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pictures meant to teach. Though this design cannot for a moment be compared with the one just noticed (Mr. Watts's) in depth of feeling, there is yet, as there has been always in Mr. Poole's work, some acknowledgment of a supernatural influence in physical phenomena, which gives a nobler character to his storm-painting than can belong to any mere literal study of the elements. But the piece is chiefly interesting for its parallelism with that "Dedicated to all the Churches " in effacing the fearless realities of the elder creed among the confused speculations of our modern one. . . . The relation between this gray and soft cloud of visionary power (in Mr. Watts's picture) and the perfectly substantial, bright, and near presence of the saints, angels, or deities of early Christian art, involves questions of too subtle interest to be followed here; but in the essential force of it, belongs to the inevitable expression, in each period, of the character of its own faith. The Christ of the thirteenth century was vividly present to its thoughts, and dominant over its acts, as a God manifest in the flesh, well pleased in the people to whom He came; while ours is either forgotten; or seen, by those who yet trust in Him, only as a mourning and departing ghost. . . . (So with regard to this picture) the beasts in Raphael's vision of Ezekiel are as solid as the cattle in Smithfield; while here, if traceable at all in the drift of the storm-cloud (which it is implied, was all that the prophet really saw), their animal character can only be accepted in polite compliance with the prophetic impression, as the weasel by Polonius. And my most Polonian courtesy fails in deciphering the second of the four-not living-creatures" (Academy Notes, 1875, pp. 10-12).

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Sir T. Lawrence P.R.A. (1760-1830). See under 144, p. 445.

A portrait of the great actress in middle age, demurely dressed, and with matronly frontlets. Of the same lady, in her youth and beauty, there is elsewhere in the Gallery a glorious picture by Gainsborough (XVI. 683, p. 405). Lawrence was an old friend of Mrs. Siddons, who had sat for him when young in the characters of Zara and Aspasia. In spite of some idle gossip which accused him of simultaneous flirtations with both Mrs. Siddons's daughters, Lawrence remained on friendly terms with the family to the end, and this portrait was bequeathed to the Gallery by one of the daughters.

616. JAMES II. RECEIVING THE NEWS OF THE LANDING OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.

E. M. Ward, R.A. (1816–1879). See under XX. 431, p. 510. The king is in his palace at Whitehall, where a messenger has just arrived (his departing form is seen in the left-hand corner) with the news of the Prince of Orange having at last landed at Torbay, November 5, 1688 (see XIX. 369, p. 634). "The king turned pale, and remained motionless; the letter dropped from his hand; his past errors, his future dangers rushed at once upon his thoughts; he strove to conceal his perturbation, but, in doing so, betrayed it; and his courtiers, in affecting not to observe him, betrayed that they did" (Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs). In the left-hand corner of the room is the Earl of Feversham, the incompetent commanderin-chief of James's forces. With him are the notorious Judge Jeffreys; Father Petre, the intriguing Jesuit; and opposite to him, the Papal Nuncio. Beside the king is Churchill (afterwards Duke of Marlborough), who was soon to desert him. The Lord Justices, etc., whom James had summoned to his council, are grouped in the corner to the right. The queen is at the king's side, and in front is the baby prince, whose birth—as foreshadowing a Catholic succession-had hastened the coming of the Prince of Orange. To the left, listening round the corner, is a courtier, preparing, one may expect, to desert the setting for the rising star-less faithful than the hound whom the painter has introduced to give contrast to this part of the composition.

SCREEN I

1038. A SNOW SCENE.

W. Mulready, R.A. (1781–1863). See under XX. 394, p. 497. A design for a Christmas Card, it might have been-with the letterpress suggested by the group of rustics in the foreground

The rich man in his jovial cheer,

Wishes 'twas winter throughout the year;
The poor man 'mid his wants profound,
With all his little children round,

Prays God that winter be not long!

MARY HOWITT.

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John Linnell (1792-1882). See under XVIII. 438, p. 484.

917. NO NEWS.

T. S. Good (1789-1872). See under XX. 378, p. 498.

1176. A LANDSCAPE.

Patrick Nasmyth (1786-1831). See under XVIII. 380, p. 458.

1184. A FRUIT-PIECE.

G. Lance (1802–1864). See under XX. 443, p. 509.

1.225. THE ARTIST'S FATHER AND MOTHER. Thomas Webster, R.A. (1800–1886). See under XX. 426, p. 513. Painted to commemorate their golden wedding. "The unity of earthly creatures is their power and their peace; not like the dead and cold peace of undisturbed stones and solitary mountains; but the living peace of trust, and the living power of support; of hands that hold each other and are still" (Modern Painters, vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. i. ch. 6. § 2).

400.

SCREEN II

THE CATHEDRAL AT BURGOS.

D. Roberts, R.A. (1796-1864). See under 401, p. 555. The Gothic Cathedral of Burgos, the capital of old Castile, was commenced early in the thirteenth century; but was not completed till some centuries later. The staircase in the north transept, which forms the chief feature in this picture, communicates with the upper tower; for Burgos stands on the declivity of a hill, the summit of which was originally crowned by a castle, built at the command of Alphonso III. When in process of time the Moors receded gradually to the south of the city, the higher parts were abandoned for a lower position towards the plain, so that the street which is now the highest was formerly the lowest in the place; and the Cathedral is thus so situated that the whole of the north flank of the edifice, more particularly the transept itself, is partially buried by the declivity of the hill, while that to the south is clear and overlooks the whole city.

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Sir D. Wilkie, R.A. (1785–1841). See under XX. 99, p. 490.

One of the few landscapes that Wilkie occasionally painted. "I certainly wish," he wrote to Sir George Beaumont, "to get practice, and to obtain some kind of proficiency in landscape; but my ambition is not more than that of enabling myself to paint an out-door scene with facility, and in no respect whatever to depart from my own line."

442. RED CAP.

G. Lance (1802-1864). See under XX. 443, p. 509.

1183. A LANDSCAPE.

Patrick Nasmyth (1786–1831). See under XVIII. 380, p. 458. 319. CUPID CARESSED BY CALYPSO AND HER NYMPHS.

T. Stothard, R.A. (1755–1834). See under XVIII. 1069, p. 465. 329.

THE BAGPIPER.

Sir D. Wilkie, R.A. (1785-1841). See under XX. 99, p. 490.

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"THERE is no test of our acquaintance with nature so absolute and unfailing, as the degree of admiration we feel for Turner's painting. Precisely in the degree in which we are familiar with nature, constant in our observation of her, and enlarged in our understanding of her, will his works expand before our eyes into glory and beauty" (RUSKIN: Modern Painters, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. vi. ch. ii. § 4).

"TURNER will one day take his place beside Shakespeare and Verulam : a third star in that central constellation, round which, in the astronomy of intellect, all other stars make their circuit. By Shakespeare, humanity was unsealed to you; by Verulam, the principles of nature; and by Turner, her aspect. All these were sent to unlock one of the gates of light, and to unlock it for the first time. But of all the three, though not the greatest, Turner was the most unprecedented in his work. Bacon did what Aristotle had attempted; Shakespeare did perfectly what Eschylus did partially; but none before Turner had lifted the veil from the face of nature; the majesty of the hills and forests had received no interpretation, and the clouds passed unrecorded from the face of the heaven which they adorned, and of the earth to which they ministered" (RUSKIN: Edinburgh Lectures on Architecture and Painting, p. 181). TURNER is by common consent the greatest landscape painter that ever lived. But very different opinions are held upon the question wherein his greatness consists. Is it in truths that he recorded, or in visions that he

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