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548 T H E J, E A jD EJR, J™ O ^ S ™> Sat...
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ROYAL ACADMEY. IV. THE LANDSCAPES. Ppbsu...
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HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Verdi's Nuhuco, u...
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THE WHITSUNTIDE AMUSEMENTS. A fine day o...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mr. Hill's Suggestions For The Llei'ltes...
misery produced bv her own misconduct , and restored her to something approaching to comfort whereas in the former case you have shocked and violated all her feelings of self-resp ' ect , thereby inflicting exquisite pain , which will not be forgotten , but which , nevertheless , is calculated to plunge her still deeper into crime than she haa yet fallen .
548 T H E J, E A Jd Ejr, J™ O ^ S ™> Sat...
548 T H E J , E A jD EJR , J ™ ^ ™> Satubjday .
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Royal Acadmey. Iv. The Landscapes. Ppbsu...
ROYAL ACADMEY . IV . THE LANDSCAPES . Ppbsuing out way through the pleasantjplaces of the Middle and Eastern Kooms , we are struck by the vigour with which the landscape-painter keeps up to the new standard , although some of the older artists maintain their mannerism . Perhaps the one who does so in the most marked way is Linnell , whose pictures seem to be stitched in coloured wool . But the whole body , from the highest to the lowest , share in the impulse to make their work better , to compare it more completely with nature , to bestow greater pains on the manipulation of
every part , and , above all , to throw a fresher and more animated heart into their labours . You may know Creswick . at the first glance , —it is Creswick alone who can give that sharpness to every twig and every leaf , every stone and every ripple ; and yet arrange the sections of his composition so much in round groupings . For in the same scene every artist has a tendency to observe a particular class of demarcations , and Creswick ' s eye is faithful in the recognition of circular subdivisions . Yet the mannerism of Creswick is entirely subordinate to the truth of nature ; and , as in " Parted Streams , " his later works have obeyed the tendency of the day . They have become more specific , more truthful ; as open , perhaps , as ever to some of the fanciful complaints of Mr . Buskin , but challenging his approval where lie comes to his specific tests , and compares the work of art with the work of
nature-It is upon the ground , near the middle of the Southern wall in the Middle Boom , that you must seek what is perhaps the most perfect picture in the present exhibition . It is a little landscape , by Augitste Bonhetjr— " Landscape and Cattle" ( 300 ) . The scene is a meadow plain , with foliage in the foreground on the spectator ' s left . In the middle of the picture is a narrow piece of water , on the left bank of which the spectator seems to stand . Cattle are slowly moving from one side to the other . The sun is already low , and brilliant rays are glancing through the foliage , sharp shadows playing among the trees , and marking the endless inequalities of the level foreground . The whole picture , although so tranquil that the slightest murmur of the cattle could be heard , is full of natural life and motion . The sunlight itself seems to move as it glances over the flat surface . The grass can be stirred by a breath ;
the cattle are breathing . The hill itself , with its sharp face turned from you into the distance—for you can almost see the precipice on the other side—stands steadfast among the moving mists of the sultry air . The effect of the picture is produced at once by true conception of the subject , and by mastery of hand . No painter , not even possessing the quickest eye and the firmest hand , could have copied the effects from nature . Tiiey are too transitory , too evanescent ; but he must possess the power of seeing them in his mind , and of reproducing with his hand exactly what his mind sees . The result is , that a scene of real nature is here preserved as if it had been fixed in a mirror . The picture is perfect . But by some peculiarity in hanging arrangements , which certainly are not perfect , it is left near the feet of the visitor , to be concealed by all the petticoats in the room .
The " Spring in the Wood" does not equal some of Anthony ' s previous works . There is the same effort to give us every twig and every leaf , the same forcible sobriety of shade ; but the sombreness is too heavy , the effort is not successful . The style of the naturalist has stiffened into mannerism . We might compare this laboured effort of the new style with a picture that is too laboured , but is still imbued by the very spirit of nature , from the hand of a veteran belonging to the old style—" Scene on the West Lyn , Lynmouth , Devon , " by J . Genwall . No man with taste , a natural eye , and u practised hand , can continue painting portraits of nature , especially if he keep his heart fresh , without bringing the sun and the breeze into the picture .
Look again at Stanfield ' s " Culm in the Gulf of Salerno , " J . Starr ' s 'Scene on the North Coast , " E , W . Cooke ' s " Morning after a Heavy Gale , " Corbouxd's " Road Side , " in the West Room , E . W . Cookk ' h " Bit of English Coast , " or Redgrave ' s " Harvest Field . " Spain appears to have furnished the school for eovoral of our artists this year and in many respects it is as good a school as they could choose . Its tomparaturo tends to counteract the contracting chillincsH of our own , the repose of the people is a useful antagonism to the restlessness of ours , while the atmoepliere is broader in its effects . The result is seen very powerfully in Ansdull ' s largest picture " Ploughing : Seville , 1857 . " His mules , and other smaller works , arc an improvement on his style . Ho has long possessed considerable knowjedgo
of tho animal form , with / great skill in delineating action ; but ho has wanted a m ore simple breadth of atylc . Under a dull sky , in the brightest days , every particular stands out , but there has not been that flood of light upon broad eurfaces which overwhelms minute shadows and outlines , and tho eye can never bo painfully condescend upon particulars' as when it sees a wiry terrier under a Scotch eky . Each particular hair then becomes u peg upon which a sermon , might bo hung ' . And Anbdell has heretofore ) given us too much , a war not only of tho hungry wolf and tho bristling hound , but a scone in which the locks of tho hound scorned to enter into tho contest . " Ploughing at Seville , 1850 , " is a totally different scene ; hero wo have a Inroad plain , on which tho rude ploug It , older in construction than the time of tho Romans , is just scratching tho surface . Ono plough Is following another without much order ; tho slow
oxen moving heavily forward under the slow heat of the sky , while the pe " * that guides the plough , if guidins ? it can be called , lends his weight to pressT wooden share into tho pound . The flatness of the plain , the slow moveme t the sense of inorganic life , form a picture of which the harmonies are complet and in a Clear , simple design , both of composition and of colour , the artist h * ' made his work thoroughly in harmony with the scene . The consequence ^ that notwithstanding the simplicity of the theatre and of the action , and il " humility of the persons of the drama , there is in the whole scene a strength * >? dignity derived from the direct portraiture of nature .
Her Majesty's Theatre. Verdi's Nuhuco, U...
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE . Verdi's Nuhuco , under the title of Nino , was revived on Tuesday for the fi appearance of Signor Corsi , who brings a name of Continental repute . We cannot assign to Signor Corsi the high rank bestowed upon him by the ' critics of Paris and of Italy . That his voice is not what it may possibly have been there is no denying ; that it was always a voice of limited range and moderate ' capabilities , we are disposed to believe . At present , it is wanting in vibration and sonority of tone , and deficient in force and flexibility , but it is not unskilfully employed , and has its fine moments . But it was as a dramatic singer that the advent of Signor Corsi was announced . We regret to be unable so far as his performance of Nino ( or Nabuco ') is concerned , to discern the characteristics of n great actor . His make up , which we may roughly describe as something between a swollen Jullien and the Wandering Jew , was singularly unimposing , and neither in his presence , nor in his action , nor in his by-plav could we discover the dramatic artist . His gesticulation was almost as ' monotonous as his voice , but we indulge the hope that we have not yet seen or heard the best of Signor Corsi .
We were regretting last week that Madlle . Spezia had not as yet succeeded in making good in England the high reputation accorded to her in Italy . In Nino , however , this lady has made a decided advance : she looked , sang and acted throughout the opera with a degree of force and fervour of expression ' and a commanding dignity of manner , that gave assurance of even higher excellence . The opera was , on the whole , creditably performed , but the mise . en scene was terribly dingy , and the stage business irregular and indifferent . The orchestra seemed at home in music peculiarly fitted to a brass band . Nabuco has always been a great favourite in Italy , both with the singers and the public , and was the first opera that , after many failures , established the success and popularity of Verdi , now the best-abused and best-enjoyed composer in Europe .
Don Giovanni is announced for Thursday next , and to be given with extraordinary completeness . But , is it possible that we read aright ? Dii Immortales ! Don Giovanni , Signor Beneventano ? We shudder at the thought . En revanche , Madlle . Piccolomini is to be the Zerlina , with Madlle . Spezia as the Donna Anna , and Madlle . Ortolani as the Elvira , and Giuglini the Don Otiavio . Signor Corsi , too , we dare say will be more at home as Alasetto than as Nebuchadnezzar , ' up from grass . ' With this pleasurable anticipation of evenings with Mozart , let us be permitted to inquire when we arc to have the Nozze at the Royal Italian Opera ?
The Whitsuntide Amusements. A Fine Day O...
THE WHITSUNTIDE AMUSEMENTS . A fine day on Monday shed cheerful influences on the pleasure-seekers whom Whitsuntide always calls forth . Railroad carriage , steamboat , omnibus , and cab , overflowed with happy , genial life , and great was the ruralising in the iields and lanes . Great also was tho gathering of families in the various places o amusement in town , whether open free or requiring the enchantment of silver towards the unfolding of the portals . The National Gallury , the Bkitisii Museum , the Great Globe , tho public gardens from Crismorne , west , to Rosiierville , east , the Panoramas , Dioramas , aud hosts of nondescript
exhibitions , the Crystal Palack , Colosseum , and Polytechnic;—all were loud and bright with humanity . At night came the Theatres , though with few novelties , The Mavjukket produced a new comedy by the author of The Caffots , called Tha Husband of an Hour , with . a part for Mr . Huckstone ; and the audience proclaimed it a success . The Princess ' s continued the historical pageantry , of Richard If , ; and the horses , tumblers , and mimes of Drury Lank went on with their ' Isthmian games' and-their jokes . The Olympic , Surrey , Ahtlky ' h , Standard , Queen ' s , Victoria , and some of the other Theatres , not to speak of the Saloono , still relied on tlieir stock pieces ; but , at the St . James ' s , tho Paris Bouflhs produced a new operetta-militaire , entitled Drar / onnctte , and at the Strand Signor Bosco exhibited his feats of magic and ventriloquism . Tho Adelimii reserved its new piece for tho benefit of Madame Celkstis on Wednesday , when an original drama i" five acts , called George Darville , revealed a tale of wrong-doing and remorse , and gave occasion for some effective acting by Mr . Webster , tho fair manageress , Mr . \ S mom and others .
. . . ... Tho visitors ut Ckkmornk woro amused by a troop of Marionettes ; nnd , nt tho Surrey Gaisi > kns , M . Jullien , in hia never-fading white waistcoat , and with ins fateful baton , brought out a musical phenomenon of his own composition , called l"o Comot Galop , in tho conducting of which ho gooa into more than his usual ecstasies or ferocious liveliness . A largo uudience stamped with their approval this p eco oi descriptive harmony , which is spirited and tolling in its main subjuct , and in its accessories ia a perfect tempest of brassy and gongy clangour . Tho supposed nisi - ing of tho comet ia not badly indicated in tho roar of sound ; but of course tho who e thing ia more a matter for good-humoured amusement than criticism . Among i fireworks at tho end of tho evening Ihore was an attempt at a visual comet ( UUL was a failure , the tail being unaccountably shed after a little while , and t » e looking liko a ood '» head and shoulders in tho sky . . all these entertainments haH boon added tho inoxpresalblo delight «'
To weather—weather with a hot , bright aoul—weather of bluo skies , an < goUloiii «« light , and violet-tinted oven ings—weather of west winds—weather still tuml <" tho youth of spring , yet full-bodied and odorous with tho wealth ot 8 U "' ' Tho comet , vhloh fails to produce much influence in the pyrotoohny ot tno o « * Gardens , aounis to bo truly ripening the year aa a pertoh rlpona on the buiiwju of the wall . Tho Whltaun ploaauro-aeokor , aa ho steamed down tho river or iw rf along the iron ralla that pave tho pathway of tho locomotive , must havo uw b tho vintago of tho lust yoar—1811 , If wo mistake not—and amaoUod m ¦ i with anticipations of a more than ordinarily oxquialto bottle of port ; anuovwu unto whom port is not drank their humble ale with addod gueto and Uoiigni .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 6, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06061857/page/20/
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