ABSTRACT
647 There is at least one train of reflection which a wore cursory inspection of the Royal Academy’s Catalogue for 1859 is very apt to set going. Erom its first page wo learn that it has had no less than ninety predecessors, and from its last that no less than one thousand three hundred and eighty-two distinct works have been added since this time last year to the wealth of the country in objects of art. Tho younger societies have contributed each its quota of two or three hundred, so that we may estimate the entire gain as something considerably over two thousand. Wo must remember that this is a net gain not liable to deductions on the score of items previously counted in former returns, and that it may fairly be looked npon as representing a regular annual increase. The first feeling will naturally bo one of pardonable pride that we can, among us, produce and absorb so much of what at the same time indicates and tends to promote refinement and cultivation ; that there is so much fertility of invention among our artists, and so much appreciation and encouragement of art among the public. There are countries now famous as having been the birthplaces of schools of painting, which during their whole career did not produce much more than a tithe of the number of works that each year cover the walls of the various London exhibitions ; and this, too, at a time when art was almost the only outlet for thought. But then comes the question, how much of all this is real gain—how much apparent only? What proportion of tlio whole display is mere repetition, or, failing to attain even that negative success, is simply a retrogression In short, if the language of war may be used in discussing an eminently peaceful subject, what proportion there is between the effectives and the noneffectives among the pictures of the year? To facilitate as far as is possible the answering of this question should bo the aini of all honest criticism. It is to little purpose that beauties are extolled or blemishes pointed out unless this object bo kept in view. Eor this reason the motto adopted by the Iloyal Academy for this year’s cataloguo is open to objection. We ought by no means to rest satisfied bccausc a thing is ‘in suo genere satis eficc-tum,’ The value of the genus is an earlier and far moro important subject for consideration, especially in art. . Art is properly a language, and if the thing to be expressed is worthless,it matters very little about the. form of expression. The ballad of Yillikins and his Dinah was beyond a doubt ‘in suo genere satis efïectum,’ but its genus cannot bo described as one likely to confer any lasting benefit npon English literature. This is a point upon which the critic is too often not sufficiently careful. The temptation Io talk of breadth, depth, juiciness, chiaroscuro, impasto, and’tho like, is very great, and onco he begins to flourish his vocabulary Jio is very apt to forget the weightier matters of purpose, tendency, and subservience to the true end of art—an error which is somewhat akin to judging of a stcam-engino by the polish of its parts and the neatness of its joints, without considering whether it is ablo to communicate power or motion. Looked at from this point of view, the present exhibition of the Royal Academy is at once encouraging and the reverse. It is encouraging as showing an unusual amount of careful work on the part of the younger and less known exhibitors ; carcful, not merely in execution but in intention. It is discouraging as showing the opposite on the part of many to whom we have been accustomed to look with confidence. Tlioro is not this year that difference between ‘the line’ and the rest of the walls which we generally find. . Tho line pictures as a whole are not those which demand the greater part of the visitor’s attention. Many of them are excellent, but more of them than usual are mediocre, and some are remarkable for little else than slovenliness of thought as well as of hand; while above and below the line there is more thoroughly honest and conscientious painting, and a greater number of pictures obviously misplaced than most 648recent exhibitions have been able to boast of.
