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September 17, 1853.] THE LEADER. 909
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comes , they brighten up , and by searching criticism reveal a complete acquain tance 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 Hall is one of the noblest apartments in ^ Europe , the Court of modern art is the finest pieture gallery , well proportioned , and so admirably 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 « n flifi nintures are unfavourably placed onuosite to the stained glass , and ¦ ¦ ¦
jf I ^ J ^^ M * ^^ f ~ ^^ — . ¦ j ^ r j j 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 . Yet 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 G-allery 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 Gf-uidos , 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 triptyclis , 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 . 0 N ~ o 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 , Griulio Romano , and Correggio , whose works abound . Two beautiful Guercinos , several paintings by Lauri , and two exquisite cartoons . All the undistinguished masters of Italy during the sixteenth
century , and Titian , Tintoretto , Parmigiano , Tasso , Ferrato , 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 Leyden is the most beautiful , the three Adorations in two compartments highly dramatic
and simple in treatment , and in the third the " Flight into Egypty" in the midst of a lovely landscape . All the masters of the Flemish schools , except Metsu and Jcrburgh , are fairly represented . We have many Bembrandts—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 Rembrandt 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 sale of Louis Philippe's gallery at Christie ' s . The only Velasquez is very fine . It is a Magdalene clothed in matting , weeping before the cross in her cave in sorrow and pain . Ribera ' s martyrs and penitents , " strong to boar and mi g hty to suffer , " Zurbaran ' s haggard monks and nuns , Moi-ale ' s " El Divino" heads , and Osorio , make up the Spanish school . Franco is represented by Nicolas and Gaspar Poussin , Jouvenefc , and Joseph Vernet . Tho English commences Avith Holbein , some interesting miniatures by Oliver , portraits by Dobson and Mytens , Vandyck , vv issing , Lely , and JCnoller . Hojrarth ' " Sietro of Calais . " second scene
of the " Harlot ' s Progress , " and tho " Lady's Last Stake , " his best and only pleasing picture , well drawn and finely coloured , unlike his terrible epics of sin , painted instead of written , and on which no woman can look vntnout a kindling blush of shame , or rather , what woman can gaze upon ¦ Hem at all P The lady having gambled through tho night , as tho morning •> i - enks , her officer opponent offers back the lost jewels in his chapeau for •¦ lie one last stake . Her attitude is beautiful ; swaying in her chair , her juifr ( H . ] a j ( | thoughtfully to her cheek , where tho warm blood holds J'UinultuouH course , tho other band and foot balanced on the polo-soreon . 1
•< U" expression is not that of an insulted Diana—no ono wouhWaoek thai ; jj'om Hogarth- —neither is it indignation " refined to live woe , " but it is "it oi a virtuous woman wlio finds horeojf close to destruction and "' mine , and arises warned and . reformed from tho snare . This picture is " [ . S oncvilHy known , having been painted by Hogarth for tho Into Earl ° Mmrlemont , as a gi'ffc in acknowledgment of thoir mutual friendship , ' !! "over out of Ireland . With numerous portraits by Reynolds , is his »««<»« and graceful " Venus chiding Cupid ; " Wilson , Fuaeli , Lawrence , leeeed , and Unrry , in whoso pictures Jus faults have the vantage
lu « l J n i nftt " ly iho crotlit of" . ° ™ O ( lom HrifciHh school is not fairly up-W'M . lo , j ° y ^ Academicians following their usual disregard of reputation . Nt- r i ' V l > nor ' IjOslu '> Collins , Etty , Lamlseer , Mulready , Herring , liiirl i < - ' P ° » Croswiok , Lanee , Uwins , Danby , HaghoGoodall , aretho M » ohl names m Jfiwglwh art , but not inoro than tmflioiont 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 Burton ' s " Blind Girl at the Holy Well , " there is not one . of mark . Abundant in 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 the assailants who have taken her cubs , sustain his repute in animal expression and
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 , " b y 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 fetr men . Cornelius , Veit , Ovepbeck , Schnorr , and the Schadows , who early in thia 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 eclipse 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 j" 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 , tho 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 alone retained . Hence the sublimity of " Christ Prophecying the
Destruction of Jerusalem , " by Professor Bazas ; the simple mountain scene , the Saviour with Mary Magdalene at his feet , the three apostles , and tho city lying in tho background ; and Huebner's " Hannah bringing Samuel to Eli ; " the Murillo-liko child , with a foreknowledge of supremacy , standing between the majestic high-priest and the sybil prophetess . De Keysor ' s " St . Elizabeth of Hungary , " excels Millais in the command of transitory emotion in the countenance , and its colour in the cheek . Sickness , death , and famine , collect before the Empress in sad detail ; wan faces , wasted limbs , the blood drifting slowly through tho veins , the pains in the drooping eyelids , yet without any licenso of hospital offensiveness . As a single intense and affecting delineation , Wappor ' s " Louis XVII . " has unequalled power ; and for dramatic effect , Gallait ' s " Temptation of Saint Anthony , " where Satan brings a fair and shrinking girl to tho Saint
kneeling before the imaged crucifix , her hair and shoulder flickered by the rays from tho cross , from which the Evil One averts and shadea his eyes , some silvery moonbeams wandering into tho cavern at the other side , rounding her form like an Aureole . In tho picture of " Saint Cecilia , " by Matlriou , tho choiring angels are powerfully imagined , shining , glorious beings . Van Sohendol ' s " Nativity" presents new and wonderful effects ; following Correggio in plan , tho Child irradiates the scene , tho torches borne by the crowding shepherds mingling luminously with the darkness , and , descending in shafts of light , the cherub angels wreath tho columns with celestial ilowers , faint and evanescent as their own shadowy splendour , which ia yet perfect in texture and colour , tho ethereal forms divided into essence by tho pillars which they circle and enfold .
Excellence is not confined to fiacred art ; History and Gcnro are eminent , too . In tho last , " Kat-eatulung " . ( Do Braclclur ) , i . s an inimitablo piece of drollery . "The . Arab Lunching luxuriously in the Desert , on Onions , " and offering a portion of tho dainty to his camel , who nibbles cautiously , arid half enjoying his master's joke , in linesman ' s most successful offort . David" Col shows himself manter of the sunshine and shadow in thef " Village Politician ; " and of Pre-Raphaelite nicety in the " IJpflofc of a Market Cart , " where the colours sparkle like geuiB . Bezaa proves that Iletzch has not altogether exhausted JPau & t , by a most poetic realization of the closing scone . MepluBtophiloH , tall , supernatural , and mystic , strides in ; Gretchoii , with insane terror , emotion pervading her form , turns from the light , and questions Faunt , who , stricken with intense agony and . remorse , has istaggerod against the wall , why the fearful
September 17, 1853.] The Leader. 909
September 17 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 909
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1853, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17091853/page/21/
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