



NATIONAL GALLERY. 



NATIONAL GALLKUV. 



importance," it is at least M important to Englishmen, even in an 

 hi*torinl po'nt of view, that they should posset* a systematised chro- 

 nological collection of work* of the British aohool, beginning at the 

 very beginning, and including the very noblest of its production*. 



Turner Pifttvrt*. During many of the but yean of hi* life, the 

 eheruhed with of our great landacape-painUr was to bring together as 

 many aa poaaible of hu best work* a* an offering to hi* country. For 

 this purpose he not only refuaed to noil such of the picturea he thon 

 pnint^ aa he deemed must suited for a public gallery, and most 

 illustrative of his style, but. whenever an opportunity presented itself, 

 purchased such of his earlier pointings, having like fitness, as were 

 offered for sale. At bis death, in 1851, he bequeathed to the nation 

 these works, together with all his drawings and sketches, on condition 

 that within ten years suitable accommodation should be provided for 

 them. This princely gift for, estimated merely at the money value 

 according to the almost fabulous prices bis pictures and drawing* were 

 then producing, the gift might without exaggeration be termed 

 princely comprised the extraordinary quantity of over a hundred 

 finished paintings in oil, many of them of very large size, some hun- 

 dreds of finished water-colour drawings, and several thousand studies 



The oil paintings and some of the sketches are exhibited in the 

 new rooms at South Kensington. Of their value as works of art, 

 it would be superfluous if it were not out of place to speak here. 

 Alone, they would suffice to give the British school of landscape the 

 foremost rank in respect of extent of range, comprehensiveness of 

 subject, and poetic conception along with close observation of nature. 

 As illustrative of the genius of Turner, it is enough to say, that they 

 were deliberately chosen by Turner himself as the works i y which he 

 wished hu countrymen and the world to judge him. They range over 

 almost the whole of his career, and exhibit almost every phase of his 

 style, from the strictest and most literal represeutatio IB, up to his 

 most daring imaginations. If they needed to be supplemented by 

 others, we have in the National Gallery, the Vernon, and the Sheep- 

 shanks collections, eleven more of his oil pictures. But they ore .suffi- 

 cient in themselves. Of the works of no other Engl sh painter ant we 

 ever likely to have anything like so large or so wonderful a gallery, or 

 one so remarkably illustrating the progress of the mind of a great 

 artist It it only to be regretted that the drawings are not to be 

 exhibited to the public as well as the paintings These drawings, 

 which when received by the trustees were in a very crushed and dis- 

 ordeily condition, have been carefully examined and arranged, and 

 400 of the most highly finished of them framed, and 12uO more 

 mounted by Mr. Ruskin, who voluntarily undertook that trouble- 

 Home tank. They are, with the exception of those exhibited at 

 South Kensington, deposited in cabinets in one of the lower rooms 

 of the National Gallery. 



The ti/ufftthunla Pifturtt. The noble example of Mr. Vernon was 

 in 1S57 nobly followed. On the 2nd of February of that year, Mr. 

 Sheepshanks, by a deed of gift, presented to the nation his valuable 

 collection of paintings and drawings. The object of the gift, as stated 

 in the deed, was the foundation of a " collection of pictures and other 

 work* of art fully representing British art" The gift was made on 

 certain conditions, the most important of which was that "a well- 

 lighted and suitable gallery, to be called the ' National Gallery of 

 British Art,' shall be at once erected by her Majesty's government, and 

 be attached or near to the public buildings i.uilt or to be built for 

 the Department of Science and Art on the estate purchased by her 

 Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, or the public porks 

 or gardens at Kensington." The collection is thus precluded from 

 being united with that of Mr. Vernon and with the British pictures 

 belonging to the National O dlery. unless these should also be perma- 

 nently removed to Kensington. But Mr. Sheepshanks, so far from 

 wih,ng his pictures to be kept apart from others, bos expressly pro- 

 Tided that they are to " be deposited in such gallery with any other 

 pictures or other works of art that may be subsequently placed there 

 by other contributors, as it is not my desire that my collection of 

 pktuie* and drawings shall be kept a|>ort or bear my name as s xch." 

 Further, Mr. 8hee|whanks stipulates that "none of the said pi. tin, < 



.wings shall ever be sold or exchanged," and he has plac. 

 entirely beyond the control of the trustees of the National Gallery. 

 They are vested solely in that member of the government, for the 

 time being. " charged with the promotion of art education now under- 

 taken by the Department of Science and Art." Finally, if the*; " teruis 

 and conditions be not strictly adhered to," the pictures and drawing* 

 are to be transferred to the University of Cambridge, " and for ever 

 after to furm part of the Fitzwilliaui Museum." 



These conditions were fully acceded to by the government. A 

 convenient and well lighted biick building, and one admitting of easy 

 extension, was crtctvd adjoining the iron Museum of Ornamental 

 An .' iiK.ngton, and opened to the public in June, 1857. 



Too room, in which the Vernon pictures are now hung adjoin these, 

 and the two galleries open into each other. Like the .M<: mm ..i 

 Ornamental Ait thesv rooms are opm to the public free on Monday, 

 Tuesday, and Saturday during the day, and on Monday and Tuesday 

 evenings; and on tue other three days and Wednesday evening on 

 the payment of sixpence rather a curious arrangement in a national 

 institution, and one that we may hope will not be followed when 



the British and foreign pictures are re-united in the National 

 Gallery. 



The collection ( Mr. Sheepshanks, like that of Mr. Vernon, was 

 formed for a private house, and consists therefore entirely of cabinet- 

 sued picture*. Far more than the Vernon collection, however, i.- it 

 characteristic of the taste of the founder. Mr. Sheepshanks evidently 

 bought and commissioned pictures only in accordance with his own 

 personal likings. Even mure exclusively than Mr. V union's does it 

 consist of genre and landscape-paintings. The examples of historical 

 or purely imaginative works are extremely few. But in its way the 

 collection is an admirable one. It comprises no fewer than 234 oil- 

 I Minting*, rauiring over a period of about 50 years, and embracing very 

 choice examples of many of the most eminent |>ainters of tin' ti 



Especially is it rich in the works of Mulreody and Leslie, some of 

 whose best pictures are here ; but it is rich, also, in the works of 

 Landaeer, Wilkie, Stothard, and Webster. Of Mulu.idy ih r*. are 

 no less than 34 examples, the earliest painted in 180B, the la: 

 1848. Some of these ore very small, and comparatively unimportant : 

 but among them are his famous ' Choosing the Wedding Gown' one 

 of the gems of British art ; his very beautiful ' Sonnet,' and ' First 

 Love ; ' the popular ' (living a Bite,' the ' Fight Interrupted,' and the 

 ' Butt Shooting a Cherry,' three of his most humorous works ; hi* 

 most elaborate though not his most successful picture of ' Tin 

 Ages; ' and his interesting ' Interior, with a Portrait of Mr. B 

 shanks.' By Leslie there are 24 jaiutiiijjs, the dated ones exi 

 from 1S23 to 1845. The best of them are his illustrations to - 

 pere, Moliere, and Sterne, of whom he gives always a genial often .1 

 suggestive reading, and one marked by a quiet refined humour : it will 

 be enough to name the ' Katheriue and Petruchio," ' The Dinner Scene 

 from the Merry Wives of Windsor,' ' Queen Katherine and Pat 

 ' Florizel and Peidita,' ' Au'olycus.' ' Le Bourgeois Geutilhomme,' ' Les 

 Femmos Srvantes,' ' Le Malade Imagin-iire,' and the popular rendering 

 of ' Uncle Toby and the Widow Wodman.' By Landscer there are 

 1C paintings, of which the dates extend from 1814 to 1842; and we 

 may notice, in passing, that among the drawings presented by .Mr. 

 Sheepshanks are some of special internet to the admirers of our great 

 animal painter, being some of his very earliest pen and pencil drawings 

 and sketches. - almost unique examples of precocity in fact, a 

 ' II. mnd,' for example, inscribed " drawn at five years of age," a ('all. 

 " ili. mil by E. L. when he was first breeched," a ' Head of a Bull,' and 

 a ' Group of a Sow and Pigs.' " drawn from nature at the age of eight 

 years and two mouths,' and so on. The largest of Landseer's paintings 

 here (and one of the largest pictures in the collection) is the ' Drovers' 

 Departure scene in the Grampians,' one of his most characteristic and 

 elaborate works, widely known by Mr. Watt's admirable line engraving. 

 Among lii-i other pictures ore the ' Highland Breakfast,' ' The Uld 

 Shepherd's Chief Mourner,' ' There s no Place like Home,' ' The Twa 

 Dogs,' ' Jack in Office,' and one or two more in which not only his 

 power, unrivalled among living painters, of representing the form, 

 clothing, and expression of animals, is fully . .lit ;.!-,. hi* 



humour and his pathos. By Turner there are live pictures, . 

 one English the ' Vessel in Distress off Yarmouth,' ' Line-Fishing ..11' 

 Hastings,' ' St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall,' ' East Cowes Castle, and 

 ' Venice.' By Wilkie there are six pictures, but only one of any value, 

 ' The Refusal Duncan Gray,' and that, we are told in the ollicial cuta- 

 logue, " was in a most diUpidaU.il state from the use of asphaltum, 

 but has been repaired by Mr. Bentley." The six pictures !-y \\ 

 ore all good examples of that painter's genius: aiin.ni; them . 

 excellent companions [Minted in 1838 ' Going to the Fair,' and 

 ' Returning from the Fair ; ' ' The Village Choir ; ' and Sickness and 

 Health.' By Stothard there are 10 paintings, including several 

 Shakspere pieces, ' .Saiiuho and the Duchess,' Sir Roger de C< 

 ami the Gipsies,' and two of hu MI st humorous efforts 'John Gilpin' 

 and ' Tarn o' Shonter.' Further, there ore 8 examples by Collins, o by 

 Constable, as many by Redgrave; 3 each by Stanfield, hoberts. Lee, 

 and Dauby ; 2 each by Etty, Eastlake, and Creswick ; '.' 

 11 by Cooke; 9 by Cope; 4 by Uwius, and so on. The drawings, 

 which arc varied and interesting, are exhibited in a room adjoining 

 those which contain the oil-paintings. Among them are nou.- 

 drawings by Turner. Prout, ic , but the greater part are sketch 

 studies. To these has recently been added a small 

 drawings in water colours, the gift of Mrs. Ellison, which is valuable 

 not only in itself, but as serving as the nucleus of a oomprol 

 collection of works in that essentially British line of art. 



The A'atiotial furlruit (lnlt<ri/, though an entmly independent. 

 institution, will be conveniently noticed here. The impnit 

 forming a gallery of portraits of uniim nt Knglishmcn hod long been 

 insisted on by historical students before it attracted much public 

 interest or the notice of the government. But thanks mainly to the 

 zealous and persevering advocacy of Karl Stanhope (tin n l.urd Mahon), 

 the subject was at length listened to. The Houses of I'.u li.aiunt gave 

 a favourable response to a direct appeal, the government proposed a 

 grant for 2000/., and the Gallery became a reality. By a ti 

 warrant dated December 2nd, 1S.W, a " board of trusi> 

 National Portrait Gallery" was appointed, and eaily in 18 j" the 

 machinery was got into operation, Mr. (Jcorge Schorr, a gentleman best 

 known to the public by the admirable outlines with which '< 



I many valuable works, but l.n ,,MI n'-o to art-students a one 



