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ployed by private individuals. He has 
engraved a portrait of the prefent Emperor, 
from a very ordinary French painter; a 
portrait of the king of Poland ; and alfo of 
the erand-duchefsElizabeth, from Madame — 
Le Brun: the laft of thefe portraits, 
though finifhed, is not yet publifhed. 
Lovis XIV. founded an Academy for 
the French at Rome; but Pouflinand Le 
Sueur, painters who have done the moft 
credit to France, were prior to the efia- 
blifhment.s Voltaire roundly afferts, that, 
after its eftablifhment, no one work of ge- 
nius appeared inthe country: the whole 
band, adds the fame lively and fenfible 
writer, became mannerifts and imitators. 
How far this character belongs to this 
veriatile people now, has appeared in their 
recent exhibitions at Paris, in which there 
are iome new regulations that have the 
femblance of good fenfe. Cne is, that a 
committee of artifts areto point out to the 
French government what pictures are the 
moft deferving of public encouragement 
and reward. The names of the artifts 
avho have moftdiftinguifhed themfelves are 
alfo to be proclaimed annually in the 
Champ de Mars, and at the Féte de la 
République. 7g 
The Exhibition of this year contains a 
great number of médtocre performances, 
and fome that are excellent. The cele- 
brated painters GerarpD and GERODET 
have exhibited nothing but portraits and 
fiudies. . 
Wifdom and Truth defcending upon Earth. 
—This is a fine picture of PRUDHOM. 
The figure of Wifdom is eminentlydignified. 
SasLet, fo celebrated for Ais Land- 
feapes, has exhibited a charming view of 
. a icene in italy, with Neapolitans danc- 
ine—the colouring is beautiiul in the ‘ex- 
treme. 
-A Girl teaching a Dog to read, by a lady 
of the name of CHAUDEL, who has al- 
ready diftinguifhed herfelt in the Fine Arts. 
The Child is innocent, beautiful, and 
healthy. The Dog feems more intent 
upon a piece of cake which thechild has in 
her lap, than upon his book. 
A Views of the Mountains of Predmont, 
swith jnow, by C#Sar VaNLOO. There 
is fomething peculiarly grand in this view. 
‘The awful height of the mountains, the 
firs and pines which adorn the fides, the 
{now-crowned tops, contrafted with the 
dark and tempetiuous iky, render this 
picture one of the beft in the room. 
VERNARD, FraGoNaRp the Younger, 
and Lepore, have exhibited fome ex- 
cellent defigns. 
Thoie who are charged with cleaning 
the public ftatues at Paris and Veriailles, 
; Retrofpel of the Progre/s of the Fine Aris. 
[ O&obery 
have found it difficult to fele& proper ma- 
terials. for this purpofe. It is not poffi- 
ble to employ acids; they operate by fo- 
lution, and neither marble, nor ordinary 
calcareous ftone, is able to refift their et- 
fects. 
pumice ftone, or black foap. - But thefe 
fubftances are all infufficient to clean the’ 
ftatues perfectly, fuppofing-even that, by 
long ufe, they were attended with no per- 
nicious effect. It was lately demonitrated, 
that this adhering’ fubftance which dif- 
figured the marble, was not duft, but a 
kind of lichen or mofs, which by attach- 
‘ing itfelf to the ftatues, thus disfigured 
them. This mofs infinuates itfelf be- 
tween the imperceptible interftices of the 
marble, and in its progreflive growth ul- 
timately corrodes and eats away the very 
fubftance of the ftone. The fame caufe 
operates upon ftones of the moft durable 
nature, as is frequently feen in moun- 
tainous countries. 
The thing wanted 1s, to-find a means 
of deftroying this mofs upon the flatues, 
without injuring the marble. The quef= 
tion has long fince been before the Infti- 
tute, but they do not appear to have finifh- 
ed theirrefearches. In the mean time the 
minifter of the interior -has ordered them 
to make ufe of nothing but water in 
cletning the ftatues at Verfailles. In 
fact, it would be better to fuffer them to 
It remains then to employ alkali, . 
remain a little disfigured by dirt, than” 
run the rifk of doing them any injury. 
The fureft means, however, of preferving 
thefe precious remains of marble fculpture, 
is to place them where they will not be 
expofed to the weather. The interior of 
public edifices, mufeums, or palaces, is 
their proper fituation. 
But, leaving the arts and architecture 
of other nations, let us advert to our 
~own, where every man of true tafte muft 
lament that fome of the fineft works of 
Inigo Jones, which have hitherto. efcaped 
the ravages of fire, or the tooth of time, 
are to’ be levelled with the ground. 
The beantiful old arcade facing the 
river at Somerfet - Houfe is deftroyed. 
The grand piazza at Covent Garden, 
which was originally intended to have 
occupied three fides of the fquare, is al- 
ready bereaved of one great portion by 
fire, and the reft, it is faid, will be pulled 
down, and fhops erefted on the {cite. 
Bedford Houfe is to be pulled down, te 
inake room for the new ftreets. 
The greate? building which we have 
in the room of all thefe depredations, is ~ 
the new front of the Eaff India Houle, 
the pediment of which, in length fom 
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