SCHOOL OF PAINTING AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTION, PALL MALL.

(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)


Sir,--I have recently had the pleasure of visiting the British Institution,
and hope the following remarks on a few of the best works will prove
acceptable to those of your readers who are interested in the Fine Arts.

It is customary at this Institution to open, every autumn, a school for the
study of painting, in which students have an opportunity of copying the
best productions of the greatest masters. The present school opened a few
weeks ago, and furnishes some exquisite specimens of art, which were
selected by the directors as examples for imitation. In general the
students have been very enterprising this season, and their copies, if not
quite equal in every respect to the charming originals, are nevertheless
very meritorious and masterly attempts.

_The Holy Family_, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is a remarkably fine specimen
of colour, and has been successfully copied by Messrs. Boaden, Fisk,
Child, and Inskipp. Small copies, in water colours, have also been done
from it by Miss Sharpe, and Miss Fanny Corbaux. Much praise is due to
Mr. Morton, for his whole length _Portrait of a Gentleman_, after
Vandyke; and Messrs. Simpson, Higham, and Middleton, deserve high
commendation for executing the best _fac similia_ of Rembrandt's
_Portrait of a Lady_. The _Landscape with Boors_, is a delightful little
picture by Teniers, belonging to his Majesty: numerous attempts have
been made to imitate it, but not altogether with success. Mr. Hart's
copy, however, is extremely clever. Poussin's _Landscape and Figures_,