VIEW OF THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN IN BRITAIN. SECTION I. Progress of Painting and Engraving in England to the commencement of the 19th century. THREE hundred years have now elapsed since the Arts of Design reached in Italy the highest perfection, and began to extend their influence over France, Germany, the Low Countries, and even Spain; yet such have been the circumstances in which Britain has been placed, that it is only since the commencement of the reign of his present majesty, that they can be considered as having taken root in the country, and that native talent has directed its energies to their cultivation. Portrait-painting indeed at all times found ready encouragement, but it was practised chiefly by foreigners who occasionally visited England, and whose period of residence was generally too short to found schools, or to improve the taste of the country. During the reign of James I., Isaac and Peter Oliver practised miniature with great success, and also painting on glass. Many of their works are preserved in the families of the nobility. The commencement of the reign of Charles the First promised to be an era auspicious to the arts; himself a devoted admirer and sound critic, he patronised them liberally, and cultivated them with passion. Rubens and Vandyke visited England, and left (particularly the latter) many admirable works; and at the same time, Dobson and Cooper flourished, the former an excellent painter of portrait, the latter of miniature; these were the first English artists who arrived at eminence in the art. Engraving also, so important to the extension of the arts of design, was much encouraged by him. Eminent engravers were invited from abroad, and received patronage and encouragement which England had never before afforded. The chief of these distinguished foreigners were, Vosterman, Hollar, Loggan, Simon and Crispin de Passe, Judocus and Henry Hondius, and W. Vaillant; and from amongst their disciples arose the first English engravers of talent who had yet appeared, namely, Payne, Faithorne; White, who principally devoted him self to mezzotinto scraping, a branch of art which began at this time to be much practised. The subsequent troubles of his reign completely checked their career, On the establishment of the commonwealth they were totally disregarded; and even the magnificent collections of works of art which Charles had formed, were dispersed, and thus the arts received a blow which a whole century did not recover. During the rest of this and the early part of the succeeding century, the only painters who appeared of any celebrity, were Sir P. Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller, both foreigners, and their reputation stood much higher than their merits entitled them to. The other names are Aikman, Sir James Thornhill, Highmore, Richardson, Hayman, Hudson, Jervas, Worlidge, and Wooton. Except the last mentioned they all devoted themselves to portrait painting; but Thornhill also exerted his talents in historical and allegorical subjects, in which he displayed a sufficiently inventive genius and ready execution; but his works are deficient in drawing and expression, and indeed all the great requisites of the grand style of art, The interior of the dome of St. Paul's, and the Great Hall of Greenwich Hos. pital, are the principal specimens of his style in this department of art; and although he enjoyed high reputation, so little was the art esteemed in the country at that time, that he with diffi, culty obtained the sum of forty shillings a square yard for these two laborious works. Although painting was at this period almost extinct, considerable employment was afforded to the engravers in executing portraits, occasional historical subjects, and book decorations. Amongst the English artists most distinguished for the success with which they cultivated the art at this time, is the respectable name of George Vertue., He was a man of talents and indus try, and has left a prodigious number of the usual subjects, portraits, antiquities, Oxford almanacks, and book decorations, many of which are works of great merit. As this species of employment was not calculated to elicit great exertions of genius, and as the means of instruction in the higher principles of art were very limited, the British engravers produced little above mediocrity. Winstanley, Smith, Pond, Knapton, Oliver, Robert and George White, Kirkal, were amongst the most respectable of this period; but the for reign artists still maintained the superiority. Among them, Vanderbank, Dorigny, Gribelin, the Vandergutchts, Baron, Scotin, Faber,are the most con spicuous. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, a brighter morning began to dawn on the art. Hogarth was now in the midst of his splendid career in a department of art in which he stands alone. Portrait, landscape, and even history, were cultivated with some success; and a succession of artists be gan to appear, who may be considered the patriarchs of the English school, such as Cotes, Ramsay, Lambert, Barrett, Stubbs, Wright of Derby, Sandby, and last of all, Gainsborough, R. Wilson, and Reynolds, who, in their respective departments,brought the art to a pitch of excellence which has not yet been surpassed. Zuccarelli, Loutherbourg, and Zoffani, were the only foreign artists of eminence who flou. rished in England during that period. Gainsborough, in a remote corner of Suffolk, by his own industry and genius, and application to the study of nature, acquired such excellence in landscape-painting as had not been equalled amongst his contemporaries, and which places him amongst the most distinguished painters in the department of art which he professed. His style was the representation of English rural scenery, which he embellished with appropriate figures, cat tle, and other interesting circumstances of pastoral life, treated with the greatest truth and simplicity; but his most esteemed works were his groupes of rustic figures, with landscape backgrounds. Gainsborough is with propriety ranked among the English landscape painters, that being the occupation in which he delighted; but from his first arrival in London early in life, he was obliged to prosecute portrait painting for a subsistence. His portraits display a masterly execution, and a thorough intelligence of colouring and effect, and were esteemed admirable likenesses; and though they were produced with little effort, he maintained a respectable rank amongst his contemporaries in that department of art. The genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds effected a wonderful revolution in the style of English art. His admiration of the Venetian and Flemish masters, seems to have led him exclusively to the study of colouring and effect, and had the greatest influence on his practice through the whole of his life. His portraits possess astonishing brilliancy and splendour of colour, and breadth of light and shadow. He has never been surpassed in the ease and elegance of his attitudes, and the air of gentility he gave his figures, as well as the sagacity and talent he displayed in seizing their characters, and disposing them, with regard to attitude and gesture, in the most appropriate manner, He also occasionally painted history; but as his taste led him chiefly to the study of colouring and effect, and his knowledge of drawing was very defective, his historical works are not remarkable for grandeur of composition or expression, or purity of design; and he sacrificed to boldness and breadth of effect, and power of colour, all the fine detail of nature so admirable in the works of Titian, P. Veronese, and Rubens. The example of Reynolds produced a very great change in the style of the English school, which, with all our admiration for his genius, we cannot deny to have been completely at variance with the soundest principles of art, by introducing a taste for gandiness and glitter, which have been too frequently mistaken for brilliancy and harmony, and usurped the place of scientific drawing, character and expres sion. Wilson possessed a fine genius and elevated taste, and the subjects he commonly painted were of a grand and heroic character; and in these he fre quently introduced figures representing scenes from the heathen mythology, which suited the dignified style of his landscape; he observed nature in all her appearances, and had a charac. teristic touch for all her forms. But in effects of dewy freshness and silent evening lights, he has seldom been equalled; his grandeur is oftener allied to terror, bustle and convulsion, than to calmness and tranquillity." Wil. son," says Mr Fuseli," is now nam. bered with the classics of the art, and though little more than a fifth part of a century has elapsed since death released him from the apathy of cogno scenti, the envy of rivals, and the ne glect of a tasteless public, his works will soon command prices as proud as those of Claude, Poussin, or Elsbeimer; the last of whom he resembled most in his fate, for he lived and died in a state nearer to indigence than ease, and as an asylum from the severest wants incident to age and the decay of powers, he was reduced to solicit the librarian's place in the academy, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments. He died in 1782." The munificence of his present Majesty, in affording a dignified asylum to the arts by founding the Royal Academy, was highly beneficial to their further progress; and accordingly the number of eminent artists greatly encreased, and the arts were honoured and re spected in a degree which had never till then been known in Britain. As the powerful stimuli to excellence in the higher departments of art, which brought them to such perfection in an cient Greece and Rome, and in modern Italy under Julius and Leo, namely, their application to sacred purposes, are wanting in England, historical paint ing has not received the steady encou ragement necessary to call forth the energies of her artists, who have in general been doomed to exhaust their talents in the more humble pursuit of portrait painting. Towards the close of this century, however, the want of national liberality was in some degree supplied by the spirit and enterprize of various individuals, who, as a matter of commer. cial speculation, formed galleries of art, in which all the talent of the English school was called into requisition. The most extensive undertaking of this description was the Shakespeare Gallery, founded by the late Alderman John Boydell, consist ing of a series of pictures from the most interesting scenes of that poet; amongst which were many fine specimens of Sir J. Reynolds, Romney, Barry, Opie, Tresham, Graham, West, Fuseli, Northcote, Smirke, Stothart, &c. About this time Barry executed his celebrated work in the Adelphi, which is entitled to our particular notice, whether from its intrinsic merits as being the greatest work of the kind which England can boast of, the liberal and disinterested motives by which he was actuated, and the very peculiar circumstances under which it was produced. Although Barry could hardly procure a subsistence as an historical painter, yet he disdained to sacrifice to portrait painting the powers of which he was conscious; and as an ardent love of his art prevailed over every considera. tion of pecuniary emolument, he was only anxious to signalise himself by some great work, upon whatever terms he could procure employment. With this view, he proposed to the Society of Arts to decorate gratis their hall in the Adelphi, with a series of pictures, representing subjects which should bear a reference to the purposes of the Institution. This offer being thankfully accepted by the society, who also agreed to provide the materials, Barry engaged in the work with his wonted ardour and enthusiasm. The subject he chose, was the progress of society from a state of barbarism to refinement, in a series of six pictures. The first is the story of Orpheus, or the first dawnings of civilization, in which that personage appears as the founder of Gre cian theology, uniting the character of legislator, divine, philosopher, poet as well as musician; the second is a Grecian Harvest Home, or Thanksgiving to the rural Deities, Ceres, Bacchus, &c. the third, Crowning the Victors at Olympia; the fourth, Commerce, or the Triumph of the Thames; fifth, The Distribution of the Premiums at the Society of Arts; and the sixth, Elysium, or the state of final retribution. These pictures are each eleven feet six inches in height; the first, second, fourth and fifth are fifteen feet wide, the other two no less than fortytwo feet. This great work he accom. plished in three years, a space of time wonderfully short, when we consider its magnitude, the amazing number of figures it contains, and that the whole was executed by his own hand. If any thing were wanting to excite our highest admiration for his generous enthusiasm, we have only to add, that during the whole period in which he was engaged on this work, he sacrificed every personal comfort and enjoyment, subsisting on the produce of etchings and designs executed after the labours of the day were concluded. Barry was a man of original genius and elegant taste, profoundly versed in the theory and principles of his art, as is amply attested by his pictures and literary works. His invention was copious, his drawing scientific and correct, and he was peculiarly successful in representing the female form with the most interesting grace and elegance; but his colouring was not equal to his other excellencies. Romney, Hoppner, and Opie, were portrait painters of great talent, who Occasionally executed historical or fancy subjects; the birth of Shakespeare and Cassandra, painted for the Shake15speare gallery, are excellent specimens of Romney's style of composition. The fancy subjects of Hoppner are distinguished by great taste in compoEsition, correctness of drawing, and powerful and harmonious style of cofouring. Opie, having begun his ca. reer in a remote part of the country, without the opportunity of instruction except what the study of nature afforded, was defective in drawing and grace. He painted many great historical works, which display a powerful conception, characteristic expression, scientific dis tribution of light and shadow, and an admirable tone of colour; his heads in general are deficient in dignity of elevation of character, as he servilely copied his model without attempting to ennoble or improve it; and he has been frequently compared to Michael Angelo Carravaggio, whom he closely resembled both in the beauties and de. fects of his works. SECTION II. Progress of Sculpture till the com mencement of the 19th century. The style of sculpture in England had long been characterized by a go thic stiffness of manner which prevailed till the beginning of the eighteenth century, when Rysbrack and Roubiliac introduced considerable improvements into the art, by discarding the dryness and formality which till then had prevailed. The only sculptors during the reign of James I. and Charles I., were Nicholas Stone, born at Exeter in the year 1586, and his three sons, Henry, Nicholas and John. Of this family, there is a curious and very interesting account in Walpole's anec dotes. The elder Stone was also much employed as an architect, as well as a carver on wainscot. The following are recorded as work. men employed by Stone, Humphrey Mayor, John Hargrave, John Schurman.+ During the reign of Charles the Second, Cibber, (father of the celebrated poet and dramatist,) a native of Holstein, came to England. He was a man of taste and genius, but although he was much employed, he formed no disciples capable of maintaining or im proving the credit of English art. The figures of Melancholy and raving Madness, on the gate at Bedlam in Moor. fields, are the finest of his works, and place him in a very high rank as an artist. He also executed the greater part of the statues of the kings, and that of Sir Thomas Gresham, in the Royal Exchange. Rysbrack arrived in England in 1720. Till this time, sepulchral monuments were distinguished only by the richness of their canopies, fret-work, and other trifling details, and the variety of their mar bles and gilding, depending more on the labour of the mason than the skill * Nicholas Stone was buried in St Martin's church, and on the north wall within the church is the following inscription, accompanied with a profile of his head :— "To the lasting memory of Nicholas Stone, Esq. master mason to his majesty; in his lifetime esteemed for his knowledge of sculpture and architecture, which his works in many parts do testify, though made for others, will prove monuments of his fame. He departed this life on the 24th of August 1647, aged sixty-one." + Schurman executed the monument of Lord Belhaven, in the chapel of the Abbey of Holyroodhouse at Edinburgh. |
