56 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
one volume, quarto; ‘Galerie de Florence;’ Angerstein Gal- 
lery; Ancient Sculpture, by the Dilettanti Society; Perrault’s 
‘ Hommes Illustre;’ Sadeler’s Hermits; ‘ Theuerdank,’ a fine 
copy of the very rare edition of 1519; Mey rick’s Armour; 
Hope’s Ancient Costumes, and more than one hundred volumes 
besides, mostly in folio or quarto, either composed entirely of 
valuable engravings, or in which the text is published for the 
sake of the illustrations of fine or decorative art. 
“The collection of critical and historical works, in the various 
departments of the fine arts, comprises about three hundred 
volumes of the best works in the English, French, German and 
Italian languages, including whatever is most needed by the 
student of art in all its branches. 
“Engraving seems to be the only branch of the fine arts, 
which we can, for the present, cultivate. One good picture or 
statue would cost more than a large collection of prints. The 
formation of a gallery of the best paintings, is, in this country, 
almost hopeless. Engravings furnish us with translations, 
authentic and masterly, of the best creations of genius in paint- 
ing and sculpture, the originals of which are utterly beyond our 
reach. Engraving, too, is more than a mere imitative art. 
The master’s genius shines forth from some of the free and 
graceful etchings of Rembrandt almost as vividly as from his 
canvas. 
“It can hardly be doubted, that, in no way, could this Insti- 
tution, for the present, do so much for every department of the 
fine arts, without injury to other objects of its care, as by pro- 
curing a collection of engravings, so full and so well chosen as 
that which now adorns its Library.” 
1850 
In this year a small oil portrait of the founder of the Institution 
in the costume of an Oxford student, painted when he was prob- 
ably not more than twenty years old, was purchased, for thirty 
guineas, of the widow of John Fitall, a servant of Smithson and a 
beneficiary under his will. This picture has been reproduced in 
several of the publications of the Institution. It may also be 
mentioned here that the Institution already possessed a medal- 
lion of the head of Smithson, in copper, taken in later life. 
