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Leader (1850-1860), 6th March 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20, 2ge THE LEADER. [No. 415, March 6, 1885.

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      Three Discourses On Beauty. On Beauty: T...

      mind engendered by the habit of political partisanship , we , in this part of the islan d ,, profess a church polity—the extreme form of naked Protestantism— -which , starting from the violence of popular image-breaking , has ever maintained a characterof bigoted hostility , of morbid jealousy , or of boorish indifference to all the softening influences and the graceful witcheries of the fine arts—a polity which formally established that unnatural divorce between Beauty and Faith which can never be made without robbing the arts of their noblest soul , and devotion of no small charm . With Mr . Ruskin , Professor Blackie brings down the application of his theories to the every-day art of dress . Good effect , he tells us , is produced by the harmonious association of those parts of attire adjacent to the face with the complexion . Contrasts can be introduced with advantage . A florid tone requires the proximity of green , though strong colours such as lexions of this of

      this and red are not generally available for the comp * age unhealthy habits and feeble constitutions . ' Semi-neutral tints are those most generally becoming . Vivacious electric-eyed ladies should wear ringlets , while to those of the classic order braids are most becoming . Such is the universalism of these commentaries , scientific yet entertaining , vigorously and earnestly written , delivered by one -who almost valued himself as the Plato of the North to the academicians of the modern Athens , and now presented to the public with a complete statement of the eesthetical philosophy of Plato , which , in the form of an appendix , is contained in the volume . Though wanting in fundamental originality , it is sound , suggestive , and forcible , clear and comprehensive in style , and presenting passages of more than ordinary beauty and power .

      2ge The Leader. [No. 415, March 6, 1885.

      2 ge THE LEADER . [ No . 415 , March 6 , 1885 .

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      : ? The British Institution. Most Of Our...

      : ? THE BRITISH INSTITUTION . Most of our modern painters appear to be following the example of that German writer , who , having to supply a treatise on the camel , did not go to the nearest menagerie and make a lively little sketch of the beast , as a Frenchman would probably have done , nor set out , after the approved English fashion , on a voyage to Egypt , that he might gather whole volumes of facts relating to the camel , with never a bit of camel-portraiture , but philosophically retired to his writing-chamber , and constructed the idea of the camel out of his moral consciousness . At the peculiarly British Institution in Pall-mall it is , perhaps , not surprising that we should find this practice honoured to the utmost . ^ Later in the year will be displayed on these same walls a collection of pictures by be invited to admire the

      old masters , chiefly Dutch ; and , later still , we may students' copies of Cuyps and Claudes , of Rembrandts , Ruysdaels , and Gerard Dows , of Boths , and Hobbemas , and Breugbels , and Brouwers , and Wouvermans and Weenixes , and What-do-you-call-hirns , incited by the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom . This is the kind of art-education to be got in Pall-mall ; and when students have spent a sufficient time in glutting the Wardour-street market with * originals * of average plausibility , we may ask whether they will be inclined to go back and begin at the point of studentship from which their chosen examples must have started . We may ask ; but there is only one reply to the question * The artist who has been trained simply to imitate the peculiarities of some other artist who has preceded him , has had his natural vision fatally impaired ; and this , too , without having acquired any artificial kind of eyesight whatever . He is , in nine cases out of ten , incapable of casting oft' the veil which is before his eyes , and of seeing objects truly . We

      know an artist of real power and intelligence who passed many years in studying Titian ; not in copying a few of his principal works , but in laboriously analyzing liis method . This artist , who could actually baffle all but the most accomplished judges , 'by placing before them his copy and the original side by side , told us , very lately , that he had had all his fancied knowledge of Titian upset by a single photograph . So little of a painter ' s process can we discover by superficial acquaintance with the ^ result 1 Now , connecting the camel-theory with the British Institution art-promoting theory , we beg to place on record our opinion that the RembrandCcarael and the Claude-camel are excellent beasts in their way , but that the Claude-Smith and Rembrandt-Robinson breeds are objectionable crosses . The visitor to the present exhibition of works by British artists will find that the mass of unmitigated conventionality outweighs all evidence of original endeavour . But there are some few pictures which will rejoice the heart of the critic whose vocation is or is not criticism , and of the artist who has or has not a practical knowledge of art . And first , beyond a question , of these pictures will stand Mr . Dawson ' s * New Houses of Parliament , Westminster' ( 539 ) .

      As a representation of London objects in a London light , it seems to us that praise enough can hardly be found for this work . . Somebody was noticing the Jlakineas of the water , and the apparent solidity of the rolled edge that borders every sluggish ripple . " I ' ve often seen it , " was the quiet reply of another spectator . It wus a commentary on the whole painting . There is no effort at effect beyond true representation . The scene is pictorial , but not in the least picturesque . There is an assemblage of masts and sails at the left-hand corner which is as good an instance of commonplace , ennobled by simple poetic feeling , as we shall find oven in the works of Timtucit . The painting is very much like Turner's , by-the-by , without

      benring-an « intended- ^ esemblance . ^ Thp . 4 ighM ^^ t «« fc ^ g £ ej \ fe artist . There is , as in Turner ' s pictures , a total absence of that artistic arrangement , grouping , posing , or by whatever name may be called the foolish vice of all studio camel-abstractions . The fault in Mr . Dawson ' s picture is that the Houses of Parliament are not conspicuous enough ; that they are the least striking and the least truthful objects in the representation . Thia is not so much a fault inherent of the picture as an objection suggested by its title . Call the work a ' Yiew of the Thames , including the Palace of Westminster / and the objection would bo got rid of . Mr , Dawbom ' s picture hangs in the middle room , where little else that is

      worth regarding is to be found . Having noticed it as the work of the exhibition that is to be noticed , we will start from the beginning of the catalogue and follow the numerical arrangement . * A Yarn' ( 1 ) , by Frank Stone , is the least satisfactory picture he has painted for a long time ; but it belongs fairly enough to his later and better style . Of the pair of subject-pictures , by Sir Edwin Landseer , the favourite seems to be that marked No . 4 , * Extract from my Journal whilst at Abbotsford / The extract in question describes the author of JFcverley as he was found sitting in his study , laughing at a colley puppy as it

      frisked with an old deer-hound , and quoting from Shakspeare , ' Crabbed age and youth cannot live together . ' On the floor -was a cover of a proofsheet , sent for correction , from Constable ' s . The group , which includes only the brute life referred to in the artist's journal , is touchingly fine ; and , if a recent production of Landseer's , all the more poetical and affecting . His other picture , ' The Twa Dogs' ( 28 ) , is great in the expression of houndish race distinctions . But , inasmuch as Sir Edwin has given the world a picture on the same subject , developing the idea of Burns to a greater extent , there is nothing further to be said of the Twa Dogs now at the British Institution .

      ' The Leviathan' ( 2-2 ) , by Mr . Nikmann , has been already praised as much as it deserves to be . An artistic appreciation of the subject is shown ; but the thought is hardl y worth the ' space over which it is extended . In the ' Fountain di S . Giorgio' ( 37 ) , by J . Holland , the mannerism of the painter agreeably displays itself . The scene is bright , the colours gay , and the miniature drawing of the figures is capital . Truth obliges us to say that in the ' Caernarvon Castle' ( 47 ) of Mr . Ptne , as well as in the 'Tyre' and c Sidon' ( 62 and 76 ) of Mr . David Roberts , we perceive plain symptoms of the ab-intra camel-theorizing custom , into which , it thus appears , even true observers of nature may sometimes drop .

      For all that may have been said to the contrary , ' Peter Boel arranging his Model' ( 56 ) , by Mr . Louis Haghb , is a noble picture , as much distinguished by feeling and thought as by consummate skill . The ' Visit to the Studio' ( 83 ) is , on the other hand , a mere repetition of certain studies by Mr . Haghe , in oil and water colour . It is a repetition , if not of actual scene and situation , at least of models , living and otherwise . The lady with her insipid and mature prettiness , her Nell Gwynne curls , broad-brimmed hat , and invariable pink cloak edged with swahsdown , is becoming rather tedious . Disappointment' ( 139 ) is a title which will equally suit both the pictures exhibited this year by Mr . Woolmeb , for whose barley-sugar temples , trifle terraces , lakes and landscapes , and goddesses in pastoral confectionery , we own in general a toothsome regard . 'The Peacock at Home' ( 152 ) is the

      title of Mr . Lance's contribution . Why ' at home ? ' Are the domestic circumstances of this fowl such as we here see represented ? Does he habitually roost among hothouse grapes and a profusion of very barbaric pearl and decidedly mosaic gold ? Mr . Lance has certainly done wonders with his peacock ' s tail . It is a pity that the performance should not be submitted to an admiring concourse of mandarins . Mr . J . Gilbeut has a large picture which he calls a ' Scene from the life of Teniers' ( 167 ) or , at least , leaves others to call so , the place of title being supplied by a quotation . Every picture by this artist suggests to us the idea of business . Here is Mr . Gilbert giving a lesson to Master Dalziel—we mean Rubens instructing young Teniers—and all who are pleased with skilful ' handling , ' and great * eye for colour , ' and , in short , every material excellence that a picture can possess without soul and essence , may revel in this work .

      Mr . Ansdell , though he has profited greatly by companionship with Mr . Philip , is still too much of a painter by line-and-rule . In his Road to Seville' ( 183 ) the best bit is a quiet group of peasants in a cart . He seems , for this one time at all events , to have taken nature for granted . We have accidentally passed over two pictures , a very good and very bad one , which must be noticed before leaving the First Room . The very bad picture , which is but too well painted , is Mr . Goodall ' s ' The Campbells are Coining ' ( 70 ) . The artist appears to have reffd , as did a great many other persons at the time of its publication , a letter purporting to come from Lucknow , and describing a certain Highland Jessie ' s extraordinary acuteness of hearing and ( under the cirouinstances ) pardonably excessive delight at the sound of the bagpipes . The difference between Mr . Goodalx and other readers appears to have been this : that whereas they , for the most part , saw through the absurdities of the penny-n-liner , he questioned not for a

      moment the authenticity of this precious document , but rushed in hot haste to his studio , there to construct the grand idea , not of a camel merely , but of a cock and bull . Let us , in taking leave of the First Room , take leave reluctantly of a piece of true art , which we shall endeavour to see again . Mr . J . Clark , painter of the Sick Child / some time since exhibited , you have done still better in your p icture of Grundam's Joy' ( 77 ) . It is very liable to be overlooked . We did , in fact , overlook it on our first and second visits to the gallery . But once seen it is sure of attention . We like it even better than any of the quiet little home-studies of Edouard Ifrero . It is more firmly painted . Add to this , it is English . How the life of the boy is foreshadowed ! He ia gravely disposing his toy soldiers , with more than a childish interest in them aa mere toys . On the w « U are his drawings - n

      sailor , grimly combative , a horseman charging n battery , and other -warlike sketches . Grandam the while sits peacefully knitting . Very little is to be said of a picture so simple no thia is ; but the picture itself will be long remeinbureu by those who see it . Except the sea-painting of Mr . Robins , and the landscape of Mr . G . A . WiTuAMsTtKoT ^ in ^ —Indeed r all-tlie good pictures seem to have been put first , which is fortunate , as we have nearly outrun our space . Special budncsa , such as Mr . Egmby's 'Lady oi Shalott' ( 373 ) , and one or two Indian episodes , daringly ideal , would otherwise demand some words of condemnation . * Hawthorn Gathering' ( 482 ; , b y Mr . 0 . J . Lbwis , haa merit of a genial if not of a very high character . We should like to see more pictures of thia kind in preference to ncnaonucal failures , ? after' So-and-so . . . ., It is not only as ft bad work of art , but as a falsity of conception in aw

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1858, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031858/page/20/