MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 2, 3 January 1881, Page 4

MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

MR. GULLY'S PICTURES.

[Melbourne Argus,^T)ecQnihGr 17.]

We made brief mention. of these jn our last notice of this court, an 4 now return to them for the purpose, of speaking of them as their conspicuous merit deserves. It is to be regretted that they should have been hung where they are, because it is to be feared that not more thaß, if so many as, five per cent of the persons "who visit the picturq "galleries extend their researches to the colonial courts down stairs. Mr. Gully's drawings are ejght in numbeT, the most striking being the Valley of the Teremaknu, on the .West Coast of New Zealand, as seen on a showery day, that is to say, under the normal condition of the atmosphere there. It is, we take ifc. the largest picture of the kind this artist has executed, and certainly one of tho best. Over a fernbrake, which with a grove of fullfoliagcd trees fills up a bright and verdant foreground, the oye ia carried onward to a broad- valley, through which, in many a sinuous fold, winds the Teretnakau, blue as the heaven which is here and there visible through the cloud-rifts above. From the opposite side of the lush valley rise two grand mountain masses, so huge in bulk and so lofty in altitude as to dwarf the forest timber at their base into dimiaiitive shrubs. A vapoury atmosphere veils the distance in a tender silvery haze, and the clouds lie so low in the air that their dissolving skirts trail along the rugged shoulder 3 and splintered peaks of tie Snow Gap Bangea, and, condensing into rain, feed the cataracts that fill the forests with liquid music. The theme which the artist has chosen is a really imposiug one, and Mr Gully is to be congratulated upon having risen to the ''height of his great argument." The elements of the picture entitled " Mount Earnehaw, Lake Wakatipu," are not dissimilar to those of the work just deBcribed; the mountain /orms are equally grandiose, but the range of vision is less extensive. The point of view is a rocky platform, and the hour sunrise. Advantage has been taken of the latter to ; introduce a .fine effect of light streaming through a ravine from the ascending orb, and smiting on a mass of rock which gives back a softened reflex of the radiance. The snow upon !he ridges shines' like silver with the lustre ifc receives from the dawniug glory in the east ; and you perceive that tbo whole landscape will 1 be presently appareled in a robe of light. But is not the cojunexion of the rapids, which are ..visible through an opening to the right, with the body of water from which they presumably descend, somewhat indefi nite $ find is thera not too much warm colour on the shadowy side of the spur, upon Iho opposite .side of the picture ? Mr Gully's capacity for dealing with storm sea-pieces io well illustrated by tho spirited composition entitled " Running for Milford Sound." The sea upon that wild coast is represented as lashed into fury by a tempest, aud a large fragment of wreck — the main iruek of & vessel that has foundered — as it is tossed on the crest of a wave in the foreground, is full of ominous suggestion. A steamer j a wrestling with wind and water nt eomß dislnnce ; and j the austere cliffa fire half- concealed by j drift and spray, while tha chasms torn in the clouds by the fury of the Rale reveal at a great height the serrated ridges of the Darran Mounlaioe, streeked with enow. " Can. a vessel live in euch a se«, and will she ba able to run into the cairn boveo of Milford Sound ?" are questions which naturally rise to the lips bs you examine this fine work. la striking contrast with the turbulence of such a scene are the brightness, plccidiiy, and tranquilily of the view of Golden Bay, Nelson, at sunset. The foreground is a scrubby beacb, with a email craft brought up a little estuary for repairs. The tide is flowing in upon a picturesquely indented shore Hue, with bold cliffs and an isolated pyrrmid of rock in the distance. The emoke of a bush fire drifts seaward from b shaggy mountain range to the right, and the lawny light of ao orange Bunset iB reflected from the waters of the bay, which once bore a ÜBtne h bad derived from a fearful mßßsacre perpetrated there, but has pince received an appellation that appears especially appropriate to it under the aspect in which Mr Gully has presented it to ut». The landscape entitled •' Gnolack, Victoria," with its effects of Bunrise and rein, ie not by «ny means one of the artist's happy effects. Its theme, in so far as the He of the land is concerned, is nn uapromiaing oae, and the horizontal lines of the clouds, and the flying showers have an unplessing effect upon the eye. On the other hand, Mr. Gully shows himself to be quite at home in pourtraying scenes like <f Mount Aspiring and Glacier," ' and the appropriately named "Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu," both 4 * of them subjects which he has made peculiarly his own.. Equally good in its way is the " Otira Gorge, West Coast Coach Hoad," the leading features of which— the road hewn out of the rocke, and "winding round high mountain walls, the cataract roaring down the ravine, the forests rising precipitously from its left bank, and the snowy summits of the alpine ranges beyond, present so many points of resemblance to the Via Mala, in Switzerland.

Mr. Gully has (several imitators — as, for example, Mr. Brandon, of Wellington; Mr. Hutton, of Dunedin; Mr. Moreton, of Invercargill ; Mr. Munlz, of Nelson ; and Mr. Neville, of Christchurch ; but although they occasionally emulate him in brilliancy of colour and accuracy of form, yet their compositions are, for the most, hard in outline and deficient in atmosphere. If some of these gentlemen were less ambitious, Yre believe they would achieve a larger measure of success. Among the pictures which appear to us to show the greatest ability and the highest promise, we should be disposed to name these or Mr. Louis. Neville, whose " Wreck on the Bandspit, north side of Otago Heads," contains some very clever passages j and as regards colour, feeling, atmosphere, and general effect is the best of the three contributed by him to the Exhibition. To all appearaacej Mr. Gully is likely to become the founder of A distinctive school of water-

colour artists in New Zealand, who will find in its magnificent scenery endlesp inspiration and an inexhaustible supply of subjects ; but those who wish to jtread.;in his footsteps would do well to obey the old maxim, Festina lente.