film Iris.
THE COLOSSAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF DANTE.
AN exhibition of rather novel character has been this week opened to the public at St. James's Hall : it is termed the Dante Gallery, and consists of a series of colossal pictures painted by Italian artists which have been previously exhibited at Rome and Florence. These works, twenty-seven in number, illustrate the principal scenes in the Divina Cosnnedia, and, according to the prospectus, are painted by "the most eminent Italian masters," though that document fails to mention the artists' names, nor can that information be at present supplied at the hall. From another source I hear that five painters have been engaged in the production of these pictures, one of whom is Signor Grandi. The exhibition takes place in the "Minor Hail"— in the centre of one of the walls is an enormous gilt frame some live-and-twenty feet in length, and in height reaching nearly to the ceiling. In this frame each picture is displayed in succession, a curtain descending between every change, while the title of the work is simultaneously shown in French, Italian, and English, through openings in the lower part of the frame. "Appropriate music" is performed on the pianoforte or harmonium, and explanatory passages read either from the original Italian, or from Cary's translation. The pictures are painted in distemper, the method employed in scene- painting : by far the larger portion are devoted to the "Inferno," and following the sequence of the poem, commence with the opening scene of Dante's allegorical journey, where the poet loses him- self in the gloomy wood. In company with Virgil, he stands at the gate of hell, sees the spirits of the great in the Ely- sift= Fields, witnesses the judgment of Minos, holds discourse with the guilty lovers Paolo and Francesca, and the blas- pheming Capaneo, meeting finally with Lucifer in the Ginclecca. Of the remaining ten pictures, eight are devoted to the " Purgatorio," and two to the " Paradiso." In all considerable powers of drawing and composition may be traced, and the very size of these pictures will probably impress a public accustomed to delineations on a much smaller scale. The figures are larger than life, being of what is known as the "heroic" size, carefully executed, but evincing a ten- dency to exaggeration in the anatomical markings which has the effect of producing a monotonous character of form as if all had been cast in one mould. There is a sameness also in the expressions of the beads, which are often tame and insipid. This is more particularly felt in the case of Dante, whose grand lineaments one would have thought could scarcely be rendered uninteresting, yet this exhibition affords proof, if any were wanting, that it is possible to retain like- ness while sacrificing character. The attitudes of Dante moreover are undignified: in the scene where Bertrand de Born's headless trunk holds the "severed member lantern-wise, pendent in hand," the poet perched on a rocky eminence above, in the atti- tude of a wicket-keeper in a game of cricket, looks as if eager to catch the head should it be thrown at him. The colour, notwithstanding it is aided by the warm glare of gaslight, is often crude and inharmonious, the shadows of the drapenes are harsh and heavy, while the light and shade are destitute of variety or imagi- native effects eitherof gloom or of brightness. A realistic treatment isy perhaps, scarcely to be looked for in works of this class, or several perversions of natural fact might be pointed out, such as the red re- flexion in the shadow thrown.by Dante in his interview with Matilda across the surface of the stream which separates them. But the grand fault of all is, that these Italian pictures have little of the real Dantesque feeling; cold and literal, they breathe but little of the spirit of the great poem they aim at illustrating. In this respect they are far inferior to works emanating from foreign hands, as those who are acquainted with the impressive rendering of Paolo and Francesca by Ary Scheffer, the grandly coloured and imaginative representation of Dante and Virgil in the infernal regions by Delaeroix, the weird, grotesque drawings of Gustave Dore', or the beautiful and poetic outlines of our own Flaxman, will at once acknowledge. In all these works some phase of the great Florentine's mind has been more or less happily realized, which is more than can be said for the subjects of this notice. To those, however, who are less critical, they will afford an opportunity of spending a not =instructive evening, and judging from the applause so liberally bestowed on its first represen- tation, the Dante Gallery is likely to become highly popular.
The recent death of Mr. Matthew Cotes Wyatt, at the advanced age of eighty-four, has to be recorded. Fifty years ago Mr. Wyatt was considered one of the first sculptors of the day, though latterly he has made little claim on public notice. His artistic career com- menced when he was only nineteen years of age, at which time he was commissioned. by George IIL to execute several works at Windsor Castle. His first public work was the memorial erected at Liverpool in honour of Lord Nelson, his last, I believe, was the monster equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park- corner, which furnished so much food for public satire at the period of its erection. To Mr. Wyatt are also due the cenotaph in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, to the memory of the Princess Charlotte, and die. statue of George III., at the east end of Pall Mall. The council of the Art Union offer, as the print of the current year, an engraving by Mr: C. W. Sharpe, after Mr. Goodall's well- known picture "Raising the Maypole," exhibited at the Royal Aca- demy several years ago. A great advance has been made by the Art Union since the oil days of the "Tired Huntsman" and "Raphael and the Foruarina," those unfortunate engravings from very dismal pictures, which still too frequently 'arrest the eye in many a shop window and private dwelling. "Raising the Maypole" is the best print yet offered by the Society. It is admiral:4 engraved in line,
rich, brilliant, and forcible in effect—strong, yet delicate in execution. The different textures are elaborated with care and discrimination, while the various tones of the original picture appear to have been faithfully preserved. This representation of an old English custom, aided as it is by picturesque costume, pretty faces, vaned character, and a glimpse of rural scenery with its church and manor-house, will doubtless afford to many a powerful inducement to invest a guinea, when, with the acquisition of the engraving, is coupled also the chance or obtaining a prize in the picture lottery. The Artists' Society held their first conversazione of the.year on the evening of the llth ult., at Langliam Chambers. The show of works was considerable, both in number and merit; many of them being destined for exhibition at the British Institution. Pictures in oil predominated, the most conspicuous of which were a scene from Shakspeare's Henry VIAL, by Mr. Calderon: Queen Katherine and her women at work, and Cardinals Campeius and Wolsey being usheted into the presence of the perplexed and unhappy queen ; a London street scene, by Mr. Haughton, a young painter of great promise ; a large and ambitious canvas, by Mr. Storey, of St. Cecilia ; a very highly-finished study of a young girl musing over the fire, by Mr. J. I). Watson; and a small picture of Danish life, by Mr. G. Leslie. Otherfigure subjects by Messrs. Rossiter, Moore, Richmond, Jennies, &c., were also contributed, while landscape was chiefly repre-
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