Exhibition of British Art

Abstract

THE winter exhibition at the Royal Academy is devoted this year to British art and it was opened to the public on January 6. The first president of the Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose dignified statue by Mr. Alfred Drury, R.A., stands in the courtyard before the entrance to the Royal Academy at Burlington House, once said: “Variety reanimates the attention, which is apt to languish under continual sameness”. There is certainly no lack of variety in this exhibition. Sir Joshua was one of the earliest to make scientific experiments as to the effect of light and atmosphere upon the permanence of pigments. Since his day the chemist and physicist have given much attention to this subject, with the result that modern paintings, as well as showing great brilliance, undoubtedly possess that lasting quality which is so desirable. No. 568 in Gallery IX is a striking example, and if the rainbow is a little too solid-looking, it at least has the merit of having the colours in the right order. The greater permanence under suitable conditions of water colours, which of course do not suffer from the darkening of varnishes or media used in oil paintings, is a feature of the exhibition, and attention may be directed in this respect to No. 801, by Rowlandson, and especially to the beautiful work of Cotman, Turner and others. In the Architectural Room may be seen a case containing thirty-five watches all made in England between the years 1583 and 1751.