MONTHLY RETROSPEC 
(June 1, 
T OF THE FINE ARTS. 
The Loan of all new Prints and Communications of Articles of Intelligence are requefted. 
THE EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL 
ACADEMY. 
FOREIGNER may, perbaps, con- 
fider the Exhibition at the Royal 
Academy as a fort of teft by which he 
may eftimate the {tate of the arts in Great 
Britain; but if fuch is to be the criterion, 
the prefent Exhibition is, from various 
caules, entitled to a confiderable draw- 
back. Several firft-rate artifts, Mr. Welt, 
Sir William Beechey, &c. &c. have not 
exhibited their works at thele rooms. A 
large number of capital pictures are at the 
Gallery in Palimall; and it is become a 
cuftonr for feveral of our Jeading painters 
to make a fort of an exhibition at their 
own rooms. Notwithftanding thefe, and 
fome other circumflances which it is not 
neceflary to enumerate, there are,.in this 
thirty-eighth year of the Royal Acade- 
my’s Exhibition, many very fine pictures. 
By Mr. Opie there are eight; thofe of 
his female figures have uncommon merit, 
and it would be invidious to point out any 
one 2s fuperior to the ret: he has painted 
the eyes, in particular, with fuch uncom- 
mon {weetnels as has been rarely equalled. 
By Mr. Weltall there are eight ; and he 
has difplayed his ufual tafte and feeling of 
the iubjetts. By Mr. Owen there are 
the fame number, and they have great 
merit. Mr, De Loutherbourg has three. 
Me. Lawrence fix. Mr. J. Ro Smith has 
fix in crayons, and they are marked with 
his ufual exceilence—tireng refemblance 
and eafy attitude. 
Among the miniatures thofe in enamel, 
by Mr. Bone, maintain their accufomed 
fuperiority; he has fix. 
has the fame number, and we were pleated 
to fee that they have generally more force 
than he gave to his former portraits, by 
which they are materially improved. Mails 
Emma Smith has four, and, as we fume 
years fince pronounced would be the cale, 
annually improves. Toole in this year’s 
exhibition are in an admirable ftyie. 
No. 5. Love Sheltered. H. Thomfon, R. A. 
A mof beautiful and elegant defign, 
conceived with great tafe and fimplicity, 
and very {weetly coloured. 
No. 19. Court Ugoiino locked up with his four 
~ Sens in the Torre della Fame, and fiarved to 
Death. H. Fufeli, R. A. 
This is not the firftt time that Mr, Fu- 
feli has ventured to exhibit a picture ona 
Mr. Edrdge 
fubjeét previoufly painted by Sir Jofhua 
Reynolds. Among the very fine feries 
that were fubmited to public infpeétion 
inthe Miltonic Gallery was a fmall and 
flight fketch of the Death of Cardinal 
Beaufort; in which the marking of the 
face difplayed the charaéter drawn by the 
poet with a fidelity and force that we hard- 
ly ever faw equalled. Every diabolical 
paflion was blended with horror, and the 
dread of diffolution, and we thought the 
countenance more characteriftic of the 
character than was the Prefident’s pidture 
at the Shakefpeare Gallery. In the pic- 
ture now under confideration, we do not 
think the learncd keeper of the Royal 
Academy has been quite fo fuccefsful. It 
has the ufual marks of his ftyle and {pirit, 
‘carried to a degree that becomes extrava- 
gant, but no one can fay that the delinea- 
tion is infipid. 
Yet it muft be admitted, that to felec& 
a fubject which had been previoufly fo ad- 
mirably treated by Sir Jafhoa Reynolds, 
the general effect of whofe pi&ure was fo 
well known by the fine mezzotinio en- 
graved. from it, required a degreé of— 
courage, we believe it muft be called, that 
perhaps is not poffefled by any other artift 
of this country; though fome of thofe 
whole namcs are dignified by the addition 
of the two capital letters R. A. have in 
other inftances dilplayed a noble daring. 
42 The Houje of PrateGion for defitute Females 
of Characier. Mifs M. Spitfbury. 
In this very fweet little pi€iure, the 
characters of the two girls applying for 
adimifficn are marked with great delicacy 
and tru’h, and the geseral effect of the 
whole is in an eminent degree pleafing. 
50. The New Bridge, Durbam. W. Daniell. 
An extremely fine picture, in a broad 
and fimple ftyle. ’ 
56. Portrait of a Lady in the CharaGer of 
Fiche.—114. Portrait of Mifs Clark, in the- 
Character of Una, from Spenfer. Fe North- 
cote, R. A. 
Some ot the piétures which this veteran 
artift painted for the Shakefpeare Gallery, 
&c. we have noticed in former Retrofpects 
with the praife to which they were fairly 
entitled ; and fome of his portraits have 
an unqueitionable claim to approbation 5 
but to unite poetical pictures te portrait is 
a very difficult tafk. There is one com- 
mon fault which pervades portraits of 
this 
