ART.

BLACK AND WHITE.

This is the fourth Exhibition of its kind that has been held at the Egyptian Hall, and we must confess with reluctance that it is also the least meritorious. When the idea was first started, MC& more than three years ago, of ucollection of drawings and etch- ings in Black and White, the public and the artists were alike pleased with its novelty, and the first of the Exhibitions fully justified the pleasurable anticipation; but they have gradually grown leas interesting, and were it not for the foreign contribu- tors, the present collection would deserve little or no notice,— indeed, looking through the catalogue, one hardly knows whether it should not be called a French Fochibition, and held in the Rue de Rivoll, rather than in Piccadilly. Alphonse Legros, Millet, L'Hermitte, Rosa Bonheur, Flameng, Rajon, Tissot, and many others, are all represented, and certainly carry off the honours.

of the Exhibition. This is probably to be accounted for by the special training in black and white, after the usual,

academic course, which is such a prominent feature of the French school, and some of the most truthful of the drawing& here shown have been executed in the woods of Fontainebleau or

amongst the meadows of Brittany. In the manipulation of char- coal-especially, the French contributors are pre-eminent, and some- of Leon Lhermitte's peasant scenes, of which we speak further on, are masterpieces in this medium.

There are amongst the English works some fine specimens of book illustration in pen-and-ink, amongst which those of Du.

Manner and C. Green should be especially noticed, a portrait of Mrs. Gilbert Scott, by the former, being very delicate in execution.

Before speaking of the pictures in detail, a few words may be- said as to the distinguishing characteristics of French and English- Art, as here shown in the work of the different nations. The- peculiarities of the latter may be seen at a glance, and consist chiefly in considerable executive power, and infinitely greater- attention to detail, as detail, whether necessitated by the require- ments of the composition or no. Again, another striking mark of the majority of English drawings here—as it was in the Academy this year—is the want of strong feeling of any kind. If we except the book illustrations, -which are more indebted-for- their feeling to the author than to the artist, and look round the- walls in search of anything more than such subjects as "The Tennis-Players" or "Grafting Mistletoe," we shall hardly find more than one example, the drawing in red chalk, by Richmond, of "Hercules and Prometheus," certainly a fine life-study, though failing to tell any story plainly, and it would perhaps have been better named "The Deliverance of Prometheus."

The present school of painting in France, owing chiefly to the influence of Corot, Millet, and their pupils, strives, first of all, at the expreassion of some feeling to -which the treatment of the subject is totally subordinated. With, as a rule, far less imitative dexterity, there is yet something in almost the worst of the- French landscapes of the present day, which is not to be found in the far more elaborate -works of our own school. Thus, if we- compared Corot to landscape painters like Brett and Davis, we- should have to acknowledge, that while the latter are infinitely superior to him in truthful rendering of the detail of nature, they yet miss the subtle appreciation of her spirit which is to be- found in the works of the former. We have seen pictures by- Corot of little more than a tree and a piece of water, which were yet perfect poems, from the intensity of the feeling with which they had been painted. It is a difficult question this, of how far detail may be neglected for the sake of feeling. There seems to be no reason why either should be altogether lost, and between the sentiment of Corot, and the realism of Brett, stand the land- scapes of Turner, as perfect types of what should be our aim. Meanwhile, if we have to choose between nature as seen through the camera, or as reflected in the magic mirror of our own per- sonality, perhaps it is better that we should choose the camera ; at all events, if we do, we shall have the material for noble pictures, and with patient industry and unwearied striving we may reach our ideal, after all. For of the French Art of which we have been speaking this must be noticed,— it can go no further; though it painted for all eternity in this way, it could never advance a step beyond the re- flection of some individual feeling. Its whole theory is based upon neglecting detail for sentiment, whereas the only true method is not the neglecting or subordinating of detail, but the ennobling of it; and as in any beautiful landscape there is not a frond of the fern, or a quiver of the leaves, which does not increase its loveli- ness, so in a noble picture there is not one representation of the most trivial fact of nature which does not help its composition and enhance its spirit. There is one very bad influence of French Art which is very noticeable in this year's exhibition, and that is the indiscriminate use of body-colour to produce a cheap

effect Gustave Dore, the great master of the theatrical style of painting, seems to have imbued many of our English painters with his spirit, and instead of black and white, many of the drawings here are a nasty sort of drab-colour, as if they had been painted by a sickly lime-light. Many of the original draw- ings for the Graphic here exhibited are examples of this, particu- larly the clever sketches entitled "Heads of the People," by W. Small ; and Mr. J. Wells's sketches on the Thames, in which the paint seems to have been laid on with a trowel, instead of a paint-brush, and all the delicacy of the brush-work is altogether lost. This is as different from the delicate body-colour work of Fred Walker as can well be imagined, and unless it be easier to reduce into a woodcut, we cannot think there is any advantage to counterbalance the loss of transparency.

Among the more delicate pieces of small work here may be noticed two drawings of plants by Mr. Ruskin for book illustra- tion, and the series of pen-and-ink illustrations to the "Old Curiosity Shop," by C. Green, some of the latter being quite admirable for their quiet humour, particularly those of "Sally Brass Feeding the Marchioness," and "Dick Swiveller Playing -the Flute in Bed."

Before noting the foreign work, which, as before mentioned, is quite the beat in the Exhibition, we may mention generally a few of the English contributions. Amongst these, the" Hercules and Prometheus" of Mr. Richmond, a large study in red chalk, is the only attempt at high ant; and the figure of Hercules, with the lion-skin floating from. his shoulders and upraised bow, is a really noble one. But the Prometheus that cowers down amongst the rocks is not the Prometheus of whom 2Eschylus and Shelley sang ; there is none of the proud patience of suffering for truth, in the averted head and shrinking figure, and the last words we should expect him to utter are the well-known ones,—

" No change, no pause, no hope, yet I endure."

Mr. H. S. Marks, A.R.A., exhibits several drawings, of which No. 326, "The Convent Drudge," is the most important, an old monk, rubbing, with patient weariness, one of the large, embossed plateaus of the monastery. This style of picture shows the artist at his best, and the work is full of sympathy and humour. Another very small drawing by this artist, entitled 4' Repose," No. 568, is quite a delicious morsel of decorative painting, and the unutterable dodginess which Mr. Marks has managed to put into the eyes of the pelicans, as they stand solemnly on one leg round the little princess, who is seated under an apple-tree, can scarcely be seen without laughter. The only other specimens of decorative art of any importance are two by Hubert Herkomer, of pastoral life (No. 214), painted on wood, in sepia, which are remarkably easy and grace- ful. There is a spirited drawing by Percy Macquoid (No. 64), called "A Race for Life," a sledge pursued by wolves, the driver bending down to shoot one of the foremost, quite the best thing we have seen from this young artist. Mr. Hamilton Macallum sends a large charcoal sketch of "The Beer Fleet Returning," done on yellow paper, and producing a rather un- pleasant, sickly effect. Perhaps one day Mr. Macallum will find other objects more worthy of his attention than these somewhat ugly fishing-boats, which in the meantime he makes the most of. -There is a clever drawing by J. E. Hodgson, A.R.A., "Salmon- fishing in the Highlands," which is quite ruined by the detestable, muddy lilac in which the whole landscape is executed ; how much it was improved by the translation into the black and white of a woodcut many readers of the Graphic will remember. No. 125 is an interesting portrait of Thomas Carlyle by Andrews, in red chalk. No. 160, "In the Battle of Life—, a Warm Corner," by E. Buckman, is a clever delineation of a very uninteresting subject, —a "knock-'em-down" man collecting the sticks which are flying thick and fast (three a penny!) round his cocoa-nuts. One of the most powerful drawings here is No. 344, by F. loll, " ' Gone l'—a Reminiscence of Euston Station," originally drawn for the Graphic. A very simple incident ; only a departing train, the lamp of whose Last carriage flashes still in the distance, and on the platform a mother with her children clinging close to her. To say definitely what it is that renders this drawing of Mr. Hall's so intensely tragic and different from the thousand other representations of similar subjects would be beyond our power ; perhaps the secret lies not only in the superior ability of the artist, but in the fact that the incident really happened and impressed his mind ; there is no deliberate studio-mark about it, no attempt to refine or render interesting the mother or children, but the fact of their grief has been seized, and is there for ever. No. 320, "The Last Chapter," by R. W. Macbeth, a young girl reading the last chapter of her

novel, is, like all Mr. Macbeth's work, serious and thoughtful, but surely the incident is hardly deserving of record, if it be not a portrait. Of Mr. Charles Keen's drawings for Punch little need be said; of a rougher execution than Mr. Du Manner's, and seldom dependent for their interest on pictorial effect, they are always humorous and to the point, but have no pretensions to be pictures. There are many of them here, the best being No. 24, "More Frightened than Hurt," a nervous clergyman being frightened by an old farmer's account of his parishioners. There is a large drawing in Indian ink by Arthur Severn of "The Sea at Brighton, 12th of March, 1876" (No. 340), which, for general truth of effect, we have never seen excelled, and seldom equalled. We can speak positively on this head, as we happened to be at Brighton on the day in question, when the storm was at its height, and can testify how fully Mr. Severn has reproduced the wild fury of that gale.

We must now pass to the foreign contributors, and first of all to Alphonse Legros, who sends the chef-d'ceuvre of this collection. This is No. 416, "La Mort du Vagabond," an etching in brown ink. Treated quite in the style of the older masters, this ix, without doubt, the most striking and powerful work in the Exhibition. Here M. Legros, whose severity of treatment is often too great to be pleasant in his more ordinary sub- jects, has found an incident exactly fitted to his power. The " Vagabond " is dying, amidst a fierce storm of wind and rain, which sways even the leafless branches of the withered fir- tree, the only shelter he can find. Stretched out at full length, his hands already grasping at the turf in the death-agony, there is a terrible pathos about this ragged, unpoetical figure, that strikes home to the most careless observer; and it is impossible to look at the picture without thinking of the time, long since gone by, when this friendless outcast was the centre of many a loving wish and hope. Few sermons carry a sterner moral, or enforce more powerfully the inevitable end of lawless desire, than this rough etching, for those who care to read its meaning. M. Legros has several other works here, but nothing to be compared to this in power.

We have already mentioned the sketches of rural life by Leon Lhermitte, but one of them deserves especial notice (No. 127), "The Boat," a charcoal drawing. It represents a solitary figure rowing against the stream in the twilight ; the meadows beyond the river are already black with coming night, and a solitary oak-tree rears its jagged mass of foliage against the sombre sky, unillumined by moon or stars. The marvellous dreariness which the artist has managed to express in the wan water, the laboured action of the rower, and the dark sky can hardly be expressed in words ; a French phrase, "La crdpuscule de Morgue" comes nearer to the spirit of the picture than any English one we can think of. The etching by Flameng, "La Lecon d'Anatomie, d'apres Rembrandt," is one of the finest that even this master has produced. It is some years since our great- est authority on etching stated that Flameng was, as far as tech- nical skill went, as great as Rembrandt himself, and that whatever could be done with the etching-needle he was capable of, and certainly the series of reproductions of pictures which have since been published by him well sustain his reputation. Lacking a little of the marvellous delicacy of execution of Flameng, M. Rajon yet rivals him very nearly, and No. 150, "Portrait of William Spottiswoode," after the picture by G. F. Watts, R.A., leaves little or nothing to be desired. There are many other etchings by foreign artists here deserving of notice, notably one by Tissot, of a young lady, nearly all dry-point work, but nothing to approach the above-mentioned, and besides Jacqnemart, Flameng, and Rajon, all English etching must confess its inferiority, the best work by Mr. Seymour Haden even losing by comparison.