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Leader (1850-1860), 15th May 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 22, ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION. (Second Notice...

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      The Operas. I Have Not Much To Discourse...

      © pinions , not yotfr ' s . If I only echoed your thought , why should you invest sixpence in my lucubrations P And yet people often say to me , _ 1 don't agree with you . " Apres ? I don't always agree with myself ! 3 ? or instance , did I not last week tell you that

      ROSE CHEEI had fallen off , was not the same actress , had lost her charm , had broken her spell , had caused me to distribute my arsenic to an amatory , declamatory cat , whose only crime was that lie was an " artist , " and would sing in my garden ? I told you so ; I now retract . What I then said requires modification . Rose is thinner , older , not so pretty , not so ingenuous ; but see her in Tin Changementde Main * and then say whether she is not charming , fascinating ! The Empress of Russia does not call for ingenuous naivete—she is not white muslin innocence at eighteen ; on . the contrary , she must rather r Seem the innocent serpent , ¦ " ..- ¦ But be the dagger under it .

      ( Is that the precise quotation r ) She must be keen , calm , self-possessed , yet curious , loving , womanly , — -and such was Rose ! This very pleasant and amusing piece ( known to the Adelphi public as " The Lioness of the North . "—et quelle lionne !) I saw her play some years ago * but On Monday last she was as captivating in it as ever , and I felt remorse at having hinted she was not firmly fixed on her throne of admiration .

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      Lucia. This Week I Have Only Space To Re...

      LUCIA . This week I have only space to record , in the briefest paragraph , the production of Xmcia at Covent Garden , for the sake of introducing Herr Ander and Mdlle . Zerr in the parts of Edgar do and Lucid , and a new barytone , Signor Bartolini , in the part of Enrico . Mddle . Zerr had what the jFrench call "fine moments , " notably in the quintet of the second act , and in the great seena of the third act ; but her performance was not altogether agreeable . Her singing is more extraordinary than pleasant , and she labours under the very common delusion of supposing that passion is to be expressed by retarding the tempo , and agitating her shoulders

      over the footlights . Jierr Ander went far to destroy the good impression he made in William Tell . His voice was so fatigued towards the close , that the great scena , " Fra poco , " was beyond his means , and was quite ineffective . Signor Bartolini is an immense acquisition . Young , fresh , vigorous , and tender , his voice has all the materials for the greatest successes ; it is sweet even in its greatest resonance , full and rich in pianissimo . The part of Enrico is not one for great display , but judging from what I heard on Thursday , I should say we have no such barytone voice now on the stage . As an actor , Signor Bartolini seems more turbulent than intelligent . But on the whole , his dSbut was extremely satisfactory .

      German Plays. There Is Quite A Nutter Am...

      GERMAN PLAYS . There is quite a nutter among the young gentlemen and ladies who have converted their throats into temporary rasps , arid their minds into cisterns , to hold the free flowing waters of German Literature , by the announcement that Mr . Mitchell ( he is an " enterprising" manager—not in the Bunn sense !) is about to import a troupe of German actors with the best works of their repertoire , for twelve nights , at the charming little theatre in St . James ' s . JNow then for " German without a Master . " INtow will profound young gentlemen with aesthetic views and bulgy foreheads be in ecstasies , now will fascinating young women exhibit their careless familiarity with the language and literature of Germany ; and now will asses of all circles declare they prefer Schlegel ' s Shakspeare to Shakspeare in his own language ! Now will critics have an opportunity for displaying their ignorance ; now will competent judges have a malicious pleasure in contrasting Emile Devrient with Charles Kean , if they choose to pay Kean the compliment of remembering him ; and now will those who have never been in a German theatre be able to gratify their curiosity . As a speculation , I have little doubt it will be very successful ; so many German readers , so many anxious to be considered German readers ! . __ . _ .. _

      We are to have Egmont , ( not Die Baiiher , I sincerely hope !) Don Carlos , Emilia Oalotti , Samlet , Momeo and Juliet , with a selection from modern comedies and farces . Vivian .

      The Quartett Association. The Second Con...

      THE QUARTETT ASSOCIATION . The Second Concert of the Quartett Association was even more successful , and far more interesting than the first . It is impossible , in hearing Sainton , Piatti , Hill , and Cooper , not to be struck with the advantage of that intimate and constant brotherhood in art which lends to each performance a certain accent of entire and perfect unity . But my loadstar on this occasion , I may here ( as I sit alone with one candle ) confess without blushing , was Wilhelmine Clauss , that gontlo and inspired girl , whose fair , spiritual , and " ever harmless" looks ( like Shelley ' s sensitive plant in dehcatest human shape)—whose fresh , open , guileless brow , on which the fine and sad insouciance of the true artist nature is mirrored like an April sun—had taken , me , heart , soul , and souses , captive , when I beheld and listened to her at the first meeting of the Musical Union . Ah ! when she tosses back with an impatience wayward , yot serene , those caressing

      curls from her little angel's head , and after one quick upturned glance that seems to wait for the divine afflatus , bonds tranquil , and possessed to touch the first note of some enchanting strain—you are her slave and worshipper then and evermore . She will haunt vou like a znemozy . Such childlike , simplo-natured innocence of feature in repose , such rapt intensity , almost of suffering , when abandoned to hor art , I do not remember to havo seen . Many critics more scientific and more calm , will toll you how olassical the refinement , how irreproachable the purity , how finished the method , how brilliant and decided the accent of her style . But , beyond the extreme tranquillity and most subtle and tender grace , I would especially mention one quality which struck me especially in her rendering of that Nocturne b y Chopin . It is ( for I know no other name ) what the Italians would call , m speaking of the Plastic Arts , morbidezza . And this morbidezza does not forbid the airy freshness of that ever sparkling jfountain—Youth 1 I must not forgot to mention how well

      v ¦¦ ¦ . - . ¦ : ¦ ¦ . . ¦• . ... - , . - , ¦ , ¦ . - .. ¦ ¦ . ¦; . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦• ;¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦ : ¦¦ ¦ — Cooper led the Grantd Quartett in a minor of Beethoven : in the Adaem of thanksgiving , and m the ^ citativo , he surprised the audience Sbok murmur of delight . To speak of the other executants were quite super fluous . But let me say that I was unfortunately too late to hear Mr " Macfarren ' s new Quartett in a minor , competed " ' - '' expressly' for this society : and that my regret was increased by the reports 1 gathered from many in the room on the merits of this work of one of our most deservedly esteemed and ' . ' . most truly scientific musicians . I atn glad to , hear that the Quartett Association promises one entirely original work at each of their meetings : thus ministering to the progress of art while thev cultivate the taste or the audience . Lb chvt-huast .

      Royal Academy Exhibition. (Second Notice...

      ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION . ( Second Notice . ) THE pfeJE-EAPH AELITE BBETHBEN " . The key-problem of the present exhibition undoubtedly is the Prse-Raphael ' ite question . If one were to seek the life that there is in the painting , it might be found in that young and indiscreet school . Art needs no written canons ; criticism does . Art can follow on its growth by the instinctive reasoning of successive artists ; but criticism , which defines the end and judges of the means , must justify its grounds by defining its canons , ^ till art possesses its canons , worked out in the works of masters : and criticism only extracts the canons from those worts

      Imagination , indeed , cannot be critical , or else it loses its impulse and becomes mechanical : criticism is retrospective , and disciplines the mind for future labours , which accord with the critical canon , not by taking thought , but by the habit of thinking or perceiving according to a recognised law ; and even where the artist has not acted x > n _ a conscious critical law verbally uttered , like the memoranda of Da Vinci , he has acted on the Zed ? non scri-pta established in the successes of the masters before him . It is by this accumulation of skilly that art , too vast for one man to conquer , was acquired by a glorious succession of painters , and one " style " crew out . of another .

      Style is an approved method of setting forth certain objects or subjects ; it degenerates into manner when the purpose of the artist is , not to aesign a subject , and to do so after a given style , but to design a picture as a pretext for displaying the style . To adopt the style of a great artist seems to the lesser one a short cut to greatness ; but the style of a giant becomes the gratuitously affected manner of a dwarf . Indignation at modern mannerism seems to have moved the Prae-Raphaelites t tracing the manner to Raphael , they thought to eliminate the peccant element by discarding bis style . Recognising the earnestness of the early painters , their endeavour to express great intent being rendered more apparent by the difficulty , the Prae-Raphaelites felt a sympathy with that honest

      earnestness . Giotto , trying to be Raphael , they preferred to Raphael , because in Raphael they saw the author of the degenerate artifices of modern design ; they discarded the accumulated wisdom of Giotto ' s worthy successors , and aiming at the style of that Raphael before his time , they struck out a manner burlesquing his sty le * or that of inferior men . JPhey painted , and they were laughed at ; they painted again , obstinately , and were not laughed at so much ; for the stronger men among them had advanced a little from their position . They paint still ; the laughter is dying , away ; and others are catching the manner . But the manner is growing into a style ; the Pra > Raphaelite Brethren have more modestlv and informedlv studied nature , and in her working out for

      themselves the canons , they find there what they might have found in tlie works of Raphael and Titian . It is a slow and painful process , their selfdevelopment—needlessly slow and painful , and withal not so wise as if they had a little more faith—an independent , self-relying faith , but still a faitli , in the lino of geniuses that have preceded them . However , they have got a warrant from Nature , and they are employing it well . In the works of their principal , John Millais , we find the matterot remarks which our space only permits us to indicate with brevity , tlis Dictures are three—a portrait of Mrs . Coventry K . Patmore , the Death

      of Ophelia , and the Huguenot rejecting the badge of safety which ins Catholic betrothed is urging upon him . In these pictures we discern tJio traces of the old dogmatic denial of the faith heavy upon the young genius ; but he is escaping from it , and his success is as easy to identity with the anti-dogmatic portion of his work as the young bird from too egg whence it is struggling . The idea of the Prco-Raphaelites is , to be " natural , " " real ; " not mannered . Real , without qualifications ; not real , though subject to tuo conditions of the medium in which they work ; but real , absolutely ; ano the portrait before us wo take to bo meant as a real portrait . We aeny its reality . We have not the pleasure of knowing the original , but y the external evidence venture to that JVlt / oveuwj ¦*»

      deny on : we say rs . Patmore does not convey the impression conveyed by the portrait , she does for a moment—which wo are not in a position to deny , ^ J » ft it would be no very hazardous venture—look like that , it is but moment , and at the samo time the life of voice , the sense of the ° » Be * tf tions , the change of posture , keep alive the impression which u .. ¦ Mrs . Coventry K . Patmoro . The painter can't point the voice ; JuB P ^ monts are not equal to tlie sense ; his figure will not alter its posturo ^ ^ was the more incumbent on him , therefore , not to pillory his irion constrained attitudo , which painfully calls for change ; not to transu * in the only look of which she may bo infelioitously capable . SuPP ° ! ;_ t 0 portrait were like ? Why , then , so much the worse—more s 1 " ^ him . There are a hundred-other aspocts in which you may eaten j * Patmoro—as when she turns round to vou ; with a remark on tlie v i

      of the scono ; or when sho smiles approval of the best , of children . ^ are infinitely more characteristic , infinitely more real , as convey b the dumb effigy the speaking likeness of that amiable and estocnvea ^^ The portrait was painted under the nig htmare of Prro-lCap J 1 ujn 0 John Millais himself feels a bashful mistrust of it—at least w © ftBS that he must 5 and bo we will say no more about it . . : AoeA , He is struggling to freedom in tho Death of Ophelia . It JB . ' somewhat distracting at first , to bo iriacod in front of all that * u »** v

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 15, 1852, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15051852/page/22/