,notes on the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition1 #ahfh ,,price1 ,,one ,,shilling4 ,,notes ,,on ,,the ,,royal ,,academy ,,exhibition1 #ahfh4 ,part ,i41 by ,wm4 ,michael ,rossetti4 ,part ,,ii41 by ,algernon ,c4 ,swinburne4 ,,london3 ,,john ,,camden ,,hotten ,,piccadilly4 7,,all ,,rights ,,reserved47 ,,by ,,her ,,majesty',s ,,royal ,,letters ,,patent4 ,,bryant ,,may',s ,the 8,times0 says 8,lucifers have risen gradually to be at last a special source of danger1 and no careful housekeeper who looked at these returns 7,fire ,brigade7 would ever allow any but ,safety ,matches inside their doors40 ,,patent ,,safety ,,matches ,,fraud4 ,without the precaution of observing closely the address1 ,,bryant ,,may1 and their ,trade ,mark1 ,illustration3 ,,trade ,,mark the ,public may be imposed upon with an article that does not afford ,protection from ,fire4 ,,light ,,only ,,on ,,the ,,box4 ,,notes ,,on ,,the ,,royal ,,academy ,,exhibition1 #ahfh4 ,,part ,i4 ,,by ,,wm4 ,,michael ,,rossetti4 ,,part ,,ii4 ,,by ,,algernon ,c4 ,,swinburne4 8,desiring this man's art1 and that man's scope40--,,shakspeare4 ,,london3 ,,john ,,camden ,,hotten1 ,,piccadilly4 7,,all ,,rights ,,reserved47 ,the reader of this pamphlet will be apt to understand1 from its very arrangement1 the fact that each of the writers speaks solely for himself4 ,each chooses his own point of view1 and expresses his own opinion1 and in his own way4 ,if the opinions happen to diverge1 it will be for the reader to select1 as he pleases1 either or neither4 ,a4 ,c4 ,s4 ,w4 ,m4 ,r4 ,a person who undertakes to express to the public his opinion of any such ,exhibition as that of the ,royal ,academy is not unreasonably liable to the imputation of presumption4 ,for that imputation ,i am prepared2 ,i admit it to be1 within certain limits1 just2 and must bear it as ,i may4 ,but there are two forms of possible and probable censure which ,i should respectfully decline to accept as well bestowed4 ,the first is censure of a signed critical pamphlet1 rather than an unsigned newspaper or review article4 ,the pamphlet expresses the opinion of an individual3 the article does or ought to do the same4 ,so far they stand on the same ground2 anything which may be presumption in the first is presumption in the second also4 ,the difference is that the first does1 while the second does not1 lay bare the writer to the retorts of any person who may hold himself aggrieved3 that may be more open1 more equitable1 and more bold1 but it is not more presumptuous4 ,the second form of misleading censure is that which makes a point of reprobating omissions4 ,the limits of this pamphlet1 as to dimensions and as to the time and facilities available for its preparation and composition1 are manifestly narrow4 ,all that the writer professes is to say straightforwardly whatever he does say3 he by no means implies that nothing else remains to be noted concerning the works of art commented upon1 nor that the works wholly omitted are undeserving of mention4 ,if anybody1 therefore1 tells me that the picture of ,a1 of which this pamphlet says nothing1 merits criticism1 or that the picture of ,b1 praised for colour1 claims praise on the score of drawing also1 ,i shall have no difficulty in admitting the probable correctness of these remarks2 but1 if he adds that ,i am blameable for the omissions1 ,i shall feel entitled to reply that ,a's picture and ,b's draughtsmanship were not in the bond4 ,what is in the bond is liberty of selection and candour of statement on my part3 if my selection is stupid1 or my statement unfair or erroneous1 be that the charge4 ,let the censure concern itself with something wrong that is done2 not with something right that might have been done4 ,w4 ,m4 ,r4 ,,royal ,,academy ,,exhibition1 #ahfh4 ,,part ,i4 ,some twenty years and more ago1 the ingrained fault of the ,british ,school of ,painting was that it painted flimsy pictures4 ,they were not exactly sketchy1 having little of either the merits or defects proper to the phase of art termed sketching3 pictures they were1 but flimsy pictures4 ,then came the thick-and-thin revolution of ,prraphaelitism2 which aimed at treating substantial subjects1 thinking them out deeply1 and painting them with abnormal thoroughness4 ,that revolution scarcely exists now otherwise than in its results3 certain works executed according to the principle in question1 and representing it2 many others parodying or maiming the principle1 and traducing it2 a vast number of works1 still in course of active production1 which owe their genesis to the principle1 but have metamorphosed it beyond recognition4 ,so that now we have come round to a condition of the school more analogous to that of twenty years ago3 only that the present staple product is1 instead of flimsy pictures1 works executed with a valuable reserve-fund of knowledge1 efficiency1 and material1 but in the feeling and with the aim proper to sketches4 ,critics have long been beseeching for 8breadth40 ,that is now supplied to them in handsome measure2 but it is found that breadth1 like frittering1 may overlie a considerable surface of commonplace and inanity4 ,the very skill of our current generation of painters is one of their chief perils2 for it enables them to indicate with ease1 and often indeed with mastery1 what less dexterity could only strive for with labour4 ,rapid gains and the tumult of competition conduce towards the same result4 ,the upshot1 to some critics1 is1 in the present ,academy exhibition1 a sense of no little dissatisfaction1 mingled with unstinted recognition of telling and well-diffused ability4 ,one perceives that many artists can now do a good deal1 if they choose2 but the more sound one sees the attainments of the painter himself to be1 the less one is disposed to accept with implicit faith the rather cheap outcome of those attainments4 ,sketches may be excellent things1 and they testify to the ready availability of the artist's gifts3 but sketches magnified into pictures cloy upon one4 ,they betray in especial a self-complacent unconcern for higher efforts4 ,in general character the present ,academy exhibition1 the hundredth of the series1 is very like that of #ahfg3 that was a particularly clever display1 according to its own standard1 and this perhaps is nearly on a par with it4,a ,a ,to estimate the comparative merits of successive ,exhibitions is always to me a difficult matter4 ,the sentence in the text expresses what ,i felt about the present ,academy show while ,i was in the rooms and as ,i began writing2 but1 on treating of the pictures individually1 ,i so often have to say that some painter is this year quite at his best that ,i infer the display of #ahfh may probably be fully as good as that of #ahfg4 ,i leave the text1 however1 unaltered1 as faithful to a general impression4 ,with these few remarks1 ,i turn at once to the walls1 and begin with-- #f4 ,,millais--,sisters4--,it is a great satisfaction to find ,mr4 ,millais in force this year--in very superior force1 for instance1 to what he displayed last year4 ,this group of three girlish sisters--the painter's daughters--shows him in pure1 unforced1 untrammelled possession of his mastery throughout4 ,the arrangement of the group is so far artificial that one clearly perceives the sisters are posing for their portraits3 no effort is made to disguise this fact1 and it cannot1 ,i think1 be counted as a blemish--rather as one legitimate method of portrait-painting1 though not so popular now as the contrary scheme4 ,all the three girls are dressed in white muslin1 with azure ribbons1 and hair combed out4 ,the background is composed of azaleas1 which1 in the left-hand,b corner of the picture1 seem to change from crimson-pink to vermilion-pink2 but the latter colour is scrubbed about with no appreciable traces of form4 ,b 8,left-hand0 and 8right-hand10 in this pamphlet1 will always be used to designate the portions of the pictures opposite to the spectator's left and right respectively4 #aj4 ,,leys--,la ,famille ,pallavicini de ,gnes rclamant le droit de ,bourgeoisie des ,bourgmestres et ,echevins de la ,ville d',anvers1 #aedb4--,when our ,royal ,academy is honoured by a contribution from one of the first magnates of ,european art1 it becomes us to accept his work in a spirit of gratitude1 with much desire to study1 and very little to cavil4 ,it is by way of study that ,i venture to note some of the leading characteristics of that medival style which has made ,baron ,leys famous throughout the civilized world4 #ast4 ,he identifies himself with the period he paints--not only in a general way1 as a good scholar might do1 but especially in respect of its concerted outer demonstrations1 and its social aspects1 and this with all the more zest when a spice of patriotism is involved4 #bnd4 ,working from this solid basis of medivalism1 he is never afraid of individualizing his personages to the very uttermost3 they are actual men and women whom he might--and for anything ,i know does--pick up in the streets of modern ,belgium4 ,an extreme instance appears in the present picture1 in the furthest right-hand figure1 whose portrait-like aspect is unmistakeable4 ,this1 however1 being an obviously modern head1 differs from the generality--which1 with their personal actuality1 are somehow projected back1 by the imagination and skill of the painter1 into the medival period1 and thus come to be even more like what one conceives of the sixteenth than what one knows of the nineteenth century4 ,hence an air of startling realism3 the personages are as real as if they were painted in coats and trowsers2 and the medivalism is as real as any modern man can make it4 ,the very uncouthness and hard-featuredness of the figures is a powerful element in this realism3 it looks as if the painter had seen them actually there1 and depicted them as in duty bound--had he been selecting1 one would expect more of positive beauty or semi-idealism4 #crd4 ,baron ,leys paints with a remarkable mixture of force and slightness1 detail and unfinish4 ,he gives an extraordinary number of items1 and with singular strength of definition1 yet with little that can1 on close inspection1 be called elaboration4 ,everything is done so as to solicit the eye at a little distance1 and up to a certain point to satisfy1 never to satiate it4 ,the style of execution has even a good deal that might be termed rough and ready2 and 7what is of great importance7 it is quite unlike any handiwork of the ,middle ,ages themselves4 ,moreover1 the painter 7in the present phase of his style7 very seldom gives any mere accidents of light and shade--direct or flickering sunshine1 contrasts of natural and artificial light1 or the like4 ,it may seem fanciful to say that this also subserves the historical impression2 and yet ,i think it does so powerfully--the scenes and the actors in them tell upon the mind1 through the eye1 as having passed out of the momentary into the permanent--out of the region of chance and change into that dim lumour and remote subsistency of the past4 ,having said thus much1 by way of study1 of ,baron ,leys's pictures in general1 ,i shall not endeavour to analyse the particular work before us4 ,it is a replica of one of his frescoes in the ,townhall of ,antwerp1 and illustrates the value which distinguished foreigners were wont to set upon the right of citizenship in that great commercial and privileged city4 ,it is to be regarded as an important and excellent specimen of the master1 though some others might deserve the preference in point of executive completeness4 #ag4 ,,linnell1 ,,sen4--,english ,woodlands4--,a very characteristic and fine example of the painter's style3 one might use it as a text-book wherefrom to develope his specialties in the ,english school of landscape4 #cj4 ,,watts--,landscape1 ,evening4--,a small work1 but conspicuous by its broad1 strong colour1 very warm and mellow3 it has power both of hand and of sentiment4 ,the sky is especially luminous4 #dd4 ,,hemy--,tte de ,flandre1 near ,antwerp4--,there is a great deal of space in this picture3 and the tone of green-grey colour is finely felt and solidly sustained4 ,a sense of the ripple in the estuary is given by a curious sort of sleight of hand--an actual ridging or rucking in the surface of the paint4 #eb4 ,,cope--,the ,life's ,story4--,this is the subject of ,othello relating his adventures to ,brabantio and ,desdemona4 ,the lady hangs upon the words of the ,moor with a demonstrative interest that fully justified his inference that she must be in love with him4 ,the picture cannot1 ,i think1 be counted among ,mr4 ,cope's successes4 #fd4 ,,grant--,the ,duke of ,cambridge at the ,battle of the ,alma1 leading the ,guards up the ,hill in support of the ,light ,division4--,the weak point of this picture is the isolated figure of the ,duke himself1 which has more the character of a likeness by a portrait-painter than of a leading agent in the event4 ,the ,guards in the foreground are happily treated2 with sufficient individuality in the several figures1 not made singly over-prominent4 ,the general execution is not unlike that of ,sir ,edwin ,landseer2 which is as much as to say that it has uncommon ability4 #gj4 ,,millais--,rosalind and ,celia4--,a picture full of sunny light and masterly celerity of execution4 ,the faces have great sentiment1 and ample charm of beauty3 the confiding self-subordinating character of ,celia speaks in the lines of her mouth4 ,touchstone is older than one would infer from the drama4 ,it is a pity that ,mr4 ,millais did not set himself to reflect what ,rosalind would probably have done with her hair and costume in order to sustain the disguise of a young man4 ,the upper portion of the dress is absurdly feminine1 and hardly recedes even from the nineteenth century4 ,on the stage one pardons the paraded sex of the actress--it is partly unavoidable1 and partly a device of her profession3 but in a picture one fairly expects a greater conformity to the common sense of the situation4 ,mr4 ,millais1 however1 never will pay any attention to his costume4 ,with all the signal merits of the execution1 the texture is not free from woolliness4 #hg4 ,,frith--,before dinner at ,boswell's ,lodgings in ,bond ,street1 #agfi3 present1 ,johnson1 ,garrick1 ,goldsmith1 ,reynolds1 ,murphy1 ,bickerstaff1 ,davies1 and ,boswell4--,we have heard only too often about ,goldsmith's 8bloom-coloured coat40 ,this is the scene of its exhibition before ,boswell's guests4 ,the picture may be termed a self-respecting one3 the humours of the personages and the incident are indicated without being made to stare one out of countenance4 ,per contra1 it must be said that strength is deficient throughout3 common weakish mouths prevail in this distinguished company4 ,goldsmith and ,reynolds are indifferent likenesses2 and ,johnson's clothes fit almost as accurately as ,goldsmith's4 #abc4 ,,edwin ,,landseer--,rent-,day in the ,wilderness4--8,after the defeat of the ,stuart army in #agae1 at ,sheriff ,muir1 ,colonel ,donald ,murchison1 to whom the ,earl of ,seaforth confided his confiscated estates in ,ross-shire1 defended them for ten years1 and regularly transmitted the rents to his attainted and exiled chief40 ,the picture shows the rent being thus collected under difficulties4 ,a bearded clansman1 attended by his daughter1 is in the act of paying2 a friar kneels close beside ,colonel ,murchison2 and a number of other ,highlanders have assembled for the occasion4 ,this large and crowded picture has a peculiar look1 in consequence of the stealthy and crouching action of most of the figures3 they are keeping close amid the brushwood on one side of ,loch ,affric1 while some of the ,government soldiers are patrolling the opposite bank4 ,the work has thus--besides the generic merits which any large painting by ,sir ,edwin ,landseer is sure to possess--plenty that is both peculiar and interesting1 not unmingled with a certain impression of discomfort4 #ach4 ,,herbert--,the ,valley of ,moses in the ,desert of ,sinai4--,this picture 7as ,mr4 ,herbert is stated never to have been in the ,east7 is somewhat noticeable in point of eclectic1 and at the same time diluted1 study4 ,the light and tone are agreeable1 and free from that hardness which besets many ,eastern pictures2 but1 on observing the comparative faintness of the shadows upon the blazing sands1 one sees at once that the avoidance of hardness has involved some sacrifice of truth4 #aej4 ,,ward--,royal ,marriage1 #adgg4--,the detestable humbug of a sham contemporary 8,,ms40 is resorted to for the purpose of informing the reader of the ,academy catalogue that this painting represents the marriage of the ,duke of ,york1 aged four1 son of ,edward ,,iv41 to ,lady ,anne ,mowbray1 aged three4 ,a bishop of almost decrepit old age officiates1 and ,gloucester is naturally made a prominent witness4 ,mr4 ,ward's style of painting1 chiaroscuro1 and handling1 is universally known2 it may be termed the overblown style1 with about as much retirement and repose as a peony the hour before it falls to pieces4 ,but this should not blind us to his solid merits of thought and invention1 always exercised in a direction which tells with the public1 and for the most part felicitously in other respects as well4 ,the present picture is an instance4 ,besides any amount of fine dresses and demonstrative infancy1 it boasts a power of association which must take hold of every spectator3 the infant bridal1 the gorgeous dawn of promise to the little sons of ,king ,edward1 and the crash of fate reserved for them within the cerebral convolutions of the future ,king ,richard4 ,we may afford1 while we are about it1 to recollect that this effective subject pertains by right of priority to ,mr4 ,houghton1 who designed it for a woodcut4 #afg4 ,,frith--,sterne and the ,french ,innkeeper's ,daughter4--,the imperfectly ,reverend ,mr4 ,sterne is looking at the damsel as she knits a stocking1 and pondering upon its neat adjustment to the shape of her leg4 ,on general grounds much the same may be said of this picture as of ,no4 #hg3 both are superior examples of the easy certainty with which ,mr4 ,frith can strike the key he wants1 just as loud as he wishes it1 and no louder4 ,sterne 7as ,goldsmith and ,reynolds before7 appears to me anything but a good likeness3 the young woman is more ,french in feature than in the ensemble of the face4 #agb4 ,t4 ,,faed--,worn ,out4--,this ranks with ,mr4 ,faed's best pictures3 it is very skilful1 and has more equality of painting than usual--somewhat less of obtruded knack and flourish4 ,the various small accessories are well related to the main incident of the hard-working father who has fallen asleep while watching his invalid boy4 #ahh4 ,,poole--,custaunce sent adrift by the ,constable of ,alla1 ,king of ,northumberland4--,this moonlight picture has rather the character of a manufacture2 yet it is manufacture by a poetic eye and pictorial hand4 ,there is some clever handling in the water of the foreground2 and the entire absence of red from the picture--which relies for colour upon iridescent tints of grey-blue1 green1 yellow1 and so on--is observable4 #bji4 ,,houghton--,h4 ,bassett1 ,esq41 in his ,laboratory4--,a capital piece of peculiarity4 ,great pains and intelligence have gone to the depicting of the scientific plethora of the laboratory2 and the sense of the shut-in1 moderately-lit room1 not lightly to be intruded upon1 is vivid4 ,mr4 ,bassett is represented smoking a pipe4 ,this may seem a trivial or purposeless incident4 ,yet it may have been introduced to indicate some enforced pause in his work while an experiment is maturing2 and1 if so1 it is certainly not unsuggestive4 #bbc4 ,,orchardson--,mrs4 ,birket ,foster4--,this seems to me about the best work ,mr4 ,orchardson has yet exhibited3 it is a small full-length--more a subject than a mere portrait4 ,the artist has a certain streaky or gauzy touch which amounts to mannerism3 here the handling and colour have almost a soupon of ,gainsborough4 ,the bright face1 the quiet lighting of the dusky-boarded room1 and the untumbled white muslin dress1 make up a picture in which elegant and artist-like taste verges upon quaintness4 #bce4 ,,elmore--,ishmael4--,an accomplished study1 perhaps 7within its limits7 unsurpassed by any work of its author4 #bcf4 ,g4 ,d4 ,,leslie--,home ,news4--,an ,english lady in her remote ,asiatic home is reading a letter from the old country4 ,the half-hovering smile1 and the long-drawn regard of the eye as though she were in contemplation back across the measureless ocean1 are delicately caught2 also the coolness of the matted interior1 jealously excluding the sun itself1 but not the sense of how it is blazing outside4 #bdb4 ,,millais--,stella4--,a single figure1 three-quarter length1 and perhaps the very best ,mr4 ,millais has done of its class4 ,the name ,stella naturally suggests ,swift's ,stella2 and ,swift's ,stella holding a letter1 with a countenance of subdued long-suffering1 suggests her receipt of the letter from ,vanessa inquiring whether she and ,swift were in fact married4 ,if this is the incident really intended1 the sympathizing spectator may be startled at being reminded that ,stella was at that time about forty years of age4 ,but ,mr4 ,millais is not the man to mind much whether he does or does not represent a particular incident1 or whether or not any such representation is endurably correct4 ,he has painted delightfully a very loveable woman1 and that will probably suffice him and us4 ,the tint of flesh in the arm appears hardly so pure as the rest of the colouring4 #bdg4 ,o',,neil--,before ,waterloo4--,this picture will certainly have critics of two sorts4 ,one set1 incurious of artistic subtleties1 will batten upon such a purveying of ,british military heroism1 gushing young creatures1 and harrowing family partings4 ,another set will turn with sthetic distaste from so much of ball-costume and regimentals1 and such a cross between the leaden and the garish in colour4 ,an intermediate set ought also to find a voice1 and to aver that the scheme of arrangement in the picture is very ingenious1 and successful in turning a serious difficulty--that the story is told with great emphasis and much well-considered variety of detail--and that1 when one faces the picture with deliberation1 one can hardly refuse it the praise of being interesting4 ,if ,mr4 ,o',neil could but get somebody else's colour to exude through his brush1 with texture and surface to correspond6 #bdh4 ,,sir ,c4 ,,lindsay--,the ,earl ,somers4--,it is only fair to cite this picture1 by an amateur and a ,baronet1 as one of the best portraits on the walls4 ,the steadiness of the figure on his feet1 without compromise and without bravado1 is alone a considerable merit4 ,a spectator may be struck by the great number of sitters who elect to be painted in shooting costume1 or in some other dress and with other accessories of sport4 8,manly exercises0 will of course account for most of this2 and knickerbockers and black velvet have their share of influence4 #bfj4 ,,legros--,the ,refectory4--,the eye finds repose and satisfaction in this broadly and firmly painted picture1 free from the last suspicion of ad captandum appeal4 ,three monks and a tabby cat have assembled to make a meal off a mackerel--the board laid with a perfectly clean white cloth4 ,the monks are all men of dignified and thoughtful presence3 two of them still pause over a book of orisons or meditations before they begin the refection4 ,it might not be unfair to say that there is a good deal of space to let in the large-sized canvas3 but one need not exactly quarrel with that4 ,the painter1 a man now of reputation equally confirmed and well deserved both in his own country and in ours1 knows perfectly well what he is about2 we may safely accept his point of view1 and find in the result that1 if he has not done precisely what we might have bespoken1 there is nevertheless a definite value to be got out of his method of treatment1 not to be slighted because a different method would have given some other and countervailing value4 ,if anybody wishes to learn 7among graver things7 what amount of executive short-hand suffices for making a cat tabby1 ,mr4 ,legros's picture will inform him4 #bfh4 ,r4 ,,butler--,the ,lost ,path4--,this artist's name is unfamiliar to me4 ,his little picture of children astray in a copse has great merit of nave expression1 rendered as well by action as by countenance4 #bgc4 ,,storey--,the ,shy ,pupil4--,the painter has here attained to a high point of force in simplicity of work4 ,the subject is a budding girl learning to dance in her father's presence4 ,with nothing that can be called elaboration1 the execution would1 for purity of lighting and directness of hand1 bear comparison with many a choice ,dutch picture4 ,if we went to ,mr4 ,legros for a tabby cat1 we may consult ,mr4 ,storey for a small dog peering through a door2 a few twirls of the brush have1 by a species of legerdemain1 produced a surprising amount of characteristic form4 ,this work1 with much effect of solidity1 is nevertheless amenable to my opening remarks as to sketchiness3 but1 in so simple and semi-humorous a subject1 that need hardly be objected to4 #bhc4 ,,dickinson--,george ,peabody1 ,esq4--,a very honest good piece of work1 and a most unmistakeable likeness1 to be remembered among the portraits of the year much to ,mr4 ,dickinson's credit4 #bhh4 ,,cope--,the ,disciples at ,emmaus4--,mr4 ,cope's method of art unites remarkable defining power with a certain thinness of the primary material2 it reminds one of good woodcarving--strong and accurate modelling bestowed upon a substance which1 after the utmost has been done for it1 retains an aboriginal crudity4 ,in the present picture1 the artist has planned out all forcibly and distinctly--he has left nothing vague to his own mind or the spectator's eye4 ,yet no corresponding impression of reality is produced2 the work wants imaginative reality1 and therefore its other elements of reality do not tell as they were intended to do4 ,to attenuate the form of the risen ,christ1 and to make his drapery transparent to the evening light1 is not the way to remove him from the regions of fleshliness4 #cjb4 ,,horsley--,rent-day at ,haddon ,hall4--,considerably the best picture ,mr4 ,horsley has exhibited of late1 or perhaps at any time4 ,a very moderate proportion of adult good sense may have sufficed to discriminate it from his staple commodity4 #caa4 ,g4 ,,richmond--,mrs4 ,brereton4--,while ,mr4 ,richmond can put into a face so much feminine candour and amiability as we see in this likeness1 no one need be surprised at his eminent standing among portrait painters4 ,to look at the face seems to be like making ,mrs4 ,brereton's acquaintance--or like wishing to make it4 #caf4 ,,calderon--,the ,young ,lord ,hamlet4--,yorick is on all-fours on the pleasance of the ,danish palace1 with little ,hamlet riding on his back2 ,queen ,gertrude and some of her ladies looking on2 and an infant1 presumably ,ophelia1 not yet 8taking notice40 ,this is strictly a sketch2 no doubt a very able one1 and only to be done by a man of long training and solid acquirement in art4 ,not only is the thing full of sparkling animal spirits as a whole1 but each point1 when one attends to it1 is pertinent and telling3 except indeed the face of the lady who holds ,ophelia1 and who exhibits a smile as hard as her teeth4 ,this is not the only time that ,mr4 ,calderon has made considerable play with teeth1 and not1 ,i think1 successfully2 nothing is more difficult to manage in a picture4 #cbc4 ,,watts--,the wife of ,pygmalion1 a ,translation from the ,greek4--,this is one of the few works of poetic elevation in the gallery3 it is beautiful with a noble beauty1 which one hardly knows whether rather to call womanly or impassive4 ,it rests midway between coldness and warmth1 without being lukewarm4 ,it should be added that the merit is not exclusively ,mr4 ,watts's1 the head being truly 8a translation from the ,greek10 i4e41 adapted from the fine antique bust pointed out not long ago for admiration among the ,arundel ,marbles in ,oxford4 #cbh4 ,,leighton--,ariadne abandoned by ,theseus4 ,ariadne watches for his return2 ,artemis releases her by death4--,this also is a picture which claims to be of the poetic order1 and sustains the claim2 it may without rashness be pronounced the loftiest work ,mr4 ,leighton has produced1 reckoning together subject-matter1 scale1 and the result attained4 ,to ignore the limitations of his style1 or the symptoms of them which this picture also presents1 would be futile4 ,one might sum them up by saying that there is a certain hiatus between his perception of the poetic in art1 and his power of expressing it2 and that1 though he bridges this over with a readiness of resource which is to himself almost as natural as the first perception1 yet to others the artificiality of the bridge is glaringly and even irksomely apparent4 ,but the picture of ,ariadne is sufficiently noble to keep these considerations in the background1 as soon as we have once for all fairly stated or implied them4 ,the face is wrung with sorrow1 yet is free from what we mean to condemn in a work of art when we term it 8painful40 ,one might say that this woman has died of the very weariness of daily renewed grief4 ,but the calm now is as profound as the yearning heretofore2 profound as the blue sea violet-tinted in its distant intensity1 or as the lulling oppression of its clang in the sultry meridian1 barely audible as a faint murmur at the dizzy height of ,ariadne's rock-seat4 ,there is a sensation of stationariness1 as if ,phbus ,apollo might be pausing in heaven to see how his sister ,artemis has accomplished her mercy upon the outworn ,ariadne4 ,as ,i looked at the picture1 a divine reminiscence of ,shelley intervened3-- 8,yet now despair itself is mild1 ,even as the winds and waters are4 ,i could lie down like a tired child1 ,and weep away the life of care ,which ,i have borne and yet must bear1 ,till death like sleep might steal on me1-- ,and ,i might feel in the warm air ,my cheek grow cold1 and hear the sea ,breathe o'er my dying brain its last monotony40 #cbi4 ,,mason--,evening ,hymn4--,again a very poetical and beautiful picture1 one of the enduring glories of the present exhibition4 ,it reaches higher than anything ,mr4 ,mason had hitherto done2 and shows him qualified to paint figures on a fair scale of size1 and with an amount of positive beauty which1 in his previous productions 7though well traceable71 was to some extent overlaid by the picturesque1 as that is popularly understood4 ,this work glows with the light of a spring sunset1 and with the unbidden fervour of a group of young village-girls who are carolling the ,evening ,hymn as they saunter homewards4 ,it seems almost churlish to object to a leading point of treatment in so delightful a picture2 but ,i confess to some suspicion that the men who are shown listening might with advantage have been missed out of the subject altogether--and more especially the youth who comes close behind a girl in white1 holding a rose in her hand4 ,mr4 ,mason is a painter who never loses sight of facts in his pursuit of the beautiful2 this is the one of his works which goes nearest to merging all other its material in a general ideal of loveliness and solemnity4 #cca4 ,,pettie--,tussle with a ,highland ,smuggler4--,here we revert to the category of sketchy work2 and we see in this picture and in another by its author 7,no4 #dhd1 8,weary with present cares and memories sad071 an unpleasant and unrepaying development of style which might be described as 8the offhand squalid40 ,no4 #cca shows extreme--indeed1 excessive--cleverness3 but its unsightly violence of action embodies a subject of little consequence to any one1 and of less still to the cause of fine art4 #cdg4 ,,edwin ,,landseer--8,weel1 sir1 if the deer got the ball1 sure's deeth ,chevy will no leave him40--,a masterpiece of ,landseerian art3 the good hound ,chevy is seen couched amid high mountain ice and snows1 by the side of a dead deer1 which the ravens have already scented from afar4 #cef4 ,,millais--,pilgrims to ,st4 ,paul's4--,a more rational title would be 8,greenwich ,pensioners at the ,tomb of ,nelson40 ,one of them has lost his left arm--a very resolute1 bluff old seaman1 whom 8foreigneers0 may have been shy of tackling in his time2 the other halts upon two wooden legs1 more senile and commonplace1 but also1 in his undemonstrative way1 one of those who1 like his hero1 8never saw fear40 ,his face is most triumphantly painted2 whether regarded as a mere study of a head1 or as a piece of character1 or with reference to its intense lighting by the flare of the sepulchral lantern4 ,indeed1 the picture is quite admirable throughout1 and in power of painting not to be surpassed by ,mr4 ,millais1 nor approached by any competitor4 ,there is in its materials something which verges towards a tour de force2 but all is so manly1 and so free from sentimental overdoing1 that no charge arises against it on this ground4 #cfc4 ,,yeames--,lady ,jane ,grey in the ,tower4--,an able satisfactory picture2 perhaps the best of its author4 ,lady ,jane is in a controversial colloquy with the ,chaplain ,feckenham3 her face expresses very successfully that she is weighing his arguments in her mind1 and considering what may be the true answer to them1 but with no prospect of her coming to the conclusion that answer there is none4 ,feckenham also is appropriately conceived and painted1 without any exaggeration4 ,of costume and accessory there is enough1 and not overmuch4 #cfi4 ,,houghton--,in the ,garden4--,a very handsome boy of eight is lifting his little sister of five to smell a rose upon its bush4 ,a kitten which has already made some advances towards cat-hood is romping around the stem4 ,the feeling of the subject would be improved were there more of a look of smelling in the girl's face2 and the colour is hardly on a level with the other merits of the picture4 ,it is1 however1 a very choice and complete little work2 fine in design and draughtsmanship1 and charming in general impression--quite free1 moreover1 from that sort of nursery silliness which has infected some canvasses of late1 and has even been aptly enshrined in a title reproducing the broken utterance of babes4 ,mr4 ,houghton knows that 8ta-ta0 or 8tootsicums10 whether written with the pen or rendered into the language of the brush1 is a mild effort of art4 #dja4 ,g4 ,d4 ,,leslie--,kate ,leslie4--,this artist is almost always attractive1 and often most engagingly so3 the present work may be cited in proof4 ,but he is 8painty0 7as the profession terms it7 in the generality of his work1 and especially in his flesh-tints4 ,here the face has far too much of a tawny or ligneous hue2 which is the more to be regretted as the work1 on the whole1 comes nearer than usual to ranking ,mr4 ,leslie among colourists4 #djb4 ,,poynter--,the ,catapult4--,great knowledge1 great power of combination1 and much disciplined artistic capacity1 have gone to the making of this picture4 ,it has more effect1 and is on the whole more pictorial1 than the very striking work which ,mr4 ,poynter exhibited last year--,israel in ,egypt4 ,some people may refuse to take much interest in a scene in which the work of the artificer or mechanician plays so large a part2 but1 bating this objection 7which to many will be no objection at all71 it is difficult to award anything but praise to the picture4 ,the event is the use of a catapult as an engine of war in the siege of ,carthage3 we see written on one of the beams 8,delenda est ,carthago1 ,s4,p4,q4,r40 ,the officer is supervising1 archers are shooting2 the monster hand of the catapult is about once more to launch a red-hot bolt against the doomed city3 pots of blazing pitch are being hurled by the defenders at the assailants4 ,the solidity and good balance of all parts of the subject1 the agreeable tone of colour in flesh and otherwise1 the sound drawing1 unfaltering and unpretentious1 command high respect4 #daj4 ,,wynfield--,oliver ,cromwell's ,first ,appearance in the ,parliament4--,to find this picture uninteresting would be difficult4 ,hampden is represented introducing his cousin to ,cromwell2 ,pym1 ,elliot1 ,sir ,robert ,phillips1 ,strafford1 and many other famous men1 are present4 ,the arrangement pleases one from its obvious adaptation to the more important demands of the subject1 irrespectively of artistic conventions4 ,the method of the painting1 however1 is so excessively opaque and heavy that1 until ,mr4 ,wynfield shall manage to correct this blemish1 one cannot expect his pictures to get cordially accepted by the public1 or to please critical eyes4 #dbd4 ,t4 ,,graham--,the ,dominie4--,mr4 ,graham has powers of a high order2 but he has seemed of late only too likely to be led away by the offhand practice1 semi-grotesque picturesqueness1 and rapid success1 of some of his compatriots from beyond ,tweed4 ,the ,dominie is about the least laudable picture he has exhibited--tending much to caricature1 and to coarseness of handling4 ,of course1 along with this1 there is a deal of ability2 and the figure of the boy still attests a genuine sense of beauty4 ,let us trust that ,mr4 ,graham will have 8pulled up0 by next year4 #dcd4 ,,hook--,are ,chimney-sweepers ,black8--,a most delightful picture1 fully equal to the best productions of its distinguished author4 ,there are two others in this gallery 7,nos4 #dh and #bgj7 also excellent3 but so little remains now-a-days to be said about ,mr4 ,hook's works1 except that they afford deep1 pure1 and vivid pleasure1 and show their painter to be one of the most artist-like colourists and executants of the ,british school1 that ,i have passed them by1 and limited myself to specifying the present one only4 ,a begrimed 7not over begrimed7 chimney-sweeper1 with the implements of his craft1 presents himself to the startled eyes of a naked infant1 as fresh and bright as a ,cupid1 who has just been bathing on the margin of the sea3 he is still paddling in a sand-pool1 and takes refuge against his young mother's dress1 hardly so scared as not to be a little amused4 ,this group of the mother and child is most charming2 and all other parts of the picture are worthy of it4 #dci4 ,,maclise--,the ,sleep of ,duncan4--,the first aspect of this work1 as of so many of ,mr4 ,maclise's1 gives an impression of unreality1 huddled1 and oppressed with decorative exuberances4 ,a more deliberate inspection shows that it possesses1 in ample measure1 the fine qualities which rank him so high in our school--qualities of invention and design1 associated with remarkable1 though bounded and monotonous1 gifts of execution4 ,the moment is when ,lady ,macbeth1 having drugged the guards1 and 8laid their daggers ready0 7one of these lies within the circlet of the crown71 relinquishes any thought of herself assassinating the old king1 who 8resembles her father as he sleeps40 ,the tragic air of crime in ,lady ,macbeth1 her superfluous stealthinesses of action1 are grandly given2 though it cannot be said that her face differs much from the type so constant and familiar in ,mr4 ,maclise's productions4 ,duncan and the two guards are all three fine figures4 ,the lighting of the picture is not obvious3 it would appear to be the union of soft moonshine and pale diffused grey dawn-light which comes through the loop-hole at the back2 but this does not seem to account for all the light in front1 as on the figures of the guards2 while neither can one discern1 on the other hand1 that much 7if any7 influence of artificial light has been intended by the painter4 ,real the picture would1 of course1 never be made to look2 but ,i think it would look considerably less unreal at one point if ,duncan's head lay deeper in the silken pillows4 #ddj4 ,,wells--,letters and ,news at the ,loch-side4--,a landscape with portraits and incident4 ,i pick it out from among the contributions of its able painter1 for the sake of noting the great amount of space1 light1 and air1 which he has got into this picture1 although there is no single glimpse of sky3 the ground rises all round from the lake-side4 ,this is no small thing to have managed4 #ddi4 ,,leighton--,acme and ,septimius4--,remarkable for its elegant skill of concentrated composition4 ,the knee of ,acme's left leg--the foot of the same leg being set underneath her right thigh as she sits--appears to me to project too much laterally4 ,this may be a convenient place for calling attention 7with implied apology for not speaking of them with the detail they properly claim7 to ,mr4 ,leighton's three remaining pictures3 ,nos4 #bbg1 ,jonathan's ,token to ,david2 #bcd1 ,mrs4 ,frederick ,p4 ,cockerell2 #ebb1 ,acta1 the ,nymph of the ,shore4 #dec4 ,,hodgson--,chinese ,ladies looking at ,european ,curiosities4--,a quaint and amusing notion1 and a pleasant picture4 ,a ,chinese gentleman is exhibiting to his wives and their women a pair of ,european white satin slippers1 which the small-footed fair 7or rather dusky7 ones regard as elephantine eccentricities4 ,an ,englishwoman looking at a ,chinese 8six-marker10 or at a ,japanese masterpiece of woodcut design or colouring1 is not more tickled4 ,perhaps the best head of all is that of the elderly woman to the right4 ,the peculiarities of ,chinese physiognomy are not at all overdone--indeed1 ,i doubt whether the eyes are quite sidelong enough4 ,it would have been admissible to make one of the wives prettier1 and 7if ,i am not mistaken7 clearer-complexioned also4 #dfa4 ,,legros--,sir ,thomas ,more showing some of ,holbein's ,pictures to ,henry ,,viii4--,without tampering with his own style1 ,mr4 ,legros comes more than hitherto1 in this picture1 within the same general lines as ,english art4 ,the work1 in essentials1 is extremely good2 and simplicity of execution does not interfere with its keeping its place well and solidly amid those which surround it4 ,sir ,thomas ,more does not strike me as much of a likeness4 ,henry is excellent3 he sits 7if a bull may be excused7 as he would sit in a contemporary portrait1 though not as he does sit in any of those ,i remember4 ,perhaps his eyes are less small than in the likenesses4 ,holbein looks the best man of the lot3 well able to have done the fine things ,sir ,thomas is displaying1 and to do as many more as bluff ,harry may commission4 ,three ladies are also present4 ,one of them gives her head a turn in which the manner of a connoisseur is dimly anticipated2 and one might fancy her to be saying to herself1 8,really1 most excellent2 but1 were ,i to sit to him1 should ,i come good-looking enough80 ,capitally as the whole subject is kept together1 ,i think a single little touch would still improve it in this respect3 one of the ladies might be glancing from the picture to ,holbein1 and so helping to identify the work with its worker4 #dgg4 ,,walker--,in the ,glen1 ,rathfarnham ,park4--,this is a halt of gipsies1 who are lighting a fire2 and perhaps there is something more of incident implied than ,i happen to catch4 ,mr4 ,walker's pictures have a certain mottled look and grainy surface which might be called mannerism1 though not too confidently4 ,at any rate1 after making some abatement for this1 and for a too easily contented choice of subject1 one is fairly surprised at a sureness of hand which seems to have at its finger-ends the power of realization without labour1 and at a sturdiness of work which yet picks up 7as it were7 at every stroke refinements of drawing and colour4 ,the evidences of ability are so profuse that a non-practical critic like myself may well1 in modesty and self-knowledge1 feel his mouth shut to objections4 ,i should doubt whether there are in ,europe many artists more accomplished than ,mr4 ,walker1 within his own sphere of work4 #did4 ,h4 ,s4 ,,marks--,experimental ,gunnery in the ,middle ,ages4--,mr4 ,marks has done nothing better than this picture2 probably nothing equally good4 ,the subject involves just the sort of out-of-the-way humour which is his specialit2 and he has made this the informing spirit of a full composition without condescending to any burlesque4 ,there is much varied and capital by-play of incident and expression2 and the subject is so treated as to allow one1 even in these days of ,armstrong guns and ,chassepots1 to feel a good-humoured respect for the primitive artillerists4 #dii4 ,,prinsep--,a ,venetian ,lover4--,the gist of this subject is made so evident that we could dispense with the motto--8,de deux amans1 il y en a toujours un qui aime1 et l'autre qui se laisse aimer40 ,handled with marked fulness and breadth1 and with a very painter-like choice of the tints of colour1 the picture proves once again that ,mr4 ,prinsep is well qualified to work on a large scale2 having at command a fund of really pictorial material1 on which he may draw with full stress of faculty1 secure that it will not fail him at his need4 ,as a matter of sentiment1 the picture leaves a certain feeling of discontent2 the impassivity of the woman is so extreme as to provoke one first with her and next with her impassioned adorer4 ,but no doubt this is only what the artist intended4 ,in some parts the surface may be considered too smooth--as especially in the lady's face1 which has hardly the pulpiness of flesh4 ,possibly1 however1 this impression would be corrected could one examine the picture closer4 #eaj4 ,a4 ,,hughes--8,sigh no more1 ,ladies1 ,sigh no more40--,mr4 ,hughes's pictures are always full of refined sentiment2 and this is eminently so1 and in all respects one of his best successes4 ,the lady is so tender1 uncomplaining1 and beautiful1 that one takes her part on the instant4 ,happily1 she seems1 after an interval of disconsolate dejection1 to be dimly awaking once more to the interests of life2 and soon she will be taking the advice of the song1 and tempting fate with another affair of the heart4 ,she is at once sentimental to the romantic point1 and domestically feminine4 ,it was a happy thought to introduce the thrush at her window1 trilling a cheerful ditty1 which one can imagine that her heart translates into the spoken language of the song4 ,this picture has in it a gentle but real poetry which places it on a very different footing from most of the work in the exhibition4 #eaa4 ,,storey--,saying ,grace4--,the small denizens of a nursery have seated themselves with impeccable propriety for their early dinner1 regulated by 7as one might infer from her physiognomy7 a foreign nursery-governess4 ,the baby has joined his hands with dispread fingers1 and enacts 7he is too young to pronounce7 the grace with a solemnity which would do credit to a parish-clerk4 ,no doubt the children are all portraits1 with inordinate heads of hair2 but the baby's irregularity of contour seems to exceed infantine bounds4 ,let us trust that his mamma will insist upon his growing up with a modified profile1 and that 8'tis his nature to40 ,the picture has a genuine distinction of quaintness and zest4 #eac4 ,,calderon--none4--,mr4 ,tennyson1 with the magic fetters of genius1 has enslaved all ,englishmen to the conviction that none can only be contemplated as in a state of heartbroken dereliction2 and ,i suppose that ,mr4 ,calderon intends his nymph to be so understood4 ,i cannot1 however1 perceive that sentiment in her face or action2 she appears to the eye rather in a mood of rampant laziness and florid self-display4 ,this is a very singular piece of colour4 ,white or whiteish tints occupy a considerable space2 the extremely blue hills are the second important constituent2 and the pea-green mantle of none is the third4 ,the pea-green appears to me a discord1 though some other hue of green1 along with a texture more like drapery1 might have proved much the reverse4 ,on the whole1 ,i should say that1 in its colour as in other respects1 the painting has much boldness1 with no corresponding proportion of felicity4 #eag4 ,r4 ,,carrick--,after the ,sortie4--,this is a very large picture1 hung so high that one cannot fully estimate it in detail4 ,it represents a wounded knight borne up the winding castle-stairs by three of his retainers2 his wife1 with a horrible sinking of the heart1 totters and clings about for support as she follows4 ,it seems to be a strongly designed and carefully executed work1 of very superior merit2 the most important production of ,mr4 ,carrick1 and about the best4 #ebd4 ,h4 ,w4 ,b4 ,,davis--,a ,summer ,forenoon4--,a landscape and sheep-piece1 warm1 gentle1 and genial4 ,landscape and the allied forms of art occupy a very small space1 comparatively1 in the present exhibition4 ,there are nevertheless several works of this kind which call for examination and praise3 their being left unnoticed in this pamphlet does not imply any indifference to their merits4 #edj4 ,,miss ,m4 ,e4 ,,freer--,red ,roses4--,coquetry is the predominant spirit of this work4 ,but it is not painted with the slightness which a coquettish picture from a fresh female hand might be expected to display4 ,on the contrary1 there is a good deal of careful realization1 and an amount of general skill and force which places ,miss ,freer high among lady artists4 ,no4 #ddf1 ,margaret ,wilson1 by the same painter1 hung too high to be scrutinized1 seems to be equally good1 or better4 #ehe4 ,,maclise--,madeline after ,prayer4--,the useful adage which ,mr4 ,maclise will never lay to heart is that 8,enough is as good as a feast40 ,we find ,keats's ,madeline encumbered with items of furniture and ornamentation4 ,moreover1 the painter's decorative taste is anything but chastened2 witness the horrible pattern which she has begun in her broidery frame4 ,a graver objection is the want of any real luminosity in the moonlight which ,keats has made so resplendent2 the painted window itself is the very maximum of opacity1 and the light 7if light it can be called7 seems to fall upon it1 not to be transmitted through its panes4 ,whatever his failings in execution1 ,mr4 ,maclise can depict light vastly better than this when he chooses4 ,so much for objections4 ,after any quantity of them1 it remains that the picture is highly attractive1 and the ,madeline a very beautiful creature--perhaps the sweetest woman ,mr4 ,maclise has painted4 ,she is a personage not made 8,for human nature's daily food10 and yet she is sympathetic4 ,to be that1 she must be poetic also4 #ehi4 ,,burchett--,measure for ,measure4--,mr4 ,burchett follows up his remarkable work of last year with another of corresponding importance4 ,matured consideration1 and strong powers of working and of development1 have gone to the making of this picture2 which represents the great crisis in the action of ,measure for ,measure1 where the ,duke of ,vienna1 disguised as a friar1 is revealed by the unwitting ,lucio to the eyes of the abashed ,angelo and ,escalus1 and of the now almost hopeless ,isabella and ,mariana4 ,the story is told with much judgment and penetration 7so far as such a complicated story can be told7 by the ,duke's vacated chair of state1 with coronet and sceptre laid upon it1 between the seats of ,escalus and ,angelo2 the young courtier1 facing the just uncowled ,duke1 and recognising him on the instant1 and raising his cap2 the frothy bluster of ,lucio dying out on his scared visage as he gasps to see whom he has been mauling and traducing2 and other well-chosen and well-combined incidents4 ,the countenance of the ,duke is ,german and searching2 that of ,escalus true to the good-natured cynicism of the substantially upright old man2 ,isabella has much of the nun about her4 ,angelo is1 ,i think1 too much the burly insolent oppressor2 for we must understand from the drama that he really looked and was an abstinent ,pharisee1 led on by temptation and opportunity into vilenesses quite unlike the man that all others and himself supposed him to be4 ,there is much able and accurate painting in this work1 though it would benefit by more breadth of general harmonizing4 #fjj4 ,,parsons--,the ,wayfarer4--,a peculiar and delicate piece of subdued execution1 deserving of inspection2 so peculiar in its granulated texture that it hardly proclaims itself to be oil-painting4 #fac4 ,,hicks--,escape of the ,countess of ,morton to ,paris1 with ,henrietta1 infant ,daughter of ,charles ,i4--,the most important and best production of ,mr4 ,hicks4 ,like ,mr4 ,burchett's picture1 its incidents require to be analysed one by one3 when that process has been gone through1 one finds a great deal of ingenious skill standing to the painter's credit4 #fad4 ,,prinsep--,a ,study of a ,girl ,reading4--,mr4 ,prinsep deserves real thanks for this painting4 ,the girl is an exquisite person1 and the picture also may without flattery be called exquisite4 ,it has a most charming sense of the womanly in the maidenly4 ,the fair one is about to sit down to luncheon1 but holds and reads her book up to the moment of drawing in her chair4 ,perhaps she will violate etiquette by persisting in 8reading at meals30 and who will not forgive her8 #fba4 ,a4 ,,moore--,azaleas4--,this will be remembered as one of the illustrations 7as the ,french phrase it7 of the ,exhibition of #ahfh4 ,it presents1 in life size1 a ,grecian lady 7or at any rate ,grecian-robed71 at a pot of azaleas1 some of which she plucks and drops into a basin4 ,whether or not azaleas were known to ,grecian ladies1 whether or not they came from ,america1 are questions not difficult of solution1 but of sublime indifference to ,mr4 ,moore4 7,the flowers in ,mr4 ,watts's ,grecian picture1 ,no4 #cbc1 are also1 ,i apprehend1 azaleas47 ,the study of the blossom-loaded plant is most delicate and lovely2 and the lady has elevated classic grace1 though her face hardly sustains comparison with the rest of the picture4 ,for a sense of beauty in disposition of form1 and double-distilled refinement in colour1 this work may allow a wide margin to any competitors in the gallery1 and still be the winner4 ,on the other hand1 it is proper to remember that such a painting as this presupposes certain data in art1 which data some people not wholly unworthy of a hearing demur to3 chiefly1 it presupposes once for all that that innermost artistic problem of how to reconcile realization with abstraction deserves to be given up4 ,how much could be said on this question from differing points of view1 ,i need not here indicate4 ,you linger long to look at ,mr4 ,moore's picture1 and return to it again and again3 and that justifies him in taking1 individually1 the benefit of one of those points of view4 ,he unites with singular subtlety of grace a phase of the evanescent to a phase of the permanent3 colour and handling which withdraw themselves from the eye with a suggestion 7or1 as one might say1 with a whisper71 to statuesque languor and repose of form4 #fbd4 ,,brett--,christmas ,morning1 #ahff4--;,in scale combined with subject1 this is far the most important picture ,mr4 ,brett has produced4 ,we see a manned boat and a wrecking ship upon the immense ocean1 with its swirling drift blown across like a tongue of tormented flame2 and huge volumes of grey cloud over the horizon1 walling out from the sea the gorgeous dawn of a new day1 on fire with the blaze of sunlight4 ,the painting of the vast sea-surface is a very great effort of knowledge and mastery1 and a very successful one4 #fbi4 ,a4 ,,goodwin--,the ,dead ,woodman4--,a picture of highly remarkable effect1 and poetic perception4 ,a blue-grey bloom of sunset broods luminously over all4 ,the work has a kind of intellectual analogy to the ,dead ,stonebreaker which ,mr4 ,wallis painted years ago3 but in all points of externals it is entirely different4 #fcb4 ,,millais--,souvenir of ,velasquez 7,diploma-work deposited in the ,academy on his election as an ,academician74--,it is not for an outsider to surmise whether or not the ,academicians court the deposit of diploma-pictures which may have cost their painters1 working with the quick-handedness of a ,millais1 perhaps a couple of days' labour4 ,however this may be1 they have here got a diploma-picture of that description1 and an admirable one in its way it certainly is4 ,the resemblance to ,velasquez is hardly such as to justify the title4 #fhe4 ,,watts--,a4 ,panizzi1 ,esq4--,that this is about the finest portrait of the year need scarcely be specified1 ,mr4 ,watts being its author4 ,it was presented to ,mr4 ,panizzi by the ,officers of the ,british ,museum1 on his retirement2 and happily expresses1 in the sitter1 great powers of work1 long in active exercise1 and now in well-earned repose4 ,a sketch-plan of the ,museum reading-room forms an appropriate and not undecorative device in the right-hand upper corner4 #gce4 ,,sandys--,study of a ,head4--,we have now got out of the oil-pictures1 and have come to the drawings4 ,this is an excellent study of a wilful1 tameless-spirited beauty1 who bites her hair in her gathering mood4 ,further on 7#haf7 is an equally well-done head of ,george ,critchett1 ,esq41 a head that seems to teem with defined calculation4 ,it will be known to many besides myself that ,mr4 ,sandys sent to the ,academy an oil-picture of ,medea in an act of incantation1 not only worthy1 but more than worthy1 of his highly disciplined powers and determined accomplishment4 ,it has dropped out of the ,exhibition when the pictures came to be actually hung2 leaving some food for pondering to those who care for the higher and completer forms of pictorial work4 ,they may feel--and the feeling would be only enhanced by some other things they may have heard1 and a great deal of what they see on the ,academy walls--that an off-hand style of painting1 now predominant1 has interests of its own clashing with those of some graver phases of art2 and that judicial equity in adjusting these interests may sometimes be in default4 ,sir ,francis ,grant1 detailing after-dinner statistics1 may fancy that the whole question is settled by saying that there is space for so many pictures only1 and that so many more were sent in2 but this is far from being the dernier mot4 ,efficiency ,no4 #a and semi-efficiency ,no4 #b may be contending for a residue of space1 and the admission of either is obviously the exclusion of the other2 but he would be a very innocent ,president1 non-academician artist1 or private and unprofessional person1 who should thence conclude that the ,pompey and the ,csar have coequal claims1 especially the ,pompey4 ,anybody1 who has experienced1 written1 read1 heard1 or seen1 even a little of this ever-recurrent hanging controversy1 loathes its very atmosphere1 and gladly retreats from it1 seldom without a sense of protest1 and a chafing at injustice4 #gec4 ,j4 ,f4 ,,lewis--,bedouin ,arabs4--,one of the very finest studies of the kind produced by a hand unrivalled in its own way4 #idc4 ,,munro--,the ,sisters4--,we are now in the ,sculpture ,room4 ,mr4 ,munro has earned great popularity and a defined position by works of this class1 in which groups of children are treated with some graceful incident and execution1 and very genuinely graceful feeling4 ,the present group counts among the best of them4 #idh4 ,,woolner--,elaine with the ,shield of ,sir ,launcelot4--,the maiden loves and muses1 and pines as she muses2 but as yet her doom only hovers over her pityingly4 ,the feeling of reserve and purity1 of the new experience of love timidly entertained1 and yet already permeating her whole life1 and absorbing all her forces into its own surging and resistless current1 is predominant in this figure4 ,along with this1 and with much simplicity of pose and motive1 one readily perceives that the whole thing is uncommonly treated--uncommonly rather than unusually4 ,the face has more of personal individuality1 the turn of the figure more shades of variety within unity1 the execution throughout more distinction1 than ,british sculpture accustoms us to4 ,so also with the hands and feet3 their peculiarities are all significant and forecast1 though to my eye they do not sufficiently partake of the beauty of delicacy4 ,compare--or contrast would be the word--this statuette with #iha4 ,j4 ,s4 ,,westmacott--,elaine4 #ihd4 ,,armstead--,astronomy4--,a bronze colossal figure1 destined for the ,prince-,consort memorial in ,hyde ,park4 ,it has a good decorative look1 and adequate grandeur of pose and line4 ,it might fairly 7so far as one can judge before it is placed in situ7 be termed a proportional work2 one1 that is1 in which the conception1 treatment1 and general force of impression1 have relation to its scale1 and to its destination as one in a series of impersonating figures4 #ihg4 ,,leifchild--,the ,dawn4--,the sentiment of this figure is well expressed in two lines from the ,,ms4 quotation3-- 8,the ,dawn1 whose splendour is a promise still1 ,heralding more than ,day can e'er fulfil40 ,it is the sentiment of an ushering-in1 an announcement1 something to come4 ,mr4 ,leifchild has produced several sculptural works eminent for thoughtfulness in concentration4 ,the present figure belongs to a different order of work1 yet something of the same spirit can be traced in it4 #ajjg4 ,,woolner--,thomas ,carlyle4--,the strong1 emphatic1 penetrating style of ,mr4 ,woolner1 who searches under the surface of his sitter's face1 and records on its surface what he has found beneath1 gave him the best of rights to deal with such a magnificent head as ,carlyle's--marked as that is by a most powerful dominating expression1 with abundant points of subordinate detail and individuality4 ,mr4 ,woolner had1 indeed1 done a medallion of the great writer many years ago2 now we get a bust worthily recording so memorable a man4 #ajbg4 ,,woolner--,reliefs from the ,iliad 7pedestal of the ,bust of the ,right ,honourable ,w4 ,e4 ,gladstone74--,here are three subjects executed on a small scale1 with a singular amount of original force4 ,the third1 ,thetis consoling ,achilles1 does not appear to me1 in composition and suggestion1 so remarkable as the other two4 ,pallas and ,achilles at the ,trenches1 where the hero shouts to the ,greeks a superhuman cry1 while ,pallas overshadows him with her gis1 is a most vigorous and admirable composition2 indeed1 but for its small size1 one would be minded to call it the finest thing ,mr4 ,woolner has yet exhibited4 ,thetis praying to ,zeus on behalf of ,achilles is hardly second to it4 ,the sea-goddess rises on tiptoe to stroke the beard of the omnipotent cloud-compeller2 and no single touch perhaps could have given the amplitude and primitiveness of the ,homeric ,pantheon more keenly than this4 ,it is not exactly navet1 and still less exactly humour1 but something happily between both4 #ajec4 ,,watts--,clytie2 ,marble ,bust1 unfinished4--,this is an experiment in sculpture by our distinguished painter4 ,i find it a very interesting one1 and 7pace the professional sculptors7 a remarkable success4 ,the head reverts over the right shoulder with a graceful and energetic turn2 and these qualities1 especially that of energy1 are preserved in all points of view4 ,the modelling of the bust and arms is pulpy and creased--more comparable in tendency to that of the ,elgin ,marbles than of later ,greek sculpture4 ,indeed1 ,i should surmise that the thoughts of ,mr4 ,watts1 as he worked1 were mostly shared between ,phidias and ,michael ,angelo4 ,the spectator who finds some parts lumpy or rude should bear in mind that the work is avowedly 8unfinished0--even if he does not deem the general conditions under which the experiment has been made sufficient to abate the picking of holes4 99 99 99 99 99 ,possibly some readers of this pamphlet may use it to be referred to as they range through the ,academy rooms1 examining their contents4 ,if this is the case1 ,i should regret to pass over without a word of mention several works which1 according to the scope and limitations of the pamphlet1 ,i have not found an opportunity of reviewing in any detail in their proper order4 ,after all1 a great number of works against whose skilfulness and merit ,i neither raise nor suggest any imputation will be remaining totally unnamed4 ,meanwhile1 a simple numerical list of contributions may be added to which ,i would rather direct attention thus barely than not at all4 ,some of them are productions of leading importance3 others have modest graces which should not pass unobserved4 ,the visitor must form his own opinion of whether and why they deserved specification4 #bh4 ,,swinton--,the ,earl ,bathurst4 #bi4 ,t4 ,s4 ,,cooper--,descending from the ,rock ,grazing1 ,east ,cumberland4 #di4 ,,mac ,,whirter--,old ,edinburgh1 ,night4 #fg4 ,,grant--,miss ,grant4 #fh4 ,,fleuss--,g4 ,makgill1 ,esq4 #abj4 ,,grace--,the ,curfew tolls the ,knell of parting ,day4 #abd4 ,,grant--,the ,earl of ,bradford4 #aeh4 ,,eden--,on the ,thames near ,pangbourne4 #afj4 ,,harveymore--,the ,point1 near ,walton on the ,naze4 #afh4 ,j4 ,b4 ,,burgess--,a ,portrait4 #agj4 ,h4 ,,moore--,ebb-tide1 ,squall coming on4 #agf4 ,,cathelinau--,the ,nurse4 #ahd4 ,,halle--,miss ,jessie4 #aii4 ,e4 ,,gill--,storm and ,shipwreck on a ,rocky ,coast4 #bje4 ,,elmore--8,two ,women shall be grinding at the ,mill40 #bjf4 ,,zuccoli--,wine ,gratis4 #bjh4 ,ditto--,preparing to cook ,indian ,corn4 #bbb4 ,,yeames--,the ,chimney-,corner4 #bda4 ,,lehmann--,portrait of a ,gentleman4 #bea4 ,,nicol--,a ,china ,merchant4 #bfg4 ,,goodall--,mater ,purissima4 #bgb4 ,,archer--,burial of ,guinevere4 #bij4 ,,watts--,the ,meeting of ,jacob and ,esau4 #bih4 ,v4 ,,cole--,sunlight ,lingering on the ,autumn ,woods4 #cjc4 ,,wells--,james ,stansfeld1 ,esq41 of ,halifax4 #cba4 ,,pott--,the ,minuet4 #cbb4 ,g4 ,d4 ,,leslie--,mrs4 ,charles ,dickens1 ,jun4 #cbg4 ,,prinsep--,a ,portrait4 #cdj4 ,,frith--,scene from 8,she ,stoops to ,conquer40 #cdd4 ,,perugini--,daphne4 #cde4 ,,mrs4 ,,robbinson--,the ,firstborn4 #cdf4 ,,radford--8,no ,man that ,warreth0 c4 #cdh4 ,,lucy--,the ,forced ,abdication of ,mary ,stuart4 #cfg4 ,,miss ,a4 ,,thornycroft--,study of a ,head4 #cgh4 ,,boughton--,a ,breton ,pastoral4 #chg4 ,,wyllie--,dover ,castle and ,town4 #cij4 ,,calthrop--,the ,last ,song of the ,girondins1 #agic4 #djj4 ,,orchardson--,scene from 8,king ,henry ,,iv40 #djc4 ,,stanhope--,the ,footsteps of the ,flock4 #daf4 ,,whaite--,harvest on the ,mountains4 #dbj4 ,,wade--,a ,stitch in ,time4 #deb4 ,h4 ,,moore--,weather ,moderating after a ,gale4 #dfg4 ,,mrs4 ,,ward--,sion ,house1 #aeec4 #dgd4 ,,crowe--,a ,chiffonnier4 #dgh4 ,,wells--,the ,earl of ,strathmore and ,kinghorne4 #dij4 ,e4 ,,fr,,re--,la ,sortie de l',ecole des ,filles4 #ejc4 ,,hemy--,by the ,river ,side1 ,antwerp4 #ejd4 ,,nicol--,waiting at the ,cross-roads4 #ebj4 ,,armitage--,herod's ,birthday ,feast4 #eba4 ,,lidderdale--,the ,exiled ,jacobite4 #ebc4 ,,prinsep--,a ,greek ,widow at a ,tomb4 #ebi4 ,,hillingford--,before the ,tournament4 #eca4 ,,armstrong--,daffodils4 #ecb4 ,,opie--,the ,musical ,genius4 #edb4 ,,hayllar--,midsummer1 ,parham ,hall1 ,suffolk4 #eea4 ,,gale--,nazareth4 #eeb4 ,,goldie--,a ,child ,martyr borne across the ,roman ,campagna to one of the ,catacombs4 #ega4 ,,miss ,,sandys--,enid4 #egi4 ,,calderon--,whither8 #ehj4 ,,mason--,netley ,moor4 #fae4 ,,hodgson--,off the ,downs in the ,days of the ,csars4 #faf4 ,a4 ,,hayward--,the ,haunted ,house4 #fcf4 ,j4 ,e4 ,,williams--,the ,bishop of ,gloucester4 #fdf4 ,,archer--,bringing home ,fern1 ,evening4 #fdh4 ,,mccallum--,near the ,buck ,gates1 ,sherwood ,forest4 #fef4 ,,tourrier--,the ,cloisters4 #feg4 ,g4 ,d4 ,,leslie--,the ,empty ,sleeve4 #fga4 ,,brennan--,via della ,vita1 ,rome4 #fgc4 ,,crowe--,mary ,stuart1 ,february #hth1 #aehf4 #fhc4 ,a4 ,,hughes--,mrs4 ,edward ,rhodes4 #fhi4 ,,lobley--,fancies in the ,fire4 #gbg4 ,r4 ,,doyle--,the ,enchanted ,tree4 #ged4 ,a4 ,c4 ,h4 ,,luxmoore--,searching for ,treason4 #gfc4 ,j4 ,f4 ,,lewis--,camels4 #gfd4 ,,count ,g4 ,v4 ,,rosen--,a ,street in ,cairo4 #hcc4 ,,hardwick--,the ,woods in ,early ,spring4 #ijh4 ,e4 ,,edwards--,four ,etchings1 ,wells1 c4 #iae4 ,c4 ,n4 ,,luxmoore--,pen and ,ink ,sketches from ,nature4 #ajja4 ,,woolner--,hon4 ,w4 ,e4 ,frere1 late of ,bombay4 #ajbi4 ,ditto--,the late ,robert ,leslie ,ellis4 #ajdj4 ,b,,hm--,miss ,cumberbatch4 #ajeb4 ,,ap ,,griffith--,cain preparing his ,sacrifice4 #aajf4 ,g4 ,a4 ,,lawson--,the ,maiden's ,secret4 #aafd4 ,,tupper--,dr4 ,hyde ,salter4 #aafi4 ,g4 ,,morgan--,study of a ,head4 #aaid4 ,,leifchild--,the ,rev4 ,thomas ,jones4 ,,part ,,ii4 ,,by ,,algernon ,,charles ,,swinburne4 ,i have been asked to note down at random my impressions of some few among this year's pictures4 ,these ,i am aware will have no weight or value but that which a sincere and studious love of the art can give2 so much ,i claim for them1 and so much only4 ,to pass judgment or tender counsel is beyond my aim or my desire4 ,returning from the ,academy ,i find two pictures impressed on my memory more deeply and distinctly than the rest4 ,first of these--first of all1 it seems to me1 for depth and nobility of feeling and meaning--is ,mr4 ,watts' 8,wife of ,pygmalion40 ,the soft severity of perfect beauty might serve alike for woman or statue1 flesh or marble2 but the eyes have opened already upon love1 with a tender and grave wonder2 her curving ripples of hair seem just warm from the touch and the breath of the goddess1 moulded and quickened by lips and hands diviner than her sculptor's4 ,so it seems a ,greek painter must have painted women1 when ,greece had mortal pictures fit to match her imperishable statues4 ,her shapeliness and state1 her sweet majesty and amorous chastity1 recall the supreme ,venus of ,melos4 ,in this 8translation0 of a ,greek statue into an ,english picture1 no less than in the bust of ,clytie1 we see how in the hands of a great artist painting and sculpture may become as sister arts indeed1 yet without invasion or confusion2 how1 without any forced alliance of form and colour1 a picture may share the gracious grandeur of a statue1 a statue may catch something of the subtle bloom of beauty proper to a picture4 ,the other picture of which ,i would speak1 unlike enough to this in sentiment or in tone1 has in common with it the loftiest quality of beauty pure and simple4 ,indeed1 of all the few great or the many good painters now at work among us1 no one has so keen and clear a sense of this absolute beauty as ,mr4 ,albert ,moore4 ,his painting is to artists what the verse of ,thophile ,gautier is to poets2 the faultless and secure expression of an exclusive worship of things formally beautiful4 ,that contents them2 they leave to others the labours and the joys of thought or passion4 ,the outlines of their work are pure1 decisive1 distinct2 its colour is of the full sunlight4 ,this picture of 8,azaleas0 is as good a type as need be of their manner of work4 ,a woman delicately draped1 but showing well the gentle mould of her fine limbs through the thin soft raiment2 pale small leaves and bright white blossoms about her and above1 a few rose-red petals fallen on the pale marble and faint-coloured woven mat before her feet2 a strange and splendid vessel1 inlaid with designs of ,eastern colour2 another--clasped by one long slender hand and filled from it with flowers--of soft white1 touched here and there into blossom of blue3 this is enough4 ,the melody of colour1 the symphony of form is complete3 one more beautiful thing is achieved1 one more delight is born into the world2 and its meaning is beauty2 and its reason for being is to be4 ,we all owe so much to ,mr4 ,leighton for the selection and intention of his subjects--always noble or beautiful as these are1 always worthy of a great and grave art2 a thing how inexpressibly laudable and admirable in a time given over to the school of slashed breeches and the school of blowsy babyhood6--we owe him1 ,i say1 so much for this that it seems ungracious to say a word of his work except in the way of thanks and praise4 ,i find no true touch of ,greek beauty in the watery ,hellenism of his ,ariadne3 she is a nobly moulded model of wax1 such a figure as a medival sorceress might set to waste before a charmed fire and burn out the life of the living woman4 ,the 8,acta0 has the charm that a well-trained draughtsman can give to a naked fair figure2 this charm it has1 and no other2 it has also a painful trimness suggestive of vapour-baths1 of 8strigil0 and 8rusma10 of the toilet labours of a ,juvenalian lady2 not the fresh sweet strength of limbs native to the sea1 but the lower loveliness of limbs that have been steamed and scraped4 ,the picture of ,acme and ,septimius is excellently illustrative of ,mr4 ,theodore ,martin's verse2 it is in no wise illustrative of ,catullus4 ,i doubt if ,love would have sneezed approval of these lovers either to left or to right4 ,as for detail1 surely one arm at least of his and one leg at least of hers are singular samples of drawing4 ,in his two other pictures ,mr4 ,leighton has1 ,i think1 reached his highest mark for this year4 ,the majestic figure and noble head of ,jonathan are worthy of the warrior whose love was wonderful1 passing the love of woman2 the features resolute1 solicitous1 heroic4 ,the boy beside him is worthy to stand so near2 his action has all the grace of mere nature1 as he stoops slightly from the shoulder to sustain the heavy quiver4 ,the portrait of a lady hard by has a gracious and noble beauty1 too rare even among the abler of ,english workmen in this line4 ,the genius of ,mr4 ,millais is of course a thing indestructible2 but all that can be done to deaden or distort it the ,academy has done4 8,they have scotched the snake1 not killed it0--being as it is a 8,serpent-of-,eternity40 ,there is nothing here to recall the painter of past years4 ,there is no significance or depth1 no subtlety of beauty2 there is the fit and equal ability of an able craftsman4 ,the group of three sisters is a sample of this excellent ability2 no man needs to be told that4 ,there is no lack of graceful expressive composition2 there is no stint of ribbons and trimmings4 ,there is a bitter want of beauty1 of sweetness1 of the harmony which should hang about the memories of men after seeing it as an odour or a cadence about their senses3 and this beauty1 this sweetness1 this harmony1 all great and all genuine pictures leave with us for an after-gust1 not soon to pass or perish4 ,the picture called 8,rosalind and ,celia0 gives us graver and deeper offence4 ,of the landscape nothing evil shall be said1 and nothing good2 but the figures cry aloud for remark and reprobation4 ,these women are none of ,shakspeare's4 ,think but in passing of the fresh grace1 the laughters as of ,april1 the light delicate daring1 the tender and brilliant sweetness of the true 8,ganymede20 what is left of all this8 ,she figures here as a fair-faced ballet-girl1 with a soul absorbed by the calf of her leg4 ,and this dull1 sickly1 stolid woman huddling heavily against her is ,celia2 this is the purest rarest type that ,shakspeare could give of heroic and sweet devotion2 this is she who alone even among his women could not live but in another's life4 ,and ,touchstone--can this sour ape-cheeked face be the face that ,jaques 8met i' the forest80 these the lips that rallied ,corin and wooed ,aubrey8 8,bear your body more seemly10 ,touchstone4 ,and with all this debasement and distortion of ,shakspeare's figures1 we do not even get by way of amends a well-wrought piece of work2 forget if you will the names attached1 this is still but an unlovely picture4 ,it seems that ,mr4 ,millais has forgotten how to paint a lady2 his women here all smack of the side-scenes or the servants' hall4 ,admirable for its strong sure power of painting1 the 8,stella0 is1 nevertheless1 pitiably vacuous4 ,if the sailors at ,nelson's tomb appeal somewhat overmuch to popular sentiment of no deep or delicate kind1 the picture is yet a noble one and impressive4 ,the faces are full of simple and keen feeling1 of tacit and loyal reverence4 ,there is a superfluous ugliness in the two wooden stumps2 and perhaps the knack by which the light is arranged so as to strike out severally from each pane of the glass lantern is too like one of those petty feats which are as lime-twigs laid to catch the eyes and tongues of the half-trained sightseers who jostle and saunter through a gallery1 pausing now and again to 8wonder with a foolish face of praise40 ,the worst of these pictures1 painted by a meaner man1 would justly win notice and applause2 but it is no small thing that a great man should do no greater work than some of this4 ,the clear eye and the strong hand have not forgotten their cunning2 it is a master whom we find too often at work fit only for a craftsman4 ,surely a painter who has done things so noble will not always be content to take for his battle-cry1 8,philistia1 be thou glad of me40 ,i return now to the works of ,mr4 ,watts4 ,his little landscape is full of that beauty which lives a dim brief life between sunset and dusk4 ,the faint flames and mobile colours of the sky1 the dim warm woods1 the flight of doves about the dovecote1 have all their part in the grave charm of evening1 are all given back to the eye with the grace and strength of a master's touch2 the stacks that catch the glare and glow of low sunlight seem crude and violent in their intense yellow colour and hard angles of form3 natural it may be1 but a natural discord that jars upon the eye4 8,the ,meeting of ,jacob and ,esau10 though something too academic1 has in part the especial1 the personal grandeur of ,mr4 ,watts's larger manner of work4 ,in the pale smooth worn face of ,jacob there is a shy sly shame which befits the supplanter3 his well-nigh passive action1 as of one half reassured and half abashed1 bares to view the very heart and root of his nature2 and the rough strenuous figure of ,esau1 in its frank grandeur of brave sun-brown limbs1 speaks aloud on the other side of the story1 by the fervid freedom of his impetuous embrace4 ,far off1 between the meeting figures1 midmost of the remote cavalcade1 the fair clear face of a woman looks out1 pale under folds of white1 patient and ill at ease2 her one would take to be ,leah4 ,it is noticeable that one year1 not over rich in excellent work1 should give us two admirable pictures drawn from the ,hebrew chronicles4 ,what they call scriptural art in ,england does not often bear such acceptable fruit4 ,i know not if even ,mr4 ,watts has ever painted a nobler portrait than this of ,mr4 ,panizzi2 it recalls the majestic strength and depth of ,morone's work3 there is the same dominant power of hand and keenness of eye1 the same breadth and subtlety of touch1 the same noble reticence of colour4 ,before ,i pass on to speak of any other painter1 ,i will here interpolate what ,i have to say of ,mr4 ,watts's bust of ,clytie4 ,not imitative1 not even assimilative of ,michel ,angelo's manner1 it yet by some vague and ineffable quality brings to mind his work rather than any ,greek sculptor's4 ,there is the same intense and fiery sentiment1 the same grandeur of device1 the same mystery of tragedy4 ,the colour and the passion of this work are the workman's own4 ,never was a divine legend translated into diviner likeness4 ,large1 deep-bosomed1 superb in arm and shoulder1 as should be the woman growing from flesh into flower through a godlike agony1 from fairness of body to fullness of flower1 large-leaved and broad of blossom1 splendid and sad--yearning with all the life of her lips and breasts after the receding light and the removing love--this is the ,clytie indeed whom sculptors and poets have loved for her love of the ,sun their ,god4 ,the bitter sweetness of the dividing lips1 the mighty mould of the rising breasts1 the splendour of her sorrow is divine3 divine the massive weight of carven curls bound up behind1 the heavy straying flakes of unfilleted hair below2 divine the clear cheeks and low full forehead1 the strong round neck made for the arms of a god only to clasp and bend down to their yoke4 ,we seem to see the lessening sunset that she sees1 and fear too soon to watch that stately beauty slowly suffer change and die into flower1 that solid sweetness of body sink into petal and leaf4 ,sculpture such as this has actual colour enough without need to borrow of an alien art4 ,the work of ,m4 ,legros is always of such a solid and serious excellence as to require no passing study4 ,his picture of ,henry ,,viii4 and courtiers is1 ,i must think1 an instance of absolute error2 it has no finer quality of its own1 and the reminiscence of ,holbein is not fortunate4 8,the ,refectory0 makes large amends3 he has never done more perfect work than this4 ,the cadence of colours is just and noble2 witness the red-leaved book open in one monk's hand on the white cloth1 the clear green jug on the table1 the dim green bronze of the pitcher on the floor2 beside it a splendid cat1 its fur beautiful with warm black bars on an exquisite ground of dull grey1 its expectant eye and mouth lifted without further or superfluous motion4 ,the figures are noble by mere force of truth2 there is nothing of vulgar ugliness or theatrical holiness4 ,as good but not so great as the celebrated 8,ex-voto0 of a past year1 this picture is wholly worthy of a name already famous4 ,the large work of ,baron ,leys stands out amid the overflow all round it of bad and feeble attempts or pretences at work in all the strength of its great quality of robust invention4 ,it has the interest of excellent narrative2 in every face there is a story4 ,a great picture is something other than this2 but this also is a great thing done4 ,it is a chapter of history written in colours2 a study which may remind us of ,meinhold's great romances1 though the author of 8,sidonia the ,sorceress0 may stand higher as a writer than ,leys as a painter4 ,all the realistic detail is here1 but not the vital bloom and breath of action which ,meinhold had to give4 ,rigour of judicial accuracy might refuse to this work the praise of a noble picture2 for to that the final imprint and seal of beauty is requisite2 and this beauty1 if a man's hand be but there to bestow it1 may be wrought out of homely or heavenly faces1 out of rare things or common1 out of ,titian's women or ,rembrandt's4 ,it is not the lack of prettiness which lowers the level of a picture4 ,here for imagination we have but intellect1 for charm of form we have but force of thought4 ,too much also is matter of mere memory2 thus the clerk writing is but a bastard brother of ,holbein's ,erasmus4 ,form and colour are vigorous1 if hard also and heavy2 and when all is said it must in the end be still accepted as a work of high and rare power after its own kind1 and that no common kind1 nor unworthy of studious admiration and grave thanksgiving4 ,it is well to compare this with the work that passes for historical in many ,english eyes4 ,doubtless it may be said that such things as some of these are not worth mention in a study so imperfect and discursive as this must be2 that they were better passed by in peace and left to find their level4 ,but it has been well said1 8,il est des morts qu'il faut qu'on tue20 and though undesirous in general to take that duty out of abler hands1 ,i will choose but one sample at random1 on which ,i came by chance1 looking up from ,sir ,e4 ,landseer's dog and deer1 a work of brute ability1 excellently repulsive as all brutish pain must be if duly rendered4 ,this select sample of historic art in ,england is a picture of ,mary ,stuart about to sign her abdication4 ,posthumous parasites have often libelled her with praise of pencil or of pen2 but retribution never yet fell heavier on her memory4 ,she1 the woman of such keen clear wits1 such indomitable nerves1 such pitiless charms and such tameless passions1 that the very record of them can yet seduce and daunt men as she daunted and seduced them of old--the fairest1 subtlest1 hardest among women1 with a heart of iron and fire--she shows here a fool's face1 doubtful between a simper and a sob1 raised in pitiable appeal to a ring of stagestruck ruffians4 ,the picture is worth notice as a tangible piece of proof that certain men do really accept this as the historic type of a figure so famous as hers4 ,another hand has drawn her portrait1 perhaps somewhat nearer life1 to this effect2 7,i take leave to cite the lines as a corrective1 being reminded of them at sight of this picture4 ,they may perhaps find place here1 as the ,queen of ,scots figures thrice in this year's show37-- 8,nor shall men ever say ,but she was born right royal2 full of sins1 ,dyed hand and tongue with bloody stains and black1 ,unmerciful1 unfaithful1 but of heart ,so high and fiery1 and of spirit so clear1 ,in extreme danger and pain so lifted up1 ,so of all violent things inviolable1 ,so large of courage1 so superb of soul1 ,so sheathed with iron mind invincible ,and arms unbreached of fireproof constancy-- ,by shame not shaken1 fear or force or death1 ,change1 or all confluence of calamities-- ,and so at her worst need beloved1 and so1 7,naked of help and honour when she seemed1 ,as other women would be1 of their strength ,stript7 still so of herself adorable1 ,she shall be a world's wonder to all time1 ,a deadly glory watched of marvelling men ,not without praise1 not without noble tears1 ,and if without what she would never have ,who had it never1 pity--yet from none ,quite without reverence and some kind of love ,for that which was so royal40 ,having delivered my soul as to this matter1 ,i return not unrelieved from historic ground1 with some hope that this aberration may prove pardonable when the provocation has been taken into account4 ,i have compared ,albert ,moore to ,thophile ,gautier2 ,i am tempted to compare ,mr4 ,leslie to ,hgsippe ,moreau4 ,the low melodious notes of his painting have the soft reserve of tone and still sweetness of touch which belong to the idyllic poet of the ,voulzie4 ,sometimes he almost attains the gentle grace of the other's best verse--though ,i hardly remember a picture of his as exquisite for music and meaning as the 8trennes la ,fermire40 ,his work of this year has much of tender beauty1 especially the picture called 8,home ,news20 his portraits have always a pleasant and genuine quality of their own2 and in the picture called 8,the ,empty ,sleeve10 though trenching somewhat nearly on the obvious and facile ground of family feeling and domestic exhibition1 there is enough of truth and grace visible to keep it up on the proper level of art4 ,the 8,evening ,hymn0 of ,mr4 ,mason is in my mind the finest ,i have seen of his works1 admirable beyond all where all are admirable4 ,a row of girls1 broken in rank here and there1 stand and sing on a rough green rise of broken ground2 behind them is a wild spare copse1 beyond it a sunset of steady and sombre fire stains red with its sunken rays the long low space of sky2 above this broad band of heavy colour the light is fitful and pale4 ,the raised faces and opening mouths of the singers are as graceful as those carved by ,della ,robbia or ,donatello in their choral groups2 nothing visible of gape or strain1 yet the action of song is made sensible4 ,their fine features are not over fine2 they have all an air of the fields and the common country1 which is confirmed in the figures1 cast in a somewhat ruder mould1 of the two young peasants who stand listening4 ,one girl stands off a little from the rest1 conning the text with eyes set fast upon her open book2 the rest sing freely at large2 the middle group of three girls is most noble and exquisite4 ,rich at once and grave in the colour1 stately and sweet in the composition1 this picture is a model of happy and majestic temperance4 ,mr4 ,walker's picture of 8,vagrants10 has more of actual beauty than his 8,bathers0 of last year2 more of brilliant skill and swift sharp talent it can hardly have4 ,the low marsh with its cold lights of grey glittering waters here and there2 the stunted brushwood1 the late and pale sky2 the figures gathering about the kindling fire1 sad and wild and worn and untameable2 the one stately shape of a girl standing erect1 her passionate beautiful face seen across the smoke of the scant fuel2 all these are wrought with such appearance of ease and security and speed of touch1 that the whole seems almost a feat of mere skill rather than a grave sample of work2 but in effect it is no such slight thing4 ,in ,mr4 ,armstrong's 8,daffodils0 there is a still sobriety of beauty1 a quiet justice and a fine gravity of manner1 far unlike the flash and flare of obtrusive cleverness which vexes us so often in ,english work of this kind4 ,the sombre sweetness of a coming twilight is poured upon hill and field2 only the yellow flowers wreathed about the child's hat or held by the boy kneeling on the stile relieve the tender tone of sunless daylight with soft and tempered colour4 ,the action of the figures has all the grace of simple truth and childlike nature4 8,the ,exiled ,jacobite0 of ,mr4 ,lidderdale is full of the noble sadness of the subject1 excellent also as a genuine picture1 a work of composed harmony4 ,the noble worn face of the old man1 stamped with the sacred seal of patience and pain1 looks seaward over the discoloured stonework of the low wall1 beyond the dull grey roofs of a low-lying town that slope to the foreign shore4 ,his eyes are not upon the dusky down sweeping up behind1 the rough quaint houses and deep hollow1 veiled all and blue with the misty late air2 they are set1 sad and strong1 upon things they shall never see indeed again4 ,from the whole figure the spirit of the old song speaks3 8,now all is done that man can do1 ,and all is done in vain40 ,the pathos of the picture is masculine and plain as truth2 the painter might have written under it the simple first words of the same most noble song3 8,it was a' for our rightful king40 ,mr4 ,poynter's picture of 8,the ,catapult0 has an admirable energy of thought and handiwork2 the force and weight of faculty shown in it would be worthy remark if the result were less excellent4 ,excellent of its kind it is1 but not delightful2 surprise and esteem it provokes1 but not the glad gratitude with which we should welcome all great work4 ,the labouring figures and the monstrous engine are worthy of wonder and praise2 but there is a want on the whole of beauty1 a want in detail of interest4 ,the painter's 8,israel in ,egypt0 had more of both qualities1 though there is this year a visible growth of power2 it left upon our eyes a keen impression of gorgeous light and cruelty and splendour and suffering2 it had more room for the rival effects at once of fine art and of casual sentiment4 ,the two pictures of ,mr4 ,hughes show all his inevitable grace and tender way of work2 they are full of gentle colour and soft significance4 ,the smaller is to us the sweeter sample2 but both are noticeable for their clear soft purity and bright delicacy of thought and touch4 ,in the larger picture the bird singing on the sill1 delicious as it would be anywhere1 has here a double charm4 ,there is a genuine force and a quaint beauty in ,mr4 ,houghton's picture--portrait it can hardly be called--of a gentleman in his laboratory4 ,his other picture1 of a boy lifting up a younger child to smell a rose on the tree1 while a kitten bounds at his feet1 is admirable for its plain direct grace of manner4 ,the head of a priest by ,mr4 ,burgess has a clear air of truth and strength2 its ,spanish manner recalls the style of ,phillip1 whom the painter1 it seems1 has sought to emulate4 ,among the few portraits worth a look or a word1 is that of ,mrs4 ,birket ,foster by ,mr4 ,orchardson2 though the showy simplicity be something of a knack1 and the painting of woodwork and drapery rather a trick of trade acquired than a test of accomplished power1 the work is so well done and the action so plain and good as to bear and to reward a second look4 ,the show of this year is noticeably barren in landscape4 ,nothing is here of ,inchbold1 nothing of ,anthony4 ,the time which can bring forth but two such men should have also brought forth men capable to judge them and to enjoy4 ,even here however the field is not all sterile3 there are two studies of sea by ,mr4 ,h4 ,moore1 worthy to redeem the whole waste of a year4 ,one of these shows an ebbing tide before the squall comes up2 the soft low tumult of washing waves1 not yet beaten into storm and foam1 but weltering and whitening under cloud and wind1 will soon gather power and passion2 as yet there is some broken and pallid sunlight flung over it by faint flashes1 which serve but to show the deepening trouble and quickening turmoil of reluctant waters4 ,the shifting and subtle colours of the surging sea and grey blowing sky are beautiful and true4 ,the study of storm subsiding as the waves beat up inshore1 though vigorous and faithful1 is in parts somewhat heavy2 but the jostling breakers muster and fight and fall with all the grace and force of nature4 ,in these stray notes ,i had meant to set down nothing in dispraise of this picture or that1 but merely to say of such as ,i found good the best ,i had to say2 passing by of necessity many well worthy of praise or blame1 and many more not wholly worthy of either4 ,of these indeed the main part of an exhibition must usually be made up2 of mediocrities and ingenuities which art must on the whole ignore and put aside without rebuke1 though they may not call aloud for fire to consume them4 ,but a word may here be said of ,m4 douard ,frre2 a name that carries weight with it4 ,he has been likened to ,wordsworth2 it must be a ,wordsworth shorn of his beams4 ,in the large field of the poet there are barren and weedy places enough2 he may at times1 with relaxed hand and bedimmed eye1 drop from the hills to the quagmires1 and croak there to children1 instead of singing to men2 but the qualities which at such times a great poet may have in common with a small painter are not the qualities which make him great4 ,when we find in ,m4 ,frre the majesty and music of thought1 the stately strength and high-toned harmonies1 the deep sure touch and keen-edged pathos of the poet1 then only we may grant the kinship4 ,to the rags and tatters1 the stubble and sweepings of ,wordsworth1 he meantime is more than welcome4 ,what is there in this year's picture well conceived1 well composed1 well painted8 what of effect1 of harmony1 of variety in these crude monotonous figures8 ,a great artist in verse or in colour may assuredly make some great thing out of the commonest unwashed group of dull faces2 but the workman must first be great2 and this workman1 without force of hand or delicacy1 without depth or grace of painting1 would pass off on us1 in lieu of these1 such mere trickeries of coarse and easy sentiment1 fit only to 8milk the maudlin0 eyes of ,m4 ,prudhomme and his wife4 ,turn from his work to that of ,m4 ,legros1 and compare the emasculate with the masculine side of ,french art4 ,among the drawings here are two studies by ,mr4 ,sandys1 both worthy of the high place held by the artist4 ,one is a portrait full of force and distinction1 drawn as perhaps no other man among us can draw2 the other1 a woman's face1 is one of his most solid and splendid designs2 a woman of rich1 ripe1 angry beauty1 she draws one warm long lock of curling hair through her full and moulded lips1 biting it with bared bright teeth1 which add something of a tiger's charm to the sleepy and couching passion of her fair face4 ,but of that which is not here ,i have also something to say4 ,exclusion and suppression of certain things in the range of art are not really possible to any academy upon earth1 be it pictorial or literary4 ,it is natural for academies to try1 when any rare or new good thing comes before them in either kind2 witness much of academic history in ,england as in ,france2 but the record of their ill-will has always been the record of their impotence4 ,mr4 ,sandys' picture of 8,medea0 is well enough known by this time1 wherever there is any serious knowledge of art1 to claim here some word of comment1 not less seasonable than if it were now put forward to grace the great show of the year4 ,like ,coriolanus1 the painter might say if he would that it is his to banish the judges1 his to reject the 8common cry0 of academics4 ,for this1 beyond all doubt1 is as yet his masterpiece4 ,pale as from poison1 with the blood drawn back from her very lips1 agonized in face and limbs with the labour and the fierce contention of old love with new1 of a daughter's love with a bride's1 the fatal figure of ,medea pauses a little on the funereal verge of the wood of death1 in act to pour a blood-like liquid into the soft opal-coloured hollow of a shell4 ,the future is hard upon her1 as a cup of bitter poison set close to her mouth2 the furies of ,absyrtus1 the furies of her children1 rise up against her from the unrisen years2 her eyes are hungry and helpless1 full of a fierce and raging sorrow4 ,hard by her1 henbane and aconite and nightshade thrive and grow full of fruit and death2 before her fair feet the bright-eyed toads engender after their kind4 ,upon the golden ground behind is wrought in allegoric decoration the likeness of the ship ,argo1 with other emblems of the tragic things of her life4 ,the picture is grand alike for wealth of symbol and solemnity of beauty4 ,the present year has other pictures to be proud of1 not submitted to the loose and slippery judgment of an academy4 ,of one or two such ,i am here permitted to make mention4 ,the great picture which ,mr4 ,whistler has now in hand is not yet finished enough for any critical detail to be possible2 it shows already promise of a more majestic and excellent beauty of form than his earlier studies1 and of the old delicacy and melody of ineffable colour4 ,of three slighter works lately painted1 ,i may set down a few rapid notes2 but no task is harder than this of translation from colour into speech1 when the speech must be so hoarse and feeble1 when the colour is so subtle and sublime4 ,music or verse might strike some string accordant in sound to such painting1 but a mere version such as this is as a psalm of ,tate's to a psalm of ,david's4 ,in all of these the main strings touched are certain varying chords of blue and white1 not without interludes of the bright and tender tones of floral purple or red4 ,in two of the studies the keynote is an effect of sea2 in one1 a sketch for the great picture1 the soft brilliant floor-work and wall-work of a garden balcony serve in its stead to set forth the flowers and figures of flower-like women4 ,in a second1 we have again a gathering of women in a balcony2 from the unseen flowerland below tall almond-trees shoot up their topmost crowns of tender blossom2 beyond and far out to west and south the warm and solemn sea spreads wide and soft without wrinkle of wind4 ,the dim grey floor-work in front1 delicate as a summer cloud in colour1 is antiphonal to the bluer wealth of water beyond3 and between these the fair clusters of almond-blossom make divine division4 ,again the symphony or 7if you will7 the antiphony is sustained by the fervid or the fainter colours of the women's raiment as they lean out one against another1 looking far oversea in that quiet depth of pleasure without words when spirit and sense are filled full of beautiful things1 till it seems that at a mere breath the charmed vessels of pleasure would break or overflow1 the brimming chalices of the senses would spill this wine of their delight4 ,in the third of these studies the sea is fresher1 lightly kindling under a low clear wind2 at the end of a pier a boat is moored1 and women in the delicate bright robes of eastern fashion and colour so dear to the painter are about to enter it2 one is already midway the steps of the pier2 she pauses1 half unsure of her balance1 with an exquisite fluttered grace of action4 ,her comrades above are also somewhat troubled1 their robes lightly blown about by the sea-wind1 but not too much for light laughter and a quivering pleasure4 ,between the dark wet stair-steps and piles of the pier the sweet bright sea shows foamless here and blue4 ,this study has more of the delight of life than the others2 which among three such may be most beautiful ,i neither care to guess nor can4 ,they all have the immediate beauty1 they all give the direct delight of natural things2 they seem to have grown as a flower grows1 not in any forcing house of ingenious and laborious cunning4 ,this indeed is in my eyes a special quality of ,mr4 ,whistler's genius2 a freshness and fulness of the loveliest life of things1 with a high clear power upon them which seems to educe a picture as the sun does a blossom or a fruit4 ,it is well known that the painter of whom ,i now propose to speak has never suffered exclusion or acceptance at the hand of any academy4 ,to such acceptance or such rejection all other men of any note have been and may be liable4 ,it is not less well known that his work must always hold its place as second in significance and value to no work done by any ,english painter of his time4 ,among the many great works of ,mr4 ,d4 ,g4 ,rossetti1 ,i know of none greater than his two latest4 ,these are types of sensual beauty and spiritual1 the siren and the sibyl4 ,the one is a woman of the type of ,adam's first wife2 she is a living ,lilith1 with ample splendour of redundant hair2 ,she excels ,all women in the magic of her locks2 ,and when she winds them round a young man's neck ,she will not ever set him free again4 ,clothed in soft white garments1 she draws out through a comb the heavy mass of hair like thick spun gold to fullest length2 her head leans back half sleepily1 superb and satiate with its own beauty2 the eyes are languid1 without love in them or hate2 the sweet luxurious mouth has the patience of pleasure fulfilled and complete1 the warm repose of passion sure of its delight4 ,outside1 as seen in the glimmering mirror1 there is full summer2 the deep and glowing leaves have drunk in the whole strength of the sun4 ,the sleepy splendour of the picture is a fit raiment for the idea incarnate of faultless fleshly beauty and peril of pleasure unavoidable4 ,for this serene and sublime sorceress there is no life but of the body2 with spirit 7if spirit there be7 she can dispense4 ,were it worth her while for any word to divide those terrible tender lips1 she too might say with the hero of the most perfect and exquisite book of modern times--,mademoiselle de ,maupin--8,je trouve la terre aussi belle que le ciel1 et je pense que la correction de la forme est la vertu40 ,of evil desire or evil impulse she has nothing2 and nothing of good4 ,she is indifferent1 equable1 magnetic2 she charms and draws down the souls of men by pure force of absorption1 in no wise wilful or malignant2 outside herself she cannot live1 she cannot even see3 and because of this she attracts and subdues all men at once in body and in spirit4 ,beyond the mirror she cares not to look1 and could not4 8,ma mia suora ,rahel mai non si smaga ,dal suo miraglio1 e siede tutto 'l giorno40 ,so1 rapt in no spiritual contemplation1 she will sit to all time1 passive and perfect3 the outer light of a sweet spring day flooding and filling the massive gold of her hair4 ,by the reflection in a deep mirror of fervent foliage from without1 the chief chord of stronger colour is touched in this picture2 next in brilliance and force of relief is the heap of curling and tumbling hair on which the sunshine strikes2 the face and head of the siren are withdrawn from the full stroke of the light4 ,after this faint essay at an exposition1 the weighty and melodious words in which the painter has recast his thought 7words inscribed on the frame of the picture7 will be taken as full atonement for my shortcomings2 ,i fear only that the presumption and insufficience of the commentator will now be but the more visible4 ,,lady ,,lilith4 ,of ,adam's first wife1 ,lilith1 it is told 7,the witch he loved before the gift of ,eve7 ,that1 ere the snake's1 her sweet tongue could deceive1 ,and her enchanted hair was the first gold4 ,and still she sits1 young while the earth is old1 ,and1 subtly of herself contemplative1 ,draws men to watch the bright net she can weave1 ,till heart and body and life are in its hold4 ,rose1 foxglove1 poppy1 are her flowers3 for where ,is he not found1 ,o ,lilith1 whom shed scent ,and soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare8 ,lo6 as that youth's eyes burned at thine1 so went ,thy spell through him1 and left his straight neck bent1 ,and round his heart one strangling golden hair4 ,the other picture gives the type opposite to this2 a head of serene and spiritual beauty1 severe and tender1 with full and heavy hair falling straight in grave sweet lines1 not like ,lilith's exuberant of curl and coil2 with carven column of throat1 solid and round and flawless as living ivory2 with still and sacred eyes and pure calm lips2 an imperial votaress truly1 in maiden meditation3 yet as true and tangible a woman of mortal mould1 as ripe and firm of flesh as her softer and splendid sister4 ,the mystic emblems behind her show her power upon love and death to make them loyal servants to the law of her lofty and solemn spirit4 ,here also the artist alone should first be heard2 and ,i1 having leave to act as his outrider1 give him the due precedence4 ,,sibylla ,,palmifera4 ,under the arch of life1 where love and death1 ,terror and mystery1 guard her shrine1 ,i saw ,beauty enthroned2 and though her gaze struck awe1 ,i drew it in as simply as my breath4 ,hers are the eyes which1 over and beneath1 ,the sky and sea bend on thee1--which can draw1 ,by sea or sky or woman1 to one law1 ,the allotted bondman of her palm and wreath4 ,this is that ,lady ,beauty1 in whose praise ,thy voice and hand shake still1--long known to thee ,by flying hair and fluttering hem1--the beat ,following her daily of thy heart and feet1 ,how passionately and irretrievably1 ,in what fond flight1 how many ways and days6 ,after these all weaker words must fall flat enough2 but something of further description may yet be allowed4 ,behind this figure of the ideal and inaccessible beauty1 an inlaid wall of alternate alabaster and black marble bears inwrought on its upper part the rival twin emblems of love and death2 over the bare carven skull poppies impend1 and roses over the sweet head with bound blind eyes3 in her hand is the palm-branch1 a sceptre of peace and of power4 ,the cadence of colour is splendid and simple1 a double trinity of green and red1 the dim red robe1 the deep red poppies1 the soft red roses2 and again the green veil wound about with wild flowers1 the green down of poppy-leaves1 the sharper green of rose-leaves4 ,an unfinished picture of ,beatrice 7the ,beata ,beatrix of the ,vita ,nuova71 a little before death1 is perhaps the noblest of ,mr4 ,rossetti's many studies after ,dante4 ,this work is wholly symbolic and ideal2 a strange bird flown earthward from heaven brings her in its beak a full-blown poppy1 the funereal flower of sleep4 ,her beautiful head lies back1 sad and sweet1 with fast-shut eyes in a death-like trance that is not death2 over it the shadow of death seems to impend1 making sombre the splendour of her ample hair and tender faultless features4 ,beyond her the city and the bridged river are seen as from far1 dim and veiled with misty lights as though already 8sitting alone1 made as a widow40 ,love1 one side1 comes bearing in his hand a heart in flames1 having his eyes bent upon ,dante's2 on the other side is ,dante1 looking sadly across the way towards ,love4 ,in this picture the light is subdued and soft1 touching tenderly from behind the edges of ,beatrice's hair and raiment2 in the others there is a full fervour of daylight4 ,the great picture of ,venus ,verticordia has now been in great measure recast2 the head is of a diviner type of beauty2 golden butterflies hover about the halo of her hair1 alight upon the apple or the arrow in her hands2 her face has the sweet supremacy of a beauty imperial and immortal2 her glorious bosom seems to exult and expand as the roses on each side of it4 ,the painting of leaf and fruit and flower in this picture is beyond my praise or any man's2 but of one thing ,i will here take note2 the flash of green brilliance from the upper leaves of the trellis against the sombre green of the trees behind4 ,once more it must appear that the painter alone can translate into words as perfect in music and colour the sense and spirit of his work4 ,,venus ,,verticordia4 ,she hath it in her hand to give it thee1 ,yet almost in her heart would hold it back2 ,she muses1 with her eyes upon the track ,of that which in thy spirit they can see4 ,haply1 8,behold1 he is at peace10 saith she3 8,alas6 the apple for his lips--the dart ,that follows its brief sweetness to his heart-- ,the wandering of his feet perpetually60 ,a little space her glance is still and coy2 ,but if she give the fruit that works her spell1 ,those eyes shall flame as for her ,phrygian boy2 ,then shall her bird's strained throat the woe foretell1 ,and her far seas moan as a single shell1 ,and through her dark grove strike the light of ,troy4 ,another work1 as yet incomplete1 is a study of ,la ,pia2 she is seen looking forth from the ramparts of her lord's castle1 over the fatal lands without2 her pallid splendid face hangs a little forward1 wan and white against the mass of dark deep hair2 under her hands is a work of embroidery1 hanging still on the frame unfinished2 just touched by the weak weary hands1 it trails forward across the lap of her pale green raiment1 into the foreground of the picture4 ,in her eyes is a strange look of wonder and sorrow and fatigue1 without fear and without pain1 as though she were even now looking beyond earth into the soft and sad air of purgatory3 she presses the deadly marriage-ring into the flesh of her finger1 so deep that the soft skin is bloodless and blanched from the intense imprint of it4 ,two other studies1 as yet only sketched1 give promise of no less beauty2 the subject of one was long since handled by the artist in a slighter manner4 ,it also is taken from the ,vita ,nuova2 ,dante in a dream beholding ,beatrice dead1 tended by handmaidens1 and ,love1 with bow and dart in hand1 in act to kiss her beautiful dead mouth4 ,the other is a design of ,perseus showing to ,andromeda the severed head of ,medusa1 reflected in water2 an old and well-worn subject1 but renewed and reinformed with life by the vital genius of the artist4 ,in the ,pompeian picture we see the lovers at halt beside a stream1 on their homeward way2 here we see them in their house1 bending over the central cistern or impluvium of the main court4 ,the design is wonderful for grace and force2 the picture will assuredly be one of the painter's greatest4 ,wide and far apart as lie their provinces of work1 their tones of thought and emotion1 the two illustrious artists of whom ,i have just said a short and inadequate word have in common one supreme quality of spirit and of work1 coloured and moulded in each by his individual and inborn force of nature2 the love of beauty for the very beauty's sake1 the faith and trust in it as in a god indeed4 ,this gift of love and faith1 now rare enough1 has been and should be ever the common apanage of artists4 ,rien n'est vrai que le beau2 this should be the beginning and the ending of their belief1 held in no small or narrow sense1 but in the largest and most liberal scope of meaning4 ,beauty may be strange1 quaint1 terrible1 may play with pain as with pleasure1 handle a horror till she leave it a delight2 she forsakes not such among her servants as ,webster or as ,goya4 ,no good art is unbeautiful2 but much able and effective work may be1 and is4 ,mere skill1 mere thought and trouble1 mere feeling or dexterity1 will never on earth make a man painter or poet or artist in any kind4 ,hundreds of ,english pictures just now have but these to boast of2 and with these even studious and able men are often now content2 forgetful that art is no more a matter of mere brain-work than of mere handicraft4 ,the worship of beauty1 though beauty be itself transformed and incarnate in shapes diverse without end1 must be simple and absolute2 hence only must the believer expect profit or reward4 ,over every building made sacred to art of any sort1 upon the hearts of all who strive after it to serve it1 there should be written these words of the greatest master now living among us3-- ,la beaut est parfaite1 ,la beaut peut toute chose1 ,la beaut est la seule chose au monde qui n'existe pas demi4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,london3 ,,savili1 ,,edwards ,,and ,,co41 ,,printers1 ,,chandos ,,street1 ,,covent ,,garden4 ,,keating',s ,,cough ,,lozenges4 ,illustration3 ,,keating #gi ,,st4 ,,paul',s ,,churchyard ,,trade ,,mark ,the vast increase in the demand for these ,,cough ,,lozenges1 and the numerous ,testimonials constantly received1 fully justify the ,proprietor in asserting they are the best and safest yet offered to the ,public for the ,cure of the following ,complaints3--,,asthma1 ,,winter ,,cough1 ,,hoarseness1 ,,shortness ,,of ,,breath1 and other ,,pulmonary ,,maladies4 ,they have deservedly obtained the high patronage of their ,majesties the ,king of ,prussia and the ,king of ,hanover2 very many also of the ,nobility and ,clergy1 and of the ,public generally1 use them under the recommendation of some of the most eminent of the ,faculty4 ,,old ,,bank1 ,,stratford-,,upon-,,avon1 7,branch of the ,stourbridge and ,kidderminster ,banking ,company17 ,,stratford1 ,may #gth1 #ahfh4 ,,testimonial4 ,,dear ,,sir1--,having had a severe ,cough this winter ,i was advised to try your ,lozenges1 which are invaluable2 having purchased one box costing only #as4 #a;d41 completely set me up1 and must1 therefore1 strongly recommend them as a certain cure4 ,i remain your most obedient ,servant1 ,w4 ,,hobbins1 ,manager4 ,to ,mr4 ,,keating1 #gi1 ,st4 ,paul's ,churchyard1 ,london4 ,prepared and ,sold in ,boxes1 #as4 #a;d41 and ,tins1 #bs4 #i;d41 #ds4 #f;d41 and #ajs4 #f;d4 each1 by ,,thomas ,,keating1 ,chemist1 c41 #gi1 ,st4 ,paul's ,churchyard1 ,london4 ,sold retail by all ,druggists and ,patent ,medicine ,vendors in the ,world4 ,,keating',s ,,persian ,,insect-,,destroying ,,powder4 ,fleas in dogs1 poultry1 c41 are instantly destroyed1 as also ,bugs1 ,beetles1 and every other ,insect1 by this ,powder1 which is quite harmless to domestic animals2 sportsmen particularly will1 therefore1 find it invaluable4 ,sold in ,packets1 #as41 ,tins1 #bs4 #f;d4 and #ds4 #f;d4 each2 or #as4 ,packets free by post for #ab ,postage ,stamps1 and #bs4 #f;d4 on receipt of #cf4 ,also in ,bottles1 #as4 #b;d41 and with ,bellows #as4 #f;d4 and #cs4 each1 by ,,thomas ,,keating1 ,chemist1 #gi1 ,st4 ,paul's ,churchyard1 ,london1 ,e4,c4 ,,by ,,royal ,,command4 ,illustration3 ,royal mark ,illustration3 ,factory ,,joseph ,,gillot',s ,,celebrated ,,steel ,,pens1 ,sold by all ,dealers throughout the ,world4 ,,mr4 ,,edwin ,w4 ,,streeter1 ,,late ,,hancock1 ,,burbrook1 ,,company1 ,,limited4 #ah-;,,carat ,,gold ,,jewellery ,,machine ,,made4 ,,fifty ,,per ,,cent4 ,,less ,,than ,,hand ,,made4 #cg1 ,,conduit ,,street 7#e doors from ,bond ,st47 ,the ,designs of the various ,ornaments are exceedingly beautiful1 being for the most part classical4 ,they are made of #ah-;carat ,gold1 and the prices of some are as follows3-- ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,gold ,suites #aj #ajs4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,gold ,bracelets #e #js4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,gold ,brooches #c #js4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,he ,values ,jewels at #a per cent4 for ,probate2 or ,purchases1 for ,cash1 and takes them in exchange4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,gold ,lockets #a #js4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,gold ,earrings #a #ajs4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,etruscan ,jewellery4 ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery1 #ah ,carat ,gold3 ,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter--,his ,book on ,gold4 ,eighth ,edition1 #ac ,stamps by ,post4 ,,simpkin1 ,,marshall1 ,,co41 and all ,booksellers1 and of the ,author1 #cg1 ,conduit ,street 7five doors from ,bond ,street74 ,,hancock1 ,,burbrook1 ,,co4 beg to announce a ,new and ,recherche ,stock of ,diamond-work and ,jewellery for the present ,season4 ,every article marked in plain figures1 and #aj per cent4 discount for ,cash allowed on all articles above #e4 ,their special designs of ,machine-,made ,necklaces1 ,earrings1 and ,bracelets4 ,,court ,,diamonds ,,re-,,arranged4 ,,reviews ,,of ,,mr4 ,,edwin ,w4 ,,streeter',s ,,machine-,,made ,,jewellery4 8,professor ,pepper states that the use of machinery in the manufacture of ,gold ,ornaments is of great advantage to the ,public40--,,times1 #aith ,october1 #ahfg4 8,by the introduction of machinery #ej per cent4 is saved in the manufacture of ,gold ,jewellery40--,,standard1 ,september1 #ahfg4 8,articles of #ah-;carat gold are manufactured by machinery1 and the result is a saving of #ej per cent4 to the purchaser40--,,fun1 #bith ,december1 #ahff4 8,mr4 ,edwin ,w4 ,streeter marks upon his goods the quality of gold supplied by him40--,,times1 #agth ,september1 #ahfg4 ,,reviews ,,of ,,mr4 ,,edwin ,w4 ,,streeter',s ,,book ,,of ,,jewellery ,,and ,,gold4 8,the description of the manufacture of ,gold and the various ,hall-marks are well worth perusal40--,,standard1 #crd ,january1 #ahfh4 8,this is a very useful little manual on ,jewellery1 of importance40--,,public ,,observer1 #afth ,nov41 #ahfg4 8,this volume is worth its weight in gold40--,,court ,,journal1 #ith ,feb41 #ahfg4 8,every intending buyer of ,jewellery should make ,mr4 ,streeter's little book his vade mecum40--,,illustrated ,,news1 #cjth ,november1 #ahfg4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,punctuation has been standardised2 hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original publication4 ,the following changes have been made3 ,page #cj #ajeb4 ,,apgriffith changed to #ajeb4 ,,ap ,,griffith ,page #db ,but a word may here be said of ,m4 ,edouard ,frre changed to ,but a word may here be said of ,m4 douard ,frre ,page #dg ,and soft-shed fingers and soft sleep shall snare8 changed to ,and soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare8