688 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



ever, are evidently drawn from peasant models. Gainsborough 

 painted no more notable landscape, few larger, certainly none finer, 

 none superior in composition or richer in color. 



One of the best of the English landscape painters was the elder 

 David Cox. He loved the gracious landscapes of his native land 

 with all his heart, and reproduced them with the greatest care, 

 usually in water color. He is here represented by a very character- 

 istic work, The Outskirts of a Wood in Autumn. The trees are 

 studied with admirable fidelity to nature, and with such attention 

 to detail that each leaf can be counted. 



It is the fashion these days rather to depreciate Sir Thomas Law- 

 rence, but I am unable to share that view. He was the spoiled child 

 of fortune, courted alike by men and women. Sometimes, over- 

 whelmed by commissions and distracted by social pleasures, his work 

 is superficial and insincere ; but at his best he is worthy to stand be- 

 side the great masters of portraiture, and he is so often at his best 

 that his failures may be ignored. 



It is doubtful whether anyone save Lord Byron ever had a more 

 intense appreciation of the beauty of women. They loved Sir 

 Thomas, and he loved them perhaps overmuch; but to this intense 

 feeling for woman's charms we owe some of the most delightful 

 portraits ever painted. 



Of Sir Thomas we have two splendid examples. Lord Abercorn, 

 a high-born gentleman of refined and commanding presence, some- 

 what past middle life, stands out alive against a red curtain, while 

 Mrs. Towry is the ideal of English beauty, with perfect and high- 

 bred features that would be faultless in a cameo, but whose loveliness 

 is enhanced by brilliant color, large blue eyes and rich chestnut hair. 

 She represents the English aristocracy in its supreme perfection. 



Romney was one of the most elegant and refined of English paint- 

 ers, though his infatuation for Lady Hamilton, of whom he painted 

 innumerable portraits, was perhaps as injurious to his art as to his 

 morals. He is shown in a faultless portrait of Sir Sampson Wright, 

 a stout squire in a red coat. 



But the gem of the British portraits is the work of the Scotchman 

 Eaeburn. He has given us the living presentment of his friend 

 Archibald Skirving, who was a painter and a poet. In neither 

 capacity did he attain distinction, but the pursuit of high ideals 

 gave to his face a rare refinement and intelligence. He is growing 

 old, and the gray locks are thin, but age has brought only a sweeter 

 and a saner outlook on life. A more delightful portrait of an elderly 

 and scholarly gentleman was never made, and we can see that affec- 

 tion guided the brush to this admirable result. 



