No. 326, A parting benediction; and No. 350, Queen Berengaria supplicating Richard I for the life of Sir Kenneth, both by C. Landseer, A. R. A., are pictures of great merit, and display great excellence of execution; though in the latter, the females do not appear to be so much interested in the fate of Sir Kenneth as we should have imagined. In fact, all the characters in this picture seem rather too quiescent for the occasion: the scene as described by Sir Walter Scott is perhaps one of the most interesting that he ever wrote-scarcely excepting that in which Claverhouse orders Henry Morton to be led to execution in the court-yard of Tillietudlem. No. 342, Jack Caton and Barra, the property of the Earl of Hillsborough, by C. Hancock. Jack and Barra-a horse and a dog-are well painted, but the picture wants day-light. A yellowish-brown horsecloth on which the dog is lying neutralizes the colour in the other parts. No. 369, "None but the brave deserve the fair," by Edwin Landseer, R. A. Two stags are seen fighting-" for love;" while the " "Rain influence, and form the prize," fair," who are sundry hinds collected in groups, and very quietly awaiting the issue of the contest that is to decide which shall be the " Vir gregis," i. e. the best man of the herd. The animals are excellently painted; but the bog-like water in the glen below does not harmonize with the grey mist on the hill. We hope that Edwin Landseer is not about to adopt that abominable asphaltum which is at present so much admired by one of his fellow-academicians. No. 370, Mango, winner of the Doncaster St. Leger, 1837, the property of C. C. Greville, Esq., by A. Cooper, R. A. The late Sam. Day is on the back of Mango; The Drummer is seen to the right, and in the back ground is perceived a horse travelling-box, alias a caravan. Mango is painted with great force, every point is well made out, and the artist has been singularly happy in indicating his rotundity of form ;he is, we believe, one of the "longest girthed" race horses of the day. The Drummer, by the bye, is a lucky travelling companion; he has twice travelled to Doncaster per caravan with a winner of the St. Leger, -with Elis in 1836, and Mango in 1837. Mr. Cooper is unusually strong in his portraits of racers this year. Another of his thoroughbred ones is No. 454, Airy, the winner of the Brighton Stakes, 1837, with little Will. Day on his back, looking as knowing as if his young head contained all the mystery and turf wisdom of an old leg. Airy is well painted; but though he has run two or three good races, and Airy though he be, he is not one of that class of flyers who can outstrip the wind. No. 385, A halt on the fells of Cumberland, by T. S. Cooper. The animals in this picture are extremely well painted, and grouped with great skill. The Drover, the woman bargaining for the milking of the cows, and the girl with her pail, give great interest to the subject; and the scenery is appropriate and locally correct. No. 386, Osteria di Campagna. Vettura, or, as we should say in England, coach, travellers about to start after finishing their repast, by C. W. Cope. This is one of the best and most interesting pictures of its class in the exhibition. The conceited Englishman with his glass at his eye, haggling with the inn-keeper, his companion with the Manuel du Voyageur, sticking out of his breast-pocket, the wine-loving friar, the maestro giving a piece of money to the boy, the singers, the jovial German students, the priest reading, the driver lighting his cigar at that of the old soldier, are all excellent. Though containing so many figures there is no confusion in this picture; it is understood at a glance; and the execution is equal to the conception. No. 438, Rowland Errington, Esq. and No. 501, Lord Gardner, are two highly finished equestrian portraits, by F. Grant. The likenesses of these two choice specimens of the modern English fox-hunter are good; and the horses are worthy of their riders, though we do not like the action of the steed on which Lord Gardner is mounted. Two better-looking men it would not be easy to find, either at Melton-Mowbray or elsewhere; yet so exciting is the chase that neither of them, though unmarried and possessing an ample fortune, hesitates to risk his neck and be "torn though stiff thorn hedges at the rate of twenty miles an hour," for the pleasure of being in at the death of a strong-smelling animal whose flesh is not fit for a christian man's food, and whose skin would scarcely make a cap for an under-hostler. FLOREAT SCIENTIA! No. 462, A distinguished member of the Humane Society, by Edwin Landseer, R. A. A large Newfoundland dog is seen lying on a quay or wall, just above the level of the water; his look is full of sagacity, and he seems as if on duty-keeping a look-out for such objects as may have an especial claim on his attention as a member of the Humane Society. This is certainly by much the best of the artist's animal paintings in the present exhibition. No. 483, Tickling the ear, by J. Ward, R. A. As this picture has been painted for us, the writer of this article, though without order we feel ourselves in duty bound to explain it. It is allegorical, as will be perceived by the following lines, which Mr. Ward quotes from a poet of whose name we never before heard: "He can paint a bull's head, a pig, or a donkey, Vide the Bull-fight, by Bedgerit Baitum. Though Mr. Ward says "Vide," as if the Bull-fight were as comeat-able as the Racing Calendar, yet we think that the following extract, from our notice of the exhibition last year, will prove that Mr. Ward has merely employed his friend Mr. Baitum, to hammer out a poetical motto from our prose: "Mr. Ward can paint a bull's-head admirably; but for the sake of others' feelings, if not from a regard to his own reputation, he ought not to have exhibited so horrible a thing as No. 446. which he intends for the head of Christ; and we are surprised that the council should have admitted it. If Mr. Ward be not a Unitarian in principle, he is so in this painting, for he has deprived Christ of his divinity. No. 215, Plenty, by the same artist, shows how great is Mr. Ward's poverty in the treatment of such subjects. His riches are in horses and cattle, and he should not quit the farm to appear a very poor artist in the paths of allegory*." In return for the preceding observations, Mr. Ward this year takes his revenge, in the picture entitled "Tickling the Ear;" thus proving that he can paint an allegorical subject, and, at the same time, inflict a severe chastisement on his "sense-able critic." The picture is the only one of Mr. Ward's in the exhibition that is in the least worthy of his talents; and certainly displays much more fancy than we had previously given him credit for. The allegorist-bull is mounted by the critic-monkey; and while Taurus turns his eye backward with aspect most malign, Pug endeavours to sooth his anger by tickling his ear with a peacock's feather. The attempt to conciliate evidently irritates the bull more-just as our tickling Mr. Ward's ear, by praising him as an animal-painter, has only tended to provoke him further. We trust that Mr. Ward will send this picture to 399, Oxford Street, at the close of the exhibition, for the purpose of being engraved. Before quitting Mr. Ward, we must be permitted to notice another allegorical subject by him,-No. 281, Ignorance, Envy, and Jealousy, filling the throat, and widening the mouth of Calumny, endeavouring to bear down Truth." We shall not venture on any description of the subject, but merely observe that it is a pictorial attempt to explain the metaphysical query, originally propounded, we believe, by Slawkenbergius: "An ne chimera bombinans in vacuo possit comedere secundas intentiones ?" Mr. Ward, we perceive maintains the affirmative. The description of this picture in the catalogue is accompanied by some truly original verses by another of the painter's poetical friends, named Mohis Burrowhill. 66 No, 512, Merry Christmas in the Baron's Hall, by D. Maclise A. R. A. This picture displays many exeellencies and one glaring fault; almost every single figure, and every group, viewed separately, possesses great merit, but the painter has permitted his imagination to outrun his judgment. The bye play of the accessories diverts the attention of the * New Sporting Magazine, for June, 1837, p. 418. spectator from the principal action. When nearly half of the company in the hall are utterly heedless of the bringing in of the boar's head, though accompanied with singing and instrumental music, it can scarcely be expected that it should forcibly arrest the attention of the spectator. It does not disturb the game of the party who are engaged at hunt the slipper; the masquers heed neither the symphony nor song; and one of the jugglers is so little moved that the feather continues balanced on his nose. Considered in detail, as a number of unconnected scenes represented on the same canvass, this picture is good, always excepting the slipper-hunters, most of whom we have seen too often before. Mr. Maclise must have been sadly at a loss for a group to fill up his fore-ground when he introduced this party, which more than any other contributes to destroy the unity of the subject, and to spoil, by the gaudy clothing of the figures, the harmony of the colouring. The characters forming the procession of the boar's head,-sewer, cooks, singing boys, musicians, and guards,-are excellent, and the masquers seen regaling are no whit inferior. It is pleasant exceedingly to behold the manner in which Father Christmas, St. George, and the Dragon, are enjoying themselves; but above all in this jovial group, commend us to the fidler, whose half-and-half gravity, humble performance, and great conceit in his skill, are most admirably expressed. As this picture wants unity of interest in conception, so is it also deficient in harmony of colouring. At whatever distance we view it we perceive a flutter of colours, in which white and blue are unpleasantly conspicuous. On coming down stairs we looked into the dog-hole set apart for sculpture, but quickly retired. A more wretched exhibition of chiselled marble we have never before seen. No. 1255, Narcissus, by J. Gibson, R. A., and No. 1263, Paris and Helen, by W. Scoular, appeared to us to be almost the only things that had any pretensions to the character of real art. Neither Sir Francis Chantrey nor Sir R. Westmacott exhibits a single bust or statue this year. X. THE CARAVAN. Engraved by E. HACKER, from a Painting by A. D. COOPER. OUR plate presents a view of a caravan now frequently used in conveying race-horses from one place to another, to save time, and the animal the fatigue of travelling on his own proper legs. Mr. Terrett was the first person who used a caravan for the con |