1827.] The Carlton- House Pictures. 39 



altogether different in its character from anything we have ever before 

 seen from the pencil of this artist. 



The only other work of Rubens in the collection is a small cabinet one, 

 of Pan and Syrinx. The composition is admirable, the expressions full 

 of a rich but coarse gusto, and the colouring exquisite. 



We have eight pictures by Vandyke : four of them portraits ; two of 

 them on Scriptural subjects ; a study of horses, &c. ; and a curious spe- 

 cimen of landscape a View of the Old Palace at Greenwich. Two of 

 the portraits those of the Queen Henrietta- Maria (queen of Charles I.) 

 one a full-face, and the other a profile are in the artist's most exqui- 

 site manner clear, delicate, airy, and elegant in the highest degree. There 

 is also a triple portrait of Charles I. shewing the head in three different 

 positions which is curious, as being the picture from which Bernini 

 modelled his celebrated bust. The Scriptural pieces are, Christ healing 

 the Sick, and the Marriage of St. Catherine. The former is chiefly remark- 

 able for the flue intensity of expression in the sick man, and the deficiency 

 of it in the Christ. But the latter is a most gorgeous and imposing picture ; 

 grand, less from its expression or composition, than from the elaborate 

 profuseness of the design the almost gigantic character of both the mother 

 and the child. In the former, this character is given by the drapery 

 merely ; for the face of the female is more classical and ideal than is usual 

 with this artist. But the child is painted on a perfectly Patagonian scale : 

 so much so, as to produce an almost ludicrous effect. The colouring of this 

 striking work is also very rich and splendid, without, however, any inap- 

 propriate glare or shew. 



Turning our attention to the landscape painters, we find Wouvermans 

 holds, upon the whole, the most conspicuous place. The collection contains 

 nine of his works all of them of the very first quality, and in the finest 

 state of preservation. The most elaborate is a Horse Fair, including an 

 immense variety of figures and animals all of them possessing character- 

 istic expression, and all finished to the very highest pitch of perfection, 

 yet without producing that tameness of effect which finishing so frequently 

 does. A Hawking Party is equally elaborate and perfect ; but produces 

 a still better effect as a picture, because the whole impression of it may be 

 received at once. There are also two Camp Scenes exquisite in every 

 the minutest point of their details, and perfect in their general effect. One 

 of these pictures is known by the name of Le Coup de Pistolet, from an 

 incident included in it ; and it tempts us to remark here, that, with all 

 their beauty, the pictures of Wouvermans even his very best must be 

 looked at with a view to themselves almost exclusively, if we would have 

 them not interfere with our due appreciation of those of other distinguished 

 masters, as well as of nature herself; for they are no more like the latter 

 than they are like any of the former. With the exception of the particular 

 expressions of his animals, &c., and his clouds and skies, there is nothing 

 in the least degree natural about Wouvermans' pictures. They are pure 

 inventions literally speaking, works of art; and they should be looked 

 at as such ; otherwise, they are calculated to mislead the taste of the 

 student, and offend that of the truly cultivated and enlightened lover of 

 art. View them as nothing better than they are, and each party may 

 derive infinite delight and instruction from the study of them. But per- 

 suade yourself, or permit others to persuade you, that they are true trans- 

 cripts of nature, and you had better never have seen them at all. Instead 

 of saying more on this point, we shall extract a passage from a little ^work 

 entitled " British Galleries of Art :'' premising however, that we were 



