56 THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 



one volume, quarto; 'Galerie de Florence;' Angerstein Gal- 

 lery; Ancient Sculpture, by the Dilettanti Society; Perrault's 

 'Hommes Illustre;' Sadeler's Hermits; 'Theuerdank,' a fine 

 copy of the very rare edition of 151 9; Meyrick's Armour; 

 Hope's Ancient Costumes, and more than one hundred volumes 

 besides, mostly in folio or quarto, either composed entirely of 

 valuable engravings, or in which the text is published for the 

 sake of the illustrations of fine or decorative art. 



"The collection of critical and historical works, in the various 

 departments of the fine arts, comprises about three hundred 

 volumes of the best works in the English, French, German and 

 Italian languages, including whatever is most needed by the 

 student of art in all its branches. 



"Engraving seems to be the only branch of the fine arts, 

 which we can, for the present, cultivate. One good picture or 

 statue would cost more than a large collection of prints. The 

 formation of a gallery of the best paintings, is, in this country, 

 almost hopeless. Engravings furnish us with translations, 

 authentic and masterly, of the best creations of genius in paint- 

 ing and sculpture, the originals of which are utterly beyond our 

 reach. Engraving, too, is more than a mere imitative art. 

 The master's genius shines forth from some of the free and 

 graceful etchings of Rembrandt almost as vividly as from his 

 canvas. 



"It can hardly be doubted, that, in no way, could this Insti- 

 tution, for the present, do so much for every department of the 

 fine arts, without injury to other objects of its care, as by pro- 

 curing a collection of engravings, so full and so well chosen as 

 that which now adorns its Library." 



1850 



In this year a small oil portrait of the founder of the Institution 

 in the costume of an Oxford student, painted when he was prob- 

 ably not more than twenty years old, was purchased, for thirty 

 guineas, of the widow of John Fitall, a servant of Smithson and a 

 beneficiary under his will. This picture has been reproduced in 

 several of the publications of the Institution. It may also be 

 mentioned here that the Institution already possessed a medal- 

 lion of the head of Smithson, in copper, taken in later life. 



