CHAPTER VII.

ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION OF 1838..-LETTER TO MR. COLLINS, R. A.-MISS WILKIE, -SIR WILLIAM KNIGHTON.

LADY BAIRD.

-SIR WILLIAM ALLAN. —AND SIR ROBERT PEEL.-ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITIONS OF 1839 AND 1840.

IN the new exhibition rooms Sir David had six pictures. 1. The Queen's First Council; 2. The Bride at her Toilette; 3. Portrait of Daniel O'Connell; 4. Portrait of Mrs. Moberly; 5. Portrait of Thomas Daniell, R.A.; 6. Portrait of a Young Lady. How the artist, who had painted in colours of such delicacy and loveliness Mary, the unfortunate Queen of the North, would acquit himself in painting the youth and innocence of Victoria, her more fortunate descendant, all were anxious to know. It had been whispered about, that in the painting of his royal commission, the artist had experienced difficulties such as genius ought never to be exposed to, from the far descended and the polite. From Sir David himself, the most modest and least presuming of men, no one ever heard a complaint; but those who know the presumption and vanity of man, will not wonder at the jostle and intrigue among the sitters for place even in a picture, nor feel surprised to hear that some who were in the rear desired to be in the van, while others who modestly took the back deserved the foreground; and that some, whose fine looks, rather than fine intellect, pushed them into favour, were solicitous

about their complexions, and called out, like the expiring lady in Pope, for a little more red! This was the first council which her Majesty held: she had been awakened early in the morning with the tidings that the crown of maritime dominion the sovereignty of the seas-was awaiting her virgin brow, and that the noble and the powerful were ready to render their homage. "The Queen," says the painter, describing the picture, "is seated at the head of the council table, and holds in her hand the gracious declaration to the Lords and others of the Council, —of whom the following portraits are introduced. Behind her Majesty are the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Albemarle, the Right Honourable George Byng, and C. C. Grenville, Esq. On the left hand of the Queen are the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Marquis of Anglesea, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Harcourt, Lord John Russell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Melbourne, Lord Palmerston, the Speaker of the Commons, Earl Grey, the Earl of Carlisle, the Hon. Thomas Erskine, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Morpeth, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Lyndhurst, the King of Hanover, the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Surrey, John Wilson Croker, Esq., Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Sussex, Lord Holland, the AttorneyGeneral, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Burghersh, and the Lord Mayor of London*?”

Several of these names belong to history; and art and literature unite in preserving them from oblivion;

* Mr. Charles Fox has nearly completed an excellent engraving of the Queen's First Council, one of the many engraved works of Wilkie for which we are indebted to the enterprising spirit of Mr. Moon.

but oblivion can never be the lot of Daniel O'Connell, whose name is too indelibly impressed in the story of Ireland to be forgotten, should both art and literature unite to neglect him. His portrait is very like, but too calm, perhaps, for a man of his impetuosity of manner when moving the feelings of an audience of Irishmen on the manifold wrongs of his native land. More like him, indeed, and that was perhaps the aim of the painter, when, seeking redress from a cool, cold assembly of philosophic Englishmen, he has calmed his fiery temper down, and seeks from justice what is refused to mercy. The Bride at her Toilet interests by its truth and loveliness many who refuse to be influenced by the record of momentary things and perishable manners and customs: the figures take their expression and posture from the sentiment of the scene.

The following letter, describing the arrangements in the new Academy, may renew the remembrance of many who have forgotten the first appearance of British Art in her new abode. It may be added, that of all who objected to the accommodation and the lights, the sculptors had the most reason to complain: when they left the old for the new, they forsook the better, and took the worse. But it is said, that the sculptors, when the architect laid the drawings of the new Gallery before them, were either too diffident or too proud to tell what they wanted, and so have suffered for their silence.

TO WILLIAM COLLINS, ESQ. R. A., VENICE.

Dear Collins,

Kensington, 7th May, 1838.

Cooper, Eastlake, and I have arranged the multitudinous Exhibition, a task I never till now was able to bear an equal share in. On former occasions I was always fatigued, but now I have stuck to it day by day and hour by hour. Pictures more numerous than ever. Nearly 500 doubtful and crossed, and at least sixty of the received not hung up.

In the great room, Callcott has the centre, on the side of the door; Mulready has that at the opposite end, the bulk head; Turner has that at the bottom of the room; and I, for my Queen's Council, have that behind the president's chair. Above mine is Hayter's Queen (over the line); Hilton's Murder of the Innocents over Turner's; Sir Martin's Portrait of the late King over Mulready's; and Landseer's large Hunt over Callcott's. Sir Martin has five pictures, all in the great room. Phillips has eight, of which four are in the great room. Pickersgill has four in the great room; Briggs three; Callcott four; Turner three; Stanfield three; Lee two; Mulready one; Eastlake one; Cooper two; and I three.

Of the associates, Geddes and Maclise contribute largely, with various success in regard to places. Of the outstanders, I may mention Hollins, who has two fine pictures; and Simson, the Edinburgh Simson, now come to London to settle, who has two very clever pictures; one is Giotto discovered herding Sheep, by Cimabue. These by Simson are much liked:

they show what he has learnt by going to Italy. They are so new, that I should not have known them to be his from his former works. The Exhibition I have no doubt will be highly popular. Still, one Exhibition is very like another; and in the even tenor of our sameness, we only want you to come home, and surprise us by a new style of Italian art.

The Queen was at the private view, but did not purchase. At the dinner we had the Duke of Sussex, and all the great officers of state. The placing of the tables was nearly as of old, with some improvements the shape of the new room admits of. Turner and myself were placed at opposite ends of the upper table. The President acquitted himself in his usual happy manner, adverting to the comparison that might be unfairly made between the selection of the works of many schools, and of many ages, with those of one school, one city, and one year. No reference was made to any works in the Exhibition, except by the Duke of Sussex to some American exhibitors (whose works, I am sorry to say, are not in the best of places). There was no allusion to absent members. The effect of the speaking was much flattened by an unforeseen joy and movement out of doors, viz. the loud ringing of the bells of St. Martin's Church, so adjusted and timed, that the peals began regularly as each speaker began, and were commensurate in their continuance with the length of his speech. This, which a few half-pence might have stopped or prevented, no one thought of stirring to remove, leaving its non-recurrence to future negotiation.

From the dinner I had a message to convey to