1-811.1 Monthlij Retrospect of the Fine Arts. 
itself a proof of the failure of the painter 
iTi representing the simple fact of “ the 
death of Nelson.’^ 
It has been often and truly said, that 
an historical picture is a silent drama, 
the fixed representation of one single ac¬ 
tion, a “ one and indivisible” portion of 
a scene in the great drama of human life; 
and therefore the bringing together of so 
many persons, and circumstances acted 
on different spots, which the painter him¬ 
self deems it expedient to illustrate with 
his pen, is an unpardonable incongruity 
in a painter of such rare merit and une¬ 
quivocal eminence as Mr. West. 
It is not too much to say, that, had Mr. 
West found it necessary to write such a 
commentary on tlie Death of General 
Woile, by introducing such episodes as 
he has in this picture, or by following any 
other mode that the unadorned and un¬ 
shackled method of simple truth, both 
in unity of the action and fidelity of 
the costume, his fame would not have 
been enlarged as it has been by that 
picture. 
Mr. West has been much praised for 
this bold act, and justly compared to 
Macklin and Kemble, the reformers of 
the costume of the drama ; the united 
banishers of bag-wigs, silk-stockings, and 
modern court-dresses, from the ancient 
heroes of the stage; and of antique 
dresses from British heroes on the can¬ 
vas. Barry^s censure of a similar piece 
(either Mr.West^s or Mr. Penny's Death 
of Wolfe, which is now in the picture- 
gallery of Oxford), by calling it “ a coat 
and waistcoat piece,” and his own nude 
representation of this heroic general’s 
death, in “ the style of the old masters,” 
must be well remembered; but all Bar- 
'Ty’s eloquent writing in his own behalf, 
has not saved his picture from oblivion. 
Yet the undescribed and intelligible work 
of West needs no translation to assist the 
peruser ;~it is a genuine and unadorned 
subject, that speaks all languages. The 
praise of the Death of General Wolfe is a 
silent condemnation of the Death of Nel¬ 
son, and the followers in the school of 
West naust be careful to avoid the double 
transactions of the Inst, which nothing 
but the talents and long-established fame 
of the great master can atone for ; and 
doubly so to observe the opposite unity 
of fact and place in the other; and the 
united beauties of style, colouring, and 
composition, in both. 
Deriucting this single (intended) error, 
few other, and no glaring, faults cait biJ't ; 
MojiiHLX Mag, No. 21(>, 
found; the composition and grouping is 
good, the anatomical accuracy excellent, 
the portraits sufficiently accurate for the 
work, but not possessing all the traits of 
a professed portrait-painter. The co¬ 
louring of tlte flesh is every where excel¬ 
lent, but the blues of the draperies are 
too sombre, and the scarlets too dingy. 
The engraving by Heath (the elder) is 
a most charming specimen of the art; 
the lines are struck with the accuracy and 
brilliancy of a practised vetefan, and add 
an additional wreath round the name of 
the engraver of so many excellent plates, 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Mr. Charles Stothard, eldest son of 
Mr. .T. Stothard, has just completed the 
first number of a work that is by all al¬ 
lowed to surpass even Street in correct¬ 
ness of etching, and will leave nothing 
to be desired of ancient monuments ; 
giving all the ininutice of the armour^ 
arms, ornaments, &;c. of those fine re¬ 
cumbent figures of abbots, warriors, 
knights, their pages, and ladies, so just¬ 
ly admired in our catheiirals and old 
churches. The work will be in numbers, 
of twelve in each number, and coloured, 
when necessary, to decide the costume. 
It is hoped that, when the beauty of 
these fine monuments is a little better 
understood, an end will not only be put 
to the whitewashers’ brush, now used by 
way of reviving them; but that some 
sensible people will set about taking off 
the ten or twenty coats of colour, with 
which most of these statues are loaded, so 
as to destroy all the foliages. 
In the British Museum the prejudices 
of some of the trustees are daily making 
havoc among theTownley marbles; and it 
is painful to relate, that the fine group 
by Scopus of the Faun and Nymph, as 
well as its opposite neighbour, the Well- 
top, surrounded by groups of figures, both 
in a good Greek style, and equal to any 
thing in the collection, have lately been 
removed into the vaults, where they will 
be subject to every injury from smoke and 
neglect. 
The Directors of the Liverpool Aca¬ 
demy have advertised their intention of 
publishing annually an engraving of a 
subject in history, or landscape, to be se¬ 
lected from their exhibition ; and, in con¬ 
formity to this praiseworthy inteulion, 
have, for this year’s piate, chosen Mr. 
Richter’s much admired picture, called 
“ A Picture of Youth and request any 
engravers, who may De desirous to exe- 
^jGUie this task, to setid specimens of their 
H skiii 
