( 104 ) 



[Sept. Ij 



MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF THE FINE ARTS. 



The Loan of all new Prints aiui Communications of Articles of Intelligence are requeflttf. 



ISeries ef Vittoiy tnttr'ior and exterior of the 

 Collegiate Chapel of St. George, at Pi^indfor \ 

 Kulth lUuJlrattfe Plates, explanatory of Hi 

 ArebitcBure and Ornament i, and aecompamed 

 by a concifc yiaount, Hiforical and Defcriptive, 

 The Prints defigned and etched by Najh, and 

 engraved by C. Lewis. Pfi^lijhed by F. Nap, 

 JVe. 6, Ajylum Buildings, IVeJlminfer road. 

 Price, 4/. 41. 



SINCE the reign of Charles 11. (when 

 the devaftations this venerable pile had 

 lulfered from the republicans was com- 

 pletely repaired) the adJitio'is made to 

 tlie chapel of St. George, were but incon. 

 liderable until the year 1774. wh^n the 

 various remnants of ancient ftained glafs, 

 which were dilperfed through different 

 parts of the chapel, were ccllefted to- 

 gether and placed in the great we(t win- 

 dow. Farther alterations, repairs, and 

 rtnewals of decayed par:s with artificial 

 flone, were made in tli^ year 1777-8, and 

 occafionally continued j and finiflied in the 

 year 1791- The whole exp^nce of thefe 

 repairs and alterations, we are told 

 amounted to more than twenty thoufand 

 pounds, fi'(een of which were fubfcribed 

 by his prei'ent majtfty and feveral knights 

 of the garter ; and the remaining five 

 thoufand, by the Dean and Chapter, who 

 now allow a fum of money annually, for 

 the repairs of the outfide. 



When we conremplate the flupendous 

 rema.ns -jf fjme of our ancient edifices, 

 and fee the ravages that have been made 

 in them, and both by the fury of religious 

 rerormntion, and the blind zeal and bigotry 

 of puritanical enfhufiilm, and reflect up- 

 on the inevitable, though almoft imper- 

 ceptible decay produced by time ; we feel 

 gratified by any memorial that will pre- 

 leive and keep alive the remembrance that 

 fuch things were ; nor fhould we be dif- 

 pleafed that they vvtre fcmetinies reforted 

 to, as models fcr building places of wor- 

 fhip in our own times, for th?y are cer- 

 tainly calculated to inlpire dtvotion, and 

 jmprefs the mind with reverential awe. It 

 his been faid that were a native of Japan 

 led_ into a Gothic caihedral, his firft en- 

 quiry would be, « >Vhat is the religion of 

 the people of this country ?' " If he were 

 taken into a church built according to the 

 rults of Vitruvius, he would alk, ' Who 

 W3b the builder of the edifice ?' But to 

 return lo the volume and the prints. 



This great work (for fo it may be deno- 



minated in more fenfes than one) Is got up 

 in a fliowy and refpedablc ftyle : the paper 

 is of a tremendous fize»^ the type large, 

 clear and handfome, and the prints of a 

 defcription that gives on the whole a gpod 

 idea of the building. 



The firff is a fouih weft view, with 

 Windfor caftle in the diftance. The next 

 is the tomb-houfe, and a ioulh-eaif vie'w. 

 That which follows is an upright print, 

 withanorth-eaft view, tinted ny J. Seakes. 

 The fourth rcprefents the "-eft front. The 

 two that fucceeil, are delineations of the 

 interior of the chapel. Thefe, as well as 

 thofe which precede them, have a pid^u- 

 refqiie and good eifeil ; thoifgh after all, 

 this fafhionabie, and pretty ftyle of en- 

 graving, is too trim, zndfmug upon Uie 

 mart, for the repitfcntation ot an arcient 

 cathedral. It will not beir a comparifon 

 with Hollar's engraving of the cathedral 

 at Antwerp. 



The views are however very fuperior 

 to many which we have fe' n within thefe 

 few years 5 fome of which bear no more 

 iemblance to the places they are faid to 

 be delineations of, than the Chinefe, Go- 

 thic, ancient, m<dern, old, new, ruins, 

 eretied as a terminus in a citizen's villa, 

 by the fide of a dufty road, do to York- 

 minfter, or Weftminfter-abbey. 



In the three plates with which this work 

 is concluded, we have the arch of the 

 window of the choir; front of the bafe of 

 the columns and fpecimens of the gro- 

 tefque ornaments on the outfide of the 

 chapel, engraven in a very neat, elegant 

 and appropriate ftyle. 



A Portrait of Sir fVilliam Sidney Smith, En- 

 graved fom a Portrait painted by Robert Ker 

 Porter, and engraved and publijhed by A. 

 Cardon, No. 31, Clipftone-jlreet, Fitzroy, 

 fijiiare. 



This is a very charafleriftic and ani- 

 mated portrait ; and beneath the head is 

 a moft fpiiited and brilliant little delinea- 

 tion of The Siege of Acre ; engraved 

 from Mr. Porter's pidure, by J. Mitan. 

 In this terrific and bufy fcene, there are 

 an immcnfe number of figures, in great 

 variety of a61ion, extremely correflly re- 

 prefcnted, and forcibly brought forward. 

 The lowers, &c. are very well delineated, 

 and make an admirable back-ground to 

 the group tngiged in the baitlt, but the 

 gi-Acral effect would have been betier if 



the 



