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ROYAL ACADMEY . IV . —THE LANDSCAPES . Pctrstting our way through the pleasant places of the Middle and Eastern Rooms , 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 Ckeswick'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 he 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 Room , that you must seek what is perhaps the most perfect picture in the present exhibition . It is a little landscape , by Augusts' Boniieck— " 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 . They 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 ¦ w orks . There is the same effort to give us every twig and every leaf , the same forcible sobriety of shade ; but thesombreness is too heavy , the effort is not successful . Tlie 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 . Genuall . No man with taste , a natural eye , and a practised hand , can continue painting portraits of nature , especially if ho keep his heart f resh , without bringing the sun and the breeze into the picture . Look again at Stanfield's " Calm in the Gulf of Salerno , " J . Starr ' s * , ' Scene on the North Coast , " E . W . Cooke ' s Morning after a Heavy Gale , " Corbould ' s ' » Road Side , " in the West Room , E . W . Cooke ' s " Bit of English Coast , " or Redgrave ' s " Harvest Field . "
Spain appears to have furnished the school for several of our artists this year and in many respects it is as good a school as they could choose . Its tomparuture tends to counteract the contracting chilliness of our own , the repose of the people ia a useful antagonism to the restlessness of ours , while the atmosphere is broader in its effects . The result is seen very powerfully in Ansdkll ' s largest picture " Ploughing : Seville , 1857 . " His mules , and other smaller works , are an improvement on his style . Ho has long possessed considerable knowledge of the animal form , with great skill in delineating action ; but ho lias wanted a in ore simple breadth of style . Undor a dull sky , in tho brightest days , every particular stands out , but there has not been that Hood of light upon broad
surfaces which overwhelms minute shadows and outlines , and tho eyo can never so painfully « condescend upon particulurs' as when it sees a wiry terrier undor a Scotch sky . Each particular hair then becomes a peg upon which a sermon might be hung . And Ansdell has heretofore given us too much , a war not only of tho hungry wolf and the bristling hound , but a scene in which the locks of the hound seemed tp enter into the contest . " Ploughing at Seville , 1856 , " is a totally ' different scene ; hero we have a broad plain , on which tho rudo plough , older in construction than the time of the Romans , is just scratching the surface . One plough is following another without much order ; the slow
oxen moving heavily forward under the slow heat of the sky , while the t > e """ that guides the plough , if guiding it can be called , lends his weight to m ^ s ^ wooden share into the ground . The flatness of the plain , the slow moWn " ^ the sense of inorganic life , form a picture of which the harmonies are com lT ' 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 consequen ^ that notwithstanding the simplicity of the theatre and of the action and l " humility of the persons of the drama , there is in the whole scene a strength ' rt dignity derived from the direct portraiture of nature .
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HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE . Verdi ' s Nabuco , under the title of Nino , was revived on Tuesday for the fi appearance of Signor Corsi , who brings a name of Continental repute W cannot assign to Sigiior Corsi the high rank bestowed upon him by the critic of Paris and of Italy . That his voice is no t what it may possibl y have been there is no denying ; that it was always a voice of limited range and moderate capabilities , we arc 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 dramatip sin » er 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 a great actor . His make up , which we may roughly des cribe as something between a swollen Jitllien 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 w e have not yet seen or heard the best of Sigiior Corsi .
We were regretting last week that Madllc . Spkzia had not as yet sueceeded 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 inJEurope .
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 Benetentako ? We shudder at the thought . En revanche , Madlle . Piccqlomini is to be the Zerlina , with Madlle . Spezia as the Donna Anna , and Madlle . Ortolani as the Elvira , and Giuglini the Don Ottavio . Signor Corsi , too , we dare say will be more at home as Afasettothan as Nebuchadnezzar , * up from grass . ' With this pleasurable anticipation of evenings with Mozart , let us be permitted to inquire when we are to have the Nozze at the Royal Italian Opkra ?
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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 ia the fields and lanes . Great also was the 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 Gallery , tho British Museum , the Great Globe , the public gardens from Cremorne , west , to Rosherville , east , the Panoramas , Dioramas , and hosts of nondescript exhibitions , the Crystal Palace , Colosseum , and Polytechnic;—all were loud and bright with humanitv . At night came the Theatres , though with of Tht
few novelties . The Hayaiakkkt produced a new comedy by the author Cagots , called The Husband of an Hour , with a part for Mr . Buckstone ; and tho audience proclaimed it a success . The Princess ' s continued the historical pageantry , of Richard II . ; and the horses , tumblers , and mimes of Drury Lane went ou wan their ' Isthmian games' and their jokes . The Olympic , Surrey , Astl ey ' s , Standard , Queen ' s , Victoria , and some of the other Theatres , not to speak of tho Saloon * , still relied on their stock pieces ; but , at the St . James ' s , the Paris Bouffes producedo new operette-militaire , entitled Dragonnette , and at tho Strand Signor liosco exhibited his feats of magic and ventriloquism . Tho Adelpiii reserved its new pieio for tho benefit of Madame Celeste on Wednesday , when an original drama in nvo acts , called George Darville , revealed a talo of wrong-doing and remorse , and gave occasion for some effective acting by Mr . Webster , tho fuir manageress , Mr . VVkioht
and others . , . . The visitors at Cremohne were amused by a troop of Marionettes ; and , ni iu » Surrey Gardens , M . Jui . libn , in his novcr-fading white wuisteont , and w tu i » fateful baton , brought out a musical phenomenon of his own composition , called i » Comet Galop , in tho conducting of which ho goes into moro than his usual ecstasies m ferocious liveliness . A largo audience stamped with their approval this piece » descriptive harmony , which is spirited and tolling in its main subject , and in w accessories is a perfect tompost of brassy and gongy clangour . Tho flupposea rua ing of tho comet ia not badly indicated in tho roar of sound ; but of course ¦ tlio wam thing ia moro a matter lor good-humoured amusement than critiaum . Amon ° fireworks at tho end of tho evening there wua an attempt at a visual comotj " was a failure , tho tail being unaccountably ehccl after a little while , aim wu
looking like a cod'u hoiid and shoulder ** in tho nky . , fln 0 To nil those entertainments- lina boon added tho inoxprosaiblo doligiu m weather—weathor with a hot , bright soul—weather of blue skies , anU goiaw light , and violet-tinted evenings—weather of west winds--weather etiu " «" tho youth of spring , yot full-bodied and odorous with tho wealth ot sum Tho comet , which fuila to produce much influonoo in the py roteoliny oi h »» ,, £ Gardens , seems to be truly ripening the year a « a poach ripena on tno buiiwi of the wall . Tho Whitsun ploaaure-aoeker , aa he alotimod down the river or v rf along the iron rails tlint pave the pathway of tho locomotive , must nave i , uu ts the vintage of tho last yoar-1811 , if wo mistake not-ond amaokod liia ^^ i ^ with anticipations of a more than ordinarily oxqulalto bottle of P » 1 a "" y unto whom port is not drank tuolr humble ale with added gusto and delimit .
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misery produced by 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 ' , thereby inflicting exquisite pain , which wi ll not be forgotten , but which , nevertheless , is calculated to plunge her still deeper into crime than she has * yet fallen . '
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548 __? HE L E A P E R , [ No . 376 , Saturday .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 6, 1857, page 548, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2196/page/20/
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