1899.] on George the Third as a Collector. 69 



was secured by the Papal agents for the museums of Eome. Many 

 marbles belonging to Cardinal Albani had gone to Dresden, but his 

 collection of drawings was, by the ageucy of James Adam, one of the 

 well-known brothers, secured for George III. The collection had 

 been started in the previous century by the Commendatore Cassiano 

 del Pozzo, and among its treasures was a series of volumes of par- 

 ticular value, as preserving at least, in the form of copies, many works 

 of classic art which have since disappeared. Nine large volumes con- 

 tain elaborate drawings of ancient bas-reliefs, and besides these are 

 several volumes filled with the careful studies of Francesco and Pietro 

 Santa Bartoli. Two volumes, also, are filled with drawings of the 

 Christian Antiquities of Rome, including remaius of mural paintings, 

 and, what is of very much more value, careful drawings of the great 

 mosaics of the churches, drawn with infinite elaboration before the 

 time when these most valuable works were almost entirely ruined by 

 neglect or restoration. 



Valuable as these volumes are, the series of original drawings by 

 old masters is far more precious, and with those which were already 

 in the possession of the Crown, makes the Royal Collection at Windsor 

 one of the most important in Europe. In number they amount to 

 considerably over 20,000, and comprise many of the finest works of 

 the greatest men. 



Holbein was here already represented by the unique series of over 

 eighty heads drawn by him from the life while he was painting at the 

 Court of Henry VIII. ; but these must be passed over, as they form 

 no part of the collection of George III. The same also may be said in 

 part of the drawings and MSS. of Leonardi da Vinci, which are the 

 greatest pride of the Windsor Library, as these with the Holbeins 

 had been unearthed from a closet at Kensington by Queen Caroline, 

 wife of George II., and by her were well-known and appreciated. 

 These precious works of Leonardo were largely increased by George 

 III., whether from the Albani Collection just mentioned, or from 

 the Bonfigoli Collection, which formed part of that of Consul Smith, 

 or from one of the numerous additions made from time to time by 

 Dalton, there is no means of ascertaining. Thus augmented, the 

 Royal Library now contains far more of the work of the great master 

 than the contents of all other collections put together. It is here a 

 pleasure to note that these MSS. are now being published in facsimile, 

 though some time must elapse before the work is completed. 



The original number of volumes in which the mass of drawings 

 of Old Masters was bound was about 250. Unfortunately for the 

 present generation, whose taste is formed on different models from 

 those of a century ago, thirty-four of these volumes are filled by 

 the studies of Domenichino, a highly respectable craftsman, some 

 scores more contain an interminable series of Masters of the 

 Bolognese School, Caraccis, Guido, Guercino and the like, but of 

 these it is useless to enter into particulars. Of the earlier and of 

 the more important masters, the drawings have been removed from 

 the volumes in which they were exposed to much injury by rubbing, 



