“ in my eyes o f all portrait painters the moil: dilagreeable., In re»
“ fpect o f defign, he is indeed tolerably correct ; but in every
other particular his inferiority is decided. . His compofitions are
“ without tañe ; his light and ihade bad ; his colours cold, hard,
“ and without the leaft gradation o f lhades ; the effecfts difagree-
“ able ; his refemblances, though happy enough and to common
“ eyes ftriking, are neverthelefs wholly devoid o f dignity, and his
“ contours Iharp and harlh : he is but very imporfcClly acquainted
“ with the laws o f perfpeâive ; his figures are mean, and his dra-
" pery ftiff and conftrained.”
Mr. Lampi. The Duke and Duchefs o f Sudermania being at
Vienna, had their portraits drawn there by this artift, and fent
them to the exhibition at Stockholm. Although Lampi had not
by any means bellowed particular pains on theíe piélures, and
though they even fhew marks o f conftraint and hurry, it may be
confidently affirmed that thele two portraits eclipfed all the reft
in the exhibition, and proved the ftriking difference between the
fouthern and northern fchool. There was in thele two pictures
a noble majefty and a happy imitation o f nature. The compofi-
V°n was pleafing, ■ the colouring vivid, the effect fenfible, the
light and ihade loft, the contóurs well rounded, and the ftrokes o f
the pencil drawn with the exafl aim o f an artift.
•Mr. Antony Boffi, a miniature painter. He is a native o f V e nice,
and came to refide at Stockholm only for a time; during
which he finilhed a confiderable number o f portraits, all o f them
q f great rperit.
¡03 Among
Among the works o f the dilettanti there were fome engravings
bv Count Morner— they were happy imitations o f the German
ftyle o f mezzo tinto, which he learnt during his refidence at
Vienna, where he was in the fuit o f the Duke o f Sudermania.
Mademoifelle de Pollett, maid o f honour to the queen, dowager,
had a landfcape done in Indian ink, iketched in a very free and
happy manner. This lady is one o f the beft educated and moft
accomplifhed women I met with in the Swediih capital. She
is a native o f Stralfund in Germany.
The two rivals in landfcape painting are, Colonel Skioldebrand
and Baron de G e e r ; but there was none o f their productions this
year in the exhibition. My praifes o f the firft might have the
appearance o f partiality, and I therefore will abftain from them,
however juftly they might be beftowed; but I may venture to
lay o f the fecond, that he has a delicate and pleafing p en cil; that
he draws the figures in a lively and correft manner, though he
has not fufficiently ftudied the great mailers to have learnt the
true lhades o f perfpeftive, and the general effeil of the whole..
I ihall enter no farther into any details; and, indeed, there
would not be much to add on this fubjefl which could intereft
the reader. I will only make this general obfervation, that under
the prefent reign the fine arts, in Sweden are far from being
in a flourifhing condition. True genius and talents are not employed,
but, on the contrary, difcouraged. Sergei, we have already
mentioned, has retired under the preffure o f a deep melancholy.
Deprez is no longer engaged at the theatre ; and Belanger
too