G18 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[May 26, 1882. 



to recopjiiiso certain incongruities. Only wlien an 

 artist devotes liiinself year after year to tin; study 

 of etrects observed during and after storms, training his 

 eye (as tbo eye can be trained) to take in simultaneous 

 details, and not venturing to combine ofTects wliich have 

 not liecn seen in a single view, can such incongruities be 

 avoided. Now, there are dry storms and wet storms in 

 storm-infested regions, and tliough the dry storm-cloud 

 jnight lie mistaken by an inexperienced eye for a much- 

 disturbed rain-cloud, there are in reality characteristic 

 dillerences. The storm-cloud in Mr. Smart's painting is a 

 ■wet one ; the storm-track is dry, although the wet btorm- 

 cloud has but just passed over it Once more ; it is mani- 

 fest that the painter did not make the storm-track a study 

 immediately or soon after tlie storm, but some considerable 

 time afterwards. For the most striking feature of a storm- 

 track, immediately after the storm is over, is the staring 

 effect of the I'ent wood where boughs ha\e been torn otf. 

 Whether the wood bo white, or yellow, or red, the torn 

 and ragged wood looks intensely bright by conti'ast with 

 the foliage, or with the dark and time-worn bark. 

 In Jlr. Smart's picture this effect is not seen ; on the 

 contrary, the broken surface of the wood is shown with 

 such tints as only come after a few weeks', or at least 

 several days', exposure to wind and weather. Apart from 

 this incongruity, and regarding the picture as reprei^enting 

 a rainless storm passing over the track of a former storm, 

 the painting is a very fine one, the only fault being that 

 Mr. Smart has either not caught the peculiarities of the 

 dry storm-cloud, or that, intending to represent the storm- 

 cloud which comes accompanied by heavy rain showers, he 

 has not duly represented the effect of such showers in the 

 immediate track of the storm. 



In Mr. Graham's " Inflowing Tide" (No. 77, Gallery I.), 

 the sky seems to us unnatural, but the wild effect is well 

 given. 



As it is the business of science to try to discover the 

 real nature of things mysterious and perplexing, we have 

 endeavoured to find the true answer to Mr. Henry Vincent's 

 " What is it 1 " (No. 87). At present, the answer which 

 comes to us is " An exceedingly bad picture " ; we should 

 have thought it a school-girl's early attempt, touched here 

 and there by a much-wearied master. The real mystery is 

 "how got the picture in?" Near by is a " Monk of the 

 Order of >St. Francis," by Tremayne Lark (No. 88). For 

 some reason the monk is anxious to suggest the idea that 

 he is reading hard ; but he is a very bad actor. 



We have already referred to one of Mr. Brett's con- 

 tributions this year — the larger. Of that picture we may 

 simply add, that after the best part of a life passed near 

 the sea, and with special opportunities for studying 

 Cornish sea-scapes, we have never seen a rich blue sea in 

 "the gi'ey of the morning ;" and we should be surprised to 

 hear that any one else had : it seems a meteorological 

 impossibility. Of his smaller and, in our opinion, much 

 better painting, "A Falling Barometer " (No. 128), we may 

 note that there is probable incongruity between the heavy, 

 broken sky in one part of the picture and the wine-tinted 

 sea in another. A similar objection applies to ISIiss Jane 

 Inglis's pleasing picture, " On the North-west Coast of 

 Cornwall " (No. 421, Gallery IV.). But occasionally such 

 combinations are scon. Whether it is wise, or artistically 

 sound, to coml)ine them in a painting, may be questioned. 

 But unfortunately the kind of sky which Mr. Brett paints 

 best, and the kind of sea with which he seems most 

 familiar, are not ordinarily seen together. We note in the 

 smaller, as in the larger painting, that the sea is not level. 

 Under broken lights, we are aware, the surface of the sea 

 often presents a singularly illusive effect of unevenness ; 



but iMr. Brett, in " A Falling Barometer," has done] 

 something more than to suggest this peculiar illusion. 



In No. 182, " Bargaining for an Old Master," Mr. llenryl 

 Woods shows marvellous skill in representing pots ancll 

 pans. (Punch has admirably, and as it were lovinglyl 

 caught the Punch-like aspect of the principle figure). The! 

 Dutch school often introduce pots and pans with great effect; I 

 but wo know of no painting in existence where there are | 

 so many pots and pans, drawn and painted with such ex- 

 ceeding care as in Mr. Wood's picture. They are so welll 

 depicted, that the painting ought to find a place in Mj 

 !Mirol)olant's cuisine — no one with higher artistic tast 

 could .stand all these culinary utensils, we should imagine; 

 but M. Mirobolant might like them, or even, like thai 

 celebrated M. Cavalcadour, " require eight more stew-pans, J 

 a couple of braising-pans, eight saute-pans, six bain-marie- j 

 pans, a freezing-pot with accessories, and a few more articles I 

 of which I will inscribe the names." 



The " Raven Crag," by Joseph Knight (No. 192, 

 Gallery II.), is excellent, thoroughly true to nature from 

 sky to foreground. 



In Gallery III. we notice as a singularly fine painting, 

 in which a transient effect is very perfectly represented, 

 Mr. Maurice Page's " Startled " (No. 210). The painting 

 of the startled wild ducks reminds us of Melchior Honde- 

 koeter, but the landscape is better than any of the 

 Dutchman's. 



We have already touched upon the incorrect perspective 

 in Mr. Marcus Stone's " Bad News." There is a more 

 serious fault in the expri ssions of the three faces, which 

 suggest anything but i/hat, we conceive, Mr. Stone 

 wished to represent. For instance, we suppose he did not 

 intend the trooper to look as though he thought, " This, 

 I suppose, is the kind of face I should wear till she looks 

 round." But that is exactly how he does look. All three 

 faces wear manifestly assumed expressions. 



One of the most charming pictures in the Exhibition is 

 No. 378, Mr. Noble's "Toilers of the Road." The con- 

 tented look of the animals as they enjoy the cool water ia 

 the trough, is admirably true to nature. The donkey is 

 " too sweet for anything," as school-girls say. Some have 

 complained that this picture is hung so high. It is seen 

 best at a distance ; but, considering the subject, should 

 have been put lower down. 



Mr. John Piggott's " Dread Winter " (No. 387, Gallery 

 IV.) is excellent ; but the wintry effect does not go beyond 

 bitterness. The name, " Dread Winter," is suggestive of 

 something more appalling than anything shown in Mr. 

 Piggott's capital picture. 



No. 41.3, Gallery IV., " Inverlochty Castle and Ben 

 Nevis," by Mr. Keeley Halswelle, is admirable, but the 

 clearness with which the Castle in the midground is shown 

 is inconsistent with the aerial perspective. No. 414, 

 " Trimming the Net," by Mr. David Farquharson, is a 

 charming picture, the sky especially true to nature. 



Mr. Otto Scholderer, in his " Fine Yarmouth," No. 415, 

 has successfully mastered the difficulty of representing the 

 tint and appearance of dead fish, — so successfully as to 

 suggest serious regret that the difficulty is not greater. If 

 it were but impossible to paint such disgusting subjects ! 

 In Mr. J. T. Linnell's "Wild Flowers, No. 419, on the 

 other hand, a very pretty natural effect has been exag- 

 gerated, and extended over too wide an area. 



Mr. nf:RMANN Smith is writing for Musical Opinion and Music 

 Trade Review a series of papers eutitlod " In the Organ and in tha 

 Orchestra, " in the course of which many new ideas beariu;^ on tho 

 production and appreciation of musical sounds are put forth, and 

 sereral old beliefs are viewed from na w standpoints. 



