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MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF THE FINE ARTS. 
| (Communications and the Loan of all new Prints are requefied.) 
[Vhe Magnificent Exhibition of Count 
Truchfefs is noticed in the articleVarieties, 
- and it will be further defcribed under 
this Head, in our next Number. 
Reinagle and Barker’s New Panorama, being 4 
Pifiurefque View of Rome and the furrounding 
Country, now exbibiting near the New Church 
in the Strand. 
HIS view is really what it profeffes 
JL to be, literally pi@urefque; it is 
taken from the Villa Lodowici, on the brow 
of the Pincian Hill, by R. R. Reinagle ; 
the building for exbibiting it, was erected 
under the immediate direction of Mr, 
Thomas Edward Barker, cldeft fon of Mr. 
Backer,of the Panorama, Leiceiler-fquare. 
We are informed in the Profpectus that 
this picture is to be fucceeded by a fecond 
View of Rome, from the Tower of the 
Capitol, which embraces all the well 
known antiquities of the Forum, now the 
Campo Vacino ; the moft part of the old 
walls and aqueduéts, &c. and every ob- 
jet that can intereft the public, ina view 
of that celebrated city. 
Confidered as a whole, it is more decep- 
tive, and makes a ftronger impreffion on 
the fenfes, than any picture we ever faw. 
Thehoufes, public buildings, and churches, 
are dilcriminated with an accuracy that 
renders every tile, every brick and ftone, 
a portrait; but correétne{s is not its only 
merit; the brilliancy of colouring, and 
breadth of effect is inconceivably grand ; 
the fky is a mafter-piece of art. 
tout-enfemble is fo irrefiftibly {iriking that 
the fpe€iator can f{carcely perfuade himfelf 
that he is looking at a picture. It is 
a magical though momentary triumph of 
art over reafon. 
We are forry to fiate, as fome little 
drawback upon this laft circumftance par- 
ticularly, an impropriety, which has evi- 
dently originated in accident, and which 
we would recommend the artifts to attend 
to in their fecond View of Rome.  {[t 
might be corrected in this, if the whole 
picture could be made to turn upon a pivot 
Ike a windmill. 
A Panorama is profeffedly a deception, 
and the whole pigture is intended to be 
feen from the centre, but efpecial care 
fhould be taken to hide every thing which 
will deftroy that illufion. Now, aS you 
cannot be conduéted from the ftair-cafe to 
the centre, without paffling intermediate 
objects, you mutt of courfe catch the view 
of the picture on one fide, which fhews it 
The . 
to. fome difadvantage. To remove, or 
greatly leflen this difadvantage, the pain- 
ter ought to have contrived, that the eye 
of the fpectator fhould fall fr& upon the 
offskip, or fome part in what the painters 
term the diffance; infiead of which, she 
firfi notice is attra&ed by the neareft obje@ 
in the whole fcene. This leads thofe who 
fee it to the knowledge of a circumftance 
which ought to have been moft carefully 
concéaled—the fize of the room, in which 
this ceception is exhibited. The view 
from tne ftaircafe might have had for a 
terminus, Porta Pia, or any other object 
that might be at the extremity of any of 
the hedge-rows. 
A Series of Prints, commemorative of 
the Four Great Naval ViGories, are ready 
for delivery to the fubfcribers, &c. ‘They - 
are defigned by R. Smirke, R.A. and are 
allegor.cal, vignetie-formed, compofitions, 
with a tablet beneath, containing portraits 
of the fea-officers who commanded in tlie 
engagements. The portraits of the ad- 
mirals are placed in the upper part of the 
defigns ; three of them are painted by 
Bowyer, and one by Smart. 
No. 1, Is in commemoration of the 
victory onthe 4th of June, 1794. Bri- 
tannia is reprefented as feated on a rock ; 
canopied by our native oak, on which are 
fufpended the portraits of Lord Howe and 
the other admirals ; receiving from a fi- 
gure, intended to reprefent, Fame, the 
wreath of viétory. Engraved by F. Bar- 
tolozzi, R.A. Beneath is a tablet with 
portraits of the captains, engraved by 
Stow. This print is engraved in a dark- 
er flyle than is ufual with Bartolozzi, 
but poffefies much of thé merit of that 
unrivalled artit. The defign is fimple 
and impreffive, but the portraits have a 
bad effect, from being fo much too large 
for the tree, that they reduce the oak, 
the glory and pride’ of Britain, to the 
fize of a goofebcrry-bufh. ‘The portraits 
are well engraved, and from the nature 
of the fubje&t are highly interefiing. 
No. 2, In commemoration of the victory 
on the 14th of February, 1797 ; we have 
here a tiatue of victory, to the pedeftal of 
which are fufpended medallions with the 
portraits of Lord St. Vincent and the 
other admirals, engraved by Parker ; 
beneath a tablet, with portraits of the cap- 
tains, &c. engraved by Worthington. 
This defign is conceived with fimplicity 
and tafte, but engraved in what artifts call 
X 2 rather 
