Frere collection

Charles Edouard Frere collection.

Rossetti, William M. "Pictures by Frere." Academy (November 13, 1875): 144. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Rossetti opens the notice with a comment regarding the insidious nature of critical over-praising of artwork. There is, Rossetti maintains, a difference between an art patron taking a liking to an artist on his or her own rather than based on inflated reviews of an artist. While Rossetti clearly thinks Charles Edouard Frere has done some excellent work, he uses nearly one third of this review to criticize the over-praising he says normally attends Frere's work based more on public perception rather than on sound aesthetic grounds. Rossetti implies that Frere has probably taken to painting for commercial success and thus has in recent years underperformed the benchmark of quality in his earlier years.

Rossetti speaks briefly of Frere's strengths, but equally of his weaknesses, and on various works collected and displayed at Waterloo Place by Agnew, many of which, according to Rossetti, are not technically even completed paintings but rather, sketches and studies.