(594 4 
[July ly 
MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF THE FINE ARTS. 
{The Loan of all new Prints and Contntunications of Articles of Intelligence is requefied.} 
FN our lait month’s remarks on the Royal 
IL Academy, we mentioned a woeful lack 
of hittoric fubjests, and the great predo- 
minanceof portraits ;but, notwithfanding 
this, and their perpetual fquabbles among 
each other, we always confidered the an- 
nual exhibition at this place, as a collec- 
gion from which the hiftory of the Enghfh 
fchool might be in a degree recorded, as 
it ftill diiplayed the general ftate of the 
arts cach fuecceding year. We fear this 
is no longer the cafe; for, from fo many 
arti(ts now miaking fepatate exhibitions of 
their own piftures, the Royal Academy 
ceafes to prefent a fair criterion. The 
neceflary confequence of this is, that their 
vifitors decreale; and this in’ fo great a 
degree, that, we have been told, they this 
year foki only 12,000 Catalogues, though 
in the year 1803 they fold 29,000. - The 
number of vificors, we believe, may be efti- 
mated in about a fimilar proportion; and 
if fo, what a falling off is here! 
How far thefe feparations of fo many 
branches from the great trunk may be 
eccaficned by individuals being improper- 
ly treated, it does not come into our plan 
to notice: neither is it a part of our plan 
¢o notice their various exhibitions ; but 
the two which follow, and which aré wor- 
thy attention, are of a feparate and difting 
defeription. 
Dvbourg’s Exhibition of large Cork Models, No. 
6-7,Lewer Grofvensr-fireet; Mount Vefuvius at 
the- Time of the great Eruption with the Flow- 
im of the Lava; the-Town of Portici, Gc.a 
A ight View of a Torrent.of ’ Lava, that fell 
dg, »wna hollow Way above fifty Feet sand form- 
e 4 a fingular and beautiful Cafcade of Fires 
=. Amphitheatre of Verona, Temples, Maufoleums, 
& Sc inand xcar Naples, and the Sours of 
France. 
The principal part of the reprefentations 
f mouldering fanes, &e. which we have 
hitherto feen, have a ftrong refemblance to 
thofe artificial zezv ruins which are ereckd 
an the grounds of fome of our nobility as 
2 terminus to an avenue, and remind us of 
the decorations of a paftry-cook’s fhop on 
Twelfth-day, rather than of thofe gigantic 
remains of ancient magnificence which dif- 
play adignity in their decay, and though 
¢* Obfcur’d in duft, 
Yet ftill majeftical ; the folemn fcene 
Elates the foul, while now the rifing fun 
Flames on the ruins, in the purer‘air, 
Tow’ring aloft, upon the glittering plain, 
Like broken rocks a vaft circumference = 
Rent palaces, crufh’d columns, rifted moles, 
Fans roll’d on fanes, and tomibs on buried 
tombs.”* 
To give as exact a mirror as art can 
produce of fuch a feene as this Mr. Du- 
bourg hes chofen the beft material that 
nature has furnifhed ; the fpungy and loofe 
texture of the cork tree, when proper- 
ly chofen, has a very ftrong refemblance to 
the mouldering appearance which the teeth 
of time give to very ancient buildings, 
and thefe ruins havea very ftriking refem=- 
blance to the mouldering fanes from which 
they are copied. 
In New Bond-ftreet there is a Botanical 
Exhibition, in which are many moft ex- 
quifite drawings, made for Dr. Thornton's 
meft {plendid- work, &c. which to the 
ftudent in natural hifory will afford much 
entertainment, and infruétion ; and whew 
confidered with a relation to Dr. Darwin’s 
Loves of the Plants, &c. open to the 
poetical mind the fources of a new and . 
very amufing mythology. 
Her Royal Highnefs the Princefs of Orange. Hopp= 
ner pinxt. P, Conele feulpt. in Chalk. 
This print difplays great tafte in the 
engraving; it is not fettered by that rigid 
mechanical manner, which in many of the 
prints of the prefent day has cof aundeid 
all diftin@tion of mafters, and given a va= 
pid famenefs to the produétions of every 
age and country, reducing every variety 
to: oné common ftandard, and leading the 
way to our becoming a band of mannerilts, 
of the moft contemptiblaftamp. Nothing 
can be more fatal to the arts, or more 
likely to blight every bud of genius, than’ 
thus marching’ in’ proceffion through a 
beaten path, and reducing the engraver 
to a mere mechanic. We therefore 
rejoice when we fee any artift fhake off thefe 
hackles and afflume the charaéteriftic dig- 
nity which ought to be adopted by all whe 
with for diftinction in their profeffion. 
Right How. Charles Abbot, Speaker of the Houfe 
of Commens; T. Northcote pinxt. Picart feulpt. 
in Chalk. 
The ftyle of engraving portraits, which 
was foractimes adopted by Bartolozzi, we 
have frequently recommended to the ftudy 
of the young artifts of this country; and his. 
engraving cf Lord Loughborough we re- 
colle&t having noticed in the Retrofpect’ 
in the high terms cf praife to which it 
was entitled. The engraver of this has 
judicicufly taken the portrait of Lord 
Loughborough for his mode!, and pro-’ 
duced a print of coniiderable merit. 
Bea- 
