All art treasures are prone to fabled accounts, none more pertinent to Anglo-French artistic relations of the 1820s than Constable's The Hay Wain. It is a familiar axiom, repeated incessantly, that ...after its prominent exhibition in Paris in the Salon of 1824, the so-called 'Salon anglais', the work became entrenched in art-historical lore as a singular icon that transformed French artistic sensibilities in landscape depiction, much to the regret of Ruskin. The influence that Constable's works in the exhibition had on French painters was noted for decades and was most emphatically expressed by the anglophile critic Ernest Chesneau, who paid homage specifically to The Hay Wain when he affirmed that the painting 'firent en France un effet extraordinaire' and that 'notre grande ecole de paysage modern se rattache directement a lui Constable'.
There appear to be no statistics on how well attended the Lichfield House exhibition was during the summer 1851, although press reports noted that a 'great many of the nobility and gentry' were seen ...in these rooms.' Similarly, there is scant information on which painters took the opportunity to examine the unique exhibition contents, which one critic strongly advised, in order that they might acquaint themselves with the latest Continental trends.2 Although it is hardly likely that painters in London at this time would have overlooked the occasion to inspect the panoply of European paintings amassed for the show, few accounts indicate artists' curiosity or actual visits. Charles Eastlake, who had been elected President of the Royal Academy less than a year before, must have felt the obligation to visit the exhibition and presumably did since a catalogue is known to have been in his library. It is not likely that Millais attended the exhibition as his plan for the summer was to flee London because of the expected influx of foreigners - 'the lowest rabble of all the countries in Europe' - clogging the streets for the Great Exhibition.
The resolution to exclude easel paintings from the Great Exhibition of 1851 prevented a veritable artistic interchange between current English and Continental trends that was to be a distinguishing ...aspect of the exhibitions during the next decade, first in New York in 1853, then even more conspicuously in Paris in 1855, and again in London in 1862. Some critics thought the decision to prohibit a show of painting of European nations in 1851 was brought about because of fears that English art would pale in comparison with its foreign competitors: Yet, at the outset, the English commission had originally contemplated the prospect of incorporating a separate 'Picture Gallery' in the Crystal Palace. The proposition was so earnestly considered that preliminary plans for a building to house paintings were projected during the initial developmental phases. While the scheme was well received in Paris by more than two dozen painters, including such leading artistic voices as Baron Taylor, then the in spec tew general des Beaux-Arts, Corot, Couture, Delacroix, Rousseau, and Cogniet - the only Academician to advocate the venture.
Hauptman profiles British painter Francis Grose who lived a burlesque life. He was born in 1731, the eldest son of Francis Jacob Grose (or Grosse), who had immigrated to London from Bern to pursue ...his work as a jeweler. Grose received a classical education, from which his knowledgeable antiquarian interests developed, but he was drawn to the visual arts early, studying at Shipley's drawing school. From 1755 to 1763, Grose was also the Richmond Herald of Arms Ordinary, an officer of the College of Arms, the appointment his father procured for him, but he seemed to have little taste for the post and sold his position for 600 guineas. He became a member of the Hampshire Militia where he attained the rank of Adjunct and then Paymaster. Grose was an extraordinary polymath whose interests embraced a wide variety of fields, all approached with acuity; intelligence, and singular perseverance.
Hauptman discusses the relevance of the Royal Academy summer exhibition of 1851. Although the circumstances of the 1851 exhibition offered a significant opportunity for foreigners and habitues alike ...to assess current artistic directions, a study of its contents and organization bears further deliberation, primarily regarding the persistent critical debate of how non-member painters were represented in the exhibition.
When Jacques-Antoine Arlaud traveled briefly to London in the fall of 1721, his fame had already been well established through his highly praised miniatures and particularly by his renowned copy of ...Michelangelo's "Leda." The reason for Arlaud's decision to spend time in London, however, was not to flaunt his successes or to seek the commercial opportunities that his artistic reputation might have helped him procure. It is more likely that the underlying motive for the London trip was to help settle the affairs of his equally illustrious and recently deceased brother Benjamin. While tending to his brother's affairs, Arlaud apparently received a number of commissions from various English patrons and was highly acclaimed as "an admirably clever portraitist," but none of his contacts in London during the visit of 1721 is more unexpected or more stimulating than his association with Sir Isaac Newton. Abridged Publication Abstract
Although James Anthony Arlaud (1668-1743), né Jacques-Antoine, was a highly respected miniaturist, his extensive "fortuna critica" rested almost exclusively on two absorbing episodes in his rich ...artistic biography: a copy of a relief depicting "Leda and the swan," discussed here, and an association with the French publication of a treatise by Sir Isaac Newton, examined in the second part of this article. These fundamental focal points of Arlaud's long career, especially the copy of the Leda, effectively defined painter's reputation to the extent that his other accomplishments as a consummate miniaturist and a talented classical scholar have been often overlooked. The creation of his "Leda" and its uninhibited imagery, the tale of which reached almost mythic proportions in the 18th century, was considered an extraordinary artistic achievement among connoisseurs in Paris, London, and Geneva, just as its later history proved to be noteworthy and unexpected. There were, however, interesting ramifications associated with his Leda depiction, principally its later desecration, that not only drew the attention of Horace Walpole but indirectly appears to have found a pictorial resonance in some of Hogarth's work. Abridged Publication Abstract
