Nature and Art, December 1, 1866.] 
THE WINTER FINE ART EXHIBITIONS. 
243 
minister of Ghent, to the honours and social position of 
which their father had been deprived by the malice of his 
enemies ; by an indifferent picture of a Highland shepherd — 
a very theatrical Highlander indeed — by Rosa Bonheur ; and 
by contributions by Tenkate, Schlessinger, W. Bougereau, 
Victor Cha'vet, H. Koelckoek, Verboeckhoven, C. Bisschop, 
Beranger, and H. Frere. Among the more noticeable 
English works are “ Sir Iludibras and Ralpho in the Stocks,” 
by J. Pettie, A.R.A ; a “Fine Naval Scene,” byH. Dawson, 
junior, representing the Lords of the Admiralty visiting 
Sheerness ; and contributions by Richardson, Creswiclc, 
Cooper, Dodgson, and other well-known artists. 
Among the landscapes, three, “ Morning and Evening on 
the Ledr,” by Leader, may be noted as falling little short, in 
atmosphere, treatment of water, aerial perspective and 
fidelity, of the works of the greatest landscapists. The last, 
the finest work, is as perfect in its representation of still 
water — a difficulty ordinarily with artists — as can well be 
conceived. Mr. Marcus Stone is represented by a picture of 
“ Royalists seeking Refuge in the House of a Puritan,” rather 
thin, yet marked by true refinement of feeling ; and Mr. G. 
D. Leslie has several works of great excellence, and finish. 
In a collection so large — numbering nearly five hundred 
pictures and drawings — it is impossible in one brief notice 
to do justice, especially where all the works appear to have 
gone through the crucible of taste, and to have been 
selected with much more than ordinary skill and discrimina- 
tion. Two very conspicuous and most successful pictures 
by Mr. E. Long-, and two or three sketches by Mr. E. Nicol, 
in his usual manner ; with works by Dobson, P. F. Poole, 
Faed, and artists not less eminent, are passed from lack of 
space, but with a most complete recognition of their merit. 
The Institute of Painters in Water Colours 
has opened its usual winter exhibition, and Messrs. Row- 
botham, Campion, and Hayes, are, as heretofore, its largest 
contributors. Among the associate members, Messrs. Guido 
Bach, Chas. Cattermole, J. M. Jopling, and R. Richardson 
figure strongly; but the collection is by no means striking 
in interest or artistically attractive by virtue either of 
matdriel or treatment. 
Of the more conspicuous works are two large studies, 
“The Interior of an Artist’s Studio,” by L. Haghe, repre- 
senting the same room from different points of view, and 
under varied aspects of light. The studio is full as a 
curiosity shop of all the bric-a-brac accessories of modern 
art. Armour, carved oak furniture, vases, flowers, guitars, 
easels, lay figures, tapestry, damask hangings, &c. These 
paraphernalia, as might be assumed, are admirably rendered ; 
but we cannot help condemning- the waste of ingenuity dis- 
played in the treatment and representation of so uninterest- 
ing- a shrine. A studio is but a studio, and the same skill 
employed might have perpetuated with equal success the 
interior of some grand cathedral, or Mediaeval hall in Flanders 
or Italy, which would have lent additional value to the 
artist’s execution, and graced his labours by grateful recom- 
pense of intrinsic interest. As a mere study the pictures 
are admirably painted with great care, and the artist’s 
characteristic technic ability. 
Mr. Hine, so at home among boats and Brighton fisher- 
men, and who seems “native and to the manner born” when his 
theme is the sea, contributes again sketches of his favourite 
subjects; but has also tried “fresh woods and pastures 
new.” He represents us with some sketches in the neigh- 
bourhood of Swanage and Eastbourne. These are rendered 
with his usual care and skill, and one “ near Swanage,” a 
little more ambitious than ordinary, is marked by great purity 
of colour, and is more than moderately successful. Mr. 
Rowbotham shines as of yore in his calm lake scenes, and 
in those Italian views in which blue water, vines, feluccas, 
and Italian peasants seem so essential an element. Mr. 
Rowbotham is nothing- if not pretty, and is on the present 
occasion both pretty and vapid ; but he offers two or three 
views less mannered, and therefore more interesting than 
usual. M. Carl Werner’s Eastern scenes are by no means 
unfamiliar ; but his sketches on the present occasion are 
marked by more finish, and have less bravura of manner 
than former essays of the same kind. “Interior of a Bath 
at Damascus,” “ An Antique Gateway,” and “ A Tailor’s 
Shop at Cairo,” are among the studies, and of these the 
last is certainly the best. 
Mr. D. H. MacKewan, Aaron Penley, and J. W. Whym- 
per, stand among the foremost representatives of land- 
scape ; and Mr. Penley’s “ Buttermere Lake, Cumber- 
land,” painted on the spot, may be cited as one of the most 
honest and vivid drawings from nature, and perhaps the most 
wholly meritorious work, in the collection. It is charac- 
terized by the most fastidious realisim and purity of treat- 
ment, and is calm and serene as nature’s self. The water 
is expressed without affectation or trick, and the local 
character of the hills which shut in the mere, are most 
authentically preserved. A scene in Wales, by the same 
artist, called Llyn y Cwm-Fynnon, near the Llanberis pass, 
is a similarly faithful transcript of native scenery, broad 
in its handling, accurate, and unaffected, and yet indicating 
that artistic discrimination which Fuseli has asserted to be 
the imagination of the landscapist. 
Mr. Campion displays extreme versatility in his essays, 
and presents us with marine views, sketches of military trains, 
architectural vistas, coast scenes, and studies of figures, all 
drawn with more or less freedom and vigour, but of very 
varying excellence. Of the two which hang just within the 
doorway, No. 19, “Boat pushing off,” is by far the best; 
being- free and spirited in composition, good in treatment, and 
tolerably vraisemblable. Mr. W. W. Deane, whose works 
are always welcomed with pleasure, is not so strongly re- 
presented as he has been, but has one or two drawings 
expressive of his artistic care and fastidious feeling. Mr. 
Harrison Weir sends five or six frames of small sketches, 
and drawings of birds, a lion, pigeons, and dogs. The last 
is especially excellent ; the animals represented are ad- 
mirably contrasted, most effective in pose, drawn with 
great anatomical care and skill, and instinct with life and 
verve. 
Among the other contributors who may be pleasantly 
remembered are Mr. W. Telbin, Skinner Prout, James 
Fahey, Henry Warren, and E. Richardson. Mrs. Wm. 
Duffield may be especially recalled with admiration and 
pleasure, as presenting some out-of-door studies of heath in 
flower, which have never been surpassed for delicacy of colour, 
truth, and patient — even loving — tenderness of delineation. 
Among the other Art Memoranda of the month, 
the sale of three or four valuable pictures at Mr. Gurney’s, 
in St. James’s Square, and of the celebrated “ Black Wedg- 
wood,” of Mr. Thomas De la Rue, may be recorded. Among 
Mr. Gurney’s pictures were the very fine portrait of 
Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador to the court of James I. 
and the enemy of Sir Walter Raleigh ; a Holbein of Henry 
YIII. in an imperfect state ; and an authentic-looking 
portrait, artist unknown, of Henry VII. The rest of the 
collection included some modern pictures of no especial merit, 
and a very fair example of Vandyck in portraiture ; but was 
not otherwise remarkable. 
Mr. De la Rue’s china — sold at Christie & Manson’s 
from the 12th to the 20th inst., inclusive — Comprised, 
perhaps, the largest collection of Black Wedgwood that has 
yet fallen into the hands of any single person, and some of the 
very finest examples of the great potter’s art. The collec- 
tion also included a vast number of articles in the well- 
known blue and white wares, with one or two in white and 
sage green ; but was greatly inferior in this respect to that of 
Mr. Mayer, the well-known collector at Liverpool. The 
examples of black ware were some of them of large size, and 
included busts and statuettes so large, sharp, and ornate, as 
to create surprise that such works could have passed 
through the furnace. Among the more remarkable of these 
were a life-sized bust of De Witt, some 25 inches high, 
exquisitely sharp in its delineation, and modelled with 
great anatomic skill ; a bust of Seneca, also ; life-size, 
and nowise inferior in executive excellence, as well as being 
of classic simplicity and design ; and a statuette, after the 
antique of a sleeping boy, about 15 inches in length. The 
detail and modelling of this figure are probably equal to 
it 2 
