[The Figures after the Names (between parentheses) refer to the Exhibitors’ Numbers and to the Pages in theOfficial Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue.]
Jury.
G. Von Viebattn, Chairman ., Zollverein ; Privy Councillor in the Department of Commerce at Berlin.
Lord Colborne, Deputy Chairman , 19 Hill Street, Berkeley Square.
Antonio Panizzi, lieporter (Tuscany), British Museum ; Keeper of the Printed Books at the British Museum .C. 1L Cockerell, R A., Bank of England ; Architect.
J. Gibson, K.A., 7 Tilney Street, Park Lane ; Sculptor .
Lord Holland (Tuscany) ; Minister at the Court of Turin .
Count Leon de Laborde, France ; Member of Institute , &c.
General George Man lev, 19 Rutland Gate ; formerly Adjutant-General in Rome .
C. T. Newton, British Museum ; Assistant in the Antiquarian Department of the British Museum .
A. AV. Pugin, St. Augustine, West Cliff, Ramsgate ; Architect.
Lambert A. J. Quetelet, Belgium ; Secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts, and President of the Circle-Artistique, Brussels .
Richard Redgrave , K.A., IS llyde Park Gate South, Kensington Gore ; Artist.
Y. D. C. Seuumondt, Holland : late Master of the Mint at Utrecht .
Dr. C. AVaagen, Zollverein ; Director of the Museum of Fine Arts at Berlin.
AY. AA'yon, R.A., ller Majesty’s Mint; Medallist.
The Jury of Class XXX. assembled for the first time on :Monday the 12th of May 1851. Incompliance with theinstructions received from the Council of Chairmen, the iJury proceeded to elect a Deputy-Chairman, to make :arrangements as to the time and place of their future 1meetings, and to nominate Sub-Committees, who should ;lay before the Jury detailed reports upon the several •points of inquiry specially assigned to them. Lord Col-borne was elected Deputy-Chairman; and at a subsequent ;meeting the undersigned had the honour to be appointed 1Reporter. :
The Sub-Committees having brought their investiga-tions to a close with the utmost dispatch consistent withthe due performance of the arduous duties entrusted tothem, severally laid their reports before the Jury, who,after the most mature and anxious consideration, haveagreed upon their awards now submitted to the RoyalCommissioners through the Council of Chairmen. Asthe Jury of Class XXX. forms a group by itself, and isnot part of any other group of Juries, its awards have notbeen submitted to any other Jury or Juries for confirma-tion, as would otherwise have been the case, according tothe 12th Instruction from the Council of Chairmen. TheJury, however, considered it expedient to hold a specialmeeting as a group, and at that meeting the awards pre-viously made were reconsidered and finally settled by theJurors. It is therefore upon the Jury of Class XXX.alone that the whole responsibility of the awards in theClass of Fine Ails rests.
In making these awards the Jury have acted strictly inaccordance with the principle laid down by the Councilof Chairmen in their 15tli Instruction. They have beenguided solely by the merit which they have recognizedin the individual works exhibited, without reference tocountries, and considering the Exhibition as a whole.And in compliance with the 20tli Instruction, the Jury ofClass XXX. have made the proportion of the Council tothe Prize Medal, a very small one. Even had this in-struction not been laid down in such precise terms by theCouncil of Chairmen , the Jury of Class XXX. wouldhave felt it their duty to exercise great reserve in award-ing Council Medals, knowing, on the one hand, thatsuperior excellence is but very rarely attained, particu-larly in such works as fell within their jurisdiction, and
being aware, on the other, that it was only “ for verypre-eminent merit” that the Great Medal was intended.
It having already been explicitly stated that the Juryin making their awards were guided solely by the meritwhich they have recognized in the works exhibited, itmight be deemed superfluous to add more on this point;there are, however, one or two facts, obvious indeed, butyet of sufficient importance to be recalled to the minds ofsuch persons as might be led by the decisions of the Juryto draw invidious comparisons between one country andanother. It is an obvious but most important fact to beborne in mind, that with respect to the principal branchof the subjects falling under Class XXX. (Sculpture),foreigners have laboured under peculiar difficulties in1 having had to bring over from distant parts, and at con-; siderable expense and risk, statues in marble or bronzefor the Exhibition. Again, all foreign artists have notenjoyed the same means of overcoming these difficulties.In many cases their Governments have given facilitiesand assistance towards this object, but, even then, thisassistance and these facilities have varied in extent. TheJury could not moreover but feel and regret the absencefrom the list of exhibitors of the names of some of themost distinguished artists in Europe . It might be invi-dious to mention individuals, but it would be unjust topass over the fact unnoticed. Among the works, how-ever, by natives of the United Kingdom , to which Medalshave been awarded, there are two deserving notice onaccount of their being exhibited among the Roman sculp-tures— a graceful acknowledgment of the advantagesderived by the artists from that school on which theireminent success reflects so much credit.
The scope and nature of the works on which the Juryof Class XXX. were called upon to adjudicate, gave totheir position and duties a special character, and must: necessarily impose a peculiar line of conduct upon the
• Reporter.
i There is no doubt, for instance, that a history, however
• rapid, of the rise, progress, and present state of mostclasses of industry represented in the Exhibition, will, inthe majority of cases, form a part of, and add consider-
! ably to, the value of the several Reports, but to attempt, such an historical sketch with reference to the Fine Artsi must, of necessity, prove unsatisfactory and worse than