2\ Letter from John Flaxman, Esq. to the 



all the first, second, and perhaps third class remain in Italy, 

 where every true lover of arts and letters must hope they 

 may long continue. In Paris there is certainly an extensive 

 ana valuable collection of pictures, which will be of the 



freatest assistance to painters preparatory to their studies in 

 lome. Among the works of chiefest merit are the Luxem- 

 bourg Gallery by Rubens, some pictures of Raphael and 

 Corregio, the Battles of Le Brun, and the Life of St. Bruno 

 by Le Sueur. But the paintings of greatest excellence, upon 

 the study of which alone a historical painter can hope to 

 become great, remain in Italy j and there the best of them 

 must remain, as their sizes are enormous, and they are 

 painted on walls. The paintings which we allude to are 

 Michael Angelo's Last Judgment, and the Cieling in the 

 Capella Sestini ; the Martyrdom of St. Peter and the Con- 

 version of St. Paul in the Capella Paulini, by the same ar- 

 tist ; the Chambers of Raphael in the Vatican ; the Chapel 

 painted by Signorelli at Orvietto ; paintings of Titian in 

 the Ducal Palace of Venice, and the Domes by Corregio 

 and Parmegiano, &c. &c. To which I may add the an- 

 tient paintings in Naples ; for these are in Italy, although 

 not of the number of immovables. If to the objections 

 already stated we add the disadvantages of the climate and 

 local situation of Fiance in comparison with Italy, we shall 

 immediately see that nothing less than a new dispensation 

 of Providence, and arrangement of things in this part of the 

 globe, can ever give France the advantages which Italy pos- 

 sesses as an university for the arts of design. 



If it should appear from what has been said that this 

 scheme of making France the university is impracticable as 

 well as unreasonable and unjust, all the lesser arguments 

 of the petitioners must of course fall to the ground ; but if 

 any one is dissatisfied with what has been advanced, although 

 I could produce other arguments I cannot produce stronger 

 to convince him. 



It would be great and disinterested in France, as she is 

 valiant in war, to be moderate in peace, and to suffer Italy 

 to remain, as it has been, the university for all nations to 

 study in, from which she will ultimately derive much greater 

 advantages in common with the rest of Europe than she can 

 in future by dismembering that venerable school. Such an 

 instance of moderation would secure to France the praise 

 of the present and future generations ; it would prove that 

 her love for the fine arts is equal to her professions : those 

 inestimable collections should be sacred and inviolable which 

 are. contained in Rome, Florence, and Naples, cities so con- 

 veniently 



