FINE ARTS.
PORTRAIT OF LORD BROUGHAM.
WE were curious to see what LAWRENCE had made of Lord Brougham's face ; and we find, as we expected, that he has neutralized the peculiar character and expression of its remarkable physiognomy,as was his custom. We speak of the excellent line engraving by WALKER from LAWRENCE'S painting, which has lately appeared. It is a full face, in order to get rid of the peculiarities of the features ; and the look is one of undefined meaning and generalized intelligence, which, without knowing the man, you would he uncertain if it belonged to the original in a less or greater degree. It is a conventional expression, as opposed to that which is characteristic of the individual. Thus it is for a painter to be the slave of the merely graceful, to fritter away the vigorous marking of na- ture, and to tone down the strong lights and shades of living character into a dim haze or neutral tint of propriety. It is sacrificing power and greatness at the shrine of meanness and insignificance, and levelling in- tellect to the dull medium of respectability and gentility, or debasing it with an alloy of fashionable insipidity. LAWRENCE'S portrait of Lord Brougham, as we see it in the print, is unworthy of himself even; for we remember his spirited and characteristic head of Curran, and his grand and true portrait of Sir William Grant.
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