The reviews given here from the Art Journal in June 1864 were part of a retrospective on Eyre Crowe ('British Artists: their Style and Character - No. LXXIII - Eyre Crowe'), written when Crowe was coming into prominence as part of a group of young artists, and it is notable that they are of a rather more laudatory character than those which were published at the time.

The quotations at the head of each section are taken from Graves' list of Royal Academy exhibitors, and represent the inspiration for the painting, as submitted to the Academy's catalogue by Eyre Crowe.

Title: Luther Pasting his Theses on the Church Door of Wittenberg - Portraits are introduced of Tetzel, Luther's father and mother, and sister, of Catherine Bora, Lucas Cranach, etc., etc. (1864)

Medium: oil

Size: 49½ inches by 78 inches

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1864

Current owner: Bob Jones University Museum and Art Gallery, Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Image available on the Bob Jones University Museum and Art Gallery website

The Times, 30 Apr 1864:

This is by many degrees the most important work, in scale and number of figures, yet attempted by Mr. Crowe. It is very commendable for the absence of vulgar exaggeration and melodramatic, ever-changing emotion and expression, is soberly and knowingly coloured, and well drawn and composed.

Athenaeum, 7 May 1864:

We do not remember an Exhibition where so many young and yet well-known artists established their reputation on such satisfactory grounds as in the case in the present display ... Mr. E. Crowe is one of those artists who seem to have set themselves firmly in the way of success. He has never painted so well, notwithstanding a little slightness here and there, than in Luther Posting his Theses on the Church-Door of Wittenberg (360) ... The background is reproduced from a sketch made on the spot ... The effect is sunlight, and the whole picture is brightly painted; some points of the drawing might be improved.

Illustrated London News, 21 May 1864:

The most elaborate picture Mr. Crowe has painted, and also the best ...

Art Journal, 1864, p. 159 [Royal Academy Review]:

The studious and faithful chroniclers of history are increasing in number and augmenting in diligence ... E. CROWE, by his picture of the present year, 'Luther posting his Theses on the Church Door of Wittenberg' (360), will sustain, if not extend, the reputation he has already made. The scene, which is striking, the artist has effectively put upon canvas ... Mr. Crowe, if he had been in the service of the pope, could scarcely have satirised Luther more cruelly ... We must exclude, then, the principal figure in Mr. Crowe's picture from commendation; excepting this one mistake, which is fortunately not absolutely fatal, we can declare the composition, both in management and execution, satisfactory.

Art Journal, June 1864:

His greatest essay in painting is the Luther of the present year... His work shows the artist to be on the high road to distinction, and that he stands in the front ranks of those who are seeking for, and ought to have, early admission among the members of our chief Art-institution.

Francis Turner Palgrave, 'The Royal Academy of 1864', re-published in Essays on Art (Macmillan & Co., 1866):

Like Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Crowe has also made a step forward. His drawing is a great advance upon what satisfied the world of art twenty years ago before the Westminster Hall competitions gave us a start; and his colouring, although not so tender and transparent as Mr. Hodgson's, is as vigorous and firm. His principal picture - Luther posting his anti-indulgence theses on a church door - cannot, we are sure, satisfy so thoughtful an artist in regard to the central personage. Perhaps the Luther should have been brought nearer the eye; as it is, he is an ineffective and inappropriate figure. Tetzel on one side, on the other side the honest German citizens who sympathize with Luther's onslought against abuses and hypocrisies, are animated and characteristic.

This painting was twice as large as Brick Court, and Crowe's diaries reveal that it was worked on for a year before its exhibition. It is not known when it was first sold, but F W Cosen put it up for auction at Christie's London in 1890, where it was bought by Sir F T Mappin for £86 2s 0d. The painting was sold again at Christie's in 1910, this time reaching £110 5s 0d. It is currently part of the collection at the Bob Jones University Museum and Art Gallery, Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.A., under the title Wittenberg, October 31, 1517. It was purchased by the gallery in 1970 following an auction at the Central Picture Galleries, New York. Postcards and photographic reproductions of the work are available from the Gallery. 

Title: Dean Swift Looking at a Lock of Stella's Hair (1864)

Medium: oil

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1864

The Times, 30 Apr 1864:

We prefer for expression Mr. Crowe's other picture, the single figure of Swift grasping the paper which contains a lock of Stella's hair. There is intensely painful feeling in the face and attitude, and yet it bears dwelling on.

Athenaeum, 7 May 1864:

Dean Swift looking a a lock of Stella's hair (594) is a more complete picture than the last [Luther] ... Mr. Crowe has produced his best picture in this work. The face of Swift is given with remarkable power. The painting is equal throughout; the colour is better than Mr. Crowe's wont, and the accessories are produced with care and solidity.

Illustrated London News, 21 May 1864:

Varied as are the merits of [Luther], we think the single figure of Swift gazing with sternly repressed emotion at a lock of Stella's hair is still finer in expression and power of painting.

Art Journal, 1864, p. 159:

The introduction of portraits has the merit of blending with history the individuality of biography, after a manner which makes each enhance the interest and value of the other. Another carefully studied picture by [Crowe], 'Dean Swift looking at a lock of Stella's hair' (594) illustrates with faithful hand and severe truth a melancholy page in the annals of literature.

Francis Turner Palgrave, 'The Royal Academy of 1864', re-published in Essays on Art (Macmillan & Co., 1866):

We might repeat the principal part of this criticism [see criticism of Luther, above] in regard to Mr. Crowe's 'Only a woman's hair' - Swift's bitter endorsement on the paper which contained Stella's. Everything here in the room, the accessories, and the attitude, are so good, that more force, and especially more warmth of colour in the Dean's features, are felt as wanting to stamp the work with unity and central interest.

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This painting was in the collection of Mr L.V. Flatou, and was sold to a Mr Paton at auction by Messrs Christie, Manson and Woods at their auction house on King Street, St James’s Square, on 26 May 1866, fetching 100 guineas.

Title: Whitefield Preaching in Moorfields, A.D. 1742 (1865)

Medium: oil

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1865

Athenaeum, 13 May 1865:

This is one of the artist's best pictures, although it is rather hard in treatment; much of that characteristic being due to a conscientious attempt to give the effect of open daylight ... That Mr. Crowe has made this hurly-burly almost too potent in his picture was an error on the strong side. His work is a little opaque, but very solid and rich in characterization ... The colour of the picture is rather cold.

The Times, 24 May 1865:

Mr. Eyre Crowe in all his series, and it is a long one, of pictures illustrating the past in the biographies of famous men, has not painted a better picture than his 'Whitefield in Moorfields', though we should say he has had better subjects. After all, Whitefield ... preaching in the midst of the booths of Moorfields Fair was an impertinence, whatever the preacher's zeal... Mr. Crowe has given a very clever realization of the scene from his journal ... But John Wesley among the miners of the Forest of Dean would have been a nobler as well as a more picturesque illustration of the Methodist Apostolate.

Art Journal, 1865, p. 164:

Mr. Crowe has been regarded by some as the coming man - the future Academician. His abilities are undoubted, but it is a matter of regret that he cannot, with all his resources at his command, manage to paint an agreeable picture. His figure of Luther last year was a failure: his chief character, that of Whitefield, in the present composition, cannot but be regarded as a blunder. The head has been designated wooden; the action of the preacher's arms has reminded some people of a see-saw, or the motion of a windmill ... the brilliant effect which Cuyp or Vander Helst would have educed by the strongest of foils is missed by Mr. Crowe. The best part of the picture is a gaily-dressed Merry Andrews group, thrust into the corner, and all but out of sight. Yet, though Mr. Crowe's arduous undertaking has not been crowned with success, it must be admitted that redeeming points may be found in scattered profusion. The heads are marked by character, the details by study, the execution by patience.

Illustrated London News, 22 July 1865 [in which a full-page engraving of the picture was published]:

Among our younger painters of historical genre, Mr. Crowe has taken a distinguished place, by virtue of a series of well-composed, carefully-studied, and soundly-painted pictures which have been exhibited within the last few years at the Royal Academy.

Francis Turner Palgrave, 'The Royal Academy of 1865', re-published in Essays on Art (Macmillan & Co., 1866):

This artist has a dry and hard handling, and appears to take little pleasure in his colour, although what he gives honestly attempts to render natural lighting - a rarer quality than one might imagine amongst oil-painters, sorely tempted to get effects by ingenious devices which they know will often pass muster ... The preacher, in full dress, is haranguing a small audience whom he has withdrawn from the rival attractions of a fair. Girls press forward eagerly; one hands him notes from inquiring sinners, another has thrown herself on the ground in the ecstacy of awakened consciousness. Soldiers and merry-andrews are playing off on the preacher their practical jokes, in which the grimness very much exceeds the humour. We would suggest that this picture would engrave well, and be likely to succeed.

Title: The Betrothal of Burns and Highland Mary (1866)

Medium: oil

Nothing is known about this picture except that it was noted in The Scotsman, on 17 April 1866, as one which Crowe was to exhibit at the forthcoming Royal Academy exhibition. It was never exhibited, so was presumably rejected at either the selection or hanging stage.

Title: Reynolds' First Sketch (1866)

Medium: oil

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1866

Athenaeum, 12 May 1866:

The 'young men' of this period, with one or two noteworthy exceptions - such as are afforded by the practice of Messrs. Marks and Crowe, - are in too great haste to realize the reward, and do not care for labour.

Illustrated London News, 19 May 1866:

Mr. Eyre Crowe usually exhibits far more important works than his picture of the boy Reynolds making his first sketch of the grammar-house at Plympton, or than his 'Competitive Examination' which seems a rather unfortunately-chosen subject.

Athenaeum, 19 May 1866:

The architectural part of this picture has evidently been painted 'on the spot', and is thus made doubly interesting. Though rather hard, it is bright and clear; the figures tell the story with completeness and are artistically treated.

Art Journal, 1866, p. 166:

'Reynold's First Sketch' (394) is better [than 'Competitive Examination']: the arched and columned corridor is well painted.

Title: Competitive Examination (1866)

Medium: oil

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1866

Illustrated London News, 19 May 1866:

Mr. Eyre Crowe usually exhibits far more important works than his picture of the boy Reynolds making his first sketch of the grammar-house at Plympton, or than his 'Competitive Examination' which seems a rather unfortunately-chosen subject.

Athenaeum, 19 May 1866:

Competitive Examination (603), represents the ordeal of a large school of young ladies before the government inspector, who sits on a platform in their midst. Before him a damsel does her best on the 'black-board'; many more girls are arranged in rows at the desks, conning their tasks or preparing answers to the terrible master's questions. The faces are remarkable for diversity of character, varied prettiness without frivolity, and that fidelity to Nature which approaches portraiture without being merely literal. It must be a trying task to examine the results of the working of so many fair heads, some of which must, of course, be those of dunces. That of the gentleman is the least good figure in the picture: this seems to be due in some degree to an effort to avoid making a likeness of the much-enduring mortal upon whom a stern sense of duty must weigh with dreadful force. This artist rightly relies upon characterization for success, and deserves high applause for the result.

The Times, 22 May 1866:

'Competitive Examination' (603), where a bevy of tempting-looking young ladies, in sober frocks, with pretty little fly-caps over their smooth hair, are hard at work, with book, slate and blackboard, before a demure young examiner. The picture is hung too high for proper appreciation, but seems to be rather hardly and 'hungrily' painted, though there is both grace and refinement in the girls' figures and faces, and Mr. Crowe has resisted temptations to vulgarity which might have led away many painters of such a subject.

Art Journal, 1866, p. 166:

E. CROWE's meritorious efforts scarcely realise the promise indicated by works exhibited some years back. If the pupils in 'Competitive Examination' (603) were not more successful than the picture in which they here appear, they must, indeed, have come to a bad end.

Crowe's first Royal Academy painting not on a historical theme, since Slaves Waiting for Sale in 1861, Competitive Examination was perhaps suggested by his experiences as an itinerant Inspector of government art schools in the provinces.

Copyright (c) 2005 Kathryn J. Summerwill. All rights reserved.