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THE WATER-COLOUR TURNERS AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE. The progr CSSiVO display of the works left by Turner to the nation had hitherto extended to oil-pictures alone. On Saturday last a first iriNstalhment of his water-colours was hung,. exceeding seventy in number. Vit casual exceptions, these are placed upon screens, receiving immediate aaitet lateral light from the windows, and are fairly visible. We understand. --ver.ssa.oa,acmLLIC tureteuea ana studies, has eventually been attended to ; that he was concerned in putting the water-colours now on view into order; and that he is authorized to proceed with the framing of one hundred of the smaller drawings according to the plan which he had proposed.
Water-colour was preaninently Turner's own material. In the use
of oil-colour he occasionally failed in transparency or purity of tint, and constantly tried hazardous or even reckless experiments. But his watercolours are the perfection of knowledge and mastery, and do not show symptoms of any deterioration similar to what too many of the oil-pictures have undergone.
The works just hung at Marlborough House belong principally to the series of the Liber Studiorum, executed in sepia ; the vignette series of Rogers's Poems ; the English Rivers; and the Course of the Seine. Each of these sets has a distinct character. The sepia drawings of the Liber Studiorum include many of Turner's noblest thoughts and compositions. It may perhaps be said, however, that they scarcely look like the works of such a colourist as Turner otherwise so abundantly proved himself ; since, even in their simple method of execution, some nearer approach to warmth and brilliancy, with their results of depth and contrast, seems attainable. Among the most famous examples here, are the Jason, Cephalus and Procris, Mount St. Gothard, Hind Head Hill, and Peat-bog, Scotland. To the last two especially our preceding remarks as to the colour do not apply ; perhaps it would be impossible to find instances in which more is made of sepia as a material. Some others, such as the three pastorals with a bridge, tend towards the commonplace "classical composition" type. The Vignettes, independently of their positive merit, aro some of the marvels of art, in virtue of the amazing quantity of matter which Turner has here compressed into so diminutive a space : all is preserved well nigh as perfectly as though it were Nature reflected in a diminishing-glass, and one may use a microscope thoroughly to realize the fulness of rendering. In colour these vignettes are mostly less noticeable at first sight than others of the water-colours, —a result partly dependent upon the small space occupied by each hue, and the way in which one consequently neutralizes the other ; but they are very pure and jewel-like on near inspection. As to the English Rivers, they are the very seine of " sweetness " in art—inexhaustible in suavity, tenderness, and simple delightfulness. Not but that Turner is as rich in his variety here as elsewhere : storm and sunshine, beauty and severity, equally find their place. But the pale warmth of wonderfully refined colour, the grace, and the air of lingering affection in the treatment, constitute the generic character of the series. Arundel Castle, Kirkstall Abbey, Ivybridge, and Totnes, are among the most exquisite ; but perhaps the Stangate Creek, Medway," with the rainbow and watm flush of light on the boat, stands supreme. The French views— as Hartieur and the two Honfieurs—are more chalky in colour than the English, and immediately strike the eye by their difference in scenic character ; limpid, sparkling, airy—the many-winding river lost in distance, the infinite sky fathomless in its majesty and its change. Of Turner's later period there are three salient examples : the Burning of the Houses of Parliament, a Sea-beach at Sunrise, and the Arienal of Veni,.e. The first is at once as atidacious and as studiously controlled as such tut arduous attempt can well be ; fitful in its blaze and
its gloom, and replete with mystery and terror. The figures lighted by the glare are defined in crimson, or in white with golden-brown contours. The other two are glorious in their gorgeousness of light and colour. Four water-co' ours of unusually large size are hung upon the walls : Folkstone from the Sea, the Funeral of Lawrence, Edinburgh from the Calton Hill, and the Battle of Fort Bard, Val d'Aosta. The last is a grand gorge of mountain scenery ; the first amazingly rich in various beauty ; andthe Funeral, with a snow-blanched pavement, very remarkable for the truth of its decorous ceremonial quietude.
MATILL AND POLYBLANIe S PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
The latest three issues of this admirable series are a scientific, an artistic, and a legal and political celebrity,—Professor Graham, Mr. E. M. Ward, and Lord Campbell. Each is a living realization, each an unexceptionable photographic success ; the sitter being presented, in adherence to Messrs. Mau]l and Polyblank's excellent system, in perfect simplicity, without any commonplace or claptrap accessory. The piercing acumen of the man of science the artist's air of sturdy decision and observation and the Lord Chief Justice's quiet
shrewdness with a touch of caustic humour, impress themselves at once upon the eye. The memoirs by Mr. Watford have gained somewhat in extent and detail.
The next portrait—which, like these three, has already been brought before the public in the Photographic Exhibition—is to be Mr. George Cruikshank.
TILE SUNBEAM.*
Photography again. This is the opening part of a handsome work, devoted, as far as appears for the present, to the reproduction of landscape and architecture, not of personages or groups. The photographs are by first-rate hands; and the part, containing four prints, is cheap at twelve shillings. No. 1 is the Woods at Penllergare, by Mr. Llewelyn ; delightfully pleasant and intricate, but a little crude in its blacks and whites. No. 2 is the Tournament Court in the Castle of Heidelberg, by Sir Joscelyn Coghill. No. 3 Magdalen College, Oxford, from the Cherwell, by the editor, Mr. Dclamotte ; a splendid photograph for tone and strength. No. 4 the Baptistery, Canterbury Cathedral, by Mr. Bedford; very beautiful in colour, and the highest success of all for the union of depth and delicacy. The powdery grasses and weeds of the foreground, the dark heavy overgrowth of ivy, and the old stone surface, are exquisitely caught. Each plate is accompanied by a brief letterpress reference.
• The Sunbeam : a Photographic Magazine. Edited by Philip II. Delamotte, F.S.A. Published by Chapman and Hall. Part I.
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