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TT, ,n-— voi^oi ' THE LEADEB. 341
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tion demanded by the Academy obstructive...
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At last week's meeting of the Society of...
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' * Art, ArtMa, (Ml ImlMtry in Knuluml. ...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Constructing The Line From Algiers To Or...
porcelain works of Sevre . This gentleman proceeds thlthe ? to " study the ceramic arts of Nicaragua 2 $ Costa Eica / but more particularly to superintend the manufacture of bricks . -TV , he the r . the gentleman hopes , to . promote the manufacture of hard of soft wares in those countries is not stated . The first bricks he makes arc to build the . *?* town of Felicia , to be so chrfetened after the Christian name of M , Felix Belly . What portion of the ^ enterprise is to bear the gentleman ' s surname is at present undecided ; but . there is Stated t o have ^ been great hesitation before the name - tf Bjdjyvilto c *
Beilytowii ' was finally rejected in favour of the more elegant Felicia . But the drollest part of the whole thing is that an Englishman and an Irishman haye been enlisted into the concern , and are shortl y to leave for Nicaragua , if they have not done so . already . The first is Colonel Morse Cooper , a retired lieut .-colonelof the Indian Army ; and the other is that famous Milesian legislator , the O'Gorman Mahon . These gentlemen are to present themselves to the Nicaraguans and Costa Kicans as the representatives of the military power and parliamentary government of Great Britain . As the innocent natives in The
of Central America have great confidence British uniform , the lieutenant-colonel is to go out in full regimentals . I am not sure that it is not made an express condition .. with him . to sleep in them , spurs , epauiettes , cocked hat , feathers , an . l all . Great disappointment . is felt that members of Parliament \ vear no uniform , and how that difficulty is to be got over—unless the second gentleman should happen to be a deputy-lieutenant or a captain of Ballyraggan Dragoons—I don ' t know . Meanwhile , you must expect a new edition of " British outrages , " in consequence of" the landing of two English generals in central America .
Postscrij ) tum . ^ -1 open my letter say that I have just received information , from what I conceive to be indisputable authority , that'll . Emile de Girardin has resigned his seat at . the Commission of Algiers . The retirement of this gentfenien—Who has for many years advocated a Franco-llussian alliance as a means of diminishing the prestige and political standing of England , and who on a more recent occasion preached the necessity of avenging the defeat of Waterloo—^ cannot fail to be regarded as further evidence of the sincere desire . On the part of the French' Government , to recede from its late aggressive attitude , and to maintain intact the and
alliance with England— -its strongest defence surest foundation . As a sign—more promising than any that have yet transpired— -that the peace ot Europe will not be disturbed , I may mention 'Hint a compan } - —headed by M . Paulin Talabot , Mires , and including Baron Gustave de Rothschild and the leading financiers of France- —has just made its appearance for constructing docks at Marseilles , with a capital of 800 , 000 / . to be subsequently increased to a million sterling . It is not probable that , were there the slightest chance of war , capitalists so cautious as the Ko . thscliilds would sink their money in an undertaking which must for years make no return .
Tt, ,N-— Voi^Oi ' The Leadeb. 341
TT , , n- — voi ^ oi ' THE LEADEB . 341
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Tion Demanded By The Academy Obstructive...
tion demanded by the Academy obstructives as the priceo fl moving on . ' Thepopularlty of water colour has a deeper foundation than the beauty of its hues or the skill of the linyier . Our first ,, and of ten our only , instructors in art , are drawn , with few exceptions , from its ranks . "With specimens of our own and our friends ' performances , we are wont to decorate our rooms before we aspire to understand , or to pretend to be purchasers of oil paintings . With water colors the child begins to educate his hand and eye , and to their worship the sated veteran returns at last . The particular societv in question is one of many that have come to maturity and prosperity independently , and in spite of . the Academy , its inoney , and its backstairs influences .
We ¦ would , had we our way , incorporate , fuse , and confound it with all its rivals and fellow competitors —Academy , associate . s ,: ind all—into one national fine-art school or institution , in which petty differences should be smoothed or ground away , all unfair distinctions abolished , patient . merit honoured , truth and sincerity prevail . That this should , to some , appear an absurd crotchet we are not surprised . That . it . may be a visiomiry hope we are not prepared to deny . But it follows not therefrom , that every ray of royal , parliamentary and national sunshine , fairly due' to our pror posed concretion , should be concentrated upon only one of the unamalgable atoms . Both the Pw * mi « r and the Chancellor / of the Exchequer . have ,
on several occasions , listened to reason on matters during their present tenure of office , and we shall not , we believe , look in vain to them for justice "Li this matter . The suggested misappropriation of the Burlington House estate . to the purposes of a single corporation , should' be nipped ' ere it bud ; and , whether by separate grants , to the various artistic bodies , or by the Construction of one exhibition gallery for the common use of all , the verv proper desire of the memorialists , and other societies of their ordciy to assert their position abreast-of the Academy , ou «? h . t to ¦ be-gratified .
Xiut however this be done , we hope ; the . day' one ^ sided reciprocities is over j and that the distribu ^ tors of favours will impose certain duties towards the public Upon the recipients , and will take proper security * before parting with the control of the national property , for the payment of the implied as well as of the nominated consideration . The educational value , and so forth , of these institutions , are excellent war-cries to rally the assault upon the Academy and the desirable quarters of Burlington House ; . but-when the victory is mm , we hope they will not be forgotten .
On Friday , the 4 th instant , the old rcn y . vned tuid artist-born Lord Lynrthurst revived , not pacified , from his place in Parliament , the public indignation against the continued monopoly of State protection enjoyed by the Academy . That body , in , virtue of their long and beneficial tenancy of one-half the National Gallery , now claim , wo understand , a space ju . st fivo times as large—to wi . t , one-half the superficial urea of Burlington House . Her
Majesty ' s present advisers profess to consider tins demand unreasonable , and . oxcestjivq , and the rest of her Majesty ' s lieges will bo apt to coincide with them ; but our old friend , asking 1 , with innocent pertinacity , ibr more and yet more , seem hardly conscious " that they do not compose or comprise the Kntional School ol' Art ; that the public i . s well nigh sick of them and their misdoings ; nnd that there ii . ro other worthy candidates lor the honour of being public instructors and tlio pleasure of being public pensioners .
The memorial of one competing body- ^ Society of Painters in Water Colours— -to' Lords of the Trcnsuiy , is now " before us . Jtn prayer is , that the- value and UHe / ulnetis of the nrfc of painting in w . Uor colours may bo nutionnlly recognised by the assignment to the society , either gratuitously or on lease , of a limitod space on the Burlington House estate , whereon they niny build ftn exhibition room nt thoir own cost . Now , a roquost ho humbly convoyed , must surely demand consideration , bo ' lbro tho allotment of npncu to pnyr applicants ; nuci esnodaMv of tho enormouspw *»
At Last Week's Meeting Of The Society Of...
At last week ' s meeting of the Society of Arts an interesting and , learned led lire was delivered by Professor Westinaeott , it . A ., F . U . S ., on "l ' olychromy in ( Sculpture , or Colouring Statues . " It is needless to premise that a lively controversy has fox some tixne been carried on as to whether statues should o-r should not be coloured . The Professorleaving it , of course , an open question between buyer and seller whether any particular work of art should combine sculpture and painting—laid down for discussion the proposition whether "the practice was conformable with tho principles upon which pure sculptnro should be exercised . " Ha himself held that it was not so . The affirmative , he hold , could
and by Dean Milman , -who suggested that the fragments now discovered had generally formed portions of buildings , and that their colour might have been applied for decorative purposes . The Romans had rifled Asia Minor and Greece of their beautiful single figures , upon which no trace of paint was perceivable . Professor Donaldson , It . A ., and Mr . Crace dissented from the lecturer ' s views , and considered that colouring was intended to intensify the expression of sculpture , and to give it softness and flexibility . Alluding to the statues of British worthies in St . Stephen ' s Hall , the former characterised them , as hard , ghostly , and . inanimate , ani would sanction the application of even a little dust by way of softening them .
Messrs . ' Bradbury and Evans have published an excellent and very well-printed translation of M . Theophile Silvestre ' s paper on English Art , read in ¦ French before the Society of Arts , on the 19 th of January last , and noticed in our paper of the 22 nd of that month . * We were ho strangers to the fact that the works of English artists were much admired at the French Universal Exhibition , but we confess we were unprepared for the flood of eloquent eulogium passed upon our school by the chosen . emissary of our neighbours . We have thought , more than . once , of condensing the criticism on Hogarth , whom the author terms the constant and subtle observer of the least perceptible of our emotions—the terrible in whose
logician'Of human misery— . physiognomy he sees the " iron-nerved surgeon , whose , heart never blenched , whose hand never trembled , before the . suffering of a patient . " But this masterly passage shall escape mutilation at bur hands , and we will content ourselves with recommencing it to those who have either regarded the father of English art as a mere caricaturist , or , if they admire him otherwise , may hot always be abfe to trace their admiration to its legitimate source . Richard Wilson , again , —the English Hobbema ; and Gainsborough—" rich and gentle nature , soft and refined soul—choice spirit , born to enjoy and to suffer everything with a ; profound arid exquisite sensibility , " are fervidly handled by Mi Silvestre . Turner—" proud and adventurous he leaves to Ituokiii
soul , wrapt dreamer "— Mr . . Constable— " the simple of heart , the reasonable man , the fanatical adherent , to the natural "— -he dares not more than hint at , lest he-should be carried too far . He . winds up his remarks on the landscape-painters of England as follows- *—" Yes , English painters Lave drawn from nature all her forms , all her characters , and all her harmonies . 13 v their endeavours to reproduce with strict fidelity the aspect of creation , they have made us feel , in a manner sometimes simple or pathetic , sometimes startling or sublime , " the tic which links the thoughts of man , the instinct of the brute , the sensation of plants , and the life of the elements , with the mysterious and solemn power of the Almighty . "
The sympathetic Frenchman has dealt another shrewd blow to tlie Old Master mania , whioh was mightily shaken , among the masses at least , by the publication of " Modern Painters , " and the subsequent sens . ) that native art might be safely admired . It was a great day for English painters when the chosen expert of imaginative France rose to argue the beauty of English art in an English assembly . We shall joyfully welcome M . Sllvestre ' s coining work , " The History of English Artists , Xiivin ^ and Dead , " with ayimv to which lie is , ho tells us , noV pursuing his studies in England—let us hope under loyal guidance .
In consequence of an invitation sent to us , we have inspected ( ni . , Rogcnt-strcet ) a picture of "Christ at Golgotha , " considered to bo an early work of Raphael d'ljrbino , and valued at 1 , 500 / . ' It is , a small panel painting , not more . than fifteon inches high by eleven wide , with a single figure representing the Saviour seated , his head leaning on his right hand , Tho figure is nude except a white cloth , and is principally distinguished by softness and absence of muscular development ; there is no nimbus on the head , and the oxpros-iionis that of dejection i the end ot' a coil of ropo falls over the left knee , thu cross
lies beneath him . Behind , ou cither side , uro uprights representing tho crosses of the two malefactors , the transverse bura being apparently omitted for the sake of the composition ; a tree and some bushus make up the distance , with a tlarlc blue sky overhead . Tho oonventionaUkull is wanting , but there are somu boiu-s on tho ground , and three nails . The picture is fairly attributable to the period wlion HuplineJ , uftor leaving his master Poruulnu , was usslstiiitf 1 'lnturkchio in tho IK'soocs of the Cathedral at Siuna ( but it has nuno of tho peculiar characteristics of Raphael ' s stylo . It
only bo maintained on tho ground that painting could improve sculpture . His adversaries could not maintain this position . Tho legitimate province of pure sculpture' was form ; and painted sculpture involved the adoption of another art , which touched upon tUe domain of imitation or illusion . Tin ' s would bo to degrade the sculptor ' s art to the level of tho wnx-worker ' s , Polychvomy might bo admitted to havo been practised by tlioanoientsybut might bo traceable to the Greek application of barbaric practice , observed by tho travelling artists of tho time in Egypt and Assyria . Tho Belvedere Apollo and tho Mllesiiiu Venus could not havo boon improved Hy colour , and showed no trace of it . To have coloured these works would have been as false as to havo
carried imitation to tho length of giving them oyos of paste ov motnl . Exaniplos of this latter vagary could bo cited ; but , upon investigation , it appeared that , like l ' olychrorny , it was but exceptional , and characteristic of tho lower periods of thu arts . The leoturor llimlly contended that tho decay of art was marked by the rise of a passion for elaborate omn * inont ; nnd he urged thut tho objections already opposed to the representation ol ' , thu nude llguro would bo materially strongthencfd wore it jto bo sjiown with tinted flesh , and eyes , and hair . Ho was supported by Mr . J . Hell , who discredited thq often oltod customary ueo ox colour by tho Grooks }
' * Art, Artma, (Ml Imlmtry In Knuluml. ...
' * Art , ArtMa , ( Ml ImlMtry in Knuluml . A | - * 'ot uro Uolivml if ll . « . V » H < -ly ol Art * . ) jy Tliuonfillo HllvmUro . u » - o i tuil y liiM KinliiuiKJ y the tyiiilatur oi rttnto , iumI ol tJio Vlo wX U V » f Ilia Mijoaty tho Kmporor ol' thu Vi'uuoli , to " wivel l »» u li'iiw Aria lu ituropo . Jlruai > ury aiid lOvuua .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1859, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12031859/page/21/
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