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Leader (1850-1860), 8th January 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 55, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      A rumour has been in circulation that although the Trafalgar-square lions will be designed by bir fcd-M'ia Landseer , they ! will be executed by Baron Marochetti . "We believe , " says the Art Journal , " that the idea is without foundation , arising , perhaps , from the fact that the painter is working in the atelier of the baron . " Mr . Henry Cole , of the South Kensington Museum , continues at . Rome , the state of his health not justifyin ^ - the hope of his ea rly return to Eng land . ¦ lan lias been devised for

      • ' The Critic states that a p removing the pictures now at Mariborough-hou . se —destined ere long to be the residence of the Prince of Wales—to " the old riding-school of George IV . ' in a cut de-sac of Carl ton-gardens , a place with the verv existence of which we confess ourselves to have been unacquainted . "It has been condemned as unsafe as the repository of public records , principally because it was not fire-proof , and the records have been removed to the new building in Fetterlane . It is now empty , and the stress of circumstances , it is said , has led Lord J . Manners to look upon it as a possible resting-place for the gifts of "Vernon and Turner . * Surely this design ( if entertained ) is too preposterous and altogether too glaringly unjust to admit of ever being put in

      execu-. . . ' .. . . The famous collection at Rome of the disgraced functionary the Marehese di Gampagna will be dispersed , and may possibly in its entirety find , its way to England . In the event of its being so , it will be probably consigned to Messrs . Phillips ,, of Cockspurstreet , who will supply all requisite ^ information on the subject , and show to any inquirer photographs of the principal objects . A meeting of the friends and admirers of Stothard hrt 3 been held , at wliich it was determined that steps should be taken for placing some simple and appropriate monument above Ins so-long undistinguished grave in BunhiiK fields . The character of the memorial will be regulated by the amount of subscription ? .

      The Art Journal says : — " When the Royal Exchange was decorated by Sang , we foretold the total Obfuscation of that thin and wiry ornament in a few ¦ years . ' This is now accomplished—Giulio llomano ' s naiads , with their vegetable continuations , are embalmed in City smoke . The authorities arc embellishing the Mansion-house with sculpture at great cost ; they may perhaps extend their cares to the Exchange , ' and decorate it with bas-reliefs presenting a history of British Commerce—the only kind of decoration that will resist the smoke-charged atmosphere of the City . This plan we proposed before Mr .. Sam ? began his labours . "

      We are requested to state , that on and after the 15 th January the public will be admitted to view the pictures of the National Portrait Gallery , at the toniporary apartments , 2 ' . ) , Great Goorge-stroet , on Wednesdays and Saturdays , by tickets , to be obtained ( as in the case of the Dulwu : h Gallery ) of either Messrs . Cohvaghi , Pall Mall East ; of Messrs . Graves , PullMall ; or of Mr . John Smith , New liondstreet . Messrs . Jennings are exhibiting at their gallery in Cheupsido Sir George Ilayter ' s historical picture of * ' J < a timer preaching at St . Paul ' s Cross to the City Authorities . "

      Untitled Article

      Wo glean the following frpm our excollent contemporary , the Critic , which , in its improved form , descrved ] y takes a foremost rank amongst literary periodicals : — Mr . JJoxuII , li . A ., has presented a picture , by his own bund , to the National Gallery , winch will bo added to the collection of examplos by British artists shortly . F . P . Cockerel ! , Esq ., will on Wednesday , the 10 th inst ,, deliver a locturo ut the South Kensington ' Museum , 41 On the Painting of the Ancients . " Cards , issued by the committee of tho Architectural Museum , may be obtained , at Messrs . Chapman and Hall ' s , Piccadilly . The exhibition of tho Society of Jb'emalu Artists , to bo open oil for tho second season next month , will bo hold iu tho gallery next tho Haymarkol Theatre . Pictures for tho exhibition at the British Institution should bo sent iu during the next wook . t 1

      The admired piyturo of ( Homo , ? by J . Nool Paton , representing tho return of a Crimean soldier to his Highland cot , is on view ut Messrs . Lloyd Brothers , Prlntsollors , Graccchuroh-stroet , City , by whom a mezzotint engraving of tho painting will be shortly published . Messrs . Fuller , of tho Pino Arts ltopository , Ruthboiio-plnee , Oxford-street , Imvo thrown open to visitors on oxoullont collodion of wntor-colour drawings . The now exterior of the United Sorvioo Club IIouso hi "Waterloo-placo is completed . Tho . romoval of tho old pudlment and columns on tho west eido is a ntoo improvement , and the alterations altogothor give a moro elegant and agrcuablo air to tho building , as well as add to its apparunt ahso and vnstnoss . II now proaouts a

      larger front than any of the surrounding clubs , without exhibiting baldness or vacancy . Readers of Court news will have noticed that the President and Secretary of the Royal Academy had a private audience with her Majesty some days since . What was the great occasion for the use of this high privilege- granted to the Academy by George III ., and never used bat for serious purposes V Was it to seek a favour , or to accept one already accorded ? We suspect the latter . But perhaps Davis , the pamphleteer , will write to the Times and inquire .

      At a meeting of the Manchester City Council , the mayor presiding , a marble bust of the Prince Consort , presented through Mr . T . Fairbairn , on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Art Treasures Exhibition , was unanimous !} ' accepted , and ordered to be placed beside that of her Majesty in the Town Hall . The new bust , like that of the Queen , was executed by Mr . M . Noble . .. ' ¦ -. ' ¦ We have inspected a miscellaneous collection of paintings at Messrs . Christie and Manson ' s , which are ^ to be sold on Saturday . The quality of the -works was on the whole what coffee dealers call " good ordinary ; " a number of decent copies , many third-rate originals , a few nice modern pictures by unknown painters , a Xasnryth utterly spoilt by restoring , a pretentious large picture bv Guido—" The Death of Sophonisba "—so

      entirelv repainted by some French hand as to be more like a ' nlodern work than a Guido , which , nevertheless , perhaps it was originally . It looks well enough now as a picture . An early German triptych in good state was the beat of all ; but although we noted all the works we feel that it is a needless waste of words and paper to speak further of them . Some of the worst are sold as the property of W . S . Landor . Strange to ns thai such a man should have such things . " Speculative" is a fit word for . such pictures , but where the speculation of those who examine them is to end is more than we can rrUC 33 —Wb declare that the real nature or origin of some of these pictures must be utterly unfathomable .

      Untitled Article

      . ¦ ' * ¦ We have but little to say under this head . The first week of the pantomimes was far from , an encouraging one to managers generally . The attractions " of and at the new houses of Covent-garden and the Adelphi served to fill them ; but the diptheria panic , the miserable weather , and the occurrence of the accident at the Victoria , told prejudicially upon all the others , save , perhaps , the little Strand , where the . most attractive company and the most amusing burlesque in town drew full audiences

      nightly . During the last few days , however , affairs have assumed a more favourable aspect . Frost seems to have gained a trifle upon fog : the weatherglass has been doggedly at " Fair , " and the various pantomimes and entertainments having been pruned where requisite , and otherwise shaped into regular working order , are beginning to fill the treasuries . The novelty of the week has been the rtppearance of Madame Celeste at the Lyceum , in a new romantic three-act drama , said to have been written for her by M . Entile de la Roche , and entitled Marion tie Lorine , or this Cradle of Steam .

      Tho author has endeavoured to introduce this celebrated character , whose representative is Madame Celeste , in a favourable light , and to gain for her the sympathies of tho audience by making her tho avenger of her own peace and virtue upon one who had blasted both . Married in early life to M . Cinq Mars , she is suppoaed , for tho purpose of tho dramatist , to have been led astray by ono ISEst ' tgtuio ( Mr . II . Va . ndonh . otT ) , a villain of gopd society , who also brought her husband to the scaffold . The fixed object of her life became a vendetta ; and in the first scone of tho drama under notice she has the fortune to moot him in tho salon of Cardinal JiiohelUu

      ( Mr . E . Falconer ) . D'Ettignao , who is a spy of Cardinal Masr-arin upon ItioMhu , lias wormed himself into the aecroturysliip of tho latter , and having formed a project against tho virtue , of Madame lievthn do Can ® ( Miss Portniun ) , ia scheming to ininiu . ro her husband , Solomon de Caux ( Mv- kmery ) , in tho JLJieOtre prison for lunatics . Tho impulsive Marion , at once comprehending tho plot , conceives tho generous resolve of protecting tho unhappy Do Caw , who , as hla namo imports , is a mechanician ( reportod , of course , mad by his friends and neighbours ) , busy upon an Invention for utilising steam . The best passage in tho play , to which Madtuno Celesta gave iutonso

      force , was her unmasking of D'Estignac ' s villany before Rich e lieu . To this scene , which exposes a powerful situation , our actress , who was dressed and looked superbly , applied some of her broadest and most forcible touches , and roused the audience to enthusiasm . After this , the second and third acts , which offered no situation of equal strength , seemed to flag . A great . part of the climax , had in fact been supplied too early , but though little room was left for artistical display , all that could be done was

      done . After the audience have been informed of the result , its development takes place . JD'Estignac , having procured a lettre de eachel , proceeds to bury his man in Bicetre . But Marion , having procured a revocation of it , and a spare one besides , at the end of the third act delivers Solomon from , an abominable cage in that famous prison , saves poor Bertka from sacrificing her honour to procure her husband's release , and fills up the blank order with the name of the wicked D'Estignac . As for Solomon de Caux , who bad so bored the Cardinal that he was

      not sorry to imprison him , and whose protestations were evidently received with as little favour by the public as those of inventors in general , Marion contrives to interest in his favour the Engliah Marquis of Worcester , who is imported into the piece to adopt De Caux and his crotchet in a very few words , and thus to secure to England the honour , glory , and profit of being the nursing mother of steam . The eccentricity of the moddy inventor

      was well conceived by Mr . Emery ; but we object to the senility of Mr . Falconer ' s Richelieu , as well as to the Cardinal ' s costume he adopted . The ferocious attempt of De Catuc , when in his prison cage , to rend and strangle his wife through the bars , is also a repulsive feature in the third act , and whether due to author or artist , would be better left out . The reception accorded by the audience to Madame Celeste , was of the most thoroughly cordial nature . She was called before the curtain at the end of each

      act , as well as at the close of the piece , the success of which was certainly due more to her power than its own . The many richly humorous passages in Mr . Robert Brough ' s burlesque . The Siege of Troy , have now been drawn more closely together , and the piece is consequently beginning to tell . Shouts of laughter attend / factor's ( Mrs . Keely ' s ) admirable illustration of the Karey process ; Mr . James Rogers ' s ( as th

      Pairoclus ) quaint saj'ings , singings , and doings ; e dreadfully whimsical combat , attended with all the minutiae of the P . R ., between Hector aud Ajax ( Mr . Charles Young ) ,- and the appearance of that moiistrum horrendnm the Trojan horse , fully forty hands high . Miss Julia St . George , as Cupid , charms all her hearers by her artless and pleasing delivery of the popular song , " Ever of thee ; " and the ballet ( otherwise tedious ) gives scope for some really good , dancing by Misses M . Charles and Rosina Wright .

      Untitled Article

      The Dramatic Colt . ege . —An important meeting of the committee was held on Saturday . A report was presented to . tho meeting , which stated that Mr . Dodd , the eminent dust contractor who offered to present a piece of land on which the colleg ; might be erected , wished to hamper his gift with so many conditions that it was considered inexpedient to accept it . Tho report was adopted . As several other offers of land have beon made , it is anticipated that there will be no difficulty in obtaining an eligible site . Tub Accidknt at tub Poi-YTECiixrc . —Our contemporary the Builder informs us that " the steps are of Portland stone , feather-edged , and were put up twenty years ago , under the direction of Mr . James Thomson , the architect of tho building . Not long ago , the treads having become worn , open iron-work , the interstices

      filled ia with cement , was let in on the face of them , and it has been urged by some that cutting into tho steps for this purpose has led to the calamity . Tho iron facing on each step weighs about 1 cwt . Each stop probably weighs 2 £ cwt . On the other hand , it is stated that the full commenced at the upper landing , and that it h « s been found that the joggle here was not soundly made . Tho appearance presented by the staircase is most extraordinary , every step being broken sharply off about < t inches from tho wall . The accident will not fail to inspire tho gravest considerations . " And we bog especially to draw to it the attention of tho proprietors of tho Equestrian Circus , Leicester-square . It has boon stated that tho slender supports of tho galleries there have been certified " strong enough" by competent surveyors ; but wo confess to a sense of their insecurity whenovor we

      contemplate them . Tins Cicntknaky ov BvnNS . —Tho Caledonian Society will eommoinorato this event by a festival at tho London Tavern on tho 2 f > th instant *; tholr arrangements arc of a superior character . Miss Liazy Stuart , of Scottish song celobrlty , has' booii engaged to sing somo of tho poet ' s llnoat songs . Thoy certainly could not Imvo chosen a moro lilting exponent of Scotia ' s mins trelsy than this lady , who has so successfully idontlllod horaolf with that olaas of muslo , and also with tho literature of Burns and other song writers of Scotland .

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      Untitled Article

      PiiorosED Government Offices . —The views of the Government in respect of new public offices have undergone a change . Without professing to be quite exact in a matter which seems not yet to have reached the stage of exactness , we believe the present intention is that a . building sball be erected in Downing-street , for tlie purposes of the Colonial Office and the East India Board ; and that Mr . Scott and Mr . Digby Wyatt ( the latter holding the appointment of architect to the Kast India Comuahy ) will be associated as architects . — The Brikler . ' -

      Untitled Article

      ^ o , 459 , January 8 , 1859- ] T H E L E A P E B . 55

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1859, page 55, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2276/page/23/