Dudley Gallery, first notice

Dudley Gallery exhibition of 1875.

Rossetti, William M. "The Dudley Gallery." Academy (October 10, 1875): 182. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Rossetti notes the alternating content of the gallery, with this year's containing oils rather than watercolors. He finds the gallery ordinary and commonplace, but states that there are clever, superior works among the group to be discovered by those with the endurance to look for them.

The majority of the review is concentrated on the works of James McNeil Whistler, whom Rossetti extols as "the leading exhibitor of the year." This is consistent with Rossetti's typical pattern of critical focusing on and elevating a non-Academician as a circumspect way to reinforce non-Academy aesthetic theory and to reinforce PRB principles.

The remainder of the review includes mostly praise for George Frederick Watts (one painting declared unsuccessful) and Hughes. Once again, Rossetti uses artists aligned more with aestheticism than with the Royal Academy to subtly devalue Royal Academy proscription.

It is notable that James McNeil Whistler and George Frederick Watts are part of Rossetti's inner circle of friends who frequented Cheyne Walk (Reminiscences 2:316, 336) and that Rossetti testified on James McNeil Whistler's behalf in his suit against Ruskin (Rossetti 373n).