FINE ARTS.
THE NEW SOCIETY OF PAINTERS II WATER COLOURS.
Tim annual exhibition of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours is one of the most agreeable collections in town, to look over. The general structure and disposition of the gallery is good; the sober red of the walls and floor makes a handsome and comfortable room, and sets off the brighter tints of the paintings to advantage; the lighting through one uniform sheet ofground glass is excellent. Everything is seen without glare. The progress of this society has been peculiar. In pure landscape-paint- ers it dcfes not abound; and although'a few display talent, landscape is not yet the forte of the collection. The order of figure-pieces has become nu- merous and multifarious. The most ambitious attempts are not the most successful: history and pageantry are not so much cultivated this year as they were; and we think that the somewhat redundant experience of last year on that point justifies the contraction of the class. The greatest numerical increase is in the class of what may be called social or fancy sketches; and in these we are pleased to observe a sustained power of in- vention and execution. It is this class which gives the character to the annual exhibition in Pall Mall, and makes it one of the most amusing.
A few painters aspire to history; but Mr. H. P. Riviere's " Meeting of Ra- chel and Jacob,", Mr. Wehnert's " Death of Jean Gonjon the Sculptor,"
and Mr. Warren's " St. John Preaching in the Wilderness," are painstaking failures. Mr. Riviere's picture is a 'canto of tame plagiarisms from the pictures around him at Rome. Mr. Wehnert cannot get out of the habit of painting for the undertaker—a series of pictures representing big-limbed men in the agonies of death, and illustrating the "accidents and offences" of historical biography. The artist's notion of gloom and agony is striking, but not sufficiently so for such iteration. Mr. Warren's design is a collec- tion of unconnected figures, as we have seen formed by the industry of young ladies en Indian screens, with figures cut eat of different engravings and pasted together in something like symmetry.
Mr. Haghe's " Meeting of the Brewer's Corporation, Antwerp," is a to- ' 1 illustration. The gallant brewers are disposed in natural and ogt�pe attitudes- too much partaking, however, of a set and abstracted look. The room is excellently painted; and as a whole the picture possesses a force and sobriety, a rich harmony of colouring and chiaroscuro, beyond what is usually attained in water colours.
But the painters of social sketches bear the bell. We will enumerate a few of the best performances. " Hot and strong! hot and strong! "—a feeble boy shivering in the snow, but vending peppermint and ginger-drops—by Alfred Taylor, is full of life and quiet humour. " The Uncle's Charge," by Edward Corbould, is a somewhat theatrical but vigorous and expressive illustration of 'the Children in the Wood: the story is well told; and if the bad uncle and the two villains are of a conventional stamp, they are painted with so much solidity and effect that they are brought back again almost within the region of reality. " Ennui," by 'the same painter, is a pretty sketch of a lounging girl " Lady Georgiana Codrington," a sketch of a proud lady in an old-fashioned dress, possesses an uncommon degree of power. Mr. T-opham has some 'Irish scenes; such as "'Cavan's Well"—an old man and girl at a tomb-stone; and " St. Patrick's Day in the West of Ireland "—animated, andpleasingly treated. The last scene, with its tatters, its festivity, its pretty faces, its uncouth frolic, costume ugly as well as beggarly, may suggest reflections of a grave kind: these are the holyday- makers that serve as the victims for famine. Mr. Jenkins contributes two sly, naive traits of courtship in Brittany: " The Happy Time "—a couple enjoying a quiet chat in the street on a holyday; and " Going with the Stream "—the same couple in the boat, the oars at rest, the lovers close to- gether. The picturesque costume helps the interest. " The Boulogne Shrimper" comes nearer to what may be seen on our own coast; but the subject is pretty, and is handled with much freedom. Mr. John Absolon is copious. " The Green Jacket" is one of the pretty girls found only in Mr. Absolon's world: she would be charming if she ever existed; but such an assemblage of smooth and bright tints is never seen, except in the illus- trations to a book on entomology. It is a diagram. " Prince Charles in the Island of Skye," sleeping and dreaming, a little transcends Mr. Abso- lou!z " walk ": it is clever, with many traits of truth, much vivacity of execution; the accessories look real; the sleep is well expressed, especially in the fall of the softer parts of the face: but when a painter ventures into anything resembling history, ho should come with larger purpose, and with mere perfect drawing than is to be found in some parts of the watchful friend's figure—in the left leg, particularly, there is neither marking, nor solid substance, nor correct outline. The artist is more at home in his view of the churchyard on " Sunday Morning'—replete with shrewd ob- servation of character and action: there is all the variety of sex and age, with a common and agreeable feeling over all; and the whole is thrown into a sketch of much skill and beauty. " Rustic Courtship "—a young couple snatching a delicious but bashful moment in an interval of rustic duties—is small in size and perfect in conception. We have said that the landscape, as a class, is not advancing. A con- siderable share of talent, however, is displayed by some of the artists in this branch. Mr. Aaron Penley, Mr. E. Duncan, Mr. James Fahey, and others, have caught the true spirit of English landscape-painting. There are also some clever marine pieces: Mr. Thomas Robins excels in giving the motion of water and sailing-craft.
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