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    . them into the country , and Qe positive minds of their contemporaries . In the opinion of these gentlemen , the nineteenth century is a bourgeois century : if they knew a more opprobrious epithet they would make use of it . It would be easy to refute this prejudice by the histories of the commercial republics of Greece , Italy , and the Low Countries , Art has never had more magnificent patrons than . the rich merchants of Athens , of " Venice , and of Antwerp . But , not to look for examples which are somewhat distant , I will content myself with mentioning one which is at present under all eyes and in all hands ; the catalogue of the English exhibition . Our most industrious neighbours , most commercial allies , and most positive friends , have a sufficiently original method of encouraging artists : they buy their works . With some few exceptions , all the pictures , sculpture , and drawings which England has exhibited in Paris belong to private collections , and it is said that on the other side of the Channel these small pieces of furniture are paid twenty-five and fifty thousand francs . Now let any one

    dare to traduce commerce and industry ! Every country has its customs : witness the catalogue . In France , Mr . So-and-So , a painter of talent , has obtained a third-class medal in 1810 , a second-class medal in 1820 , a first-class medal in 1830 , and the cross in 1840 . In Germany , a great artist , when one is to be found there , becomes a member of several academies , a knight , of several orders , and sometimes a councillor . The highest aim of art is the Red Eagle of the third class with the knot . A . good painter is not always rich , but he is always knighted : he may be in want of clothes—never of ribands . Decorations are the fruits which every cultivated German bears .

    In England it is otherwise . English artists care but little for those watered ribands which prove that a man of forty has been a good boy . On the other hand they respect fortune and have a horror of dying of hunger . The public humours them and pays them in the change they prefer . They give them bank-notes instead of making honourable mention of them , and guineas instead of medals . Among the painters who have sent their works to Paris are several milliomiaires . I could mention their names but will most certainly not do so : it would be to point out their works to the severity of the critics and the admiration of the Cockneys . not

    Is the talent of English artists equal to their fortune ? And is there a , certain amount of patriotism in the metallic enthusiasm which they awaken in their own country ? This is a question which it would have been difficult to solve a year ago . The English painters have not the habit of sending their . works to our exhibitions , as the Belgians have . We knew their pictures through engravings only . j $ ow engraving , especially wood-engraving , only reproduces composition and drawing : it hardly indicates colouring . A clever idea and correct drawing suffice to make an admirable vignette : something more is needed to make a picture . . . Those who , on the faith of engravings , have conceived a high idea ot English painting will feel disappointed on entering the gallery of English painters . The first impression is feeble . The eye , attracted by no great work , is ofFended by a certain number of eccentric pictures , belore it discovers some twenty or thirty pictures painted with perfect carefulness and success , of ingenious composition , exact drawing and irreproachable

    execution . , At the second view you become convinced that English painters have abundance of wit , of knowledge , and of dexterity . Witty ideas are abundant , I should almost say , superabundant ; their technical knowledge is used with prodigious skill : if these two qualities sufficed to make a painter , the English School would be the first in the world . ' but in art there is something superior to wit : it is simplicity . Something superior to dexterity : it is force . Who would venture to compare Sterne s wit with the genius of Shakspeare ? The English school has several Sternes : it wants nothing . "but genius . . . dimensions rank historical

    The lar" -e pictures which from their as paintings , namely , " the Battle of JMeanee , " ( 739 ) , by Mr . Armitage ; the « Burial of Harold , " by Mr . Pickersgill ( 914 ) ; Mr . Lucy's ' Cromwell , are only to be distinguished from more unpretending p ictures by their greater number of inches . The sturdy and somewhat pimply rogue ( 880 ) whom Mr Lucy has set down upon a chair , may , with his wart , resemble tne illustrious Protector of England ; but his fault lies in not bearing the least resemblance to the Cromwell of our imagination . His clownish mask betrays neither Puritanical fanaticism , nor the concentrated ardour of ambition , nor the struggles of an unquiet conscience , nor the extraordinary mind which inspired Bosiuet witli such hatred and admiration . His leather boots are well painted , but the rest of his person is so trivial that , were it not for the catalogue , it would be impossible to know if he was meditating or

    ' TheTif ' is a hundred times more grandeur in a small painting of Mr . Martin's , representing « Belsha / . zar ' s Feast . " The open hall , vast enough to contain a modern city , the massive granite pillars , the outlines ot strango buildings on the horizon , tlio red light which envelops , and , so to speak , sets fire to all the figures , read to the mind the monstrous grandeur and iantastie brilliancy of that Babylonian civilisation , the remains ot which , scattered ovei Asia , still continue objects of wonder to the traveller . . The grand poetry of Oriental tradition has likewise happi V » " ? P » ^ ' Poolo , and if liia figures % vcro better drawn , his scene o . 1 >«¦ h tu . Messen g ers" ( f > I 7 ) would be a real historical painting . All Chi . in s an OricntaTs know the Arab chronicle of Job ' s nusfommes . Mr look . I u bhis child

    chosen the moment when tlio patriarch , surrounded y . on a s wealth , lonrns by two successive messages that , Ins em-mies lul \ " " ^ { . ' ^ land , and that all his hnppiniwa is destroyed ' 1 lie inessengei . * bio thi * , h and dusty , rush in hastily piko in hand ; the hrst is still . peak g wlc c second rushes in ; whilst J ob ' s daughter- are squeezing gn . » oB d k ing cups , and a slave , in the centre of the picture , is quietly poimng out the contents of an amphora . , . M „ , . : . ins , or > il But the most important work of tho Eng lis h hcIiooI ,. whether it ib « aa an historical painting , or as belonging to tho lmloncal ^ yK ^ J ^ i ~ v £ u »^^ & 7 o >;«^ rilritf ' 1866 ' Uuoh 0 Uo etCl " , MbliotMtyue dea Chcmiit * dc Mr .

    which owes its greatness neither to the antiquity of the events nor to the strangeness of the costumes , nor to the light of foreign countries . It is the representation of a political and domestic drama , not celebrated in history , but very popular in England , and soon to be so amongst us . I mean the - Judgment of Lord Russell , " by Sir G . Hayter , ( 821 ) . M . Guizothas told , in an admirablelittle book * " called : ISAmour dans le Mariage , the subject of Sir G . Hayter ' s picture . AVe are in the reign of Charles IX , as an inscription placed behind the King ' s bench , by the side of the sword of Justice , informs us . Charles II . conspired against the liberties and religion of his subjects . Tliat proud , impassible man standing at the bar of the accused , Lord William Russell , has conspired against Charles II . A well-drilled tribunal is about to sentence him to lose his head . His wife loves him passionately ; after doing her utmost to prevent his conspiring , she insisted on being present at the trial . Lord Russell asked for a pen , ink , and paper , to take notes with ; they were given him .

    " May I be allowed some one who can write in aid of my memory , saxd he . " Yes , my lord ; one of your servants . " " My wife is here , ready to do it . " Lady Russell rose to signify her assent , and a murmur of emotion and respect ran through the audience . " If her ladyship will take the trouble , she is at liberty to do so , " said the president ; and during the whole trial Lady Russell was there , by her hus band ' s sidehis only secretary and most vigilant adviser .

    , Lord Russell was condemned . Up to the day of execution , his wife left no means untried of saving his life : she travelled , she entreated , she offered millions , she got Louis XIV . to speak in favour of this rebel and Protestant : all in vain . One way of escape presented itself ; the condemned man was promised pardon if he would renounce bis opinions . Nothing was asked of him except to declare that a free people has not the right to defend its religion and liberty . Placed between certain death and this denial of all his principles , he asked his wife ' s advice , and she counselled him to die . His wife was his livincr conscience .

    Noble actions bear noble fruits . Lady Russell ' s heroism has produced a great book in France , a great picture in England . Sir G . Hayter's work will have with us as great and legitimate a success as M . Guizot ' s . The picture is , so to speak , divided into two camps ; on one side , the magistrates , the king ' s name , the sword of Justice ; on the other , Lord Russell , his wife , their love and virtue . The tribunal in red is admirably painted ; the stolid , indifferent faces of this heavy , salaried areopagus are terribly true . The draperies are treated with a masterly hand , and the light which falls on the wall is splendidly effective . Lord William Russell bears in his face that simple , quiet , almost bourgeois tranquillity , which is peculiar to the English nation . There is always a flourish of trumpets in our heroism , and we have never known how to triumph like Hampden or fall like Russell . ....

    Lady Russell , in full dress , turns her head round to her husband that she may hear and see him ; there is a sad and loving gracefulness in her movement . The painter has made her younger than her husband , although she was three years older . But artistic truth is not always in accordance with historic truth . The picture , would lose too much if we saw Lady Russell bendino- under her forty-seven years , and the love of a woman of that a" -e would interest the public less . It is not the first time that painting has arrived at truth through fiction . Although it is pretty nearly certain that Rizzio was an old guitar-player , a secret agent from . the court ot Rome to Mary Stuart , no artist will ever consent to paint him without youth and beauty . If Sully is represented by the side of Henry IY ., it is always necessary for the king to be young and the minister old ; yet bully was than his master .

    younger If the public places the judgment of Lord Russell in the first rank , the critics , the real connoisseurs , and all who value an artist in proportion to the merit of the execution and the difficulty overcome , will no doubt give the preference to a picture of " Ascot Hunt Meet , " by Mr . Grant . Never , 1 think , has a knowledge of painting surmounted more happily an insurmountable difficulty . The problem was this : — « Given a flat country , hity Englishmen in red coats , Ally English dogs , and fifty English horses—to make a picture which shall be neither monotonous , cruird , dull , nor ridiculous . N . B . It is important that the landscape , men , dogs aud horses should be striking likenesses . " . On these data , Mr . Grant has painted a masterly work . I do not think ; there is another artist in the worldexcepting M . Mcissonmer , capable of

    , contesting with him on this ground ; and even M . Mcissonnior lms never assembled so many living beings on one canvas . I he landscape is solt , delicate , moist ; an imperceptible mist veils , without conceahng , tlw background ; the day will be fine , and the painter has given us delightu \ h unt weather . The huntsmen , some on foot , some on horseback , me talking quietly , after the fashion of the country : they are waiting io £ ^« " ° « - All the faces are evidently portraits , for there is l ° ^ ^ . ^^ them but that of health aad a florid complexion : in those j onts one Lagmem OUU UUlt OI llUillLU Him . * l »"' »¦ ' v . ui «« i' « - - ih ^ vrmrrli hrnfl and

    . liHhnum is always like another . The horses dogs *™ £ <>" " ££ > ^ Men and animals are painted delicately , surely , with '" " "JP'V" ^; " ^ yet with breadth . The exactness of the detail- « lost m the luu uony ol the whole , and Mr . Grant is , perhaps , tlie / iwt painter who has known how to make a picture with n hundred and liily portrai s What is perhaps , no le ^ adnun ^ t |> managed his colouring . Iho pijulic noes no ., ^ paint an assembly of men »» . ™ i tl | M ft ^ a heap vermilion . Every other uiun in Mr . Giants i il . ee woui « "' £ - . b L J of lobsters of them . I . 1 «» not know how ho ha eont -cd it b , it ^ c ^ "S is ' i ^ n accomplisl . nient I should wish for Mr . Mulrcady , tho oldest and chief of genre painter * in England .

    Untitled Article

    June 23 , 1855 . ] T H E X . E A D E B . 607

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1855, page 607, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2096/page/19/