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    comes , they brighten up , and by searching criticism reveal a complete acquaintance with art . Mingling with the well-dressed crowd , a yet more interesting class , the humble mechanic and frieze-clad labourer , by their intelligence eliciting respect from the more refined adepts , although connoisseurship may smile at finding Vandyck and Reynolds the most familiar names . ' . , , As the Central Hair is one of the noblest apartments in Europe , the Court of modern art is the finest picture gallery , well proportioned , and so adm irably lighted that not ten pictures suffer from position . The gallery of old masters is the reverse , having been originally one of the refreshment rooms . A supplemental hall ranges parallel with the carriages , but

    all the pictures are unfavourably placed opposite to the stained glass , and thus unfair objects for strict examination . The Irish Schools of Design exhibit their prize drawings here , and Mr . Redgrave a series of examples from the Practical Department of Art . In pictures there is superfluous wealth , every passage and scrap of wall throughout the building occupied by them , and separating the hangings in the Furniture Court , they give it the semblance of a lordly drawing-room . Xet it is less the beauty of the collection than its completeness as a series that has caused such a furore for study . In this it leaves the National Gallery far behind : neither is there a single picture

    ¦ which can offend the nicest delicacy . With the exception of Lord Ward ' s , all the pictures are contributed by Irish gentlemen , and though Lord Ward ' s Guidos , Canalettos , and Carlo Dolces are finer paintings , the Irish contributions have the greater merit of being rare Byzantine specimens , and early German triptychs . It is a generous thing to lend pictures to the nation , far more so than giving them , for the risk of injury is borne by the proprietor . People now know the value of pictures , and they do not scrub and polish them as regularly as their floors and children , the custom of Sir George Beaumont ' s time . The Queen stood by to see her pictures by Winterhalter , Mulready , and Haghe packed , and every collector exercises a similar care over his art possessions .

    Ivory diptychs , carved with the legends from the history of the Virgin , and the life of Christ , curious old triptychs , painted on gold ground , and a panel-portrait , said to be that of Spiridion , Bishop of Cyprus , in the fourth century , form the Byzantine examples . The Italian commence with a triptych by Cimabue , illustrating the Life of Christ . No intermediate artists in name occur until Leonardo da Vinci , but panel-pictures by uncertain masters continue the order . We have here , well represented , Perugino , Pierino del Vaga , Andrea , del Sarto , . Raphael , Michel Angelo , Garofalo , Giulio Romano , and Correggio , whose works abound . Two beautiful Guereinos , several paintings by Lauri , ' and two exquisite cartoons . Allthe undistinguished masters of Italy during the sixteenth century , and Titian , Tintoretto , Parmigiano , Tasso , JFerrato , Ludovico

    and Anibal Caracci , Caravaggio , Domenicheno , Elizabetta , Sirani , Guido , Maratti , Borgognone ; four Claudes—one glorious in the noontide blaze of sun on the sparkling sea ; the lofty architecture , the ships , and on the shore the boatmen , absolutely transfigured in the transparent atmosphere . Carlo Dolci , Salvator Rosa , and Batoni , complete the school of Italy . The early German school is chronologically better , commencing with a 'triptych by Van Eyck of the Adoration of the Kings , in the best preservation , and one by Albert Durer . That by Lucas Van Leyclen is the most beautiful , the three Adorations in two compartments highly dramati c

    and simple in treatment , and in the third the " Flight into Egypt , " in the midst of a lovely landscape . All the masters of the Flemish schools , except Metsu and Jerburgh , are fairly represented . We have many Itambrandts—amongst these , his " Burgomaster , " ( Lord Ward's , ) the " Vision of the Centurion , " the dark , mysterious form of the Angel rimmed from wing to wing with light , and " Judas returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver /'—the priests wicked old sorcerers , Judas such a debased , hideous wretch as Kembrandt alone could paint . In the Rubens' collection , is " Jephtha ' s Daughter , " full of life and volition , and painted with all the pomp of his pencil .

    A few of the Murillo ' s are contributed by the Irish purchasers at the * salo of Louis Philippe ' s gallery at Christie ' s . Tho only Velasquez is very Jhae . It is a Magdalene clothed in matting , weeping before the cross in iher < cave in sorrow and pain . Ribera ' s martyrs and penitents , " strong fr > luear and mighty to suffer , " Zurbaran ' s haggard monks and nuns , Morafto ' s "ElDivino" heads , and Osorio , makeup tho Spanish school , p rance is represented by Nicolas and Gaspar Poussin , Jouvenet , and Joseph Vernet . Tho English commences with Holbein , some interesting niinnituros by Oliver , portraits by Dobson and Mytcns , Vandyelr ,

    vv issing , JLoly , and Kneller . Hogarth ' s " Siego of Calais , " second scene -ot the " Harlot ' s Progress , " and tho " Lady ' s Last Stake , " his best and only pleasing picture , well drawn and finely coloured , unlike his terrible ( «) iios of sin , painted instead of written , and on which no woman can look without a kindling blush of shame , or rather , what woman can gaze upon | » te m at all . P The lady having gambled through the night , as tho morning 'I'ealcs , her officer opponent oiFers back tho lost jewels in his ehapeau for '; i » o ono'lttBt-. Btako . Her attitude is beautiful ,- swaying in her chair , her ™ 8 « r J »» d thoughtfully to her cheek , where tho warm blood holds ¦ u multuous

    course , the ' other hand and foot balanced on ( ho pole-screen . f V expression is not that of an insulted Diana—no one would seek , thai jom ± 1 ogarfck—neither is it indignation " refined to live woe , " bub it in '«•« ' of a virtuous woman who finds horsolf close ko destruction nml > amo , and arises warned and reformed from tho snare . This picture is .. ffoucvnUy known , having boon painted by Hogarth for tho late Earl uud ' | omont » aB ft « iffc in acknowledgment of their mutual friendship , v ,,- ; ntJV 01 ' out of Ireland . With numerous portraits by Reynold ^ is his HiUTo \ i fi " |; " VenuB chiding Cupid ; " Wilson , Vu . sen , Lawrence , tf'oimd Ul arr ^ ' lu whoso pictures liis faults have tho vantage hiil / rth - !? ntcl 7 A tho orodit oC tho ™ odom British hoKooI is not fairly up-Willlio ° « 'i > - yi 11 Academicians following their usual disregard of reputation . ^ tanfloid P UOr > J < oalio ' ° <>»»» fl » - ' ^ 'ty . Lnmlseer , Mulready , Ilerring , ••'' tfhosl „ V l * J ^ r 0 BWMjk , Lnnno , Uwins , Danby , Hnglie Goodall , are tho liamcs m Jii » Bhah art , but not more than su / JJeiout to maintain its

    honourable position ' against the continental array on the opposite wall , Perhaps few know into whose hands the works of contemporary artists have passed , and it may be that in ransacking Prussia , Belgium , and Holland , our own school has been left at a disadvantage . Irish artists are still more scarce ; Maclise shows little , concern at foreign competition in exhibiting the ¦ " Weird Sisters , " and save Danby ' s " Deluge / ' and Burfcon * 9 t " Blind Girl at the Holy Well , " there is not one of mark . Abundant ill number , but deficient in quality , France is yet worse—Robert , Delaroche , Ingres , and Delacroix are absent . In Horace Vernet ' s " Lion Hunt , " the shivering fear of the horses , and the spring of the lioness on tlie assailants who have taken her cubs , sustain his repute in animal expression an d

    finished execution . A cattle piece by Bracasset comes closely to Sidney Cooper's quiet atmospheric aspects , but the quadrupeds are altogether inferior , marking less study of nature and more of the palette than those of our veteran . The last notable work of art , is a " Temptation of St . Anthony , " by Tassart , the miserable saint assailed by scenes and shapes of sin , tumbling along the roof of his cave , disporting through the air , bending down in demoniac circles and inviting him to carouse ; one female demon , her harp beside her , and regarding the suffering saint with scorn , is worthy of being cut out and framed alone . In spite of the Orders of Merit , the displays in the Salle de Menus-Plaisirs , and fulsome applause of their own bestowing , France has not yet excelled England , although she is disposed to consider herself without a rival in the world .

    Prussia , Belgium , and Holland maintain that high spiritual and intellectual character which they owe to the energy and genius of a few men . Cornelius , Veit , Overbeck , Schnorr , and the Schadows , who early in this century turned to Giotto , Fra Angelico , and Fra Bartolomeo , and found in them , earnestness , simplicity and truth , combined with ideal beauty ; a study which has brought art in their hands almost to culmination . We have schools of design , our artists spend years abroad , they do not languish for patronage , yet the very students of Dusseldorf ecliose them . It may be worth inquiring how this command of the mechanism of art is obtained . Not a fault in drawing , scarce a tint wrong in colour , and this inanimate material mastery prevails , where , in some very few instances , expression is but a ludicrous gasp .

    It is true that , in the expression of homely individual character , not one of the German pictures can claim interest with Mulready ' s " Wolf and Lamb ; " and the "Travelling Chemist , " or Wilkie ' s " Rent Day . " Verbeckhoven , although close in attention to nature , is yet far behind Landseer in lending intelligence to his animals . " Bolton Abbey" has no rival on the opposite wall , nor is there a picture which approaches the thorough English grace of Collins' " Rustic Courtesy . " Gallait ' s nude "Demon " in female shape , far exceeds Etty ' s " Venus preparing for the Bath , " in morbidezza , but Turner ' s rich " Italian Landscape" is alone and unapproachable . They have been given another advantage—the courtesy of the Executive Committee yielded the best place and the best light to the

    foreign artists . Perhaps in devotional art the superiority is most striking . Etty painted " Magdalens" as repentant milliners trying on the new character , like the latest fashion , with a sidelong glance for admiration . Van Severdonck has here a " Magdalene , " glorified by the pencil , her seeking hands stretched out to heaven , the face worn , seamed , and roughened leprously , the form wasted with fasting , prayer sanctifying the countenance ; the white , amber , and blue raiment , and golden hair , half light , half shade , blending into a vision of penitence . While the symbolism of colour , traditional types of costume , and the noblest forms , receive the closest study , shackling accessories are discarded , and needful adjuncts the Destruc

    alone retained . Hence the sublimity of " Christ Prophecying - tion of Jerusalem , " by Professor Bazas ; the simple mountain scene , the Saviour with Mary Magdalene at his feet , the three apostles , and the city lying in tho background ; and Huebner ' s " Hannah bringing Samuel to Eli ; " tho Murillo-likc child , with a foreknowledge of supremacy , standing between the majestic high-priest and the sybil prophetess . De Keyser ' s " St . Elizabeth of Hungary , " excels Millais in the command of transitory emotion in the countenance , and its colour in the check . Sickness , death , and famine , collect before tho Empress in sad detail ; wan faces , wasted limbs , the blood drifting slowly through tho veins , the pains in the drooping eyelids , yet without any license of hospital offensiveness . As a single intense and affecting delineation , Wapper's " Louis XVII . " has unequalled power ; and for dramatic e fleet , Gallait ' s " Temptation of Saint Sainfc

    Anthony , " where Satan brings a fair and shrinking girl to the kneeling before the imaged crucifix , her hair and shoulder flickered by the rays from tho cross , from which the Evil One averts and shades his eyes , some silvery moonbeams wandering into tho cavern at the other sido , rounding her form like an Aureole . In the picture of " Saint Cecilia , " by Mathieu , tho choiring angels are powerfully imagined , shining , glorious beings . Van Sehendel's " Nativity" presents new and wonderful effects ; following Correggio in plan , tho Child irradiates tho Bce . no , tho torches borne by the crowding shephords mingling luminously with the darkness , and , descending in shafts of light , the cherubangols wreath tho columns with colcstial flowers , faint and evaiicscont a » their own shadowy splendour , which is yet perfect in texture and colour , the ethereal forms divided into essence " by tho . pillars which they circle and enfold . . . ,

    Excellence is not confined to sacred art ; History and Genre are ominonfc , too . In tho last , " Rat-catch intf" ( Do Braekiur ) , is an inimitable piece of drollery . " The Arab Lunching luxuriously in the Desert , on Onions , " and offering a portion of the dainty to Iuh camel , who nibblo * cautiously , and half enjoying hjfl master ' s jolco , is Briesmnn's most successful effort . David' Col shows himself master of the sunshine and shadow in the " Village Politician ; " and of Pre-Raphaelite nicety in the " irpset , of a Market Cnrfc , " where Hie colours sparkle like gems . Bckiu * proves \ A \ m \ , Itcfcsch hm not altogether exhausted . Faust . , by a most pootic realization of the closing scone . MophistophileB , tall , supernatural , and . mystic , strides in ; Grotehen , with insane terror , emotion pervading her form , turns from tho light , and questions Faust , who , stricken with intenso ' agony ivnd remorse , has Biaggereil againut the wall , why'thoifottrftill

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    September 17 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 909

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1853, page 909, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2004/page/21/