386 
to fay, that, * thoughit was rather more 
difficult to paint a picture than to difcover 
its defeéts, yet he did not think it pro- 
bable, that among twelve men, who might 
be deemed competent to forma jury to 
approve or condemn a picture of his, oné 
would be found who would judge of it 
fairly ; becaufe (added he,) they will not 
try it by the teft of nature, from which 
it was painted. 
‘¢ ‘The admirers of Vandyke will fay, 
the portrait wants air. The followers of 
Romney will fay, it wants fquarenefs, 
Thofe who adore Sir Jofhua Reynolds, 
will decry it as deftitute of talte; and 
the imitators. of Rembrandt will obje& 
to its wanting breadth in the fhadows.— 
He that makes Mr. Gain{bcrough his 
idol, will. fay, it has too decided an out- 
line, and is edgy; while the admirers 
of Mr. Weit may perhaps obje& to the 
outline being uncertain and ambiguous. 
«© With refpe&t to my brother-artifts, 
{continued he,) I am apprehenfive that 
many of them paint by laws that bear a 
firong refemblance to thofe by which 
thefe critics judge, and the confequence 
appears in their productions ; where nei- 
ther the excellencies nor errors are origi- 
nal, but the refult of their fucceeding or 
failing in their imitation of the manner of 
that mafter whom they have made their 
leading model. 
«* To illuftrate this, we will fuppofe 
A, E, I, O, U, to be five painters.— 
A is a blockhead ; E, a man of fome ca- 
pabilities ; I, a perfon of ftill fuperior 
attainments ; O has attained high rank 
in his art, and. deferves a high character, 
but is ftill deficient in many effential par- 
ticulars. We will fuppofe that U is per- 
fection itfelf; yet itis more than probable 
that his inferior, who we have clafled un- 
der the letter O, will be looked up to, and 
followed ; but admitting that the perfect 
artilt, whom we have claffed under the let- 
ter U, is admired and imitated, yet, with 
all his fup-riority of ability, he hides na- 
ture, inftead of difplaying it, to ine man 
who implicitly follows and copies him.” 
Such were the opinions of this very ec- 
centric painter, who, with all his oddi- 
ties, had a large portion of profeffional 
merit, and is at this time difplaying it in 
painting portraits of his countrymen in 
tne neighbourhood of Philadelphia, where 
he has fome years refided. 
_ For an Exhibition to open without dif- 
putes, and generally violent difputes, 
among the artifs, would be a phenome- 
non that neither is, nor was, nor e’er fhall 
te. The Prefident has, however, gained 
Monthly Retrofpeét of the Fine Arts. 
[May 1, 
his point, and triumphed over his oppo- 
nents, by exhibiting his picture of Hagar 
and Ithmael, (which was rejected laft year 
as having been previoufly exhibited ‘in 
the Royal Academy ;) having firft made 
Juch alterations as are a falvo for his own 
confcience. 
The Lottery for the difpofal of the 
Shakefpeare Gallery, &c. is now before 
the public ; we ftated the claims which 
we thought it had to public patronage, in 
a former Retroipe& ; and it gratifies us 
to add, that it feems to meet with it.—< 
A lottery withcut a blank is, in this coun- 
try, a néw thing. 
Count Truchilefs has publifhed Propo- 
fals for the difpofal of his great Colleétion 
of Pigtures, which are now exhibiting in 
Portland-road, in which he exprefles his. 
earnelt wifhes that they may be converted 
mto a grand and permanent national efta. 
blifhment. The terms of the fublcription 
“by which he means to accomplith this, 
he has explained ina littie pamphlet, to be 
had in Portland-road, which he thus con- 
cludes, in reply to. any objections which - 
may be made to an inftitution in favour 
of the fine-arts at this period :—‘* The 
enlightened public will rather be con- 
vinced, that, precifely in the time of war, 
whatever contributes to the increafe and 
perfeétion of the fine-arts, is a‘happys 
however inadequate compenfation, for its 
Inevitable grievances, and will, im no. 
fmal] degree, enliven thofe fcientific and 
commercial branches that too often Jag: 
guifh under fuch circomftances. The 
greateft examples confirm the truth of 
this affertion ; and it will therefore confet- 
a double portion of immortal honour on 
Britifh public-fpirit, to lay the ground- 
work of fo fplendid and ufeful an elta- 
blifhment, amidft the moft {pirited mili- 
tary exertions, carried on throughout the 
country from the fame impulie of patri- . 
otifm.” ili 
A Gallery of the Fine-Arts, at the 
corner of Southampton-ftreet, Strand, is. 
now open; where, under the direétion of 
Mr. Bell, are fubmitted, gratis, to the in- 
fpeftion of the public, feveral works 
c: noe¢ted with literature and the fine-arts. 
The defign is, to form an hiftorical and 
picturefque gallery, which fhail contain 
{pecimens of the rgoft fplendid Parifian - 
works, calculdted to illuiirate the arts, 
and develope the hifterical’events of the 
late French Revolution. It is meant to 
exhibit fuch {pecimens of. the-beft modern 
produclions in the graphic art, as: will 
form, from this era, a comparative view 
of their progrels in the twa greateft and 
inolt 
