FINE ARTS. 115 



REPOET ON FINE ARTS- 



BY JOSEPH HAVEN. 



^01 the least attractive part of the exhibition this year, was the 

 display of those nicer specimens of workmanship, whether of the 

 needle or the pencil, which fall under the general department of the 

 Fine Arts, and in which the ingenuity and skill, no less than the in- 

 dustry and practice of the fair artists, are conspicuously displayed. 

 It is a pleasant thing, among the manifold productions of the farm, 

 the dairy, &.C., to find some place for the handiwork of the gentler 

 ones, Avho neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, but who in 

 their way are as industrious within doors, as we of the rougher sort 

 are without, and who are at once the ornament and the delight of 

 every true home. Among the choicest treasures of the Agricultural 

 Association at its recent fair, were those delicate specimens of needle 

 work, drawing, painting, &c., the productions of the wives and 

 daughters of Hampshire, vieing with each other to adorn the halls 

 filled with the humbler products of the farmer and the loom. May 

 the more productive industry of the farmer and the loom, never be 

 dissociated from a taste for the fine arts, and the love of the beauti- 

 ful. 



The collection of specimens in this department was quite large, and 

 of very superior quality. The whole number of entries on the 

 books was something over one hundred, and of the entire number, it 

 would have been much more difficult to find those not deserving of a 

 premium, than to select those that richly merited one. It will be 

 impossible, in this brief notice, to make mention of any considerable 

 part of the rich collection — only a few articles can be specified. 



The most conspicuous object, as the observer entered the hall and 

 glanced at its contents, was the large collection of oil paintings, 

 twenty-six in number, which adorned the walls — the work of Mr. 

 E. S. Field, of Sunderland. Most of these have been on exhibition 

 before, and we need not therefore particularly describe them. Many 

 of them are large and costly paintings, and they certainly do credit 

 to the ingenuity and industry of the artist. With better opportuni- 

 ties for artistic education and study, we doubt not Mr. Field would 

 show himself a superior workman. 



Among the great number of paintings that covered the walls, we 

 noticed with peculiar pleasure some flowers in water colors, by Mrs. 



