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FINE ARTS.ROYAL ACADEMY, SOMERSET-HOUSE.No. 258. Snetv Storm.: Hannibal and his Army crossing the Alps. By T. M. W. Turner, R. A.—Human genius, we know, does not follow the trodden path of the vulgar—he takes his flight above the common spheres and often conceals himself in the regions of the clouds. From thence he shoots his lightnings, thunders upon our understanding, and astonishes the world: but is it not often the case, that we admire his works because he is hidden from us, and that if we were more acquainted, or even acquainted at ail, with the means he employs the spell should soon be broken ? At first sight the Passage of Hannibal across the Alps strikes the imagination. The awful sight of the sun bedimmed, by convulsive clouds, and tremendous tempests, torn, on the canvas, by the unruled rage of a w©nder-working brush; sheets of half-congealed water pouring from the skies; the glare of the snow, and a few individuals on the fore-ground, where the pencil and the pallet, as if in a drunken fit, seem to have vied with each other which might contribute the most to the insignificant daub—this is all that excites our astonishment when at a diistance, and all we can find when we approach nearer. We have always felt a decided aversion against the fashionable manner and ephemerous success of those who work merely for effect. We have long been persuaded, and remain still of opinion, that it is a paltry trick played upon the innocent sight of those who are not perfectly acquainted with what real painting is. Did the masters and luminaries of the antient schools produce the admirable effect which we find in their works by these means ? Certainly not; every branch of the art was treated freely by them ; no spurious scuifKbling ever usurped the place of the real and genuine exertions of a clear mind and of a skilful hand ; and we do not share the happiness of those who publish * that many good thoughts may be fortunately elicited out by an accidental dash; that we are to learn from shapeless holes and moisture-wrought inequalities on a wall how to compose ; and that we can fertilize the barrenness of our imagination with heaps of rubbish, forms in the clouds, or figures in the burning coals of our grates. De nihilo nil jit; we understand that no good performance can arise from an unthought of subject,. and without a previous plan. The picture under consideration is one of those productions that seem to have been flashed out, when the artist was, like the imprdvisatore of the satyrist, Stans pede immo} and far from what we expect of the well-tried talents of Mr. Turner, Had we to review the timid endeavours of a novice in the art, or the first and rapid sketch of a youthful mind, pregnant with grand and bold ideas, and whose hand can hardly follow the velocity of the conceptions in their flight, we should have most willingly laid down the rod of severity—but here, the artist is an Academician, a man to, whom tilt British Muse of Painting has long looked up for the addition of new rays to his celestial crown ; a man whose example is of the greatest import to young practitioners; and we hope, that our observations will indue# him henceforth to embody his sublime ideas in a manner more like substance and shape. This style of Painting reminds us of the man who had, at the solicitation of an ignorant financier, undertaken to paint the plafond of his villals staircase. The subject was to be the drowning of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea. The artist more cunning in his tricks than in his profession, smeared the whole with tints of red—not a figure was to be seen. When the proprietor cam? to see the work finished, he asked, very hastily, u What is all this?”— “ The Red sea,” answered the man.—u Well, but where are the Egyptians?”—“Drowned,” said the painter;—“ But the Israelites, Where
Newspaper Details
London National Register
London, Middlesex, GB
Sun, Jun 07, 1812
Page 12
Full Page
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Adam N.
NA, 02 Nov 2024
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