Leading Articles i.\ the Reviews. 



347 



picturp: galleries in picture. 



In the Connoisseur for August there is an article by 

 Mr. .M. H. .Spielmann on John Scarlett Davis, a painter 

 of pictures of picture galleries. 



Davis, who was born in 180.). studied at the Roval 

 Academy, and then worked in the Louvre. At the age 

 of eighteen he exhibited a landscape, his first picture, 

 at the Ro>al Academy. Others followed a few years 

 later. In 1830 he began his series of interiors — Interior 

 of a Library, Interior of the British Gallery, Interior of 

 the Painted Hall at Greenwich Hospital, Interior of 

 St. Peter's at Rome, Interior of the Gallery at Florence. 

 Interior of the Louvre. Interior of the Church of 

 St. Haron at Ghent, Interior of the Cathedral at 

 .\miens, and Interior of Rubens's Picture Gallery. 



'I"he e.\hibition of 1829, at the British Gallery, which 

 Davis has celebrated in paint, included two portraits 

 by Van Dyck. which now hang in the Kaiser Friedrich 

 Museum at Berlin ; a portrait of a woman by Rem- 

 brandt, now in the National Gallerv ; " The Holy 

 Family," by Reynolds; "The Alarket Cart," by Gains- 

 borough ; and others. Of the five living figures in the 

 ■' Interior of the British Gallery," the two in the fore- 

 ground have been identified as James Northcote, 

 contemplating Reynolds's portrait of himself, and 

 Benjamin West ; while the others represent John 

 Scandrett Harford and his wife, and probably their 

 daughter. There is also a piece of sculpture represented 

 — a bust of the President of the Institution, the 

 Marquess (afterwards Duke) of Sutherland, executed 

 by Chantrey. A picture, entitled " Interior of a Picture 

 Gallery," painted by Pieter C. Wonder, of Utrecht, 

 in 1829, and exhibited at the British Institution in 

 1831, is an entirely different work from that of Davis. 

 -Many of the exhibitions at the British Institution 

 must have been very interesting. In 1813 143 of 

 Reynolds's best works were exhibited ; in 1830 there 

 was an exhibition of works by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 

 and the proceeds, amounting to £3.000, were handed 

 to Lawrence's ten nieces ; and in 1842 the exhibition 

 was devoted to the works (130) of Sir David Wilkie. 



MAMMOTH MOVING PICTURES. 



The cinematograph is now a familiar novelty. I'he 

 Americans have developed it to a colossal size, and 

 for advertising purposes. In Chambers's Journal 

 Mr. D. .\. \\ illey describes the mammoth moving 

 pictures made by electricity. The biggest of these is 

 erected on an hotel : — 



II rcprcsciil^ .n Koman chariol-race, ilone in white and 



coloured linhls, m whidi the horses appear to l)e speedinj,- 



iruiind an arena at a mad gallop. The main theme of the 



lispl.iy is represented by the words placed at the very top of 



lie •.ign— namely, "Leaders of the World." One of the 



' hatiol'i, which appears in the immediate foreijround, is rcpre- 



■ iiled as heiny well in the lead of the other two. The lior-cs, 



while yallopini; at full speed, nevertheless seem to I.e holding; 



their own without the frantic efforts shown by the other two 



learns. The spectator is supposed to be moving around the 



arena with the leading chariot, ami for this reason the st.i'lium, 



the arena wall, and the arena roadway appear to be Iravellin;; 



|'a»l the horses at hiyh speed. 



The sign has been made the leader of the world 

 in point of size and number of electric bulbs. " It 

 rises to a height of seventy-two feet above the hotel 

 roof, and is ninety feet wide. Many seven-storv 

 structures are not more than seventy-two feet high. 

 There are over sixty tons of steel-work to support the 

 scene described." This moving picture is worked bvthe 

 turning off and on of the light on the-electric bulbs: — 



The legs of the near horse are outlined in eight differe nt 

 positions, and these outlines are successively illuminated so 

 rapidly that the eye fails to detect the change, making the logs 

 appear to lie moving as if in running. The mane and tail are 

 provided with a series of lamps, which are successively lighted 

 in such a way as to produce luminous waves representing the 

 waving of the hair, liven the tassels on the harness of the 

 horses are made to move in this wav. 



HOGARTH'S LITTLE COUNTRY-BOX. 



The Architectural Revinv for July has a note on the 

 interesting oriel window of Hogarth's " Little Countrv- 

 Box at Chiswick." By the generosity of Colonel 

 Shipway, Hogarth's house at Chiswick has been handed 

 over to the .Aliddlesex County Council " in trust for the 

 benefit of the public," and it may be visited at certain 

 hours on payment of a small fee. A curious and unusual 

 feature in this old brick house is the oriel window . 

 entirely made of wood, and built on the projecting 

 joists of the first floor. Mr. Bernard R. Penderel- 

 Brodhurrit has measured it and drawn a plan of it. 

 which is reproduced in the Review. The window is suli- 

 divided into panes of beautiful shapes, and the brackets, 

 the cornice, the base-moulding have all been made 

 delightful to the eye. During the early part of the 

 nineteenth century the house was occupied for .some 

 time by the Rev. If. F. Gary, the translator of Dante. 



SHAKESPEARE'S LONDON. 

 As It Was and As It Is. 



The crowds that go to see Shakespeare's England 

 Exhibition at Earl's Court will be interested in reading; 

 Wilson Benington's sketch in Pall Mall of Shakespeare'.s 

 London as it is. The writer describes by pen and 

 camera the places notable in Southwark and the City 

 which are historically associated with Shakespeare. 

 They present a gruesome contrast between ancient 

 romance and modern reality. But the writer makes a 

 suggestion which may be quoted : — 



The new bridge from St. I'aul's is to be built, and will cut 

 right across liankside, with a new ro.id opening through thai 

 network of mean alleys which are the uglier lor the beauty ol 

 their names. There liave been many schemes for a .Shake- 

 speare .Memorial, none of them universally approved. The new 

 briilge atlords an opportunity ; it might well be " Shakespeare's 

 Bridge." And if monumental sculpture may form a part of the 

 memorial, il might be .adorned with statue groups suggested by 

 the plays. It has often been a matter of wonder to me that our 

 sculptors do not seek their subjects in that splendid fieM. 

 What noldcr subject than oUi Lear and the <lead Cordelia 7 — 

 "Cordelia, Cordelia, slay a little"— or than Lear again braving 

 (he storm, with the Ko'ol crouching under his cloak? .A score 

 of subjects leap to the mind ; there is no neeil to name them ; 

 but .Shakespeare himself might be gloriously portrayeil as I'ros- 

 pero in his hour of triumph, .\tiel hovering at his shoulder, 

 (.'aliban grovelling at his feet. 



