FINE ARTS.
Characteristic Sketches of Animals. By THOMAS LANDSERR. Part III. • • The subjects of the present number are the Rhinoceros, the Braminhe 'BUR, and thd Cheetah or -Ranting Leopard, both from specimens in thy Zoological Gardens, and the Mandrill in the menagerie at Exeter 'Change, They are executed with equal mire, spirit, and fidelity, and support the high character both, of the artist and the work. The vignettes are particularly clever in their design and execution. The superiority of the drawing, in those plates which we recognize to be portraits of animals, is strikingly ap- parent, and speaks highly of the talents of the artist: they possess a freedom, and appearance of life and motion, and a strong natural character, which render them doubly valuable.
Scripture Prints, consisting of Twelve Illustrations to the Bible, copied on a large scale from Designs of the Great Masters, ancient and modern, by R. MIMPRISS. The prints, which are twenty-six inches by nineteen, are engraved in mezzotint and lithography, in a bold and effective style, and are executed in a very respectable manner. The text of Scriptnre which each subject illus- trates, is printed at the foot in large characters. These plates would form very ex-ellent ornaments to the cottage or nursery, and a most useful assist- ant to the teachers of infant schools ; for which purposes their very low price makes them as available as they are suitable.
Captain BATTY'S Views of the Principal Cities of Europe. Part IL Gibraltar.
The interest which belongs to this remarkable place, its sublimely pic- turesque position and grand character, render the present part of the Views particularly popular; and the plates are sufficient in number to present this impregnable rock in all its most striking aspects. The view from Europa Point we are most pleased with, and it is admirably engraved by E. GOOD- ALL. So is the ;sea in the view from the Bay side, by GEORGE COOKE. But the rock itself is too tame in its effect, both in this last and the vignette plate,—which is otherwise beautifully engraved by R. WALLis. The view from the anchorage, which is the most interesting and comprehensive of any that can be taken, is Monotonous in tone, and cut up in every part by lights of the same strength ; so that the whole scene presses on the eye in one confused mass of black and white, to the destruction of harmony and arial perspective. The same remark applies, but in a less degree, to the view from above Camp-Bay; and we cannot refrain from expressing regret that the effect of these beautiful plates should be sacrificed to a mistaken notion of the value of lights when employed for the purpose of heightening effects by relief and contrast. This injudicious use of a valuable resource of art, has the effect of painfully attracting the eye from the scene itself, to the trick of the artist. We before noticed this prevailing fault; which we suspect belongs not so much to the engravers, Messrs. W. R. SMITH and J. C. VARRALL, as to Colonel BATTY. In the view of Catalan Bay, by J. T. WILLMORF:, there is less appearance of, and indeed less room for this defect ; but it is not entirely exempt from the common error.
Landscape Illustrations of the Waverley Novels. Engraved by Messrs. FINDEN, from Drawings by the most eminent Artists. Part I.
The idea of this work is good, and the execution of it worthy of the high reputation of the artists employed. The genius of the Author of Waverley
as hallowed theicenes which he has described, and giveirthem an interest
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and a charm not less enchanting than history could bestow. The inventive skill of the artist may disappoint the expectations we might form of his power to delineate the characters portrayed by the wizard hand of the ro. 'mancer ; his conception of the ideal personages may differ from those of the .reader ; but the lovely scenes in which they are represented to have dwelt, or through which we have wandered with them in imagination, are brought before us by the pencils Of HARDING, DEWINT, PROUT, STANFIELD, DANIELL, WESTALL, &C., in their most captivating charms.
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