NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.-9TH EXHIBITION, 1834. It was with a very high degree of pleasure that we visited this institution; the number of good pictures is unusually large, when reference is had to the entire number exhibited and there are not a few of rare and extraordinary merit. Some there are, it is true, which scarcely merit a place on the walls; but of these the quantity is not large, and their deformity is more than obscured by the manifold beauties, that are to be met with on every side. The most obvious faults are as usual,-in the portraits-hardness, and bad taste in the assortment of colors;-in the landscapes, want of keeping;-and in the historical compositions, very faulty drawing. It is, indeed, much to be regretted, that men, who are endowed with so many of the qualities necessary to constitute good painters, will not be contented to rise gradually, to walk, as it were, before they fly; but it is, we believe, almost an error of national character; and, however it may succeed in those departments wherein energy and industry can supply the place of skill, we are rendered painfully aware that time, and labor, and unceasing study, can only raise a person to eminence, in the prosecution of either of the Fine Arts. This is, by no means, however, the received opinion here! Many of our young artists, would seem, go on the principle, that like poets, painters are born, not made; and hence they rush madly on, attempt some grand historical design; when they ought to be laboriously drawing legs and arms, from the antique, or from the living model, and attending anatomical lectures, in order to gain that knowledge of superficial anatomy, which is as necessary to the figure painter, as his easel, or his palette,-and of course fail! We should, therefore, rather wonder and admire, that there should be so respectable a display, when we reflect, that almost every picture in the room, has been designed and executed within the last twelve months: and, that, in all probability, the canvass, on which any ten of the pictures that are to appear at the next

annual exhibition, is not yet stretched. We lament this fact, as it is certain, that much is lost, not gained, by this precocity; that the youth who has commenced painting, while an imperfect draughtsman, rarely or never finds time to resume those interrupted studies, and in nine cases out of ten, never makes up for the lee way, which he has made on his first voyage.

Before proceeding to a review of the separate pictures, we would observe, en passant, that the directors of the hanging committee have, by no means, exercised their wonted discrimination. Many large, and comparatively speaking, coarse paintings, which would profit by being placed as remote from the eye as possible, being hung close to the ground; while, on the other hand, several little gems, that require minute inspection, are placed so high, that their merit is obscured, if not lost, by the difficulty of discovering them. It is also to be noticed, that bad pictures are often set in prominent positions, while their superiors "waste their sweetness on the desert air" of some inaccessible corner.

1. FALSTAFF PLAYING KING. G. Flagg. This is by no means a good picture; the drawing, it is true, is tolerably correct, but the coloring is lamentably gaudy. There is no dignity in the characters; nor is it sufficiently marked which is which. The figure of the Prince, is, in particular, graceless and boorish. There is none of the splendor of majesty shining through its base disguise-none of the ease or high bearing that we look for in the fifth Harry; while the personage of the fat knight resembles le petit bossua of the Arabian tales, more than the merry Sir John Falstaff. The best portion of the picture is the man in green, to whom we can assign no name, sitting in the right hand corner, which is well sketched in, though not much better than the rest in finish or detail.

J.

2. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN. Whitehorne, N. A. There is not enough attention paid to the keeping and chiaro scuro of portraits. It seems as though it were considered a mere work of supere

rogation, to do any thing on a likeness, more than to make the features similar to the original; this may be eminently successful in this point of view, but not being acquainted with the original, we cannot decide.

3. FISH. S. A. Mount, A. This appears, as well as we could judge, for it is hung in a high, dark corner-to be a singularly beautiful little gem. Two perch, and a trout, painted to the very life, and looking as if fresh from their native element. Mr. Mount has cause for vexation at the position, which must deprive his bit of still life of half its effect; there are fifty great, inferior daubs, brought into full view, and this really beautiful little cabinet picture is hustled away, as if it were not fit to be looked at.

4. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. J. Kendrick Fisher. Is by no means deficient in merit, although there are too many clashing tints which give a pie-bald and patchy appearance to the picture; and too many bits of furniture, which distract the eye from its object.

5. VIEW TAKEN AT EVREUX. Miss Breton. Several of the views by this lady are very clever. This is somewhat hard, and too ochreous in the tints.

7. VIEW OF THE CATSKILL Fall, W. J. Bennet, N. A. Quite faint, and unfinished.

7. PORTRAIT OF A BOY, IN CRAUYONS AND WAX. P. Copman. Comes near our ideas of being a pretty and harmonious drawing, but hangs so high that it is not easy to judge.

8. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. Thomas Thompson. Not extraordinary in any respect, either for praise or censure.

9. VIEW IN THE PYRENEES. Miss Breton. Is superior to No. 5, both in interest and execution, though not wholly free from the same defects.

10. VIEW OF CARISBROOK CASTLE. G. Oakley, A. The lights and shadows are so rudely and unskilfully patched together, and the contrasts of color so glaring, that the tout ensemble is actually unpleasant.

11. ITALIAN COAST SCENE. W. M. Oddie, A. This is almost a very beautiful picture. The air tone is delicious, although occasionally degenerating into haziness. There is a coolness and repose about the picture that is very pleasing. We should think the water rather cold and faint to be a portion of the blue Mediterranean, and that the general character of the picture is rather that of English than Italian coast scenery. The boat on the left of the foreground is rather hard, and the figures very inferior to the view. It is, nevertheless, an uncommon piece of painting.

12. PACKET SHIP UNITED STATES. T.

Pringle. Is very neatly pencilled, but after all, it is only a mere ship. A bone model, rigged with hair, is quite as pretty, and far more curious.

F.

13. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN. S. Agate, N. A. There is some merit in the head, although the general tone of the flesh is too pink.

14. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. W. Page, A. This is an old acquaintance, having received our quota of praise when exhibited last season at the Academy of Fine Arts. It has much merit, and is in very good general keeping. If our memory deceive us not, the curtain in the left hand corner has been re-touched, and not with advantage. It was a rich, heavy shadow; it is now somewhat gaudy.

15. LANDSCAPE. W. Bayley. Very pretty, but too minute.

16. LANDSCAPE, A VIEW FROM WEEHAWK. G. Miller, A. It is marvellous that so glorious a scene as this should produce so little effect on canvass. We hardly know anything in nature to compare with the view over the city and bays from the Weehawk heights, but we could recognize none of its traits in this large picture. The perspective is so faulty that it is impossible to conceive yourself on an eminence, much less a little mountain, and the coloring is in part cold and raw, and in part gaudy. The autumnal tints of the trees are only natural in being brilliant; other similarity they possess none, either to nature or to foliage.

17. PORTRAITS OF THE MISSES RUSSEL. W. S. Mount, N. A. Are very hard, almost wooden, though possibly very good likenesses.

W.

18. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN. Swain. Faulty in the same respect as the above.

19. UGOLINO. F. S. Agate, N. A. We would entreat Mr. Agate, if he value his reputation, to study drawing, and anatomy. There is not a solitary limb, that is not out of drawing and distorted. The left arm of Ugolino, besides being out of joint, is half a foot too short, and all the legs, arms, and hands, are more or less faulty. The children are in wonderfully good case, considering that they are dying of hunger. The coloring is bad, and the taste by which the ghost, or quocunque alio sub nomine gaudet, is introduced, is worse. Did Mr. Agate never see an engraving from Sir Joshua's splendid Ugolino? If not, we would advise him to see it speedily, and copy it many times, or at least study it, before he again attempt such ill-judged rivalry. We do not mean that the artist really wished to emulate the glories of a Reynolds, but we would advise him sedulously to avoid exciting comparisons which must be solely to his own disadvantage.

20. PORTRAIT OF THE REV. H. MORTON. H. Inman, N. A. We should have expected more than this from Mr. Inman, whom we have ever considered one of the very first of native painters. There are undoubtedly many good points about this picture, but still it is not in Inman's best manner. The line of the figure is too straight, and the blue light over one shoulder, contrasted to the crimson light above the other, is not good.

21. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. S. Watson, N. A. Cold and wiry, but not without some merit.

22. LANDSCAPE ON THE HUDSON. R. W. Weir, N. A. Is a very sweet picture. The sky is admirably painted, and the whole scenery very natural and pleasing; if there be any fault, it is that the mountains are a little cold, and the air tone deficient. It is, however, a painting that must do credit to Mr. Weir, and this is saying much.

23. FRUIT PIECE. J. F. Hanks. Neatly painted, but there is not enough of it. We should be inclined to call it a waste of labor.

24. PORTRAIT OF W. C. BRYANT, Esq. J. Frothingham, N. A. Decidedly the best portrait in the room. Very like, an admirable head, and no less excellent as a picture than as a portrait. The keeping, tone, and chiaro scuro, are all very good.

25. PORTRAIT OF A CHILD IN BED. C. Mayr. We cannot conceive a greater contrast than is afforded by these two pictures. The last all force, this all frippery. Colors gaudy-or at least glaringly ill assorted; the child out of drawing, and the head, doll-like.

26. PORTRAIT OF S. SWARTWOUT, Esq. J. Frothingham, N. A. Is not as good as No. 24, but displays considerable talent; we are of opinion that this artist is in a fair way to prove himself one of our best portrait painters.

27. PROTESTANT BURYING GROUND AT ROME. T. Cole, N. A. A very lovely picture, perfectly natural, cool, fresh, and beautiful. The right hand portion of the sky, with the crescent moon, is heavenly; the clouds on the left are not, however, quite so good in execution, though very well imagined. Perhaps the middle ground is brought a little too near the eye, so as to interfere with the general effect; but we are not certain. A picture like this must be viewed often and again, in order to form a correct judgment of its merits. It does not, however, require much discrimination to perceive that this is a beautiful and able picture.

28. HEAD OF A DEER. T. Cole, N. A. Very prettily finished, and very natural; if there be a fault, it is that the line of the under jaw is too straight; it appears in

this respect slightly out of drawing, which is not a common defect of Mr. Cole.

29. A COUNTRY SCHOOL HOUSE-A WINTER SCENE. J. H. Shegog. This little picture labors under the same disadvantage with many of its superiors. It is extremely remote from the eye, but does not appear to merit a more conspicuous situation. C.

30. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN. Mayr. This artist has a wonderful power of catching a likeness, and displays some taste in his coloring; but there is a hardness of outline, which detracts very materially from his success.

31. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. W. Swaim. Very cold in its coloring, and somewhat hard in outline.

C.

32. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN. Mayr. This is another extremely striking likeness. The drawing is moreover correct, but hard and wiry.

33. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. R. W. Weir, N. A. A very beautiful little picture of a very beautiful woman. The tone, keeping, and drawing of this gem are perfect-no glaring colors to disturb its harmony, which is rich, but grave. The tints of the flesh are also good and natural, and far removed from the strange specimens of red and white, which are too often made to stand for that curiously mottled, and most delicate piece, of nature's handiwork.

34. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. S. Watson. A very pretty effect, but the coloring rather too pale.

35. THE THREE MARYS AT THE SEPULCHRE. G. Cooke, A. There is much ambition in this picture, and a considerable aim at effect. We think, however, the contrast of the angel's brilliancy to the surrounding darkness too abrupt. It should have mellowed down through all the stages—

From perfect glory into blackest night. Besides this, the general tone of the coloring is unnaturally blue.

36. SUNSET ON THE CATSKILL. T. Cole, N. A. This is a pleasing picture, although by no means equal to several others, by the same artist, in various parts of the exhibition. Mr. Cole's principal fault, or rather, the sole bar to his attaining very high eminence as a painter, is a certain mannerism, of which he can never entirely divest himself.

37. THE BREAKFAST HORN, S. A. Mount, A. A boy blowing a large conch shell, with several dogs leaping round him. But, alas! the dogs are very poor animals, and very different from the canine specimens into which the Landseers have infused as much intellect and countenance as into their biped masters. It is in no respect a good picture, either as regards color or drawing.

38. Portrait of a Gentleman. J. F. Hanks. As almost all the portraits are, this also is very hard.

39. The Torn Hat-Portrait of Boy and Dog. J. H. Shegog. This clever little piece is an old acquaintance. Those of our readers who wish for a detailed account, may find one in our remarks on the Academy of Fine Arts, in our first volume. The picture is a good one, but we do not approve of this plan of exhibiting pictures alternately, in the two rival institutions.

40. Portrait of a Lady. C. Mayr. This is harder and less successful than most of this artist's portraits.

41. The Titan's Goblet. T. Cole, N. A. We were, in truth, somewhat puzzled at the name of this picture, and confess ourselves to be much more puzzled, now that we have seen it. It is well paintedthe mountains in the back ground, by which we measure the capacity of the goblet, particularly so-but the conception we do not at all admire; it is merely, and gratuitously, fantastical.

42. Small portrait of a Gentleman. S. A. Mount, A. By no means deficient in merit. It is near being a clever thing.

43. Hell-gate, from Ward's Island, looking towards New York. G. Cooke, A. We have seen Hell-gate often and again,-are widely awake to all its beauties, but we never saw them, under any atmospheric influences, look the least like this gaudy assortment of colors. It is a thousand pities that Mr. Cooke should persist in injuring his own reputation, and destroying his pictures, by heaping and huddling every color of the rainbow, and many more besides, upon his canvass, which is equally the case, whether he paints portraits or landscapes.

44. Edie Ochiltree, a head. S. Wat son. A very good effect, and altogether rather clever.

45. Portrait of a Gentleman. J. Whitehorne. A commonplace likeness enough. It is much to be regretted that artists will not pay more attention to the keeping and general effect of their portraits, which, at present, they, for the most part, entirely overlook.

46. Portrait of Mr. G. Jones, in the character of Carwin, from J. H. Payne's Play of Therese. A. Smith, A. The coloring is cold, the outlines hard, and the tout ensemble almost a failure.

47. Portrait of an Infant. J. Gauntt. This picture is spoiled by the gaudiness of its coloring.

48. Italian Landscape. Mrs. A. E. Some of the effects of this picture are very true, and the general keeping good. The rusty red sunlight, modified in its tints, according to the colors of the walls, the trees, or the rocks, on which it sleeps, is particularly well imagined.

49. Long Island Farmer husking corn. W. S. Mount, N. A. This is a singular little picture, and by no means devoid of merit. All the drawing is good, and the details are elaborated with Flemish precision and minuteness. The coloring is also chaste, and perfectly natural; but there is a rigidity about the figure, and a hardness,-an absence of air-tone, which prevents the picture from being, what it very nearly approaches, eminently beautiful.

50. Boy on the Fence. W. S. Mount, N. A. This picture has some of the beauties, and all of the faults of the last, in a higher degree. The principal figure, being backed by the sky, is brought into a relief which exaggerates the hardness of the outline,-still it is, in many respects, clever.

51. Landscape. A. B. Durand, N. A. This is one of the very best paintings in the room. Nay, more-it is a picture, the presence of which, with some two or three equally capital companions, is alone able to constitute the excellence of a gallery. Where all is beautiful, it is not easy to select particular portions, but we cannot resist specifying the lovely group of feathered trees which fills the centre, or calling the attention of our readers to the delicate aerial perspective, which alone can make a flat canvass stand forth into assured reality; and on which Mr. Durand has bestowed all his talents, with splendid success.

52. Portrait of a Lady. G. Winter. This is another picture, which, with many good points, both of drawing and color, cannot be said to rise to more than comparative excellence.

53. Full length of Gov. Throop. R. W. Weir, N. A. This is, by far, the least good of Mr. Weir's paintings in the present exhibition; but in truth, a man in a suit of black clothes, standing upright in the middle of a room, is not the best subject whereon to display talent. The tone and coloring of the picture is good, if we except a blot of crimson, a seal we believe, that, not being carried round by the introduction of the same color elsewhere, strikes the eye as a glaring spot. The figure is not a little stiff.

54. Tornado. G. Miller, A. Very odd, and rather clever. The whole area of the canvass covered with a mass of shattered trees, torn down by the storm, and heaped in ruin, while a torrent is laboring to force its way through the wreck. It is well colored.

55. Portrait of the Rev. Wm. Jackson. G. Winter. There is an indistinctness in this picture, which, though widely dif fering from, is no less offensive than, its opposite defect of hardness.

56. Portraits of a lady and two children. G. Cooke, A. As usual, the contrast is