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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[September, 



When we come to look at the correspondence of Mr. Hallam and Lord 

 Mahon, we must confess we distrust the Commission, so far as its historical 

 aspirations are concerned. Mr. Hallam, indeed, is willing to avow that our 

 national history can and must afford abundant materials for the artist ; but 

 he, of all men, is unable to appreciate its bearings. The author of our con- 

 stitutional history confounds the history of the people with that of the 

 island, and talks of Caractacus and Boadicea as if they had anything to do 

 with English liberty or English government ; and in another place he tells 

 us that " the whole building is strictly denominated Her Majesty's Palace," 

 which is certainly nothing more than a piece of lawyer's special pleadership. 

 Still, while he appears to insinuate that English history may fairly be thro« n 

 overboard, and Greek and Roman history and mythology be introduced, he 

 in reality gives abundant evidence to show how well and appropriately the 

 Palace of tlie Parliament may be treated. 



" In our jhalls of Parliament, or as we approach them, let us behold the 

 images of famous men ; of Sovereigns, by whom the two Houses of Peers and 

 Commons have been in successive ages called together; of statesmen and 

 orators to whom they owed the greatest part of their lustre, and whose 

 memory, now halloH ed by time, we cherish with a more unanimous respect 

 than contemporary passions always afford." 



" It is by no means my opinion that English history is to supply nothing. 

 We cannot but recollect that a living foreign painter of high reputation has, 

 with a sort of preference, resorted to this source for his most celebrated pic- 

 tures. It is impossible, tliat the large proportion of those which may here- 

 after adorn the walls of the new building, should not be of this description. 

 The bias of public taste in England, tends so strongly towards what is called 

 nature, and so little towards ideality in painting, or even in sculpture, and 

 has evidently e.tercised so great an influence over our artists themselves, the 

 motives for selecting our own history are so obvious, and to a considerable 

 degree, as I would again repeat, so «'cll grounded, that we can have no 

 reason to apprehend a superabundant influ.^ of more universal subjects."' 



"The arrangement adopted for the New Palace at Westminster, may lead, 

 perhaps, to a reasonable distribution of the paintings which may be chosen for 

 its decoration. In those apartments which are naturally associated with the 

 business of the Legislature, such as St. Stephen's Hall, the Central Hall, and 

 the various rooms belonging to the two Houses of Parliament, our English 

 history, or, possibly, also, such allegory or mythic representation as bears 

 upon legislation and policy, ought exclusively to find a place. There would 

 be in this at once a commemoration of past times becoming the national sym- 

 pathy, and a just observance of that propriety in all its accessory parts, 

 which a splendid monument of architecture requires." 



Mr. Hallam, while willing enough to let in any extraneous subjects, takes 

 a technical objection to works founded on the pages of the historian, but 

 wrought out by the artist's imagination, as for instance, the First Trial by Jury ; 

 but we think him right in laying down the canon that no event should be 

 deemed historical which was, as it were, episodical, and which forms no link 

 in the sequel of causation, affecting only a few persons, great as they might 

 be by fame or rank, without influencing the main stream of public aflairs. 

 We do not coincide with Mr. Hallam that the most beautiful and interesting 

 women in English history must be painted ,if at all, on the scaffold : the 

 story of Rowena ; Kenswintha persuading Kenrid, King uf Mercia, and Offa, 

 King of Essex, to take the monastic habit ; St, Hilda baptized by S. Paulinus ; 

 Queen Bertha persuading Ethelbert, King of Kent, to receive St. Augustine ; 

 Scxburga, Queen of Wessex, leading her troops to battle ; Alfred the Great 

 taught by his mother to read ; Elfleda the Queen heading her troops against 

 the Danes ; not to mention later instances, contradict this idea, and give full 

 scope to the artist. On the other hand, we agree with Mr. Hallam that it is 

 desirable show pieces, coronations, processions, meeting of princes or generals, 

 and all overcrowded or dressmakers' pictures should be discarded as much 

 as possible. Battles, we think with him, we must have ; but we should have 

 liked to have seen a more marked notice of naval pieces, works which though 

 neglected, deserve support from this nation of all others, and which are not 

 destitute of artistic resource. We cannot but think on the review of Mr. 

 Hallam's letter, taking the whole of it into consideration, that the good 

 points can have had little influence on his colleagues, and that he himself 

 must be regarded among the supporters of the present trumpery scheme, if 

 not the suggester of it. 



Mr. Gaily Knight's plan we need not speak of, as it has no particularly 

 meritorious features. 



Lord Mahon gives proof of a much better spirit than Mr. Hallam, but is 

 about as obtuse on the matter of history. He talks gravely about the Eng- 

 lish originally roaming as painted savages over their barren hills, and thus 

 mars a fine allusion to the glorious advance of the empire to its present 

 colossal might. Lord Mahon boldly asks, can the history of such a people 

 be wanting in scenes of interest P and, though without much discrimination 

 in his citations, he still shews enough to convince any one that ample mate- 

 rial is to be found in our annals, appropriate, picturesque, interesting, and 

 important. 

 " l.canuot but observe that the two instances, Canada and India, which 



from amongst others, I have quoted as tokens of our greatness, might also 

 perhaps, afl'ord practical answers to the artistic objections urged by Mr. 

 Hallam. He deprecates the painting of battle since ' the introduction of field 

 artillery and scarlet uniforms ;' but surely in Canada, the death-scene of 

 Wolfe, when withdrawn from the field and mortally wounded, with, 1 think, 

 only one officer by his side, the young general (he was but thirty-three), sur- 

 veyed the distant conflict with a dying yet a steadfast gaze, is a subject 

 worthy of employing, and I (rust it may obtain, a far greater artist than 

 West. Thus, also, when Mr. Hallam justly points out the scope to a painter, 

 afforded by ' such subjects as exhibit the human form to a considerable de- 

 gree uncovered,' he will, I am sure, acknowledge (for no man could more ably 

 describe) that the long train of our Indian successes in the arts of war and 

 peace, would supply the advantage he desires by the delineation of the grace- 

 ful and well-formed but scarcely clad Hindoos. 



•'Mr. Hallam goes on to observe with great truth, that for any attractive 

 series of historical pictures, it is essential to ' intermingle female beauty,' and 

 this, in his opinion, a strict adherence to our authentic records will not ade- 

 quately supply. 'In fact,' he adds, 'the most beautiful and interesting 

 women in English history must be painted, if at all, upon the scaffold.' 

 Here, again, I cannot have the honour and pleasure (for 1 feel it as both) to 

 concur with him. — Are we to have any State Trials? If we have, could 

 there he a nobler female figure for an artist than in the scene which another 

 member of your Commission has well described : — 



" ' There on that awful day 

 Counsel of friends, all human help denied, 

 All but from her, who sits the pen to guide, 

 Like that sweet saint who sat by Russell's side 

 Under the judgment seat.' 



" Thus, also, why need any by gone difference on a Royal line, now extinct, 

 prevent us from delineating the young Countess of Nithisdale liberating her 

 husband from the To wer in 17 Ifi (as her own most beautiful letter describes it), or 

 the young Flora MacDonald saving Charles Sjuart from his pursuers in 1746 ? 

 Again, how rich is Scottish history before the Union in deeds of female 

 heroism ! Remember, for example, the scene previous to the assassination of 

 James the First, when Catherine Douglas thrust her arm, instead of bolt, into 

 the staple of the door, and bid the conspirators without burst it open if they 

 would after this announcement ! But supposing that Mr. Hallam desires to 

 confine us, in our argument, strictly to England, and to actions in which 

 royal blood bears some part; although I see no reason for either limitation, 

 yet even then I would venture to allege, amongst others, Boadicea ; Queen 

 Eleanor of Guyenne saving her husband's life by sucking the poison from his 

 wound ; Queen Margaret of Anjou holding forth her children, and confront- 

 ing the robber inthe forest (an instance allowed by Mr. Hallam as the excep- 

 tion to his rule) ; Anne Boleyn in her bridal array ; Lady Jane Grey at her 

 youthful studies; Mary Queen of Scotland, and heiress presumptive of Eng- 

 land, on her landing from France ; Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury Fort ; Hen- 

 rietta Maria in the Civil Wars; Miss Lane assisting Charles the Second in 

 his concealments and disguises after the tiattle of Worcester ; the flight of 

 Queen Mary of Este, and her infant son in 1688 ; Queen Mary the Second re- 

 ceiving the news of the battle of Boyne ; Queen Anne giving her assent to 

 the Act of Union with Scotland ; and last, not least, the first Council of 

 Queen Victoria 1 It may be objected that, in some of these instances, as with 

 Queen Elizabeth and Queen Anne, the ' female beauty' required by Mr. 

 Hallam may not be found. But where a Queen is introduced, there need be 

 no lack in paintings any more than in reality of blooming Ladies of the Bed- 

 chamber and Maids of Honour to attend her." 



We again say that we admire Lord Mahon's spirit, though we cannot ap- 

 plaud his judgment, and we are pleased to see that whatever may be his errors 

 they are not on the score of illiberality, nor participate in the too great ten- 

 derness of Royal Commissioners, in glossing over bold and striking scenes. 

 He suggests even the Seizing of the Mace by Oliver Cromwell, and the Death 

 Scene of Chatham ; and concludes by expressing his sincere and earnest ob- 

 jection to Mr. Hallam's general idea of subjects independent of and uncon- 

 nected with English history, and his decided opposition to it. 



Mr. Hallam replied to this letter, and informs us that the Commission had 

 resolved on the adoption of subjects of universal or national interest, a pretty 

 specimen of which is afforded with regard to the six House of Lords' subjects, 

 which most decidedly have neither universal nor national interest. We can- 

 not see that Mr. Hallam has, in his second letter, taken up any stronger 

 ground, though he again implies that the representation of historical sub- 

 jects must give preponderance and predominance to all the absurdities and 

 extravagances of modern dress. 



In conclusion, we would say the English have a deep interest in historical 

 subjects, and have bad the opportunity of appreciating many. Improve this 

 ■ vantage ground and it must be for the benefit of art at large. 



