its title, as there is no sign of rain or even wetness. A windstorm it certainly
is ; it is full of motion, though how caught on so large a scale as the compo-
sition gives is somewhat of a mystery; one suspects a clever hand more than
the lens as the agent of much of the impressive detail of this quite grand
picture. It is full of fine lighting, and if one does not inquire too closely
into the actual nature of much of it, the whole thing goes together splendidly
when viewed from the proper and respectful distance.
It was with some anxiety that one looked for Mr. Alexander Keighley’s
contribution, seeing how very strong he was last year. In No. 119, ASpring
Idyll, he has given us a picture of great, of real idyllic charm; the figures are
ideally well chosen and placed,and the trees are defined and lit in exactly right
a manner. The foreground is treated in quite the finest and truest manner
possible; the only thing I can find to take exception to is the curiously
mottled appearance of the whole, like a fine stipple; it suggests neither the
character of the paper it is printed on nor the direct influence of the nega-
tive, but a something coming between them, and I could wish the same
singularly complete charm of the picture could have been given us without
it. No. 123, The Fountain, is also a fine work, simply composed and felt,
and very fortunate in its treatment of its figures; there is no sense of incon-
gruity or forced inclusion so common to photographs with figures; these
really belong and are inseparable from it.
In No. 185, A Canal at Brugesy George Davison has a very character-
istic and delightful bit of medieval dawn. It is most ably treated in every
part — water, distant buildings, sky — all is quaintly and quietly true and
enjoyable. No. 42, St, George's, Hanover Square (sold to America), by Eustace
Calland, was a pleasurable surprise for us, as this first-rate worker has been
too long absent from our walls in things worthy of him. It is a particularly
true and pleasing reminiscence of a very striking London street; real sun-
light and a delight of a summer’s day in London pervades it.
Mr. Walter Benington does not give us anything so fine as his last
year’s triumph—indeed it would be a rare piece of good fortune to be able to
do so—but his Stonehenge, No. 90, is a characteristic piece of work. It does
not belittle the place, as almost all photography has done, and the stones
are well placed for solemn effectiveness. I am not fully convinced by his
cloud-forms, and I could wish they were away, as the grading of the sky is
otherwise quite fine, and far more impressive for the picture-effect. Also,
considering the large amount of light in the sky and the small amount of
shadow cast by the stones, I think the foreground is far too uniformly dark
and robbed of detail. The great stones would gain in impressiveness if one
better realized their bases and felt their shadows; but it is a finely imagined
effort on the whole.
In No. 148, A Graceful Tramp, and No. 152, In the Shade, we have two
very excellent pieces of work, so good in selection and feeling and treatment
that we shall look eagerly for something quite masterly soon from Mr.
Clutterbuck. The level reached in all his contributions is so consistently
high as to convince one that there are no accidents, no flukes, but good things
46