364 Picture-Notes. — The Royal Academy. 



Marks is remarkably clever, though verging too much on 

 caricature in "FalstafPs Bagged Regiment;" and Mr. Stone 

 has given a pleasing picture of Nell Gwynne, in the days of 

 her orange -girlhood, giving fruit to an old soldier. 



We now come to the most beautifully painted picture in 

 the exhibition — the u Eachel " of Mr. F. Goodall, remarkable 

 for its finished, accurate drawing, and for its mastery over 

 difficulties of colour. " Eachel ;; — we do not know that we 

 identify her particularly with the Bible character — is descend- 

 ing the steps of a well with a pitcher on her shoulder. The 

 light glows on her rich brown complexion, falls softly on her 

 amber- toned drapery, and gives a singular beauty to her 

 finely-moulded arm. The perfect roundness of the limbs, the 

 swelling of the muscles, and the strikingly natural way in 

 which, while they stand out against the sky, their edges soften 

 into it, are great triumphs of technical art. The colours are 

 peculiar, and remarkable for that delicate combination of 

 richness and softness which have characterized Mr. Goodall' s 

 productions since his Egyptian tour. The sky has a greenish- 

 blue tint ; the girl is partly enveloped in a soft yellowish- 

 tinted robe, sparingly relieved by a narrow red girdle, and a 

 blue and red stripe in the border. The sunlight falls with a 

 mellow richness seldom equalled ; it absolutely glows on the 

 dress, and the soft transparent shadows seem to move as the 

 spectator gazes upon them. Very rarely has an English artist 

 produced so exquisite a work, and we are glad to learn that it 

 has realized a price seldom given for a single figure. We 

 should like to see Mr. Goodall in a more dramatic style. He 

 calls this figure " Rachel," but many other names would do as 

 well. It is evidently true to nature ; but it is not specially 

 true of any particular personage in story or song. 



No visitor to the exhibition can fail to notice Mr. Carter's 

 sheep skurrying away from a wolf, and starting out of the 

 frame, as if in full tear towards the spectator, and ready to 

 plump down from their place over the door of the west room. 

 This picture is a clever specimen of this particular perspective, 

 and the animals are full of vigour and expression. 



Mr. J. T. Linnell has a fine picture, called the " Moun- 

 tain Road/' but, as usual, mannerisecl, and we miss amongst 

 the landscape-artists any one who has successfully entered on 

 a new path. Of graceful pieces, like Lee's " Salmon Poachers 

 Discovered/' several might be named; but a grand and 

 natural style of landscape art seems not at present to exist 

 amongst the various candidates for fame. Mr. Vicat Cole has, 

 however, made a handsome departure from the conventional 

 methods of marine painting, and the play of light on the yesty 

 sea depicted in No. 48 ( J is very fine. This sea has evidently 



