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,*¦?#•/•*« (OhlfP' \# 1*m V *O/*JV aUIai *
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liptUon to , the stage , which led her so early and finally ( as it is understood ) to relinquisl ) he opera-house for the conce * t-rqom ..- >—That a genius such as I have characterised , is bat a ; eiuus of the second order—whatever T > e its technical acquirements—posterity will hardly raeition . That lo ' say so contempopQeously is no sacrilege , I feel satisfied—whatever be h « rprivate virtues of the artist : since every hour of irrational idolatry wears away somehing of its sincerity from public judgment ; and thus bears upon the career of artists to some , essentially not less worthy to please than Mdlle . Lind , but more scantily endowed rith . the power of putting every gift oat to compound interest . "
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DRESS AS A ITNE ART . Stress as a FimArt . By Mrs . Mecxifield , Honorary Member of the Academy of Fine Arts at Bologna . Author of " Ancient Practice of Painting , " &o . Hall , Virtue , and Co . M « a . Mebbitieuo ' s " philosopty of clothes , ' as explained in the little book before us , i | i forthe most part , unintelligible ; and -what is intelligible is quite unsatisfactory , not to say false . For instance , in the opening paragraph she says : — " In a state so highly civilised as that in which we live ,
toe art of dress has become extremely complicated . " And it seems not to bQQUT to her mind that we want a great deal more civilising before the art of ; dress yr \\\ be rendered simple and ; convenient . , She goes on to say— " An art implies skill and dexterityin setting off or . employing the gifts of nature € O the greatest advantage , and we are surely not wrong in laying it down as a general principle , that every one may endeavour to set off or improve his or ^ rj ^ Braonal appearance , provided that in doing so the party is guilty of no deception . " The first part of this sentence reduces dress from a fine art
^ a mere artifice , and the last part involves it in questions of morality -with < $$$£ & . . km JiQplangio do directly , if it be treated as a fine art . We do not stiprK ^ that Sj ? ladyi so learned in matters of art as our authoress requires ^ j ^^ i ^^ l ^; - ^^ t ^^^ ir& 7 beautiful according to the law of aesthetics ^~ lli ! il € ^^>^? f ^ & . tof ^^ y of ethics ; t hat the good and -the beautiful are essentially the sanie . ( But ; we know . yery well that the olass of readers to whom her book is addressed require ^ to be told this in many ways before ^ eyC ^ aitt bejBeye iti . The ^ c « 5 r ^ inly , w ^ L not arrive at this simple truth by reaaing siich a jumble ot false logic on the principles of dress as thefolmpps ^ .. w ¦/* ¦ : ; .. ¦ .- ¦ ¦ . ¦¦ .:, : ; - , ¦¦ . .,. , - . . . ? ; t « iWie yioUiteiihe lawsioff nature when we seek to repair the ravages of time on our com-$ ktx $ on » by Jmint * wben ^ fsubstita te &lse h air for t hat whic h sge has thinn ed or blanched ,
or ctoceil'tBtfcTiange * r « ycing ^ ^ ^^^^ dress to conceal t 3 xat ^ e : sT ^ d « w lteg ^ ismot only bad taste , bat it is a positive ^ nkell"fl ^ fincferity . >;~ It i » bad tute . ibecause lhe means we Wet resorted to are contrary toTt ^ Uwa « f ^ njitiire . The application 4 > f paint to the skin produces ian effect so different from the bloom of youth , that it can only deceive an unpractised eye . It is the same with the'hair : there is BUeh& want of-harmony between false hair and the face which it surrounds , « sp * c ^ lly when that face bears the marks « f age , and the colour of the hair denotes vouth , ttiat'theeffectisunpleasirigin the extreme ; Deception of this kind , therefore , does not answer thWend Which it had in view ; it deceives nobod y but the unfortunate perpetrator of lie Woull-be ^ deceifr . It is about as senseless a proceeding as that of the goose in the story , wht >^ when pursued by the fox , thrust her head into a hedge , and thought that because she r tnnid ^ ntv < lht » iMfe : MKiLthM ftvr ^ t . hthJn- * cnnUfnnt , nfA li « r Tin ft ina mnml mini : nf vum •« So ! wirff *~»^ a vi-vv « b « b «* - ^ r ^
- ^ r ^^^»*^» ' - ^»^ ^ m ¦ ¦ ¦ m m ^^ r- ' w »^ v w ^ ^^ ^ vww * w ^*« m # »^ »¦»** mm * m »• ¦»^* a n > w ^^^ a ^ w ^^ & w &v ff ^^ jg WOrtetiUua silly ; ifcifiadoptedwithavieW to deceive ; it is acting a lie to all iutentsuand pttrpoees , andit ought to be held ja the same kind of detestation as falsehood with the tongue , jununeimuui has an aphorism which is applicable to this case—* Those who conceal their see do hot oonceal their foUy . "' 6 > " ^ Dristea 4 of ipri ^ ting contradictory platitudes like these , it would have been weuif Mrs . Merrifield had explained to ; her readers that painting the face and wearing false hair , Sec ; are / silly , and bad in taste , because they do not succeed in their object ; and that it they did succeed in making people look handsomer and younger , they would be quite as justifiable as wearing , becoming instead of unbecoming ^ head-dresses . — " The immediate objects of "dress , Mrs . Merrifield says , are twofold , decency and warmth . "—What becomes of Ornament— that pri : i , um mobile of the Dressing Animal , Man ? If " the objects of diress" are only twofold , surely it would be more correct
to say that these are warmth and ornament—the idea of decency being entirely an interpolation of the evil one , after the Fall . It belongs to the conventional system of morality which our authoress mixes up with her Fine Art . _ Apart from , her baseless principles and incoherent reasoning , Mrs . Jtferrifield ' s little book is not without merit . Hex knowledge of pictures and costume—her sensible opinions about health and convenience in the form and material of dresses—her perception of the difficulties to be overcome in making any grand reform in dress , make her practical observations and general advice of value to all those who have not studied the Art of JDress for themselves . There is something defective in every woman who is indifferent on the subject * Women , perhaps , may say the same of our sex ; and in that Case , Dress as a Fine Art , must be studied by every mother ' s son of us—and that ) under some less cynical Professor than Diogenes Teufelsdrohk . The work before us came out first in the shape of articles on Dress in the Art Journal , and in Sharpe n s Magazine .
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WORKING WOMEN OF THE LAST HALF CENTURY . Working Women qf Ike Last Half Century . By Clara Lucas Balfoar . This little book will be deservedly popular with a large class of female readers ; nor will it fail to findt favour with men of evangelical principles and habits of steady industry . The latter may safely put tnese lives of certain Working Women into the hands of their wives and daughters with , the injunction , " Go and do likewise . " If they can ^ be sure they will . Mrs . Trimmer , Mrs . Barbauld , Hannah More , Elizabeth Smith and Charlotte
Elizabeth , are all recognised as women who have ' * done virtuously , " and have been animated b y unselfish motives in all they undertook . The world ia not so well acquainted with the lives of the other women treated of liere ; one of whom , Sarah Martin , approaches the highest type of heroism . If Mrs . Balfour will look beyond the pale of Evangelicalism , she will find other women whose lives would afford matter for a volume as interesting as the present . Judging from this , we should say she is large-hearted enough to see beauty and goodness wherever they are to be found conspicuous in character .
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THE PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS . The first survey round the familiar room of the Society of Painters in Water Colours makes one ask whether the visitor has not mistaken the gallery whether he is not amongst the " New" painters rather than the old ; so striking on this the fiftieth exhibition of the senior Society is the departur e from the established level of landscape and architectural view , with here and there a mild attempt at pictures of character and the graces of the Misses Sharp . Soon some familiar style , however , catches the eye . Copley
Fielding is there , with that polished view of nature which converts every scene to a kind of civilised Eden ; and some fragment of bank , some group of primroses or twig of May , with the forms sharp , varied , unstudied as they are in nature , shows that the hand of W . Hunt is still present . It is the old place after all , although Carl Haag brings a rich brown forcible style of figure-painting and scenery not alien from the manner of Louis Haghe . ; although Irish Topham has turned Spaniard , Frederick Tayler launches into pictures of considerable dimensions , and the whole collection is as varied in subject and in style as water-colour out of bounds can well be .
The vicissitude and pertinacity of this collection are the one as remarkable as the other . David Cox . continues the rough and ready style of painting wind itself as it sweeps the surface of a country and scatters the fleecy clouds , even as David Cox . brought the same view of nature into the small room years back . Copley Fielding has only become more polished . James Stephanoff still presents his drawing-room groups ; l ? rederick Tayler is great in horses ; Branwhite glows in , snow . . - On the other hand ; Hunt , wlio has been for so many years the master of the scene , does not now give us those humorous exhibitions of boyish gout , or rusticismin its homeliest guise , which used to compel laughter from the
visitor .. There are here two good specimens of his grave studies of the youthful face , particularly a full length of a little girl in a thick worsted jacket , with all the Tough vigour and the powerful finish of old times ; but it is in the fruit and flowers that Hunt now shows his capacity for rivalling nature . There is a twig of May in flower , with a few of the petals dropped , lying near a nest and against a fragment of broken earth , which no other painter could thus haye taken from the } hedges and placed in a gilt frame . , Joseph Nash still gjves us interior views ; Bartholomew , artificial flowers almost like nature >; William Evatfs , of Ejfcon , breathing landscape scenes . But Joseph J » ' ( Jenkins introduces figures like that of Evangeline—a decided advance in individuality of character upon his studies of French peasant
girls ; John ( jrilbert comes close to the force of history painting moils m his picture of Hudibras , or . his yiev of , " The Drug Bazaar at Constantinople ;" while Duncan gives a scene of snow , and a flock of sheep passing through ^ gate under the cold sun , with & , truth of tint and & perfection of distance beyond comparison with any artist whatsoever , since none has more exactly paralleled nature . " The Yraicking Harvest / ' by the same painter , is still more powerful . ; . ¦ , ^ The " crack" pictures of the , Exhibition are Carl Haag ' s " Morning in the Highlands" —* the Queen , and Prince Albert , and their children ascending Loch-na-gar ; the same painter ' s " Evening at Balmoral Castle" — the Prince exhibiting his spoils tc « his Royal wife ; and Frederick Tayler s " Festivalof the Popinjay "—from that Old Mortality—a . capital subject for the painter ' s horsemanship and costume . But although these occupy the posts of honour , we cannot help preferring Tayler ' s " October "—a smaller view of pheasant shooting ; and above all , those cowslips and May blossoms of Hunt .
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THE ROYAL ACADEMY . The exhibition of the Royal Academy opens on Monday . A rapid glanc e at the walls has enabled us to pick out a few works for mention , but w 6 . must defer all criticism till a more favourable opportunity . The absence o the best men is the most obtrusive fact . They show less even than they did in the year of the Great Exhibition . We must place Maclise first on the list , his picture being decidedly the most important , leaving its vast size and amazing elaboration out of the question . In the muscular development of the figures there is a great concession to the popular ignorance of anatomy ; and in other respects Maclise , without being less careful to delineate , has been more careful to subdue unpleasantly prominent objects , and to harmonise all parts of his work . Ward ' s " Last Sleep of Argyle , the second instalment of the series of eight pictures for the Commons ' corridor , is the work next in merit . In this case also there is an abatement of the artist ' s mannerism , without any detriment to his good qualities .
The court picture , by Landseer , representing the Queen and Prince , with their eldest son , in Highland retirement , falls short of Landseer excellence . " Life nt the Sea-side , " by Frith , is delightfully common-place ; a rare kind of compound quality in a picture . In another way it belongs to the scene from " The Rape of the Lock , " by Leslie , who blends his common-place with rococo tenderness and genteel solemnity , in a manner quite irresistible . Millais does not exhibit a single picture . Anthony has one excellent landscape , rich in natural effects . u Owlchurch Ponda , near Ivyminster—a rainy afternoon "—will do for a title as well as any other , in the absence of the catalogue . Hunt ' s two pictures—one religious—the other queerly combining the " fast" with the didactic , must remain , with the rest , for more particular notice .
Sir Charles Eastlalce lias one picture—a lady figure , very pink indeed . Poole ' s " Song of the Troubadours" will gain him praise from all sides . Cecil ' s flower scene from Fcuist is tlio Lost painting he ever produced , and is an infinite improvement on the idea of Corlould . There are several good portraits . Q-
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404 THE LEADER . Saturday ,
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# J | t % X \ B .
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Leader (1850-1860), April 29, 1854, page 404, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2036/page/20/
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