94 
FINE ARTS. 
[Nature and Art, August 1, 1866. 
host of what we Westerns term “circumstances”) decides 
for the quality and the future of painted as of written pro- 
ductions, and, like those who find too late that they might 
have done better, the disappointed amateur must submit 
to it and hope. We are given to understand that up to 
this time the gross total of sales, from a collection of 1,087 
oil-paintings and water-colour drawings, has reached the 
sum of about <£9,000, being within a few pounds more or 
less equal to the receipts of last year. But at the same 
time we much regret to observe that a number of works of 
excellent quality still remain on the walls round us without 
that pleasant sale-ticket which cheers the sympathizing 
critic as well as the more interested artist. Whether this 
may be traced — as the artists will trace it — to the crippled 
means of a class within whose financial reach the majority 
of the works of the society generally fall, or to an absence 
of self-reliant taste from the visitors, it is not our function 
to decide. The gallery will be dispersed within a few days 
of our present issue, and our remarks cannot therefore 
influence the sale of a single canvas ; but we will not deny 
ourselves the satisfaction of offering a parting word of en- 
couragement to a few of the Unsold. 
First and foremost in this category, we regret and 
wonder to find two admirable specimens by J. B. Pyne, 
painted perhaps more clearly than usual with this distin- 
guished artist, and offered at by no means high prices. One 
of them, a delightful and delightfully -painted view of 
Venice, is disfigured by the introduced diagonal lino of the 
“ Strada Ferrata,” which may account for the neglect of 
the work by a public who have not had time to digest the 
conception of a Venetian railway at all, and who will for 
ages yet to come prefer the Venice of all the painters, from 
Cannaletti to Cooke, to any edition improved and corrected 
by the engineers and architects. Mr. W. Fyfe, by affixing 
to one of the most — if not the most — meritorious and 
complete works in the exhibition, “ The Covenanter of Priest 
Hill,” a price perhaps intended to be prohibitory, has pro- 
bably obviated all offers ; but this cannot apply to the very 
clever march of Commonwealth cavalry, by Mr. F. Weekes, 
a small canvas within reach of thousands, cheap in price, 
excellent (though among ten figures the artist has only 
shown one face) in the drawing and handling of both men 
and horses. No such hypothesis, again, could account for 
the yet unmated condition of Mr. H. H. Horsley’s pleasant 
study in the woodland (No. 73), or Mr. John T. Lucas’s 
“Head Centre,” a small Irish character head of excellent 
quality. We are surprised that the pretty mignonne, the 
“Euterpe” of Mr. Radford (No. 216), has not found a 
purchaser at <£12. 12s.; for the work is after the school that 
the Meissonniers have popularized, and is quite to the taste 
of the age. The fair guitarist is, however, on the floor- 
line ; and so is Mr. T. Whittle’s pretty, luminous little 
gem, “The Way to Warren” (No. 400), offered at ,£4. 4s. 
None can wonder that the vast clan of Williams and 
Boddington do not sell every inch they produce ; still, No. 
376, offered here by one of them, constructed on their usual 
pattern, might have tempted some Art Unionist. No. 545, 
by another of this family, “ A bright Winter’s Night in the 
North,” exhibiting - a snow-covered range in moonlight, is a 
truly marvellous gallery picture of considerable size. None who 
have not well marked the lustrous softness of snow under 
moonlight can understand this work. Its range of buyers 
has therefore been limited, or it would long since, we are 
sure, have changed hands. Mr. Rossiter’s (76) “Secret 
Intelligence ” comprises a lady, a lover, and a duenna. It 
is beautifully wrought, small enough for any private house, 
and very cheap at twenty-six guineas; but fate — perhaps 
the unfortunate faults that the figures have no action, 
and that any title would answer as well as that chosen — has 
kept it yet unsold. Mr. Woolmer has seldom, in years 
past, failed to get rid of his fair and misty dreams. This year, 
lie is more distinct and more telling than usual, yet one of his 
best — in the best position too — falls under our present notice. 
The fact that two of Peele’s Northern country landscapes 
are unsold, reflects no great credit on the taste of the 
thousands who, having the means, deny themselves such 
acquisition. Perhaps they are too faithful. That Mr. E. 
Pettitt’s gigantic “ Matterhorn,” faithful though it be in 
outline and no less true in colour, should be 'unticketed is 
not surprising. The artists of this name too often ignore 
those classes of society who have no picture galleries or 
vast mansions, and forget, at the same time, that even in 
galleries and mansions of this period space is more scarce 
than pictures. The vials of our surprise are not yet exhausted 
though hardly adequate to the demands on them in the 
water-colour room. Here, considering the vast popularity 
of water-colour drawings, the comparatively absurd prices 
at which admirable and conscientious work is offered, we 
are on the painful horns of the following dilemma : — Either 
ladies and gentlemen of means, position, and even affect- 
ing taste, who have abundantly visited these walls, have 
really no taste, or courage to venture a few sovereigns in 
support of it, until the painted ware has been through the 
hands of the dealers ; or the position we last month 
ventured to combat is a true one, and the picture-buying 
energies of the middle classes (though the auction sales 
pertinaciously belie this) is completely paralysed. iRound 
us are some twenty or thirty works — we cannot refer to all 
of them — which the amateurs have ignored at prices we 
have not space to quote ; and which — when these walls 
shall have been stripped, and the artists’ stock have found 
its way to the stores of the middle-man — will be issued to 
the stupid herd of genteel buyers at double and treble 
prices, as boudoir and drawing-room furniture. We refer 
especially to several elegant pieces by Mr. Thomas Pyne (son 
of the famous oil-painter); to Mr. J. Varley’s “Harvest 
Time” (891) ; to Mr. Dakin’s effective “Hastings” (938 # ); 
to the noble drawing of Prague (940) (architectural alto- 
gether) by Dobbin ; and to a very charmingly wrought 
and most reposeful “Milking Time,” by Mr. Galbraith. 
This, perhaps, is one of the most elegant drawings here. 
Two of “Arundel Castle,” by Charles Pyne, should long 
since have had the green ticket, and surely as we write, the 
“ Tanfield Dene” (1075), of Mr. Galbraith, here offered for 
ten guineas, will, in the fulness of time, and when the 
artist shall have painted out a monstrous rabbit which is 
a sad eyesore to the initiated, be offered as “dog cheap,” 
on an expansive cardboard mount, at twenty. Mr. J. D. 
Linton’s water-colour (884) “ A Soldier of Fortune,” offered 
at sixty-three pounds, is a large and very imposing three- 
quarter-length figure of a cuirassed warrior, helmet in hand 
and lance on shoulder. It is, unfortunately, in a cramped 
position, and the exigencies of space deny the spectator 
sufficient room for thoroughly enjoying its qualities. Still, 
carefully and successfully studied, as well as painted, this 
magnificent drawing is at once a curiosity and an honour 
to the rooms. Again and again we have pondered over and 
enjoyed it ; but its destination next week is, we are most 
sorry to see, yet undecided. 
The Studies (in Water-colours) of Italian Art, 
exhibited for two months past at No. 2a, New Burlington 
Street, by the artist, Mr. J. Hadwen Wheelwright, deserve, 
even if out of due season, some notice from every journal 
professing to embrace Fine Art topics within its range. 
Had the fine art equivalent in our last number not been 
somewhat in excess, we should then have offered to Mr. 
Wheelwright the encouragement and admiration we now 
bring somewhat repentantly, in that we are too late to be 
of immediate service to him. He has worthily accomplished 
his end of illustrating, by means of water-colour copies from 
great masters, the progress of painting in Italy, from the 
early Christian period to the grand consummation of the 
art under Leonardo, Michael Angelo, and Raffaelle. Seven 
years were devoted to this labour of love. They were seven 
years not alone of handiwork, but also of worship and 
meditation : and how successfully they were spent none 
may know who do not spend a delightful hour or two in 
presence of their results. Commencing with the famous 
“ Nozze Aldobrandini” of the Vatican, a painting of the 
first century, the series of copies proceeds to a singular 
work of the sixth century, from the Calixtus Catacombs, 
depicting the Last Supper, and very remarkable for the ex- 
treme youth of the disciples, without exception, and the 
conventional outline (as to the beard especially) of our 
