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Rh Some notes, written by Mi'. Stott concerning his ideal of the picture of his ' Birth of ^'enus/ are before us. ' VeniiSj if ever born, must have been born fresli from the sea, from the foam beautiful and pure, with no mark of her godhead upon her but her beauty. If attendant gods there were, or Tritons or sea-nymphs, surely thej' were invisible as air, for what eyes would see, or care to see, anything which miglit interrupt this vision of creamy foam, turquoise-blue sea, and ))alpi- t.ating new-born thing, amazed at her existence ? The only possible intruder is the gull, which pauses in its flight to look.' It would be difficult for a painter to realise this ideal. As a composition of line .and colour, the picture is most skilful and delicate. The white-limbed goddess, standing with two arms outspread, is the key-note to the circular composition. About her, the curve of the wave that has given her birth, the retiring and ad- vancing froth-ci'owned water, now pushing forward, now barring the semicircular sweep ; the shimmer of light in the wet sand ; the melting away of the dis- tance into the island of Arcadia, over which hover two faint pink clouds, make up a satisfying harmony. What disappoints us is the Venus herself In his rebellion against any attempt to intellectualise art, in his passionate assertion that art must appeal by beauty only to that which is sensuous and simple with- in us, he misses, we think, its essential appeal — that of the suggestion of a spiritual beauty, of which the phj-- sical is but the emblem and token. In the ' Nymph ' sleeping in the wood, we have a ren- dering of repose and soft harmony of line. The beauty of the greenness of underwood, of sunlight dripping through the foliage, of the soft lusciousness of flowers in the half light, play about the flesh tints of the sleeping nymph, differing and yet agreeing with this chord of colour. The circular composition has once more the figure for the key-note. In his last capital work, ' Diana and Endymion,' Mr. Stott has rendered, with broad and pregnant touch, the effect of a world drenched in moonlight. The senti- ment of night imbued with radiance is given with ex- traordinary felicity. The poppies, the still trees, the dimly seen figure of iMidymion, are part of a visionary world. Out of a giant crescent, the mighty radiance of which sweeps from sky to earth, Diana has stepped, slightly veiled in a web of moonbeams. We re- produce the sketch of the figure. She walks along with a quick step : no goddess, but a perfect note of colour in this moonlight symphony. To sum up, the figures, as figures, in Mr. Stott' s work are, to our thinking, debateable. As effects of nature of the same order as the skies and streams and flowers, they are equally marvellous with these in his rendering of them. And of the natural objects in his work we may be always sure. His pure landscape offers us one of the purest delights the soul can know. To enjoy him without alloy of doubt or qualification, we must still turn to those compositions in which earth and sea and sky, and light and space, the great elemental beauties, are the all in all. We have indicated here some onlj^ of Mr. Stott's most prominent works. The exhibition of his pictures, in the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris, contained a num- ber of lesser works. Some of these, in pastels and water-colours, were gems of colour ; representing evan- escent effects of moonlight, delicate mists, sketches of sky and sea. There too were shown sketches, and more finished renderings, taken during a visit last summer and autumn in Switzerland. Mr. Stott en- camped among the frozen altitudes of the Jungfrau, and watched, through the night till dawn, the white world given over to the sway of the September moon. From this experience he has brought back impressions of a charmed scene of incomparable whiteness and gleam. In the sketches, struck off in the very heart of nature, Mr. Stott appears to us unrivalled as a poet-painter. In the sketches of heads we have reproduced, artists will, we think, admire not only a most delicate sense of beauty in line, but a power of characterisation which shows how far Mr. Stott might go as a portrait- painter, if he could dissociate his mind from the ever dominant impression of the surroundings of his figures. Alice Corkran. Mr. ORcn.RDS0N' is the painter of elegance in all its moods. His picture for the forthcoming Royal Academy represents a company of gentlemen standing round a table toasting their host. The walls of the large room are hung with tapestries ; the table is laden with fruit, flowers, plate glass, all glowing in the lamp-light. The gentlemen wear the costume of the time of the Regency. Delicate salmon-pink and golden satin coats and waist- coats give the key-note to the scheme of colour. Lace cuffs and ample neckties, their gold embroideries and jewelled swords, all the dainty masculine paraphernalia of the time, is delightfully painted. The uplifted slender hands holding the glasses filled with wine, the air of distinction of the convivial group, are rendered in Mr. Orchardson's best style. The host is an aristo- crat of the old French school, long-nosed, bright-eyed, an expression of finesse on every feature. Every accessory in the scene is painted with that sense of beauty which distinguishes Mr. Orchardson's work. A dish full of roses is a marvel of dexterous manipulation. The sheen of the satin has a flower- like sweetness of tone. It is all so charming, and yet we wish Mr. Orchardson had chosen a theme that reminded us a little less of some of his former pictures. Mr. Barrett Brow.ning is sending from his studio in the Ke/.zonico Palace, Venice, an almost full-length portrait of his father to the Spring Exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery. Mr. Browning is represented standing, and in profile. He wears a leather-coloured heavy tweed coat with a cape, negligently draped about his figure. He holds a hat in his slightly crossed hands. The attitude and the animated expression of the countenance are very characteristic of Mr. Browning. Sir James Linton has let his house and studio at Hampstead, and is about to open an art school in Kensington.