The Walls Of The Exhibition Were Covered Writh Venuses And Eves,
Cupids And Psyches, And Nymphs Innocent Of Drapery, Reclining On Couches,
Or Admiring Their Own Beauty Reflected In Clear Fountains.
I almost
thought myself in the midst of a collection made for the Grand Seignior.
The annual exhibition of the Royal Academy is now open. Its general
character is mediocrity, unrelieved by any works of extraordinary or
striking merit. There are some clever landscapes by the younger Danbys,
and one by the father, which is by no means among his happiest - a dark
picture, which in half a dozen years will be one mass of black paint.
Cooper, almost equal to Paul Potter as a cattle painter, contributes some
good pieces of that kind, and one of them, in which the cattle are from
his pencil, and the landscape from that of Lee, appeared to me the finest
thing in the collection. There is, however, a picture by Leslie, which his
friends insist is the best in the exhibition. It represents the chaplain
of the Duke leaving the table in a rage, after an harangue by Don Quixote
in praise of knight-errantry. The suppressed mirth of the Duke and
Duchess, the sly looks of the servants, the stormy anger of the
ecclesiastic, and the serene gravity of the knight, are well expressed;
but there is a stiffness in some of the figures which makes them look as
if copied from the wooden models in the artist's study, and a raw and
crude appearance in the handling, so that you are reminded of the brush
every time you look at the painting. To do Leslie justice, however, his
paintings ripen wonderfully, and seem to acquire a finish with years.
If one wishes to form an idea of the vast numbers of indifferent paintings
which are annually produced in England, he should visit, as I did, another
exhibition, a large gallery lighted from above, in which each artist, most
of them of the younger or obscurer class, takes a certain number of feet
on the wall and exhibits just what he pleases. Every man is his own
hanging committee, and if his pictures are not placed in the most
advantageous position, it is his own fault. Here acres of canvas are
exhibited, most of which is spoiled of course, though here and there a
good picture is to be seen, and others which give promise of future merit.
Enough of pictures. The principal subject of political discussion since I
have been in England, has been the expediency of allowing Jews to sit in
Parliament. You have seen by what a large majority Baron Rothschild has
been again returned from the city of London, after his resignation, in
spite of the zealous opposition of the conservatives. It is allowed, I
think, on all hands, that the majority of the nation are in favor of
allowing Jews to hold seats in Parliament, but the other side urge the
inconsistency of maintaining a Christian Church as a state institution,
and admitting the enemies of Christianity to a share in its
administration.
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