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MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES

OF

LITERATURE, FINE ARTS, SCIENCES, THE DRAMA, &c.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS.-In compliance with our promise to that effect in our last number, we shall proceed to resume our notice of the pictures exhibited at the Academy, where we quitted them in July; nor shall we at present enter into any general remarks, as those at the head of our preceding article will be found no less to apply to the pictures at present under consideration, than to those of which we have already disposed.

No. 51. Portrait of a Lady.-J. Haskill. Has very considerable merit, but is faulty in its coloring, and this too in a manner so different from the usual errors of this nature, that we cannot but remark it. The defects, which we have hitherto felt ourselves called upon to notice, have been, without an exception, offences against sobriety and harmony of color; this picture, on the other hand, is too uniformly black and white, either for effect or nature.

No. 52. Still Life. Weeninx.---Whether this be an original or not,-and we are far from being confident that it is so,-of the master whose name it bears, who by the way is decidedly the head of his class, it is undoubtedly a work of some power. The fruit is the best part of the whole, particularly the grapes, which have all the bloom and transparency of nature, the game is not nearly so well executed, and from this arises our hesitation as to the author.

No. 53. Portrait of a Lady. W. Page. ---This is worthy of notice in more respects than one. There is much originality in the manner, and not a little merit in the performance; it is altogether a highly creditable performance, and one which gives high promise of future excellence.

No. 54. The Beggar Boy. Lent by Carnes, Esq. Murillo.---We are strongly inclined to dispute the authenticity of this painting; although it is a good picture, well colored and in admirable keeping.

No. 55. Peter Stuyvesant's arrival at Hartford. "The kind hearted Anthony alighted from his Calico Mare, and kissed them all with infinite loving-kindness."

A. D. O. Browere, 137 Cherry St. It is truly lamentable to see such miserable specimens of inability to draw, color, or compose as the above; and in our opinion the admission of such daubs reflects no credit upon the academy. There is a very handsome wall to the exhibition room, and if there should be blank spaces, they would be infinitely preferable to pictures which, like this, are utterly destitute of all merit, or even apology. We do not hold the youth VOL. I.

of the artist as the slightest excuse; if he cannot do better than this, he had better learn, and if he be too proud, or too dull, he had better rest convinced that "Neither men, nor Gods, nor columns have granted it to him to be a painter."

No. 56. Portrait of a Gentleman. F. R. Spencer.-A good picture; though not entirely free from the hardness of outline, which is so generally observable in the works of this otherwise meritorious artist.

No. 57. Portrait of a Physician. A. L. De Rose.-Would be very good, were it not for the red back of the sofa, which cuts the picture as it were into two halves.

No. 58. Battle. Lent by Messrs. Nunna, & Co. Breughel.-We can give no opinion on the merits or defects of this piece, as they are not perceptible owing to the obscurity of its situation.

No. 59. Portrait of a Lady. J. Jack

son.

No. 60. Portrait of a Gentleman. Miss J. Stuart.-A very good portrait; Miss Stuart is among the best portrait painters in our city, at least as far as coloring and keeping go. With regard to likeness we cannot speak, as we are not acquainted with the originals of her subjects.

No. 61. View on the Susquehannah, Pennsylvania. Ward. It would be no easy er to say whether Mr. Ward is more industrious, or more successful, in hisabors. We have rarely seen any land8ape painter more uniformly natural, than he is, in all his subjects. He is in our opinion decidedly the best artist we possess, and is daily rising higher and higher in his profession. This picture though not quite equal to the view of Wyoming, is cool, clear, and as lovely as the scene, from which it is taken.

No. 62. Shipwreck. T. Birch.-A very clever storm-piece; a little too gray perhaps, but still a painting of high order. Mr. Birch has evidently aimed at representing that universal dimness, which is produced by an overcast and lowering sky, and a driving mist; but if so, the caps of the waves are too creamy and clear, while the ship, which is wedged among the rugged cliffs, is even too hazy and indistinct. As a marine painter Mr. Birch has however no superiors and few equals among us.

No. 63. Landscape. Lent by Mr. Clover. T. Cole.-Mr. Cole cannot paint ill or moderately, nevertheless we do not altogether admire his manner; this picture is not however so liable to objection on this point, as two others, which though very

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cleverly executed, are somewhat too fantastical for our taste.

No. 64. View near Fort Montgomery. J. C. Ward.-A beautiful glade, with wood, and rocks, and water, as wild and fresh as if they had come newly from the studio

No. 73. Portrait of a Lady. Lent by Dr. Dering.

No. 74. Expulsion from Paradise. Lent by Dr. Hosack. T. Cole.-We doubt not that this picture has very warm admirers, and in truth it is a remarkable production;

mere mortal rather than from that of a its merits are those of the painter, its de

artist. There is much poetry in the white herons, which are fishing by the woodland brooklet as fearlessly, as though no wandering painter's footstep had ever intruded on their sequestered haunts. We desire no sweeter morceau than this to lead our thoughts away from the "Fumum et opes strepitumque Roma" to the green shadows and silent bowers of the lovely country, for which we are panting as eagerly as the hunted deer for the cooling stream.

No. 65. The subsiding of the waters. T. Cole. The name of this singular, but powerful picture, seems to be, to a certain degree, a misnomer: certainly it possesses none of the striking images of desolation and misery, which might have been suggested by the subject. The rocks are admirably painted and the waters are good, but we cannot bring ourselves to regard the whole as entirely agreeable to the high reputation possessed by Mr. Cole: the story is not well told, nor is the tout ensemble altogether natural, we like the views of this artist far better than his compositions.

No. 66. Portrait of Gabriel Ludlow, Esq. Lent by Dr. Ludlow. Painted by J. Copley, in 1753.-A queer old picture, with which a singular circumstance is connected. The person by whom was executed having been the father of the celebrated John Copley, now Lord Lyndssor to Lord Brougham, hurst, and predece on the Woolsack of Great er codes No. 67. Camilla, "At medias exultat amazon."-Camillo Proceccini, En. ii. 648.

Britain.

fects those of the subject. It is in fact a view of the entrance to the Garden of Eden; a lofty natural arch of rock occupies the centre of the piece, dividing a lovely, cloudless sky, and a region glowing with sunshine, and teeming with all the luxuriant productions, which we can imagine to have lent their aids to the blessedness of Eden, on the one hand,-from a lurid and murky canopy of storm and darkness; barren rocks, and black torrents on the other, illuminated only by the glare of the fiery sword, which, though itself unseen, sends forth a stream of crimson light, to reveal the horrors of the universe, as withering beneath the denunciation that had pronounced it accursed for the sake of Adam's sin. This is all very fine, very poetical, and very well painted! Nevertheless it is not a good picture! It is utterly impossible that a good picture could have been made of it; as the simple fact of its being all light on one, and all gloom on the other side of a definite line, must necessarily give it a pie-bald appearance, destroying at once all harmony of effect, and all that reality, which charms the eye more than any other qualification, that can be given to the level canvas by a master's hand. We have seen very handsome men of color in our day, and still more very handsome whites, but we think no one could for a moment imagine that one individual could unite the tints of the two, divided by a perpendicular line through the centre of the nose, and yet so preserve the comeliness of the two distinct animals. Something of this sort occurred to us as we gazed on this picture, and we felt real sorrow that a gentleman, possessed of such

No. 68. The Coliseum. Lent by H. W talents as Mr. Cole, and who might give

McCracken, Esq.-We looked more than once at this picture without having ascertained, to our perfect satisfaction, whether it was in truth an oil-painting or a mosaic, for the information of our readers we beg to assure them, that it is in reality what it professes to be, a painting!

No. 69. Interior. Lent by Mr. Olmstead. G. Morland.-Clearly an original, and the dogs painted as no one but Morland could have done, in his happiest moments. No. 70. Composition of Roman Monuments. Lent by Messrs. Nunns & Co. Panini.-Very good, but somewhat cold

in the tints.

No 71. Portrait of a Lady. Lent by Dr. Dering. Blackburn.

No. 72. Boy and Dog, Shegog.-Very near to being a beautiful thing; all that prevents it from being quite so, is the sky, which is ill colored and out of keeping; the dog is admirable, and the light falling on the boy's features, through the rent in the tattered hat, is prettily imagined, and cleverly managed.

life and being to thousands of scenes in our vast country, now known to few who can appreciate their beauties,should devote his pencil to the delineation of such fantastic combinations as this, and the picture which we noticed above. After all, however well he may succeed in his present line, he can never be more the opinion of the world than what, we are sure he, no less than we ourselves, wou consider it a degradation for him to be called, an imitator of Pandemonium Martin.

No. 75. Landscape after Wilson. Richardson.-Labors under the same defect as No. 24, which we remarked above as being exaggerated in the tone of its coloring.

No. 76. Scene on the Susquehannah river. J. C. Ward.-Is not nearly so good as any of the cther works of this artist, although it is still an able and highly creditable performance.

No. 77. The memorable escape of General Putnam, when surprised by the forces

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clever; the masses of foliage superb. No one could mistake the artist, had it no name affixed to it; though it has not come down to us quite uninjured.

No. 109. Portrait of a Clergyman. F. R. Spencer.---Extremely like.

No. 110. Portrait of a Lady. F. R. Spencer.

No. 111. Portrait of a Gentleman. J. Gauntt.

No. 112. Portrait of a Gentleman. F. R. Spencer.Mr. Spencer is certainly extremely happy in catching a likeness.

No. 113. Landscape and Cattle; moonFight Gainsborough.---May be a copy, but certainly no original. Gainsborough never painted such cattle as these.

No. 114. A Dog, G. W. Twibill. The dog is very much out of drawing. No. 115. Portrait of a Gentleman. G. W. Twibill.---Possesses considerable merit. No. 116. Boy asleep. F. W. Phillips. No. 117. Portrait of an Artist. J. W. Hope. No. 118. The Bird's Nest. Giovanni Piazzetta.Very much exaggerated, and altogether bad.

No. 119. Portrait of Mr. Jonathan Edwards, a copy from the original picture. R. Peale Cloudy and very inferior to most of Mr. Peal's works.

No. 120. Portrait of a Gentleman. Hinckly.

No. 121. Sampson Betrayed. Rubens. ---Not a pleasing picture.

No. 122. Dublin Light-house. Thos. Thompson.The grouping of this, like No. 48, is beautiful, and better painted than that. The shipping and craft are exquisitely natural, but alas! the sea is still wiry. No. 124. The Opening of the Sixth Seal. To Mezzotired from Danby's celebrated picon the Woolsack of Great We detest these No. 67. Camilla, "At medias paintings of exultat amazon."-Camillo ProcezzoE. ii. 648.

No. 68. The Coliseum. Lent by H. W McCracken, Esq.-We looked more than once at this picture without having ascertained, to our perfect satisfaction, whether it was in truth an oil-painting or a mosaic, for the information of our readers we beg to assure them, that it is in reality what it professes to be, a painting!

No. 69. Interior. Lent by Mr. Olmstead. G. Morland. Clearly an original, and the dogs painted as no one but Morland could have done, in his happiest moments. No. 70. Composition of Roman Monuments. Lent by Messrs. Nunns & Co. Panini.-Very good, but somewhat cold in the tints.

No 71. Portrait of a Lady. Lent by Dr. Dering. Blackburn.

No. 72. Boy and Dog. Shegog.-Very near to being a beautiful thing; all that prevents it from being quite so, is the sky, which is ill colored and out of keeping; the dog is admirable, and the light falling on the boy's features, through the rent in the tattered hat, is prettily imagined, and cleverly managed.

No. 142 to 153. Specimens of engravings for the National Portrait Gallery of distinguished Americans.---We have spoken elsewhere of this admirably gotten up periodical, and have much pleasure in again testifying to its beauty. Were all the engravings equal to those by Mr. Durand, it would be the best work of its kind anywhere; as it is, it has few superiors. In conclusion, we have a few remarks to offer concerning the management of this exhibition in general. That it is highly honorable both to the conductors, and to our city, no person can for a moment hesitate to admit; we are of opinion however that it might be rendered yet more so, and simply by a little more difficulty, little more severity perhaps, as regards the admission of pictures; there are doubtless many compositions, which would adorn any collection in the world, but there are also many which are applicable to no higher office than that of serving for tavern signs; and this should not be! The academy are doing no justice to themselves, and no real kindness to the artists, in admitting pictures to their exhibition, whose utter worthlessness is self-evident. We know that this error arises from the most amiable feelings, but still it is an error; and if any of the rising painters,

hose juvenile delinquencies are now exposed to the public eye, should ever attain to eminence, they will bitterly lament the mistaken benevolence, which permitted them to exhibit, what better judgment would have made them conceal. We trust that, on future occasions, the venerable president will exert his powerful discrimination; and he may rest assured, that his motives will be hereafter fully appreciated by the very persons, whom present justice may call upon him to condemn.

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as we are apt to travel abroad, and also to import home, we cannot "lay the flattering unction to our souls," and remain contented with home acquisitions. The Bard of Avon tells us that "Home keeping youths have, ever, homely wits."

The study of landscape, though calculated to elevate the mind by the contemplation of the beauties of creation, is neither so sublime in itself, nor does it rank so high in art as historical painting. Unfortunately the former pervades in the studio of the American artist, and the latter is scarcely to be found. This again is more to be lamented than blamed. In a new country like ours, immense sums are not given for splendid gallery paintings, and the historical painter has no encouragement, except where such can find a reasonable sale. An artist must have been a profound and attentive observer of the moral world, and must be able to dramatize its scenes in his mind, before he can sit down before the canvass of the historical subject. It is the perfection of his art, and he must expect to practise it, only where there are many in the community, that have the means and the leisure, as well as the will, to foster it.

Portrait painting, on the contrary, will always meet encouragement. Self-complacency, affection, gratitude, all the sions and feelings of the human mind, tend that way; and such being the case, it were to be wished that more of mind could be thrown into many a portrait we have lately seen, instead of an auctioneer's inventory of "Item, two blue eyes-Item, one acquiline nose, fc." causing the party represented to exclaim:

"my substance is not hereFor what you see, is but the smallest part, And least proportion of humanity." Rather let the artist make the mouth to speak, the eye to glance, the face instinct with life and animation. In this consists the beauty of his art, and to this end h should address himself with she reclines. We trust to meet the again next year, an feel he will, be, on our part, wit stillich man must woo

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and drops at length into the very depths of controversial divinity. Who that has been so oft and greatly enchanted by the song of the Hibernian Minstrel-who that has listened to the bewitching melody of his harp, would deem that he could voluntarily hang it upon the willow, to plunge himself into the quagmire of polemics? Yet such is the case, and now for the first time, we have literature of such a character presented in the garb of humor.

Consistently with our first determination we do not here offer any opinion as to the strength of the arguments used by the author. All that we are at liberty to observe on them is, that they appear to have been brought forward in earnest. The following is the dedication of the book, which will be sufficiently explanatory of its purpose; its scope we may describe more at large:-"To the people of Ireland, this defence of their ancient national faith is inscribed by their devoted servant, the editor of Capt. Rock's memoirs." We see therefore, that it is vindicatory of the tenets of the Church of Rome, and its aim is to prove that these tenets may be traced entirely to the first bishop, St. Peter himself.

The "Irish Gentleman" is supposed to be a young man at college, who has hitherto professed those tenets rather because they were those of his family, and because the religion itself was persecuted, than from any strong or very sincere conviction of its truth; and has hitherto maintained his opinions as a point of honor, notwithstanding that he saw it was neither favorable to worldly advantage, nor high ly respected in the most elevated socie because he might be deemed rercenar selfish in abjuring it when under a cl But the news arrives that the Catholic lief to protest against a piece or maw

morality with which the book end It is of the same strain, which has been objected to in "old, Isaak," and is out of who impales a worm upon his hook, to enplace in the mouth or the book of a man able him to destroy animals, for sport.The pleasures of the morning, the soothing sounds, &c. &c. are all very well, but when he tells us that "the angler contemplates with wonder all the secrets of the insect tribe, he hears, he sees, he feels, that nothing is made in vain, he looks from nature up to nature's God,"-we say "fudge," he thinks only of his sport whilst engaged in it, and contemplates only his exploits when he has performed them.

THE GENTLEMAN AND LADY'S BOOK or POLITENESS, and propriety of deportment, dedicated to the youth of both sexes, by Mad'e. Celnart. 12mo. pp. 214. Boston. Allen and Ticknor, 1833.-Whether the translator of this little manual has had the wholesome fear of another Mrs. Trol

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