SCHOOL OF PAINTING AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTION.
(To the Editor of the Mirror.)
I beg to present you with a brief notice of the School of Painting at the British Institution, Pall Mall; you may rely upon its correctness, as I have been extremely cautious in making my notes, and in ascertaining every particular relative to the subject.
The students at this excellent institution have, for several weeks, been arduously engaged in copying the fine pictures which were entrusted to the directors by his majesty, and the nobility, for that purpose. In general, the students have been very successful, and deserve much praise; I must, however, in my prescribed limits, only mention a few.
Vandyke's Duchess de St. Croix has been cleverly copied by Mr. Boden and Mr. Faulkner; the latter gentleman has well imitated the color and the beautiful finish of the original. Messrs. Frisk, Child, Howell and M'Call have likewise made clever copies of this chef d'oeuvre of art. Many bold efforts have been made to copy Hobbima's large Landscape; Mr. Laporte's is the most complete, though not quite spirited enough in the handling. The Spanish Gentleman, by Velasquez, has engaged the pencils of numerous artists, though they have not all been so successful as could have been wished; Messrs. Inskipp, Frisk, Morton and Child have produced the best fac similes. The Lime Kiln, by the younger Teniers, has been carefully studied by Mr. Gill, &c.; and Messrs. M'Call and Morton, have executed the finest studies from Innocent X., by Velasquez. The Embarkation, by Claude, is extremely well imitated in Mr. Cartwright's copy; and the Virgin and Child, which is one of Julio Romano's best works, has met with due attention from Mr. Farrier, and others. Mr. Novice has executed the only copy from DeHooge's fine picture—A Dutch Family preparing for a Walk; and Messrs. Foster and Earl display considerable talent in their copies from the Landscape and Cattle, by Cuyp. Other admirable works by Guido, Rubens, Bassan, Ruysdael, Vanderneer, and Canaletta, have met with a host of imitators, from whose talents we may anticipate, at no distant period, pictorial excellency of the first order. I should discover a want of gallantry, and, indeed, be most unjust, were I not to say that the ladies, in nearly all their undertakings, have exerted their utmost to excel; those especially, who have executed copies in water colours deserve the highest recommendation.
G.W.N.