Pictures, British and Foreign, French Gallery

British and Foreign Artists.

Rossetti, William M. "The French Gallery." Academy (November 3, 1877): 436. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Rossetti tells readers that the exhibition is not very large nor of unusual interest, save the leading work in the British section, Wilkie's oil painting, "Chelsea Pensioners reading the Gazette announcing the News of the Battle of Waterloo." He believes Wilkie's excellence has transformed a commonplace scene familiar to most due to its previous exposure as an etching into a remarkable painting that is among the best in the collection. He discusses Burnet's companion piece, plus the strengths and defects of Maigman's "L'Attenat d'Anagni."

There is an interesting discussion of Gabriel Max's painting of a Jewish scene, which Rossetti suggests should aspire to the highly-gifted poetic stanza from Shelley's "Hellas" creating a similar image in words.

Rossetti considers several Spanish pictures with brief comment, then suggests "we need not say much of the remaining foreign pictures," concluding with British pictures, mentioning Valentine, Gilbert, John Thomas Linnell and more.