NATIONAL GALLERY. 



NATIONS, LAW OF. 



Portrait Gallery. IU clmim to a pUoe in tliii gallery arise* from it* 

 +? twining a Urge number of the leading politician* whose name* are 

 assiii it ml with the Reform Act, and other important mearores which 

 hare acquired an historical interest. But we may regard the admission 

 of thi* picture ai important chiefly a> forming a precedent for the 

 introduction of a moat valuable daaa of work*, those namely which are 

 strictly contemporary representations of butorical scenes or circum- 

 ttauoes, instead of exclusively reetricting the gallery to portniU; 

 though thi* should be the only deviation permitted. 



Th lilt will have shown that an excellent commencement ha* been 

 made in the formation of a National Portrait Gallery. Many of our 

 greatest namee are wanting, and the trustee* have been cenaured for 

 purchaaing portraiU of aeoond or third-rate men, while there are no 

 portrait* of Bacon, Newton, Hilton, and other* of the highest order. 

 But it muat not be forgotten that authentic portrait* of *uch men are, 

 a* ha* been aaid, almost a* difficult to meet with a* the men them- 

 solve* ; and the truatee* appear to be fully alive to the importance of 

 art-tiring the portraiU of our greateet men. An annual grant of 200p/. 

 I* made fur the purpoae* of the gallery ; but the trustee*, desiroua of 

 availing themselves of opportunities for large acquisition* by " a aale 

 at come great country-house, or a dispersion of some celebrated collec- 

 tion." do not expend this aunt unions portraits of unquestionable 

 imjortince offer. On the whole, there can be little hesitation in 

 acknowledging, on lo king through the list of their purchases, that 

 the trustees have acted up to the spirit of the rulu they laid down for 

 their guidance, and that the selection has been made in a liberal and 

 comprehensive spirit. At present the pictures are placed in apart- 

 ment* in a private house, No. 29 Great George Street, Westminster, 

 which barely afford room for those already obtained, and are most 

 unsuitable for their public exhibition. Until sufficient room is 

 obtained no attempt can be made to arrange the portru'U in any 

 chronological order or series. When adequate room is provided we 

 may hope to see added to them at least a selection from the British 

 portraits now hung out of sight over the Btuffed birds in the British 

 Museum. In the National 1'ortruit Gallery, portrait* of Queen 

 Elizabeth, Oliver Cromwell. William the Third, Cranmer, Drake, 

 Algernon Sidney, Marlborough, Bacon, Newton, Locke, Pope, and the 

 like, would tiud a fitting home and associate* ; whereas nothing can 

 possibly be more inappropi Lite than their present locality. It cannot 

 be aaid that these portraiU are inalienable or irremovable, for in the 

 National Gallery there is at least one portrait "deposited by the 

 Trustee* of the British Museum." and that of one (.Sir William 

 Hamilton) who, from his connection with one of the collections in 

 the British Museum, it might have seemed especially desirable to 

 retain in that institution. And why might not the British Portraits 

 in the National Gallery be also transferred to the National Portrait 

 Gallery f Among them are several of considerable interest on 

 account of the persons represented, yet of but inferior; consequence as 

 work* of art. The property in these portraiU might of course be 

 retained by the respective trustees, although united in this gallery. 

 If this were done, a noble National Portrait Gallery might be at once 

 opened, and owner* of the portraiU of eminent British worthies 

 would soon be found eager to add their contributions to the national 

 collection. 



Mam/A'* Court. There remain two other galleries which, though 

 not strictly, are virtually national thote at Hampton Court Palace, 

 and Green.-. ich Hospital. The painting* at Hampton Court are the 

 property of the crown, and the bulk of them are those which have 

 bean removed here from the other royal palace*. In all they are no 

 let* than 1850 in number. For the last twenty years the whole of the 

 state apartraeuU, in which the picture* are Lung, have been thrown 

 openly freely to the public. The grand feature of the collection is the 

 unrivalled aerie* of seven Cartoons of subjects from the Life of the 

 Saviour and the AcU of the Apostles, by Raffaelle, which are by 

 universal consent admitted to rank as the noblest works of their 

 elan in the world. They have until lately been aeen to great dis- 

 advantage in the room built expressly for them by Sir Chn 

 Wren But recently they have been lowered considerably, to the 

 manifest improvement of their appearance. It has also been deemed 

 advisable to cover them with glass, which however, whatever may be 

 aid on the score of security, can hardly be commended as adding to 

 their beauty. 



Next in importance to Ilaffaelle's cartoons are thorn by Mantegna 

 of the ' Triumph* of Julius Caesar,' a series of nine large grandly 

 executed coloured drawings, but unfortunately in a sadly dilapidated 

 rond.tion. The collection of oil-painting* is of the molt miscellaneous 

 character possible. It includes specimens of every variety of merit and 

 dement attributed to painters of almost every age, school, and grade, 

 from Krancia and Kstf.ielle Sebastian and Michel An^elo, Mabune and 

 Holbein, Titian and Tintoretto. Vandyck and Vandevelde, I. 

 Kneller. UainsborouA and West, down to Parodies and Muggins. 

 It is nesdlx* to repeat what has been a thousand times sail), that the 

 correct attribution of great names is the exception here. But as the 

 gallery is o|>ened for public instruction, it is much to be regretted 

 that a thorough re examination of the entire collection, with the aid 

 of such documentary evidence as m ly be in existence, is not made, 

 and what is then believed to be the true name of the painter affixed 

 tn even- pieture which it is deemed advisable to retain for pulilic 



exhibition. A large amount of rubbish worthless alike in an artistic 

 and an historical point of view might well be consigned to oblivion. 

 Such a re-examination would permit of two things each important in 

 iU way. First, the formation of a comparatively small collection of 

 paintings valuable as works of art; and next, of a collection of 

 portraiU and contemporaneous delineations of historical occurrences 

 of singular value and interest The really authentic portraiU her* 

 probably number some hundreds ; and they include many by Holbein 

 of Heury VIII. and members of hU family and court; others of 

 almost all our inonarchs down to George HI., including several 

 remarkable ones of Mary, Elizabeth, and the first James, one of the 

 duplicates of Vaudyck's grand equestrian portrait of Charles I., and 

 a Urge and most ambitious equestrian portrait of William III., by 

 Kneller. Then there is Sir Peter Lely's famous series of the 

 Beauties of the Court of King Charles 11.' and Kneller's of those of 

 the Court of Anne ; beside* a vast number of eminent Englishmen 

 down almost to the present day, and many eminent foreigners con- 

 nected more or less closely with English history or literature, as 

 Francis I., Frederick the Great, Erasmus, Ac. In looking over these 

 portraiU it is impossible not to wish that some of them such, for 

 instance, as the fine portrait of Newton --could be transferred to the 

 National Portrait Gallery (and the removal of the Admirals to Green- 

 wich is an excellent precedent) ; but whether that be possible or not, 

 it would be comparatively easy to sweep out anything that is irre- 

 levant from the *pacious Queen's Gallery, and by adding to the many 

 old portraiU it already contains such a* were suitable irom i i. 

 apartments, and arranging them all in strict chronological sequence, 

 to make it what it would then at once become, the finest English 

 historical portrait gallery in existence, and one which in iU way would 

 not be likely to be superseded. 



Naral (ja!/fri/, u-'rcrairieA hotpittd. Mainly, if not wholly, through 

 the exertions of the late Mr. Edward Hawke Locker, the son of a 

 distinguishe 1 admiral- himself a man of high taste and of singular 

 energy in every good work this gallery of portraiU of distinguished 

 naval commanders, and pictures of naval actions, was founded in 18:23, 

 in the most suitable of all localities, the Painted Hall, Greenwich 

 Hospital, of which noble institution Mr. Locker was a commissioner. 

 George IV., to whom the scheme was submitted, gave it " his cordial 

 approval," and what was still better, transferred to Greenwich Hospital 

 the extensive collection of portraits of the principal admirals of the 

 reigns of Charles II. and William III. at Windsor Castle and Hampton 

 Court He subsequently added several pictures from his private col- 

 lections, including Turner's grand ' Battle of Trafalgar.' The royal 

 example found liberal imitators ; and the collection is now a large and 

 very interesting one. In looking at the pictures, it should be boi ne in 

 mind that every picture has been presented to the Institution, the 

 Commissioners regarding the funds of the Hospital as " exclusively 

 devoted to the maintenance of the establishment." Beginning with 

 portraiU of Willoughby, Nottingham, Raleigh, Hawkins, Drake, and 

 Cavendish, and with a representation of the ' Defeat of the Spanish 

 Armada,' we have in chronological order almost all our bravest 

 admirals, and many of our must famous sea-light*. A small ante- 

 room is called the Nelson room from iU containing portraiU of 

 Nelson, and several of his brother admirals, and a series of repre- 

 sentations of leading evenU in his career. In such a gallery it u 

 not artistic excellence we look for. and, while there are many ex 

 pictures here, some of the paintings are very far indeed from claiming 

 to rank as works of fine art. But the visitor must have a strangely- 

 constituted mind who can stand in this noble Hall and gaze around 

 without receiving impressions deeper and more vivid than any pro- 

 duced by the most beautiful pictures when merely regarded ox 

 of art. 



The Didieieh Gallery, or Bourgeois collection of Paintings, is not a 

 national gallery ; but being open to the public on the same footing as 

 the South Kensington galleries, and having a upecial character as a 

 gallery of pictures, it seems fairly entitled to mention here. The col- 

 lection was formed by Noel Desenfaus, an eminent picture dealer, by 

 whom it was bequeathed to his friend .Sir Francis Bourgeois, a painter 

 of some note in his day, though of but slender ability as an artist. 

 [BODBOEOIS, SIB FBAVCIS, in Bioo. Div.] Sir Francis dying in 1811, 

 bequeathed the collection to Dulwich College ; together with the sum 

 of WOOL and the reversion of other property for the purpose of erecting 

 a gallery to contain the pictures, and a mausoleum for himself and 

 Mr. and Mrs. Deeenfans. The gollriy in which the picture.* are con- 

 tained, and the adjoining mausoleum, were built accordingly from the 

 designs of Sir John Soano. The gallery is a suite of live long but 

 narrow rooms, sufficiently spacious perhaps for the pictures, which are 

 for the most part of small si/.e, but very insufficiently lighted. The 

 collection itself comprises 856 pictures ; some few of the paintings are 

 by Italian, Spanish, and English artiaU, but the special interest of the 

 collection arisen from iU consisting chiefly of Dutch and Flemish 

 pictures of cabinet size a class of works in which the National 

 Ualli ry is very deficient Most of the more eminent painters of the 

 Netherlands are represented hero, and of many there are very fine 

 examples ; but many of the pictures have small claim to the name* 

 limy bear, and altogether the collection eaniMt bo ranked among those 

 of the highest order. 



NATInVs. LUV OK. !Uw.l 



