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Leader (1850-1860), 21st January 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, "^an. 21i 1860.J TtivvI&aif&KimdsSa^^ 65

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      Italy. Tvt Qw That The Projected Congres...

      wonld stand quite alone in her support of Italian freedom of action , and her position would have been exceedingly 6 nerous . , The treaties of 1815 have not been so well maintained as to induce overwhelming anxiety that the parties to the Paris contract should again be called together in the face of the present contradictory and perplexing elements of disunion . Scarcely one of the signatories of the Vienna pact has failed personally and individually to violate it in spirit or in letter . That Austria has done so most unblushingly has been said and repeated so many times of late that we need employ but few words in pointing out the fact . The treaty of 1815 was specially intended to limit the occupation of Austria in Italy to the Lombardo-Venetian territory . In spite of the stipulation to this effect , she occupied the Dnchy of Modena , the city of

      Placentia , and virtually reigned over the larger portion of the peninsula . According to the treaty in question , Lombardo-Venetia , though ceded to Austria , was to enjoy the immunities and franchises of an administration , if not independent at least individual and national . It will not be forgotten , —the rather that Venetia , unfortunately , still remains beneath the Austrian yoke , and but too truly confirms our testimony—that so far from the above stipulation being observed , Austria reduced Lombardo-Venetia to a simple province of the monarchy , deprived it of all local life , treated it with gross severity , overwhelmed it with taxation , changed it , _ in short , into a theatre of war , whence menaces were continually issued to the whole of Italy , and which imperilled the safety of neighbouring countries . But not only in Italy did Austria violate the treaties

      of 1815 . They were equally set at nought by her in Gallieia and Cracovia . Russia acted in opposition to them with regard to Poland ; Prussia in the Grand Duchy of Posen ; France and England in Belgium ; Switzerland in Neufchatel . Their violation has twice . been acquiesced in by the . whole of Europe . In 1830 , at the fall of the Bourbons , and the recognition of the sovereignty of July . In 1852 , on the re-establishment and recognition of the Napoleonic dynasty . We have said these changes were acquiesced in by the whole of Europe , but we should have made an exception in favour of the Duchy of Modena . The worthy Duke , Francis IV ., whose relentless severity towards all holding .. liberal- views , has scarcely ever been surpassed , and his equally enlightened son , Fb / jstcis V ., both refused to acknowledge any Government in France

      after the expulsion of Charles X . . We-see then-, how -utterly without reason and value have been the outcries raised during the past few months against Italy ,. for seeking to rid herself of the despotism , by which she was oppressed , and choosing her own sovereign and form of government . Treaties have been constantly invoked which have long since been torn -to shreds and cast to " the winds whenever they have proved / in any degree embarrassing or inconvenient . Why , then , should Europe be alarmed at a fresh modification of those treaties ? Let Italy now be suffered to take her affairs into her own hands , and show to the world that Italia farti da se is no mere empty boast . Austria has bo much business of other kinds in hand that she is not likely to interfere directly although she has already violated the engagements she entered into at Villafranca , by recruiting in Vienna for the Pontifical army . The world-renowned i > amphlet , " Lo jPa % > e et le Congres" has given the old Roman fox , according to Dante ,

      " Quella volpe che siede in Vaticano , " so-much to do in trying to retain possession of the territory she still holds , that she would be little able to utter any effective protest against the simple recognition of accomplished facts . In the kingdom of the Two Sicilies the sovereign finds it hard enough to hold on his progress-stifling , light-excluding course amidst the imminent dangers of moral volcanic eruption which hourly threaten his throne and dynasty with perdition , so that he doubtloss would remain a quiet spectator of the adjustment of Italian affairs . Having thus disposed 6 f the main difficulties and opponents in the way of the formation of the kingdom of . Italy , we trust , before long , to-sec the Italians settled , contented , and prosperous . If this is to bo secured only by tlie surrender of Savoy and Nice to France , this transfer may prove to be the key to the French enigma which lms throughout proved so puzzling .

      "^An. 21i 1860.J Ttivvi&Aif&Kimdssa^^ 65

      "^ an . 21 i 1860 . J TtivvI & aif & KimdsSa ^^ 65

      "Windsor. For All Practical Purposes The...

      " Windsor . For all practical purposes they might be the drawings themselves . It is with peculiar pleasure that we watch the development of photography in this direction . This is the real popularising of art , to be able to give to the niany , not imitations , not selections or adaptations , but the things themselves . " We' cannot feel the same pleasure in the photographs from paintings . They fail , to our eyes , in the cardinal point—likeness . The fevtnre i of course , in this line , of the exhibition , is the elaborately coloured copy of the cartoon of ¦ " Paul at Athens" ( No . 338 ) .

      Mr . Thompson ' s name is authority sufficient for the photographic work being as good as may be ; and a first-rate colourist , we are assured , has been engaged for ten weeks before the cartoon , in the incessant and laborious endeavour to make the work , in colour as well as form , a fac-simile of the original—we cannot think he has succeeded . The result leaves a painful impression of chalky gattdiness , which the small size of the copy ( in relation to the original ) rather increases . A better attempt , we cannot but think , may be seen on the other side of the road , at Messrs . Colnaghi's .

      This photographic copying of paintings is somewhat of a test , as in No . 22 , a copy of a painting by J . Nash . Most are familiar with Mr . Nash ' s hard bold style , and angularly vigorous drawing , obtrusively inviting observation to the fewness and strength of the touches , the brightness of the colour , and the artfulness of the contrasts . Here again the glory has departed , and •¦ nothing but but the obtrusiveness remains . The picture is nothing but a ghastly skeleton . , »¦ .., n ;•' ¦ We cannot commend the photographs from her Majesty s collection , Nos . 2 i and 48 . They seemed to us confused , and too black and white , as well as small . More unfortunate still are the copies of Tire Huff

      the " Leisure Hour , " by H . Weie , and Mr . Phiups's " " ( No . 200 ) . Every stroke of the brush is represented in light and shade * so as to give the whole picture a painfully streaky smeared look . The sad proud face of the Andalusiaii belle , with its trembling lips , is a hash of black splashes , and the delicate touches winch , in the original , so well represented the tears quivering on her eyelashes , are depicted in the too faithful photographs as little mounds of paint , each easting its own decided little shadow . Decidedly the best copy of oil paintingwe ' noticed was No . 444 , by Mr . Hering , the well-known photographer of Regent-street . Air this gentler man ' s copies of engravings * also- —which are too numerous for specification—seem to us mqst admirable . ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ . and

      The portraits are , of course , innumerable . Messrs . Mai'LL Polyblink ' transplant to ^ these walls many of those portraits of famous folk that have so long gladdened shop-windows . JVIr Herbert Watkins claims a . ¦ special notice for the fine pose and general pictorial effect of his portraits , and also for the clearness and sharpness of his details . He' h ? s a remarkably fine portrait of a man very difficult on many accounts "to depict forcibly—Lord Bboughajj . The venerable legislator is admirably rendered . . Nos . 525 and 363 , by Mr . A . Heath , attracted our admiring regards from their faultless portraiture ( we speak in all seriousness ) , both with and without colour , of a most faultless pair of whiskers . A magnificent little boy , too ( unnumbered , but hung on . the let totthe soeretary ' s chair ) , standing on an arm-chair , with his sturdy little feet half hidden ' in the soft spring cushion , is a great feut nl the difficult art of catching a child ' s expression at its best hic traiture is notand

      Tp our mind , however , photograp por , we don't well see how it can ever be , first-rate . It is , after all , only a fixing of the transient expression which the photographer or the sitter thinks the finest . It cannot be , " As when a painter , poring on a face , JDivinely , through all hindrance ,-find ' s the mttft Behind it , and so paints him that his face The shape and colour pf a mind and life Lives for his children 'ever at its best And fullest . " Where , as in the group of portraits , No . 2 ( with the exception of Mr , Lane ' s gentle and loveable face ) the texture of the skin is oxag-gerated into something like disease , the effect is leprous and horrible . Lot us protest against the comic and theatrical photographs . It is simply repulsive to see people tfrunmig » nd staring iii groups , in order to be '" taken off . " It cannot be really comic , and the attempt to retain the limbs in a passing gesture , or the features convulsed under a temporary excitement , bocomes mere affectation , " Miss Atkinson ns Lady Macbeth" ( No . 545 ); " Mr . Kohinson and Miss Heath ns Romeo and Juliet" ( No . 501 ); " The Liuly who looks Lavinia" ( 402 ) , a nameless lady who , we trust , is libelled by the sun ; " Ophelia" ( 480 ) 5 " Tho Lndy of Sliulott ( 4 < t 7 ) : n vnriety of strange things called " btudies ( 501 ); the stiff groups of " Country Girls" ( 429 » nd 493 ); and tho deadlylively comic group of " TheMugistrntos" ( 380 )—are fiiir examples ot how even good workmanship is unable to carry off what is so

      essen-TI-Hjy PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY . , ; rpHE seventh exhibition of the Photographic Society has com-X mencecl . To those who remember their earliqr displays , the manifest advance , in every respect , which this one indicates is very great . The number , as well as tho skill , of the exhibitors , and their productions , is higher , No less than two hundred specimens , chiefly those which had arrived latest , were unable to find space upon the walls , and were consequently dismissed to the limbo of " up-stairs . " Tho gloomy dinginess of the cottp-d ' coil is relieved , this year , by one or two coloured works of a larger size than usual , and by a more generally pictorial effect in the uncoloured . Tho first thought , on entering , is now " pictures ; groups , " rather than , us , once , " specimens ; preparations . " . It is pleasant , perhaps from the rarity of tho thing 1 , to bo able to give unqualified praise . Nearly all , nevertheless , of the sun-copies of prints and drawings in this exhibition seem to us welUngh perfect , Mr . Thukston Thompson ' s reproductions of sketches by jpAmi-Bwn arid Micinsi , Angjglo ( Nos . 15 and 50 ) , which we recognised at once as from the Taylor Building * , are marvellous in their accuracy . The rough texture of tho aintiquo papor , with every stain and tear , is represented in black and white , so as to-dofy any but the closest . inspection , Nos . 29 , 38 , 210 , 811 , 233 , 223 , mo all copies of drawings by Houjein in tho JRoyal Oplloction at

      tially vulgar . i . .. , , 0 One group we must excopt , as most characteristic , anrt not open to the above objections ; wo moan that of " Village CftrponturH ( 418 ) . It is simply a group of four portraits , and the amusing' element in it is the different forms and degrees of ~ . cnibarrasfmicnt m the four lionest fellows who have been induced to BtancJ lor their 11 If fill ftflflftW With the landscapes wo must conclude . As good « s dull purple and white can bo , are Mr . Lyndon Smith ' s two views in and near Wliarft'dale ( 23 ) And ( 4 > 7 ) . The clearness of tho work is exqu site , andThe | L radati "( , ns of \ listance prove how much bott « r »< « Ptj ;' «« J moist nir is for tho finer effects of aerial rHTppm'tivetjmn a hotter nnd brighter climate , biioU iw Ihiit , fur li . Ht . mre . in J . '' <<»>* ' '•¦ ' ««« took his views of the Holy Land and Kj ? y | it . Nq . 50 is a uiosc

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21011860/page/13/