skied," but it may be satisfac- 

 tory to the artist and to Mr. P. V. Duffy, whose excellent 

 " Flood in the Dargle" hangs next at a similar elevation, 

 to know that their works help materially to tone down the 

 too advancing brown of the tree trunks in Mr. Leighton's 

 " Daphnephoria," hung immediately below. 



" Early Summer" (168), by Mr. H. W. B. Davis, A,, is a 

 clever landscape with Devon cattle ; but by far the grandest 

 work which has ever proceeded from his brush is '' Mares 

 and Foals, Picardy " (557), a picture which may challenge 

 comparison with any similar subject by Landseer. In 

 the foreground a foal, bitten by a fly plainly visible on its 

 neck, is plunging wildly over another foal which is lying 

 down ; the centre figure is a large white mare, whinnying 

 and showing her teeth at another member of a group which 

 seems generally out of temper, whilst the mare and foal 

 to the left, in repose, are simply perfection. The great 

 mass of white in the centre is most difficult to manage, 

 and in certain lights there is something not altogether 

 satisfactory about the shoulder on the off-side, but when 

 the direct glare of the sun does not fall on the picture, 

 this apparent defect disappears. 



Mr. B. Riviere has not been fortunate with his Ducks 

 in a "Stern Chase-" (313), and the art critics do not 

 seem favourably disposed to his (496), " Pallas Athene 

 and the Herdsman's Dogs ; " but putting the figure of the 

 goddess out of the question, the dogs, which are uncom- 

 monly like wolves, are really well drawn, and the atti- 

 tude of the one rolling on its back is excellently given. 

 There is much humour in the expression of the big mastiff 

 looking down on the skye terrier in Mr. O. Weber's " How 

 do you do " (416), and as they are stated to be portraits, 

 we cannot quarrel with the head of the former, but his 

 chance of a prize at a dog show would be small. In" Home 

 Ties " (435), Mr. E. Douglas gives us a foxhound and litter 

 in kennel, and in 556, "A Bagged Fox," a capital fox-terrier, 

 standing on and watching intently the movements in a 

 sack, from which the bagged fox is just gnawing his way 

 out ; in the foreground are two red herrings tied to a 

 cord, indicating that the hounds are generally hunted on 

 the drag, and that a fox is an unwonted luxury — probably 

 he has been purchased to give a brilliant wind up to the 

 season. Two other sporting pictures 231, by W. H. 

 Hopkins, and 357 by S. Pearce, are commendable. 



Mr. Ansdell has abandoned Spain this year, and all his 

 pictures but one represent Scotch scenes. In 214 we 

 have the well known black and white ponies, whilst 619 



represents some half-drowned sheep recovered by the 

 shepherds ; the fore-legs of the sheep standing upright 

 are absurdly small and out of all proportion. The colly- 

 dog which has just killed a hill-fox caught in the act of 

 devouring a lamb (874), is painted in that artist's usual 

 style, for in dogs he has now no rival, but we miss the life 

 and expression which Landseer used to give to his canine 

 friends. Mr. P. Graham's " Moorland Rovers" (S85), a 

 couple of shaggy Scotch cattle, would look better if they 

 were painted on a smaller scale, and the green of the 

 reeds in the foreground strikes us as somewhat vivid in 

 colour. 



Mr. Heywood Hardy's 899 is a somewhat ambitious 

 attempt to represent an extremely difficult subject — the 

 animals coming to Noah's ark. It would appear that the 

 artist started with the intention of coafining his choice to 

 members of the African or Ethiopian fauna ; there are 

 ostriches, giraffes, African elephants and baffaloes, sable 

 antelopes, Dorcas gazelles, and other species, whilst the 

 most obtrusive figures are those of two hippopotami, one 

 of which is opening its enormous jaws to their fullest 

 extent. The deep red of the interior of the beast's mouth 

 has unfortunately necessitated a very serious departure 

 from the original plan, and led to the introduction on the 

 right of the picture of two scarlet American ibises, 

 whose office is clearly to tone down the red of behemoth's 

 mouth. We are not altogether satisfied with the presence 

 of the Syrian bear, the horse, and the wild ass, in such 

 company. The foreshortening of the pelican's wing on 

 the left is also incorrect, and, indeed, the birds in general 

 are not satisfactory ; but we have to thank Mr. Hardy 

 for clearing up a point which has hitherto been unex- 

 plained. We never could understand why the raven 

 never returned to the ark ; but after viewing the bird 

 which is looking up wistfully at Noah's feet, and evidently 

 wondering how he is to get up there without anything to 

 walk upon, we see the reason only too plainly. From the 

 moment that Noah inhumanly "sent him forth," his 

 minutes were numbered ; a couple of despairing flops of 

 his incapable wings, and unless Noah promptly lowered 

 a boat, the corpse of the corpse-devourer must speedily 

 have become the sport of the waves which then united 

 the Black and Caspian Seas. But with all its defects, 

 Mr. Hardy's picture is a most meritorious attempt at 

 portraying animals as they really are ; nearly every 

 species has evidently been drawn from the live specimens 

 in the Zoological Gardens, and we sincerely trust that the 

 artist will persevere in the line which he has selected. 



Miss A. Havers has been very fortunate in her delinea- 

 tion of geese in " Goosey, Goosey-gander " (1266) : a girl 

 sitting on a foot-bridge at evening, watching a flock of 

 geese wading in the burn ; one of the flock is leaving the 

 rest, and waddling off to the wrong side of the water. It 

 is not everyone who can paint a goose, and it would be 

 difficult to imagine a more accurate representation of the 

 ungainly motions of that despised bird. Equally good in 

 its way is the rendering of the action of a mule just at 

 starting, in Mr. W. J. Hennessy's "En fete, Normandy" 

 (523), which is moreover a charming composition. 



It is sad to have to notice such painful failures in 

 animal painting as those of Mr. C. Landseer, R.A, "A 

 Watch Dog" (420), and Sir F. Grant's "The Muckle 

 Hart " (1341) ; in the latter the recumbent stag has hardly 

 one of his tynes correctly drawn, and the hind in the 

 distance is a fearful and wonderful beast. 



With regard to the Statuary, it is difficult to find a place 

 in the lecture-room, whence a good view can be obtained 

 of J. E. Boehm's enormous equestrian group of St. George 

 and the Dragon ; but the dragon deserves notice as being 

 a compound of several existing reptilian forms ; thus 

 approaching reality as far as is possible with a semi- 

 mythical monster. The body of the dragon is that of a 

 crocodile, the neck and head are those of the Cerastes or 

 horned viper, whilst the wings are modelled after those 



