such butterfly remarks die with the season in which they are uttered, yet, for the time, they have their effect, and weaken the fervour or dull the edge of many who are both able and willing to foster native talent, and have not courage or decision to judge for themselves. We now conclude with congratulating our readers on the success of this picture, which proves an advance in the historical feeling of the country. We hope in future they will place confidence in our predictions, and give us credit for never suffering our friendly feelings to interfere with our love of truth. J. E. ART. XIII. EXHIBITION of the Works of British Artists placed in the Gallery of the BRITISH INSTITUTION, Pall Mall, for exhibition and sale, 1820. AMONG the pictures deserving of notice for their various degrees of intrinsic merit, the most prominent are the following. 5. View of Abbeville; by Geo. Jones. A sweet little bit of characteristic scenery. 7. Pandora formed by Vulcan, and crowned by the Seasons, a Sketch from Hesiod. W. Etty. A classical and well coloured sketch, shamefully and partially hung. 14. The Daughter of Herodias receiving the Head of John 17. A Veteran Highlander, who served at the Battle of This old warrior bears marks of identity, character and appropriate expression, with richer pencilling than Wilkie has lately used, and approximating to his first and best style. 19. A celebrated Scotch Stag Hound, the property of the Marquis of Huntley. G. Hayter. Hung opposite to E. Landseer's Alpine mastiff, to which it is as opposite in nature, unaffected colouring and interest. It is too like Ward and too unlike Nature to please the unsophisticated critic. 30. The Day before the Wedding. M. W. Sharp. A delicate and rich piece of humour. A cavalier is trying on the wedding ring upon a lovely girl who is modestly averting her head. Her duenna is encouraging her, and the jeweller, with his box of trinkets in his lap, is earnest only upon his goods. In the back ground, her aged father, deeply interested, is investigating the marriage settlements with the lawyer. The scene is laid in a splendid apartment, the architecture and perspective of which is as chaste and correct as if designed by a professor of that difficult art. Mr. Sharp has before displayed both talent and taste in his architectural compo sitions, as was shewn particularly in his Connoisseur, exhibited here some years since, and now in the collection at White Knights. The accessories of this picture are properly introduced, and both carefully and well painted; and it abounds in genteel humour, and bienséance of comic incident. His picture of the Music Master, now a distinguished ornament of the cabinet collection at Mr. Thomas Hope's, hangs by the side of a fine Metzu, and is no disgraceful pendant. This artist has now reclaimed his rank in the London school, and we trust he will maintain it by industry, study and care. 39. Good night. E. V. Rippingille. A sweetness of feeling pervades this little picture, but it is still too black and opaque in its shadows, and too much in style like Bird. 41. View of Edinburgh from the Calton Hill; Evening. G. Vincent. A grand and imposing view of the northern metropolis, less carefully finished than the artist's former works, and by no means an improvement upon them. The foreground and sky are finely imagined, but the aërial perspec tive of the streets inefficient. 42. Hercules killing the Man of Calydon with a blow of his Fist. W. Etty. A fine academy figure, well drawn and deliciously coloured. It is coarsely imagined but vigorously exe-. cuted, and, like all the best pictures this year, wretchedly hung. 48. Waterloo, June 18, 1815; Evening. G. Jones. Battles delight us not, but this battle must delight every Englishman. This is one of the best we have seen, though too much like a bird's eye view, but a military friend assures us it is correct in costume and delineation. 61. Bookham Church, Surrey. C. R. Stanley. Bookham, its neighbourhood and church are well known to us, and this beautiful and natural portrait of its village spires brought many delightful associations to our mind. The name of the artist is new to us, but an air of nature and unaffected pencilling pervades this and other of his works, which are hung in most discouraging situations. 73. Old Mortality. The old restorer of the monuments of the faithful of his H. Singleton. sect is depicted by an intelligent pencil. Mr. Singleton exhibits less of his yellow manner in this little picture than usual. 90. Crossing the Churchyard. Robt. Farrier, "He whistled aloud to bear his courage up." After the first visit or two to this exhibition, we began to look in all the bad places for the best pictures, and in this, which had twice escaped us, we discovered one of the most promising little pictures in the exhibition. For expression, drawing and painting, it might really be mistaken for one of Wilkie's early pictures, and is nearer to his best points than any artist who has painted in his style and manner. 109. Bacchanalians gathering Grapes. D. Wilkie, R. A. ""Tis true, 'tis pity, pity 'tis, 'tis true"-Wilkie is not Rubens, nor Rembrandt, nor Titian, but something much better than a mere imitator of either. "Men do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles,"-nor will Wilkie produce good wine from his Bacchanalian gathering. 122. Idea of Titana from the Pira Grove.-Vide Pau. Cor. C. XI. J. M. Gandy. Splendid, rich, and Grecian. Had some of Mr, Gandy's ideas been taken for our New Street, Borromini would not have reared his head nor Batty Langley triumphed. 127. A Trophy and Temple. J. M. Gandy. Of similar merit with the last. 132. A Village Concert. W. Ingalton. In the style of Wilkie and manner of Bird, but inferior to both. 141. Macbeth. John Martin. Mr. Martin again triumphs in historical landscape. The idea is grand, but loses from its immensity. All large things are not grand, and the space here taken, and the armies here represented, like viewing a comet through a telescope of too great powers, it magnifies till it diffuses to thin and vapoury air. Martin must condense, and study drawing, colouring, and detail. As a sketch this is grand, but as a finished picture its defects in the above essentials overpower its beauties of conception. 152. The last Interview between Brutus and his Son Titus. J. Northcote. A mere whole length portrait of Mr. Kean, with a doubled up youth at his feet. Mr. Northcote's past merits and his age prevent us from saying all we think upon this picture. Time was when no such portraits were allowed to steal in here in the disguise of history. 155. The Cup of Tea. W. M. Sharp. An old man enjoying his repast, richly pencilled and naturally coloured. Mr. H. P. Hope has confirmed our good opinion of it by adding it to his collec tion. To sell a picture is the wish of every painter, but to have it added to the gallery of a judicious collector is beyond its price. 163. Calandrino, a Fiorentine Painter, thinking he had found the Elitropia (a black stone) and thereby become invisible, is pelted home by his Companions. H. P. Biggs. A strong but coarse feeling of humour pervades this picture, with a judicious arrangement of light and shade. The short and clumsy proportion of the figures displays any thing but a knowledge of drawing. The expressions deserve praise. |