vernment-oratory and poetry-and Canova, have not we our Chantrey? then ask ourselves, how much we and if we can produce nothing to are inferior to Italy or any other na- equal the inimitable bas-reliefs of tion? What country in Europe, for Thorwaldson, has not Rome borrowexample, can produce any specimens ed him of Denmark? Have not the of eloquence to be compared with the portraits of our own Lawrence met orations of Burke, Fox, Pitt and She- with unqualified admiration even in ridan ? what bar or bench can rival Rome itself? And who but an arrant the judicial exhibitions of Dunning, driveller would pretend to underMansfield, Erskine, or Ellenborough? value the genius of Wilkie or Allan ? what dramas or epics are fitted to We hold that, at this moment, the eclipse the glories of Shakespeare, Fine Arts are in a more promising Spencer and of Milton? These are state in Britain than in

any other the imperishable monuments of free- country in the world. By the munidom, identified almost with the very ficence and taste of our nobility and physical existence of the old, and gentry, the want of models can no with that of a large portion of the longer be complained of. The works new world.

of the great Italian, Spanish, French, But farther, we hold that mere pa- and Flemish Masters have been purtronage will never create absolute ex- chased at whatever price, and freecellence in the Fine Arts. Nor do we ly and liberally exhibited to public believe that all the Leo's and Medic admiration, and to form and direct ci's of Italy would have ever elicited the public taste. Indigenous genius the genius of Raffaelle, Buonarotti, has been sought out, fostered, patroCorreggio, Da Vinci, Dominichino, nised, and rewarded. A general or the Carracci, but for the mo- love of the arts has increased, is innuments of the free-born genius of creasing, and cannot be diminished. ancient Rome, with which the minds Hence the augmenting number of of these great artists grew up in close the candidates for fame which every and intimate familiarity. These men year's exhibition brings forward; and only caught, reflected from the ruins hence the presage that we draw of of ancient greatness and art, a por- the future ascendancy of this great tion of that diviner mind, the impress country in the Fine Arts,—an ascenof which these monunients still bore, dancy which, in the arts that minister and employed in adorning supersti- to national wealth, comfort, and haption, or enwreathing with flowers piness, she already incontestably en. the fetters of despotism, that art joys. But we must leave these spewhich they had learned amidst the culations, and descend to the less relics of ancient greatness and re- pleasing, but more useful task of renown ; thus, by a strange retribu. cording facts. tion, enshrining in the drapery In the April of this year, an exhiwrought out by the lofty and original bition of the works of the ancient genius of antiquity, the foul and o- masters took place at Edinburgh. dious forms of a dark and remorse- This was the commencement of a less superstition.

new era, and ought to be hailed with But, after all, is the state of the delight and exultation by every lover Fine Arts in our own country so very of art. Among the pictures exhibitdeplorable as some fastidious travel. ed, a very general preference appearled cognoscenti and virtuosi would ed to be given to those of Claude pretend? If Italy has at present her Lorraine, than which none show a finer mind, or represent the beau ideal the horse. The Sea Storm by Ver. in greater perfection. Next in the net was considered one of the subscale of merit was placed the Fortune limest pieces of that celebrated masof Guido, a duplicate of the celebrated ter. Its materials are taken from picture by the same master in the Va- Italian scenery, the round tower on tican. The Vatican Fortune, however, the left hand being the Tower of is more delicately coloured, and ex: Cecilia Metella near Rome, and the hibits a greater warmth of tint than cliffs beyond it, the rocks of Terra. the picture in this exhibition; but cino. This picture is decidedly su in other respects the two pictures perior to the Storm Piece by the are nearly equal in merit. The Land same author in the Louvre. The Storm by Poussin is a very grand com- cabinet picture of the Madona and position, and seems to have been Child by Correggio was also greatrated very highly by all those who ly admired, even by those who were had not seen his Deluge, perhaps the most conversant with the other chef d'oeuvre of that great master, works of that great artist. It exthe classical purity of whose forms, bibits all his delicacy and softness unrivalled as it confessedly is, he al. of shading; while the countenance ways renders subordinate to the story of the infant displays that heavenly of the picture, in telling which he sweetness of expression which so penever had, and we believe never will culiarly characterises his productions. have any equal. This remark will These were the most remarkable be perfectly intelligible to all those works exhibited on this occasion; and who have seen the great masterpiece we regret that the necessity of comto which we have just alluded. pression forbids us to dwell at great

Of the works of Hobbema, so lit- er length on the excellencies of this tle known in this country, this ex. delightful collection, than which the hibition contained two, the very Continent could boast of but few, counterparts of those of Claude either of greater extent, or more Lorraine, who threw so exquisite a distinguished merit : in landscapes, glow over every object he repre- in particular, it would be difficult ia sented. He lived on the skirts of an the same compass to find its equal. old forest, and his best pictures are Sig. Raffaelli has succeeded in a delineation of the different combi- forming at Milan a considerable es. nations which its aged forms exhibit- tablishment for executing works in ed. The vigour of his drawing can- Mosaic, especially on a large scale: not, however, be surpassed, and, in at present this establishment is occusome measure, atones for the cold pied in executing a copy of Leoand lowering atmosphere with which nardo da Vinci's famous picture of he delights to invest his subjects. the Last Supper. This Mosaic will Two pictures by Velasquez, the cost 24,000 ducats : it is unquesgreatest ornament of the Spanish tionably one of the largest of its kind; School, were also in this collection, since it measures 30 feet in length, the portrait of the Pope, and a Cava- by 15 feet in height. It is for the lier on horseback. Some defect in Emperor of Austria.- Mosaic is a the position or the legs of the noble kind of work in which, by means of animal on which the cavalier is small pieces of glass, figures and mounted, was pretty generally re- representations of all kinds are promarked by those conversant in the duced. It is the most tedious of different attitudes and positions of operations, but has the advantage of

being indestructible by the air, or by considerable talent, particularly some ordinary accidents. It was much fine groups of cattle by De Kay, practised by the ancients; and some in landscape,) in the manner of of their Mosaics, more than two Cuyp. There were also some exthousand years old, yet remain in cellent portraits by Naviz, a pupil good condition.

of David, and by the Chevalier OdeIn the course of the season Mr vaire, and Olls, who have studied Allan produced a picture, the sub- at Rome. ject of which is the celebration of Three beautiful Frescoes of Do. Mr James Hogg, the Ettrick Shep- minichino have been removed, by an herd's Birth-day; and which dis- Italian artist, from the damp wall of plays his usual felicity in the dispo- the Palace Farnese, where they sition of his lights, and the grouping must have speedily perished, and of his figures. The picture is in- placed upon canvas. Thus saved tended as a good-humoured quiz of from slow, but inevitable destruccertain individuals composing a club tion, they will prove interesting exof some notoriety, called the Edin. amples of the peculiar powers and burgh Dilettanti Society.

advantages of this branch of art. The magnificent collection of pic- At the July Exhibition of the Fine tures, which formed the Cabinet of Arts in Florence, were displayed the late M. Burtin at Brussels, has the Casts of the Marbles which been brought to the hammer. The Lord Elgin brought from the TemDeath of Abel, esteemed the master- ple of Minerva, at Athens, (the Parpiece of Guido, the fine Murillos, thenon), and which now form the and other celebrated pictures, which principal ornament of the National have for some time been exhibited Museum of Britain.

These casts by M. Snyeis of Antwerp, have been are a present from the Prince Repurchased by Government, or ra- gent; in return for which, some of ther taken at a valuation, to liqui- the finest statues in the celebrated date a public debt, the proprietor Gallery at Florence are to be mobeing a defaulter in his capacity of delled and sent to his Royal Hightax-gatherer. The magical portrait ness. Among them is the celebrated of Rubens, called the Chapeau de groupe of Niobe and her Children. Paille, which has long been in the pos. The above valuable and advantasession of a private family at Ant. geous exchanges in the Fine Arts werp, has been lately sold for a large have taken place in consequence of sum to a descendant of the painter. the suggestions of the British Envoy, This is the picture said to have been his Excellency Lord Burghersh. purchased for the Duke of Welling. None of the modern discoveries ton at Aix-la-Chapelle. The mag- of Grecian Sculpture can be consi. nificent Altar-piece, The taking down dered as more important or interest. from the Cross, and other celebrated ing, than that of the Statues, which works of Rubens, now restored to adorned the east and west pediments the Cathedral of Antwerp, have of the Temple of Jupiter Panhellebeen copied by Reinagle, an English nios, in the Island of Ægina. The artist, and the copies are much ad. only two which are of equal consimired even in presence of the ori- deration, the discovery of the Niobe ginals.

and her Children, in Rome, in 1583, The Exhibition of the Works of and more recently, of The Muses, in the modern Flemish Artists displayed the Villa Hadriana, occurred at periods more favourable to the study on many of which we find Minerva and practice of the Fine Arts. Re- represented as present at an heroic

. cently after their exhumation, they combat, encouraging the warriors, passed into the hands of Thorwald. and often precisely in the position son, the Danish sculptor at Rome, and attitude in which she appears who was employed by the Prince on the pediment of the Panhellenion Royal of Bavaria, their present of Ægina. As Minerva presides in possessor, in uniting the broken both the groups which decorate this fragments, and restoring the few temple, some have supposed that the parts of them that were deficient; a Panhellenion was dedicated to that task which that eminent artist per. Goddess ; but it should be considerformed with admirable skill and sa- ed that, as the emanation and symgacity. The discovery of these pre. bol of the wisdom and power of Jucious relics of antiquity was, in a piter, Minerva was appropriately great measure, owing to the taste and placed in the exterior of the edifice, enterprise of a British subject, C. R. within which the more sacred statue Cockerell, Esq., who recomposed of the King of gods and men rethe groups as they were successive. ceived the homage and worship of ly excavated, in such a manner as the Æginetans. to give the highest satisfaction to the In the temple of Ægina, we have most eminent artists at Rome. a very remarkable and ancient ex

Various conjectures have been of- ample of the Grecian practice of fered as to the subject of the compo. painting their sculpture ; for the sitions intended to be represented by style and execution of the colours the sculptures of these pediments, found on the statues and ornaments the statues having a marked distince of the Panhellenion prove that they tion of character, as of well-known must be coeval with the original conpersonages : nothing satisfactory has struction. In order to relieve the yet been suggested. The actions of statues, the tympanum of the pedithe Æacidæ, the tutular deities of ment was of a clear light blue ; and the Eginetans, offer nothing expla- large portions of the colour were natory, although a resemblance seen on the fragments as they were may be traced to Homer's descrip- raised from the

ground. The mouldtion of the combat between Hector ing both under and above the corand Ajax over the dead body of Pa. nice was also painted; the leaf was troclus *. Some light may per red and white, and the superior haps be thrown upon this subject by moulding of the cornice painted in a close examination of Greek Vases, encaustic. The colours being on

• The description alluded to is as follows:

Αψ δ' επί Πατρόκλο τίτατο κρατερή υσμίνη,
'Αργαλέη, πολυδακρυς: έγειρε δε νείκος 'Αθήνη,
Ουρανοθεν καταβάσα" προήκε γας ευρυοπα Ζεύς
'Ορνύμεναι Δαναούς: δη γαρ νόος έτράπετ' αυτού.

II, xvii. 543. Colonel Leake is inclined to think that these beautiful lines indicate the exact moment of the struggle chosen by the Sculptor of the pediments of the Panhellenion. He also remarks that the xrñuedes observed on all the figures on the spectator's left hand, together with the absence of those articles of Grecian dress in the other division of the work, seem to prove that the subject is taken from the war of Troy. The detail of the sculpture seems strongly to support the opinion of the gallant Colonel.

marble had long disappeared, but the Rembrandts, Potters, &c. &c. The relief, in which the part so covered Duke of Wellington has contributed was found, indicated very perfectly some excellent Flemish drolls, and its outline.

masterpieces of Snyders, together In considering a custom which ap- with two examples of Platza, paintpears so extraordinary to us, it must er unknown to us. The Earl of Car. be recollected, that although the lisle is the donor of many interesting Greek buildings were grand in con- pictures; the Earl of Darnley of some ception, their scale of dimension was grand Salvators; the Marquis of small, and that, therefore, they re- Bute of an incomparable Hobbema, quired a greater nicety and delicacy &c.; the Right Honourable Charles in the execution. The colours serve Long of Teniers' Misers, &c.; and ed as the means of distinguishing the Viscount Ranelagh a delicious Cuyp. several parts, and of heightening the The Fifteenth Exhibition of Painteffect by variety, so as to relieve ings in oil and water colours, at what might be otherwise inani. Spring-gardens, displayed much tamate and monotonous. To paint lent in both the branches of the art white marble, or other stone exposed to which the exhibition is devoted. to the action of the atmosphere, ap- Among those particularly remarked pears very extraordinary to us; but were some fine landscapes by Stark, it ought not to be forgotten, that, in Miss H. Gouldsmith, Prout, Deane, Greece, the mildness of the climate Linnell, T. Fielding, Varley, C. Fieldand the purity of the atmosphere ing, Robson, &c. The miniatures rendered works of finished execution were numerous, and many of them infinitely more durable than in our well executed. Among the waternorthern climate, and admitted con- colour pictures in the historical style sequent refinement of sculpture and was • Falstaff acting the King, from painting, of which we can have but the first part of Henry IV.' by little idea. The inhabitants of north- Richter; which, both in conception ern latitudes are, therefore, obliged and execution, possesses very consito lavish upon their interior apart- derable merit. ments those luxuries of ornamental We have not room for more than art, which the ancients, who passed a bare enumeration of the most a great portion of their time in the striking pictures in this Annual Exopen air, in their fine climate, be. hibition of the talent of British Arstowed upon the exterior of their tists, at the Royal Academy. These temples and public edifices.

were a Portrait of Chantrey, by Rae. The British Gallery this year con- burn; Theatrical Portraits, by G. tained one hundred and fifty-six pic. Clint; View of Rotterdam, by Caltures of every description, among cott; Entrance of the Meuse, a which were specimens of the most masterly sky, by Turner; Lending distinguished Italian, Flemish, and a Bite, a humorous little thing, by French Schools. The liberality of Mulready; The Penny Wedding, the Prince Regent contributed some one of Wilkie's best painted and of the finest Gaspar Poussins in ex- most characteristic compositions ; istence, besides productions of Ti. The Stolen Kiss, from Guarini, Pastian, Claude, Rubens, Vandyke, Par- tor Fido, West; Portraits of three megiano, Del Sarto, Tintoretto, Hol. Messrs Lyell, a charming picture, bein, and the splendid Cartoon of the Phillips; Ăn Interior and Designs for Sacrifice, besides some fine Cuyps, Boccacio, exquisitely done, by Stot

VOL. XII. PART II.

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