484 
‘print of it, we believe Mr. Westall pub- 
_lished.some time since. No.87, a Bac- 
chante sleeping, displays great fancy and 
imagination. No, 189, Flore unveiled 
by the Zephyrs, is very brilliant, and rich 
in the colouring. Nos. 206, 211, 218, 
and 223, :epresenting our late heroic and 
Jamented Admiral Nelson in different si- 
tuations, are extremely spirited and ani- 
mated compositions. 
MR. THOMAS PHILLIPS, A. 
The portraits painted by this gentle- 
man we have often noticed with appro- 
bation. The six which he has this year 
exhibited, display marks of great ime 
provement. No. 103, « Portrait of the 
fate Lord. Thurlow, 1s entitled to a place 
im the very first class. It-owes none of 
ts attractions to glaring colours, but is 
finely conceived, and the clarascuro bold, 
simple, and unaffected. 
No 147, entitled The Blind Fidler, 
1s the only picture which that extraordi- 
nary young artist, Mr. D. Wivxte, has 
in this Exhibition; and it is conceived 
and executed in a style which leads ts to 
regret that there are not more. It is 
highly finished, without any appearance 
of being laboured; aud the story is so 
told as to interest the spectator in the 
scene. Not atiempting to allure the eye 
by glittering colours, the painter has 
displaved a genuine unadulterated repre- 
sentation of nature. The characters are 
admirably contrasted, and marked with 
afelicity of expression more strictly ap- 
propriate than has often been delineated, 
except in the works of the inimitable 
Hogarth. 
‘It bas lately become a fashionable opi- 
Hhion among painters, that all pictures 
which are to be exhibited must be co- 
loured atove nature, to prevent their be- 
ing either overborne by the works of 
others, or overlooked by the visitors in 
so laree a room. This has sometimes 
Jed them into a meretricious colouring, in 
- which, attempting to be splendidly at- 
tractive, they have become offensively 
gaudy. This picture proves the impro- 
priety of any such systematic departure 
from truth, and we hope will impress 
upon the minds of our young artists the 
truth of an old proverb, “‘ That all which 
glitiersis not gold.” 
By J.M. Turner, R. A.thereare two; 
the first, No. 185, the Catalogue de- 
scribes to be a Country Blacksmith dis- 
puting upon the Price of Tron, and the 
Price charged to the Butcher for shveing 
his Poney. This is rather’ tos much to 
Monthly Retrospect of the Fine Aris. 
clean idols, 
(june 1, 
express in picture, nor is it reasonable to 
expect that such a story shoald be clearly 
told on canvas... However, both this, 
and No. 162, representing the Sun rising 
through Vapour, und Fishermen cleaning 
and selling Fish, are admirably paimted, 
but not the better for their resemblance 
to Dutch pictures, which Mr, Turner has 
no occasion to imitate. 
By Mr. A. W. Dervis: there are in this 
Exhibition four pictures; two extremely — 
well-painted portraits, and two singularly 
curious delineations: No. 212, A Bra- 
zier’s Shop at Patna, in the East Indies ; 
and No. 219, A Thrashing-floor m Asia. 
Mr. R. Freeparrne has only one 
picture in this Exhibition, No. 29, Nep- 
tune’s Grotto, contiguous. to Tivoli. 
This charming composition is conceiv- 
ed with classical taste, and executed 
with competent skill, being chastely co- 
loured, and highly finished. 
By Mr. J. Saxon, there are three ex- 
tremely well-painted portraits, which, 
added to their other merits, are striking 
resemblances of the originals. No. 293 
is A Portrait of Miss R. Boughton, as 
Lavinia; No. 818, A Portrait of Ri- 
chard Phillips, esq. ; No. 659, Portrait 
of Sir J. Curr. 
~ Mr S. Drummonp has exhibited se- 
ven pictures; this gentleman’s produc- 
tions are generally entitled to hold a 
very respectable rank ih the arts. No. 
45, the Portrait of Mrs. Drummond, is 
extremely well painted; and so, indeed, 
are all the others. Different writers 
have alternately censured and praised 
Timanthes for concealing the face of 
Agamemnon, a principal figure in one of 
his pictures; but in No. 191, Mr. Drum- 
mond has painted a subject consisting of 
only four figures, and he has concealed 
the faces of every one of them. The 
picture, indeed, is taken from Ossian, 
and as Mr. Macpherson sometimes soars 
to sucha height that his readers lose 
sight of him, his painters may surely 
claim some portion of the poet’s privi- 
eee" y 
_ By Mr. J. Warp, there are seven pic~ 
tures; and we are sorry to see that he 
has fallen jnta the miserable affectation 
of giving his performances the semblance 
of old paintings. ‘As he is certainly a 
man of genius, it is much to be regretted 
that he should thus leave the worship of 
true nature, and baw down to the un- 
Let him leave such imitay 
tion to men of inferior abjlity; his talents 
qualify him ‘to oceupy higher ground. ~ 
: t MR. 
