NATIONAL QALLERY. 



NATIONAL GALLERY. 



work* a* may bar* been poreaMed or bequeathed, but ihould be con- 

 sidered unfit or Dot required fur a national collection ; " thui enabling 

 the authorities to deal tor the purchase of collections of picture* with 

 ch more freedom than hitherto. Among the work* retained, two 



were by Botticelli; one by Mantegna; one, an altar-piece grandly 

 painted, and of very Urge sue, by Paolo Veronese ; one a 

 adoring the Infant Chriet,' a masterpiece of Pietro Perugiuo, obtained 

 for 3571/. ; the net were chiefly by carry Italian masters. Bat the 

 new system was seen in ita full flow in 1S57, when no fewer than 

 forty pictures were added to the collection by purchase. Of these the 

 Lombardi-Baldi collection of early Italian (chiefly Tuscan) masters, 

 comprised thirty-one picture*, and was obtained for 7085/. < ! . r pur- 

 abase* were two pictures by Quintin Matey*, and one each by Lucas 

 Cranach, John Van Eyck, Oirolamo Romanino (an altar piece in live 

 compartments), and Borgognone ; a Virgin and Child by Ohirlandajo, 

 and the master work of Antonio Pollajuolo (for which the MUM of 

 8571' was paid) all, therefore, early works, and especially valuable as 

 illustrative of the historical progress of painting. But there was one 

 picture purchased this year, the value of which was wholly different 

 This wat the large and magnificent painting of the ' Family of Darius 

 at the Feet of Alexander,' by Paolo Veronese, one of the most famous 

 work* of this great master, and, indeed, one of the most famous 

 iutmes in existence. It was purchased of the Count Pisani. for an 

 ancestor of whom it was painted, and in whose family it hod remained 

 to the time of ita purchase. Ita cost was 13.650/.. a very large MUM for 

 a single picture ; but it must be remembered that works of such a 

 character are becoming constantly more difficult to procure, nnd eon 

 wquently when any one is offered for sale, the agents of the various 

 royal and national collections are eager competitors for ita purchase, 

 and the price is proportionately raised. Be the price as it may, this is 

 unquestionably the most important single picture added to the gallery 

 since ita formation ; and t'ii -. and the other pictures bought since the 

 reconstitution of the gallery, are evidence of the advantages likely to 

 accrue from a systematic search for works of a mutable character rather 

 than patiently waiting for them to offer themselves for approval. 



During 1358, only eight pictures were bought, not exclusively, but 

 still chieriy early works, the most important being a ' Deposition in the 

 Tomb' by Marco Palmeezano. a 'Virgin and Christ' by ('im.i da 

 Cone.tli.-ino, another by Marco Basoiti, and portraits by Antony M i > 

 and Moretto. In 185tf the purchases of the early master* were com- 

 paratively few. Eight pictures were bought in all : among them being 

 a, by Carlo Crevelli ; a 'Madonna and child Enthroned,' by 

 Ireriao. and another by Lorenzo Costa ; a pair of ' Landscapes with 

 Waterfalls,' by Kuysdael (cost 2250/.) ; and ' The Infancy of Jupiter.' 

 by Oiulio Romano (cost 20/). In 1860 was purchased, at a cost of 

 8205/, the entire collection of M. Beaucousin, of Paris, consisting of 

 46 pictures, of which 85 were retained for the National Oallery, in- 

 cluding small specimens by Ohirlandajo. Titian, Oiulio Romano, Lorenzo 

 di Credi. Bronzino, Roger Van der Weyden, and other n 

 of various schools none of them works of the highest order, but several 

 very desirable examples of the respective masters. 



Thus after an existence of thirty six yean the National Oallery, 

 exclusive of the Vernon and the Turner collections, comprises 420 

 pictures; of which 2<3 have been purchased at a cost of )> I.: r iiin/. (in 

 which however is included the 22 pictures placed in the Dublin National 

 Oallery), and 217 presented or bequeathed. Of these 350 belong to 

 foreign schools, and 70 are by British artists. The latter have been, 

 for the most port, donation*, and are hardly looked upon as belonging; 

 to the National Oal ery, which by the trustees has always been regarded 

 a* specially devoted to the works of the old masters. The buildin;,' 

 known as the National Oallery is indeed entirely appropriated to the 

 foreign schools; the British painting*, after having been for some years 

 bung in Marlborough House, being now all removed with the 

 exception of the two landscape* by Turner, which, by the Wins of the 

 bequest, must be placed alongside two of the Claudes to a building 

 constructed for their reception contiguous to the South Kensington 

 Museum. 



In extent the national collection is for inferior to several of the other 

 national collections of Europe, and even to some of the private col- 

 lection* in our own country. Mr. Wornum bos, in his admirable 

 official Catalogue of the National i i dl.-ry,' given from their respective 

 catalogues the numbers of several of these collections. It will suffice 

 to mention, for the sake of comparison, that in the Louvre there are 

 upwards of 1800 paintings, of which r.4:i are, Italian; the Dresden 

 Oallery ha* 2000 ; the Museo of the Prodo at Madrid, 1833 ; the Berlin 

 UeJlery contain* about 1350; in the Belvedere at Vienna there are 

 upward* of 1800 ; in the Imperial Oallery of Florence upwards of 1200 ; 

 and in the new Pinacothek, Munich, alwut 1270. To the number in 

 the Louvre might also be add < \ paintings at Versailles (to say 



nothing of those in the Luxembourg), all by native artists, and illus- 

 trative of events in the national history; M. on the other I. 

 exhibit the extent of our own pictorial wealth, wo might add to tli. 

 National Oallery pictures, threw in the Vernon, Turner, and .she, p 

 hank* collections, numbering in British artists. 



If toe** collection* were brought together, the National Oallery would 

 comprise upward* of 000 pictures : or without the Sheepshanks col- 

 lection, which perhaps cannot be reckoned a part of the National 

 y, it would iiuin ores. 



But looking at our National Oallery as a collection of paintings by 

 the old master*, we may, whilst admitting ita inferiority to the great 

 uuuHuental galleries, regard it* actual state with some complacency, 

 consideration beiag bad to the period of it* formation, and the 

 subsequent political and other circumstances which have interfered 

 with it.- development. Taking the " Tabular View of the School* of 

 Painting as reprceented by the Pictures in the National Oallery "in the 

 official catalogue as our guide, we Bod that although many of the mere 

 emraetit painter* of the several schools are unr*prceent< 

 seated very inadequately, there are examples of the art, mid for the 

 most part, of the beat period, of almost every school. Thus, adopting 

 the classification of the ' Tabular View,' we find that there are of the 

 Tuscan or Florentine school 57 examples ; of the Umbrian, (> : of the 

 Romafma 1 ; of the Koman, 17 ; of the Venetian, 50; of the Paduan, 

 8; Bolognese, 84 ; Ferrarese, 9; Parmese (Lombard), 7; demones* 

 (Lombard), 1; Milanese (Lombard*. 1; Neapolitan, 3; Oreek or 



ne, 1 ; Flemish, 35; Dutch, 44; Ocrman, 21 ; Spanish, 8; and 

 French, 34. 



As we have said, it was to the pictures of what is by common 

 consent regarded as the best period of each school that the purchase* 

 of the trustees were until recently almost exclusively conlin<-<l. I'.ut 

 since the importance of obtaining works of the earlier and immature 

 periods of the several schools ha* been recognised, very rapid progress 

 has, as we have seen, been mode toward* supplying "the cleric encies. 

 Anil important as tin* chronological view of art unquestionably is, we 

 may perhaps doubt whether any attempt to carry it into operation at 

 an earlier date would have been altogether adi or whether 



it may not even now be carried too far. The public required at tint 

 to have its interest in art aroused by means of 



rionable merit that no one could gainsay their value, and of a 

 kind which, by appealing to the common feelings and understand 

 mankind, would require no sjwciul archjBologioal training to under- 

 stand and to appreciate. In truth, there is already something a little 

 'Bewildering to the common mind in the pre.-.-ut almost hi : 

 admixture of the noblest works of art, at its highest stage of de 

 nient and itidc|>eiidci!cc. with those produced when art was the mere 

 instrument of the ecclesiastic, ami artists, themselves as yet but 

 feeling their way even to the technics of their pnmiit, were hampered 

 by archaic forms, conventionalities, ami clerical f\\:r 

 precedent. Sueh works can have little interest for the unins': 



. and assuredly they can do little to refine his taste or > 

 his thoughts. No lover of art will however object to the purchase of 

 such works ; but on the contrary, be most anxious that they should ) 

 purchased, their true value being clearly recogni.-ed. It is said in the 

 Report for 1 358 of the i t' the gallery in reference i 



purchase of the Lombardi-Baldi pictures, that " the unsightly speci- 

 mens, of Margaritone and the earl ie-t Tuscan painters, were selected 

 solely for their historical importance, and as showing the rude 

 beginnings from which, through nearly two centuries and a half, 

 Italian art slowly advanced to the period of Raphael and 1. 

 temporaries." And this is precisely the reason for desiring similar 

 pictures of every other important school. But there should be no 

 exclusive or *1 i ntial regard given to these work 



be bought for their arclueological value, I nit let the really great 

 of art be at least as anxiously sought for. Beauty is too rare and (<> 



" a thing to be set aside for the sake of the " unsightly " 

 antiquities whose chief cliai m is their age and their ugliness. And it 

 is further of the first imjiortancc that, in exhibiting these early works 

 to the public, this historical " purpose should be distinctly \ 

 out, or we may only increase the confusion in uninstni. t< >d miiids as 

 to the true purpose of art, and as to what is re illy admirable in it. 

 These very early works nre not merely often unsightly, but they .ire 

 (to modern and Protestant eyes) not unseldom profane, and sometimes 

 gross. Their unsightlineas, profanity, and grossness, are, of course, of 

 no consequence to the historical inquirer and the art-ctudi-nt. but 

 these are qualities not to be wholly oveil.>ki <! in raVniu; t 

 great public. The chronological and the geographical an. 

 all the work" nan character ought to be strietly main- 



tained. The truly great works those which ore really works of fine 

 art should not Iw buried amidst the uncouth, unsightly church- 

 decoration work of the pre-tine-art ages. A strictly chronological and 

 geographical arrangement of ail the works, however it might satisfy a 

 formal spirit of systematism, or accord with the fashionable n 

 valism, would assuredly be very wearisome if ti"t misleading to the 

 general public. The early works, in short, are for the hi- 



; the master-works for all. 

 Of course any chronological arrangement 



impracticable in the present National Oallery ! ling, which 



was erected from the designs of Mr. W. \Vilkins. l!.A.,was onh 

 pleted in 1838, yet that portion of it appropri ,..t...| to tie' i 

 collection of pictures is already so crowded though it emit ain.i "iily 

 the comparatively small collection of paintings by the old masters 

 ny works are necessarily hung in the passages and vestibule, 

 and space has only been found for the display of recent acqu 

 by means of screens placed in the centre of the great room. For the 

 British pictures, rooms have been provided at South Kensington, but 

 no spare space is left in them for relieving the overcrowded National 

 Oallery of any I'oivign works, nor consequently do they alloj-d .my 



