ART.
THE WATER-COLOUR INSTITUTE.
THE Institute opened its gallery on the same day as the old society. The fly-leaf of its catalogue presents an imposing array of names under the head of "honorary members"; but no dependence, of course, can be placed on these for regular support to the exhibi- tions, and on this occasion they have all, with one exception, abstained from using the privilege of their position. To the regular members and associates is, and always will be, left the task of supplying the principal materials of the Exhibition, a task which has this year been performed with fair but not signal success. The Institute possesses, indeed, some members of original power, who effectually secure it against failure. Hine, Leitch, and D'Egville would be distinguished men in any company of con- temporary artists ; and each of them contributes to the present Exhibition some remarkable specimens of his work. To Mr. Hine must be conceded the first honours for his picture of "Nine-Barrow Down" (179). In a hollow between huge rounded masses, down in the trough, as it were, of a rolling sea of hills, there is little to look at in the way of variety of objects, but much to excite and gratify the imagination. Through the broad shadow cast by a great wave of earth the eye travels along a track,—here faintly marked by the brighter green of the grass, there more distinctly defined by ruts cut through to the chalk,—to the sunshine that warms the opposite hill and glitters in the clear sky. It dwells with delight on the gentle undulations and sheer slopes of this tranquil dell, and on the graceful forms into which the shadows are turned by the ever-varying surface on which they fall. The view is closed by a high ridge that hides the distant prospect but whets the imagination, and in one at least to whom such scenes are familiar, rouses a feeling not simply of enjoy- ment on account of things actually represented, but of antici- pation (or akin thereto) on account of the promised view beyond. If it has sometimes appeared that Mr. Hine was confining him- self too exclusively to one class of subject, frequent repetition of which might lead to mannerism, it must be confessed that this picture, so far from supporting the apprehension, shows rather how thoroughly he has become imbued with the spirit of his favourite haunts, and how completely long practice has made him master of the best mode of treating them. Mr. Leitch cultivates a much more formal style of composition than Mr. Hine, and is indeed of an entirely different school in art. But there is this strong bond of relationship between them as between all good artists, viz., that character is stamped on all he does. He is not one of the multitude who have a certain manual dexterity, but few ideas and little power of extracting a mean- ing from what they see, and whose work, therefore, may be clever but makes no impression ; he can read a page of nature when it is open, and, like a true poet, convey the meaning so as to interest the world. Therefore, notwithstanding some inveterate faults of colour which inclines to coarseness, his picture " Glen of the Ghost on Ben Venue" (196), is one of the most striking and most satisfactory in this Exhibition. Under a lowering sky the narrow glen is wrapped in gloom and obscurity, and only on the upper crags of the massive hills that hedge it in there gleams fitfully a ray of light that has strayed between the heavy volumes of cloud. The picture is very characteristic of the highlands, and recalls a not uncommon condition of earth and sky when a dreaming fancy is easily led to believe in haunted glens. Both of Mr. D'Egville's contributions are Venetian in subject (76, 258), and display the completeness and refinement with which he has made us familiar. His pictures are never pretentious, but are always invested with a certain air of distinction.
Mr. Mogford is never better than when he paints some scene under bright sunshine, with air cleared by recent rain and en- livened by a brisk wind. "St. Helier's, Jersey" (219), is perhaps the least ambitious, but certainly not the least pleasing of his drawings. The town, with its long, low headland, is painted with more than usual tenderness, while the sea crisping under the breeze and the bright sky over all are in the artist's happiest vein. "All Adrift" (176) is good in conception and pleasant in colour. Some of his pictures betray perhaps too great a tendency to strong contrasts, which might well be tempered without sacrificing any of the freshness and vivacity that are his most copious sources of strength. Tho pretty English hedge-rows and by-lanes that Mr Shalders loves and paints so well would tell all the more if they were not, always furnished with the same flock of sheep, always introduced in the same part of the picture (in point of distance), and always bearing the same relative importance to other objects. Mr. Hayes is not so well seen here as at the gallery in Suffolk Street, where be exhibits an excellent painting of dancing sea. Mr. Reed's Welsh view in the region of Snowdon (61) is well- arranged, broad, and effective ; Mr. Pidgeon's " Windermere " (153) charms with its pure grays and daylight ; "Queen Anne's Bed-room, Cothele" (12), is a very pleasing bit of colour and re- flected light by Mr. M‘liewan ; and Mr. Whymper sends an original view of the sandy fiats at the mouth of the river Coquet under a cloudy moonlight effect (269). Mr. Deane has shown his discretion in selecting a portion only of the interior of St.. Mark's, at Venice (52), and exhibits also a remarkably well- painted street scene at Verona (67). "St. Nicholas, Ghent" (58), is a fine subject cleverly treated by Mr. S. Front, but with light too much scattered and with reflected light exaggerated, and a consequent loss of solidity.
In figure-painting, the Institute has within these few years received a considerable accession of strength. The older men and the limits of their powers are pretty well known ; they are too often ambitious in subject and feeble in execution, Mr. Tidey, in particular, selecting themes far beyond his capacity, and dealing with them in a manner which is at once feeble and stagey. The juniors, Gow, Linton, and Roberts, are men of great promise. In "Checkmated" (21), Mr. Gow has treated his subject in a manner which is best explained by saying it is the manner of Meissonier, and which perhaps Mr. Gow would not have hit upon but for his great exemplar. There is nothing which at present betrays too close or unthinking a process of imitation, but it is always hazardous to stand in the shadow of a great man. Mr. Gow has given the expression of the players and of the inevitable lookers-on with much nicety and discrimination, though not with that thorough ease which is desirable ; his colour, if slightly chalky, is on the whole agreeable, and his drawing excellent. The merit of his other drawing (253) lies in the natural exhibition of interest by the townspeople in the wounded soldier who is being brought to the quay. Mr. Linton has a richer palette than Mr. Gow, and an equal power of expressing action. "The Trumpeter" (46) is large in design and manly in feeling. " Rejected " (54), where the unsuccessful suitor is being bowed out by the lady, is an excellent bit of quiet humour dressed in the most attractive tones and colours. Nowhere in the whole gallery is there a more delightful passage of colour than the lady's maid standing at the open door ; and though there are faults of drawing in the central figure, yet, on the other hand, the picture is governed by good taste. Less anxious than either of these to tell a story, and more intent as representing the objects he paints with all the force and reality that lie within the resources of his art, Mr. Roberts exhibits two drawings that show considerable power in the direction where, as already said, he chiefly seeks it. " Autumn " (175) is a girl sweeping together dead leaves in a kitchen garden. It is painted throughout with rare freedom and vigour ; the quality of the colour is good, and there is no affectation about the figure. On the other hand, there is some want of animation in the girl's face, and a total want of comeliness, which is repeated in the artist's other drawing, called "'rho Pet Magpie" (201). Homely featftres are no doubt pre- ferable to sentimental prettiness, but these are not the only alter- natives. Meantime, this girl feeding her pet with a spoon, which some day the pet will steal, is a vigorous piece of work.
The present opportunity is taken of repairing an omission in last week's notice of the Water-Colour Society. No allusion was made to Mr. A. Glennie's pictures, yet he never painted better, nor have his merits ever been so justly recognized by the hangers. Pure and bright in colour, natural and unliackneyed in treatment, modest and true in their general effect, they refresh the eye and the mind wearied with many an artificial work, and in mere self- defence the critic should be anxious to disclaim any indifference to
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