[ 446 J 
[ Dee. 15 
MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF THE FINE ARTS. 
(The Loan of al! new Prints and Communications of Articles of Inteliigence are requefted.} 

S the paintings difcovered in St. Ste- 
A phen’s Chapel, have excited much 
attention, and are likely to be the fubjeét 
of much future inguiry, we have added a 
fhort extra concerning the original foun- 
dation, from a very fcarce and curious 
book of antiyuitics, written by N. Bailey, 
author of the Dictionary. 
<¢ This chapel of old time was founded 
by King Stephen, and again fince, of a 
far more curious workmanfhip by King 
Edward IIf. A. D. 1347, for thirty- 
eight perfons ; to wit, a dean, 12 fecular 
canons, 13 vicars, 4 clerks, 5 chorifts ; 
to wit, a verger and keeper of the chapel. 
He alfo built lodgings for them, betwixt 
the clock-houfe and the wooll flaple. He 
alfo built to the ufe of the chapel, (though 
out of the palace court) fome diftance weft, 
in the little San€tuary, a ftrong glochard, 
and placed therein three great bells, fince 
ufually rang at coronation triumphs, fu- 
nerals of princes, and their obits. Of 
thefe bells, men fabled, that their ringing 
foured all the drink in the town. 
‘By this chapel of St.Stephen was fome 
fometime a fmaller cnapel, called OurLady 
of the Piew of this, John Pigot writeth, 
that in the year 1252, by the negligence 
of a {cholar, appointed by his fchoolmaf- 
ter to put out the lights of the chapel, the 
image of our lady, richly decked with 
jewels, precious ftones, pearls and rings, 
more than any jeweller could judge the 
price of, was burnt. 
King Richard II. upon the coming of 
Wat Tyler and the Kentifh men to Lon- 
don, went firft to Weftiminfter to the high 
altar there, and offered; and after that 
contefled himfelf to an anchorite, and then 
betook himfelf to this chapel of Our Lady 
af the Piew, and here faid his devotions, 
and then went to Smithfield, to meet the 
arch rebel and his company.”’ 
The Vigtory of Duncad ; dedicated by Permiffion 
to the Right Hon. George Fokn Spencer, Vif- 
count Althorpe, Firft Lord Commifjioner of the 
Admiralty, K.G. L. hj, Ee Gre « 7: S. 
Copley, R. A. pinxit. F. Ward feulpt. Pub- 
lifbed by Copley, George- fireet, Hanover-fquare, 
Auguft 1, 1800. Price 31. 135. 6d. 
The point of time in this print is, Ad- 
miral De Winter furrendering his {word 
to Lord Duncan. It 1s a very fine and 
well conceived defign, and the figures are 
generally portraits ; butitisa conliderable 
drawback on the merit of the performance, 
that the principal figure is the worft in 
the groupe. The admiral’s attitude is 
ill-chofen, and the hair of the head very 
inferior to the three quarters portrait 
painted by the fame artift. Thé portraits 
of Admiral De Winter and fome of the 
officers are in a judicious and mafterly 
ftyle, and Ward, in his engraving, ap- 
pears to have done great juftice to his ori- 
ginal. , 
We, ina former Retrofpe&, noticed a 
print publifhed by Orme, on the fame fub- 
ject, which bears more than an accidental 
refemblance to this defign. 
The Defcent from the Crofs; from the Altar Pisce 
at Groxtall, near Durban. 
The Annunciation; from the Altar Piece im the 
Chapel of the Annunciation, King-fireet, Port- 
man-fquare.— Al pair of . Mexaetinto Prints. 
Maria Cofway pinxit. Valentine Green feulp- 
Publifoed by. Valentine Green, New-road, op~ 
pofite Fitzroy-fguare. Price 1. 15. eacd. 
Much of the merit of altar-pieces de- 
pends on the colouring ; which added to 
the folemnity of the fcenery with which 
they are fametimes furrounded, imprefles 
the mind with the fubject, and prevents the 
execution being criticifed with fo much fe- 
verity as would the original ketch in the 
painter's room. If this difadvantage at- 
tends the fketch, how much more ttrongly. 
does it operate upon the print, whith has. 
not the decoration of colouring to coneeal 
the defeéts in the drawing of a diftorted 
figure, or light up the character of an un- 
marked countenance. We do not mean 
thefe remarks as applying to thefe two 
pictures, in which the fair artift has, as 
ufual, difplayed fome portion of talent 
and tafte; thcugh, with refpeét to the 
firtt mentioned defign, we could not help’ 
thinking that fhe has been fingularly eco- 
nomical in the reprefentation of a naked 
Chrift. It is hardly poflible to conceive 
an attitude in which we fhould fee fo little 
of the figure. The prints are well exe- 
cuted. 
Britifh Admirals.— Britannia viewing the Con- 
quefts of the Seas. Dedicated to the King, by 
Percy Roberts. The portraits are from Hopp- 
ner, Coftvay, Clarke, Browne, and Abbott. 
Drawn and Engraved by Percy Roberts, Hol= 
born, and publifhed by Holland, Oxford-firect. 
Price 10s. 6d. ’ 
We believe that Corbould fome time 
fince made a drawing ona fubject fimilar 
ta 

a 
