8 
By the eftablifhment of the Royal Aca- 
demy at Paris, Lewis XIV. obtained a 
’ Jarge portion of fame and flattery on very 
eafy terms: but, if we can believe Voltaire, 
the arts were little benefited; for that 
lively writer afferts, that after its eftablith- 
ment no one work of genius appeared in _ 
the country, the whole band, adds he, 
became mannerijis and imitators. 
The late Mr. Hogarth appears by fis 
Life, compofed from his own manufcripts, 
to have thought that the eftablifhment of 
a fimilar eftablithment in England would 
not fend to the improvement of painting. 
Sir Robert Strange in his Inquiry into the 
Eftablifhment of the Royal’ Academy, 
publifhedin 1775, admits that ‘¢academies 
under proper regulations are the beft 
-_nurferies of the fine arts,’’ but adds,— 
‘swhen the eftablithment of the Royal 
Academy at London is impartially con- 
fidered, it will not, Iam afraid, refiec& that 
credit we with on the annals of its royal 
founder.” _ 
Mr. James Barry, whofe pictures in 
the great room of the Society for the 
encouragement of Arts, &c, are an honour 
to this country, thought that one of thefe 
regulations ought to be the effablifbment of 
a gallery furnifbed with pictures painted by 
the frie m. flers of their art in diferent ages 
and countries, for the contemplation and wn- 
provement of the fludents. 
be adopted for this, he fuggefted in fome 
of his lettures, and added a fair eftimate 
of the. adyantages likely to refult from 
fach an eftablifhment. 
To return fromthe fociety to their pro- 
duétions,—we laft month remarked that 
the exhibition did not abound in large or 
very capital piétures by the old and efta- 
blithed members ; we fhali therefore confine 
this toa flight retrofpective enumeration 
of a few that have been painted by young 
artifts, The confideration of their merits 
may enable us to form fome judgment of 
what is likely to be the future ftate of the 
arts in this country. 
|. M. W. Turner comes into the clafs 
of ‘thofe who have not exhibited untila 
few years ago, and his piatures are not fo 
well calculated for the common eye as the 
gaudy and glittering delineations of very 
inferior artifts, but they are marked with 
mind, and touched with a fpirit and 
energy which we have rarely feen equalled. 
His pdintings im their variety and effect 
Aave been aptly encugn compared to Bra- 
ham’s finging.—Eldridge’s portraits in 
black lead pencil are extremely fine. 
Owen’s picture of a ichoolmiftrefs is very 
= 
Retrofpe of the Fine Arts. 
The plan to* 
[July 1, . 
well conceived and admirably painted. 
Clarke’s of Dorothea wathing her feet, is 
entitled to fimilar praife. H. Richter’s 
drawing of a Bacchante has great merit ; 
it is very well drawn, and_ exquifitely 
finifhgd. The portrait of Sir, Sidney 
Smith, by Porter, is not a happy repre- 
fentation of this diftinguifhed oficer,—for, 
though. 
‘s Heroes are much the 
agreed, 
From Macedonia’s madman to the Swede,” 
yet the air, fpirit, dignity, with which a 
Vandyke or a Reynolds would have 
elevated the character, are here totally 
loff. : aes 
Among the land{fcapes there are feveral 
correct views from nature. Indeed taking 
individual views feems to be now. very 
properly preferred to imitating the man-_ 
ner of other mafters. Two landfcapes 
which were in the library, by Landon, 
were worthy of a much better fituation 
than the baxging committee thought proper — 
to allot them. He»has not adopted the 
manner of any other artift, neither has he 
infpected nature through the medium of 
foreign. painters. His. ftudies have. not 
been confined to his painting-room, but 
extended to the fields, the woods, and the 
figures of this country; and his pictures 
are Exgli/b, Englifh, Sirs, from top to toe. 
The reprefentation of the Hoftage prin- 
ces of Myfore before Seringapatam, by 
Devis, is principally made up of figures 
in {carlet habits, which could not be ren- 
dered very piéturefque, or coloured with 
great effect, but it is onthe whole a well-° 
managed and well-painted pi€ture, Rey- 
nolds’s piétures are admirably drawn and 
well painted. / 
A fecond and third examination of Milfs 
Emma Smith’s piéture of the parting of 
Hedior and Andromache, confirmed ours 
opinion, that it difplays a very uncommon 
exampie ot early tafte and genius. Mr. 
Raphael Smith’s portraits are in an admi- 
rable ftyle, and moft friking refemblances. 
In {pirit and colouring they are very {upe- 
rior to the pictures he formerly painted in 
oil., ‘ 
Thus much may fuffice for the Royal 
Exhibition. For thofe of ancient paint- 
ings, Of modern paintings, ot pictures 
painted with hot: pokers, of pictures im: 
worfteads, and piétures in wool, cf mo- 
dels in cork, ivory, and in filhes bones, | 
we have not room at pfrefent. 4 
A portrait of Matthew Boulton, efq. of. 
Scho. Staffordfhire, engravea by SHARP, 
in the vbeit manner of that inimitable artifts 
from 
fame, the point’s 
