44 
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT EXHIBITION. 
[Nature and Art, July ], 1866. 
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT EXHIBITION. 
T O illustrate our history by exhibiting the portraits of 
those whose actions have assisted in making it, was 
a very happy thought of Earl Derby, and has been, on the 
whole, very well carried out at Kensington. Coming from 
so high a quarter, and from a man who is himself historical, 
and a part of his age, it has been liberally responded to. 
Such a design, however, has its drawbacks ; and interesting 
and copious as is the collection, it still can only be esteemed 
a crude carrying-out of the idea. Contributions of all 
kinds, from all sources, have been poured in ; and the conse- 
quence is, there are not a few pictures which are more than 
doubtful as works of art ; and, again, there are many por- 
traits that are genuine as regards the artists, but are mis- 
nomers as regards the persons they are said to represent. 
The well-informed officials, Messrs. Scharf, Redgrave, and 
others, are not, however, to be accountable for the errors of 
this kind. The committee of lords and gentlemen who 
superintended the getting-up of the Exhibition were placed 
in a peculiar position. The collection was to be formed of 
voluntary offerings, and it would, therefore, have been 
ungracious to criticise too severely the pictures sent in. 
Indeed, the noble proprietors would scarcely have allowed 
their property to be depreciated by doubts as to its genuine- 
ness. In this dilemma there was no course for the mana- 
gers of the Exhibition but to catalogue all they accepted 
according to the description of the owners. . The editors of 
the catalogue have done their work very well under the 
circumstances. Whilst they have not compromised them- 
selves, nor imposed on the public by sanctioning the false 
naming of pictures, either as regards artists or personages, 
they have given a succinct account of each portrait, and 
enough of the biography to remind or inform those who 
may not have a minute knowledge or remembrance of history. 
To have a collection of upwards of a thousand pictures, 
many of them the production of the finest masters, well 
displayed in the South Kensington corridors, and to be able 
at full leisure to examine the collection at a very trifling 
outlay, is really a great boon to the public, and it would be 
hyper-criticism to dwell upon the blemishes of such an 
exhibition. The arrangement is chronological, and is 
divided according to the different reigns or dynasties. 
Commencing with the Plantagenet series, it contains por- 
traits which cannot be contemporary, and are therefore 
very doubtful. We should be very glad to see a true por- 
trait of so world-renowned a beauty as Miss Clifford, who 
had the addition of “ Rosa mundi ” attached to her name on 
account of her surpassing loveliness ; but the Lady in the Ruff 
presented in No. 1 of this collection can by no means satisfy 
our desire. We must say the same of the great warrior, 
Sir William Wallace. The present portrait in no way ful- 
fils our notions of the Scottish hero. Indeed, we must pass 
over all the pictures until we come to the large, life-sized 
portrait of the weak but handsome Richard II., which is an 
emblazoned representation in the old style, and, if not the 
original, is probably a careful reproduction of the old panel 
picture. This may fairly be taken as the earliest portrait 
of an English sovereign. The porti’ait of Henry IV. has 
generally been received as a likeness, and is very probably 
a reproduction of an older original. We may give the same 
credence to the portraits of subsequent kings in this series. 
Those of the period of Edward IV. have sufficient proba- 
bility about them to make them interesting. One of the 
most curious and perhaps popular is that of a lady who is 
prominent in the history of England, although her conduct 
was disreputable, and her end miserable. Such, however, 
is the triumph of domestic and personal influence over 
historic grandeur that Jane Shore is familiar in every one’s 
knowledge, whilst the Woodvilles and the Nevilles are 
known only to heralds and antiquaries. So much more 
potent is the ballad-maker and the dramatist than the 
historian, that this goldsmith’s (or, as the catalogue says, 
baker’s) handsome run-a-way wife is very probably more 
eagerly looked for by the public of this day than “ The 
White Rose of York,” Elizabeth Plantagenet, who, by her 
marriage with Henry Tudor, united the houses of York and 
Lancaster, and put an end to the long aristocratic civil wars. 
Of Henry VII. there is a great choice of portraits ; but 
with this monarch we merge into the Tudor dynasty 
and get into somewhat safe and assured ground both as to 
artists and subjects. There is no doubt that the early 
Flemish artists settled in England about this time, and the 
portraits of these reigns aro certainly by superior hands to 
those that preceded them. We are now coming to the period 
when every portrait of eminence was at one time attributed 
to Holbein. Some careful research, however, has now 
proved that there were several painters who, either in- 
structed or inspired by him, worked in his style ; and, no 
doubt, some of them were Englishmen. 
The period of Henry VIII. is very finely illustrated. Of 
course, there are profusions of portraits of the burly monarch, 
who seems, from his veriest childhood, to have the bold and 
defiant manner which is so peculiarly characteristic of him. 
The wives and victims of his perverted religion and inor- 
dinate passions are also here, and are viewed with a painful 
interest. 
The reigns of Edward VI. and Mary are principally 
illustrated by statesmen and clergy, the victims of suc- 
cessive factions, both lay and clerical. The reign of Elizabeth, 
as it was so long and so illustrious, is rich both in the 
persons it presents, and in the artists. The queen is repre- 
sented on an infinite variety of canvasses, some of which it 
is difficult to reconcile as giving the portraiture of the same 
person ; but this effect is more strongly produced in the 
illustrations of Mary Queen of Scots, who varies remarkably 
from the common idea entertained of her beauty. The 
warriors, statesmen, navigators, nobles, beauties, and 
eccentrics, of this remarkable period are copiously illustrated, 
and, in the main, in a truthful and powerful manner. 
To the reign of James I. have been relegated some 
personages who, at all events, took their rise in the previous 
reign. Had they, however, been placed there, this period 
would have beon very bare, whereas now it is rich in the 
great dramatic poets. The same remark that we have 
already made as to the extreme difference of portraits said 
to be of the same person applies here ; and those of Shake- 
speare may be cited as an instance. 
The period of the first Charles is rich in Vandykes, and is 
well illustrated. The second Charles’s time, with his 
profligate favourites and courtiers, both male and female, is 
fully illustrated ; and, as many of the divines and philoso- 
phers are also represented, never was there a greater mixture 
of good and bad ; the last, however, we fear prevailing. 
There is just a sprinkling illustration of the three years’ 
reign of James II., many of the personages who flourished 
in his brief period being reserved for the succeeding 
Exhibition, which will so copiously represent that and the 
ensuing period, down to our own time. We hope this 
is only a commencement of illustrating our history, and 
when thoroughly organized there is no doubt the grand 
periods of our national annals will be taken as the basis of 
collection. Thus we might see exhibited in groups all the 
important personages who moved in the Reformation, the 
grand Rebellion, the Revolution of 1688, &c. This Exhibition, 
however, is a very good beginning, and the nation is under 
obligation to those who suggested and to those who carried 
it out. 
