1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



257 



No. 4, a fresco, is the Accusation of Susanna, by Robinson Elliotl, 

 perhaps illustrative of English trial by jury, or a special jury in a crini. 

 con. case. It has some fair design, but is a bad fresco, being in single 

 layers of colour, looking unfinished, with large masses of raw colour. 



No. 5, a fresco, by the elder Aglio, one of the earliest practitioners 

 of fresco in this country, is a Representation of the Bay of Naples, 

 showing great capabilities in fresco for landscape and perspective. 



Law and its Attributes, No. U, by S. Bendixen, is executed after a 

 method invented by the artist. This, like No. 31, is violetty, or rather 

 of a plum bloom tone, but clean, and showing apparent care in hand- 

 ling. The figure, however, is not Law but Meekness. 



A very curious work is No. 7, by Ford Madox Brown. It is a 

 cartoon of the Body of King Harold brought to William the Norman 

 after the Battle of Hastings. There is some able grouping, some good 

 drawing, but after French masters, and there is a demoniacal grin on 

 most of the countenances which mars what might otherwise be a good 

 work. From a misrepresentation of a passage in Thierry, William is 

 represented with two great human thigh-bones suspended round his 

 neck, although it must have been tolerably apparent to the artist, that 

 it was impossible for the Duke to move about on horseback with such 

 a Cossack decoration. The figure of King Harold is too old, while 

 the mouths of all the figures are wide open. The coloured sketch 

 No. 8, has the same disagreeable effect of colour which the cartoon 

 has in design. 



0, Prayer, by John Calcott Horsley, the border by Owen Jones, and 

 the border is the best. This is a decent work in the Wordsworth and 

 Rogers vein, and by a favoured artist, who received on the previous 

 occasion a £200 premium, in our opinion equally ill-deserved as the 

 commission he has now obtained. 



10, Beatrice Cenci, said to be meditating the death of her father, 

 but that is doubtful. John Zephaniah Bell was a two hundred pound 

 prize man. To our simple eyes, this prize fresco is raw and unfinished, 

 badly designed and badly executed. 



No. 11. Two Heads, by John Martin, fresco, is sketchy, but has 

 more feeling and ability than its two neighbours, and raises our esti- 

 mate of Mr. Martin's capabilities. We wish he would, regardless of 

 the neglect he has on the present occasion felt, devote himself to his- 

 torical art. 



No, 12. Fair Rosamond, by Edward Corbould, fresco, the frame by 

 Simpson, in the Strand. This is tame and the colouring wants breadth, 

 while the subject shows how well the artist understands what is due 

 to the dignity of the country. The frame is good. 



No. 13. An Act of Mercy, by William Riviere, fresco, poor, coarse, 

 and brown, the hair like mops. 



No. 14. A study in oil for fresco, by E. Butler Morris, the Over- 

 throw of the Druids, has much gesture and grimace, is tame and tells 

 no story. 



No. 15, is a cartoon from Milton, by G. Page, in which a number 

 of queer, strange-looking animals are huddled together, one of them 

 a caricature of the Apollo Belvidere. The principal figure looks as 

 if he had just been whipped and was squalling after it. 



No. 1(5, by Ambrosini Jerome, and 17, by James Archer, both frescos, 

 have no adequate subject, and if not sunk in the depths of ignorance, 

 have few merits to attract attention, though there is much bright 

 colouring. The latter artist may do in time. 



No. 18. Boadicea, a fresco, by Henry Warren, the President of the 

 New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is a great stark staring 

 woman with her mouth open. 



The study in oil. No. 19, by E. Butler Morris, Discovering the body 

 of King Harold, is a much better work and subject than No. 14. 



A Bacchante, by Jones Barker, fresco, 20, has bright colouring. 

 No. 22. A Girl reading, the same. 



The cartoon from the Tempest, by Salter, 21, shows some excellent 

 drawing. 



No. 23, is a Study on Fresco, by Augustine Aglio, jun. It has a 

 good deal of merit, but the figure wants interest. 



William Edward Frost received a premium of 100 guineas last year. 

 His fresco of Samson slaying a Philistine, No. 24, shows Samson as a 

 jeune extravagant. The figures all brown. We must not, however, 

 depreciate it too much, for it is has merits above many of its com- 

 peers. 



No. 25, is an oil painting by William Riviere. Council of Ancient 

 Britons. Nucleus of the British Parliament. We have pointed out 

 the nonsense of this; however, there is very good grouping and the 

 arrangement excellent ; as if, nevertheless, to show a disregard of 

 everything appropriate, a beautiful English boy is represented in a 

 corner of the picture. 



The drawing and figures in the cartoon 26, by Joseph West, are 

 French. It is Margaret of Anjou protected by the Robber in the 

 Wood. It has considerable merit. 



Alfred the Great, 27, is a piece of decoration. 

 A wounded Greek, by Stephanofl^, 28, is a piece of this artist's dan- 

 dyism. We were not over impressed with the treatment of the car- 

 toon for which he received one of the £100 additional premiums, nor 

 are we more so with the fresco, which is dauby. 



A fresco, 29, the Combat, by Charles Hancock, has some good 

 horses, but the artist, to avoid making mistakes in his human figures, 

 has cased them in armour. 



The Signing of Magna Charta is a cartoon, said to be by Douglas 

 Guest. To avoid doing dishonour to an artist once respectable we 

 shall say no more. 



S. Bendixen's other work is Peace receiving a wreath of Flowers, 

 which is rather a better work than No. 6, but in the same style and 

 tone. To our mind. Peace seems turning round the wreath on hei 

 finger, as jugglers do plates. The figure, though pleasing, wants 

 dignity. 



The fresco, 32, of the subject No. 19, is very fair, but wants finish. 



No. 33. King Henry, is nothing, if not raw. 



No. 34, the Empress Aggrippina interceding on behalf of the 

 Family of Caractacus, is only part of a fresco, which is to be re- 

 gretted, as the artist, Charles Lucy, shews himself capable of grappHng 

 with his subject and his tools. To our mind Agrippina was never so 

 brown. 



The cartoon, 35, by Harold John Stanley, Alfred compiling his Laws, 

 is one of the few appropriate subjects, and the artist deserves much 

 credit for the very great attention he has shown to the details, and to 

 the drawing. The fresco 36 is, however, weak. 



Mr. Hart's Head of David, in fresco, 37, is one of the finest works 

 in thfe exhibition, and in our mind entitled the artist to have been 

 among the six selected, instead of some of the favoured. It is a work 

 which justly excites admiration. 



The Golden Age, 38, a fresco, is better than 28, but still it suggests 

 the idea of a sitting room or a lady's boudoir. 



The Trial of Canute, a cartoon, by John Martin, No. 39, is the next 

 work. It details the circumstance of King Canute the Great having 

 in a fit of intemperance slain a soldier, when descending from the 

 throne, he insisted on being tried and punished for the oft'ence. This 

 subject is a fine one, and is carefully carried out. The composition 

 is replete with interest, though of a subdued and solemn character. 

 The large expanse of vaulting overhead may perhaps be objected to 

 as giving a nakedness to that part of the design, though contributing 

 to the serenity and imposing effect of the whole. This is a work 

 which, for research and originality of subject, is entitled to great ap- 

 plause. 



The Study of a Head, by R. W. Buss, a fresco, 40, shows the artist 

 in a much higher str.iin of art than he has hitherto practised. We 

 hope he will follow up the career so ably begun, 



Kilchurn Castle, in Scotland, No. 41, is a fine landscape in fresco. 



The next number is attached to a daub. 



No. 43 is unimportant. No. 44 is best adapted for a public house, 

 for which we suppose it is ultimately destined. 



No. 45, 46, 48 and 49 are by Armitage, one of the competitors of last 

 year, who received the premium of £300 for the cartoon of CcEsar's In- 

 vasion of Britain. The cartoon of Oohelia treats excellently, with 

 originality and with feeling, a hacknied subject. It must, however, be 

 carefully looked at to be appreciated, when the arrangement of the lights 

 and disposition of the figure can hardly fail to meet with approval. The 

 encaustic painting of The Fates, is one of the gems of the exhibition. 

 It is a grand subject, in which dignity is maintained, and the realms 

 of imagination entered without the truthfulness of those of nature 

 being impaired. The execution is good. The two studies in fresco 

 show boldness in treatment and firmness of hand, and are also in the 

 class of superior works, though possessing some palpable faults. 

 Armitage is an artist whom we have gained fay these competitions. 



The cartoon, 47, by Stcphanoff, is the Death of Wat Tyler, treated 

 in holiday style. 



The fresco of King Alfred, by H. C. Selons, 50, has some merit but 

 is wanting in firmness, drawing and study. 



No. 51. Redgrave's Loyalty, a fresco. Catherine Douglas barring 

 the door with her arm to withstand the assassins of James the First 

 of Scotland, is a subject difficult to be treated, but which Mr. Red- 

 grave has done himself much honour in mastering. While the paint- 

 ing powerfully arrests public attention, we are glad to see that its 

 artist has been selected as one of the six artists for the House of Lords. 



The Throne of Intellect, Nos. 52, 54, and 55, by W. C Thomas, is 

 undoubtedly a fine composition, but suggests to our minds the idea of 

 imitation from the works of Rafiaelle. We recognize the ability of 

 the artist, but we are not quite inclined to approve his selection as 

 one of the six. 

 No. 53. The meeting of Jacob and Rachel, by C. W. Cope, has 



