FINE ARTS.
NEW PRINTS.
TUE Second Part of FINDEN'S Gallery qf BritiA Art is far inferior in interest to the first : though the engravings are equally good, the pic- tures are of a lower class. The work set out with E.isTLARE, LESLIE, and NEwTox : WILKIE very properly succeeds but instead of STOTITAIII), HILTON, LANDSEER, or MULliEADY, we have UwiNs, who might have given the precedence to smile painter of more established fame ; and Liyrox, whose appearance would have been advantageously postponed to an indefinite period. We wish well to this spirited under- taking., and desire to promote its success ; and therefore we are sorry to perceive symptoms of a falling-off, that will tend to confirm the appre- hensions we have heard expressed as to its future progress. It is feared that the professed object of the work will be lost sight of; and that the choice of pictures will be determined, not by the merits of the painting and the finne of the artist, but by the facility of procuring them. Messrs. FINDEN may depend upon it that nothing short of a selection of first-rate works will realize their intentions, or satisfy their subscribers.
The 'Stitt/piers' Intrusion-a theatrical-looking smuggler, laden with kegs of spirits, entering unexpectedly a cottage where the inmates are at dinner—is not a very striking incident, hut it is told with that reality which is characteristic of WiLitirE's practical iinagination. The swag- gering assumption of the intruder, who has his hand on the door-latch, and flue furtive look of his companion over his shoulder—the sur- prise of the husband, almost amounting to alarm—the angry, scritti nizing glance of the wife, and the simple wonderment of the boy—are delineated with living truth ; and you almost hear the dog bark. The shot-belt and game denote the owner's pursuits ; and the furniture of the room, and even its litter, give character to the scene : the sun shining through the half-curtained window on the white walls and table-eloth, heightens the verisimilitude, while it enlivens the pictorial effect ; the scattered lights assisting to convey the idea of movement and interrup- tion. Wii.RIE's pictures, like those of all thinking painters, challenge and require this minute attention : however casually introduced the accessories may seem to he, they are the result of design. The engrav-
ing, by F. BAcoN, is excellent • though we must reiterate our objection to the cutting lines across the excellent;
Neapolitan l'easants going to the Fester qf the Pie' di Grotto, is one of liwiNss sunny scenes of halian rustic life—we cannot add character ; for the faces have neither national nor individual identity, but are smoothed mid sweetened into an unmeaning affectation of prettiness, that quite destroys the interest of the subject. The group of women and children in picturesque costumes, bearing palm-branches and offer- ings of fruit such as none but a Southern clime can produce, beneath a cloudless sky and a clear atmosphere, with the blue bay in the distance and the long morning shadows thrown across their path, nutke up a charming picture, characteristic in all but the faces. The engraving, by SANGSTER, is pure and transparent in tone, but wanting substance and colour here and there, as in the dog and the figures in shadow.
The Rrthis Carthage reminds one of those ornamental ruins with which retired citizens formerly delighted to adorn their parks ; only that, being a city, Mr. LINTON'S Carthage is more sumptuous and extensive : indeed, it is very nmell such a design as Mn'. NASH might have tempted the prodigality of' GEORGE the Fourth with, had that royal amateur of toys desired to convert the enclosure of St. James's Park into a Carthage. Here we have the canal, smooth and weedless as the New River, furnished with swans and storks ; and on the bank, which is planted with an air of studied negligence, are a couple of stags, and a Life Guardsman properly costumed in the attitude of Hannibal. The artist has done in the picture, however, what would not be allowable in car- rying his design into execution : he has crowded his Composite and Corinthian capitals in the foreground ; the Ionic, being plainer, occupy the middle • and the Doric are dismissed as being only fit to fill up the dis- tance. The effect of a glowing sunset in a pure atmosphere, the flood of light bathing all objects, and reflected in the water, is a beautiful touch of nature, that almost redeems the artificiality of the scene. The engraving, by WILLMORE, inn brilliant ; it wants no aid from colour—you almost feel the warm sunshine.
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