1807.] 
the establishment of this institution, pro- 
duced much larger suins than they were 
formerly valued at. 
tiogarth’s ‘picture of Sigismunda was 
last month struck down by the hammer 
ef Mr. Custie, for 400 guineas. This 
great artist was induced to select this sub- 
ject by the fellowing circumstance. In 
the year 1756, a picture of Sigismunda, 
suidio be by Corregio, was sold im Sir 
Luke Schaub ssale tor 400. and jiogarth 
said, that if he were paid the same sum, 
he could paint a better picture. The 
Jate Lord Grosvener gave hin a comumis- 
sion to paint one: but when it was finish- 
ed, the peer, disliking either the price or 
the picture, declined taking it, and it re- 
mained in the artist’s possession. On the 
death of his widow, it was purchased by 
Messrs. Boydell, and was one of the prizes 
im their lottery of the Shakespeare Gallery. 
The ffente and admirers of the late Sir 
Joshua Reynolds have determined to 
erect a monument to the memory of that 
distinguished character, and the Dean 
and Chapter of St. Pauls have allosted to 
it a distinguished situation in the cathe- 
dral. Jt is to be executed by Mr. Fiax- 
man, atter a model lately exhibited in 
Somerset Place. A book has been opened 
at Mr. Coutts’ in the Strand, m which the 
names of such gentlemen as lia ive already 
<ontributed to this undertaking are enter- 
ed, aud where those who wish. to pay a 
tribute to the memory of this great pain- 
ter may subscribe. 
An Exhibition of Portraits of Horses 
and Dogs, is lately opened in flart-street, 
Bloomsbury; atid it is said to be on a 
good plan, This will, we trust, do away 
a circumstance which there has been fre- 
quent vecasion to be dissatisfied with at 
the Royal Exhibition, where there was 
sometimes a large portion of the walls co- 
vered by por traits of Running-horses, and 
Hunters. Some of these favourite quadra- 
peds were attended by thei grooms, and 
others by their masters,.both o) whom the 
artist almost invariably considered as 
equally subordinate to the principal 
fizure, and, ‘ndeed, they were generally 
panited accordingly. i 
Duboure’s Museum, with additions, is 
now open in Lower Grosvenor-sireet. It 
contains large cork models of the most 
admired remains of antiquity in Italy and 
y K 32 
Monthly Retrospect of the Fine Arts. 
67 
the South of France; consisting of Tem- 
ples, Theatres, Mausoleums, &c. Tha 
three most striking objectsare Mount Ve- 
suvius shewing a great eruption, with the 
flowmg of the Lava; a Night View ofa 
torrent of Lava, that ran ina river of fire 
three miles, and fell down a hollow way 
fifty feet, forming a tremendous-cascade 
of fire; and the Great Cascade ‘at. ‘Tivoli, 
the town and surrounding country. 
With respect to the views of ancient 
buildings, &c. they are in general good; 
and cork is certainly the best materzal for 
giving a natural and picturesque repre- 
sentation of the effect which the tooth of 
Time has on all works ot art. 
Mr. Stothart’s picture of the Procession 
of Pilgrims to Canterbury, 1s now exhi+ 
biting in Edinburgh, attended by great “ 
numbers of the northern connoiseurs, and 
universally approved. , 
We are told that the Death of Lord 
Nelson, painted by the same artist, which 
was to have been engraved by Mr. Fit- 
ler, is, for the present, suspended by the 
illness of Mrs. Macklin, who, trom that 
circumstance, declines the undertaking. 
Mr. Désenfans, so well and so long 
known to the collectors of pictures, died 
the beginng of last month. ‘There were 
in his possession a namber of very capi- 
tal paintings, which we should suppose 
will, if not sold in the interim, be brought 
to the hammer in the proper season. 
Mr. Wilham Chamberlain, a young 
portrait-painter of some promise, for- 
merly a student at the Royal. Academy, 
and afterwards a pupil of the late Mr. 
Opie, died last month at Hull. 
During the period of the last exhibi- 
tion at the British Institution im Palimall, 
the Marquis of Stafford purchased tifteen 
pictures, among which is “ The Flower 
Piece by Hewlett, for which he paid 400 
guineas. ‘Lhe Earl of Carlisle, distin- 
guished by his taste and judgment in the 
fine arts, purchased several pictures, and 
also the beautitul model of Venus sitting, 
by Nollekens, 
A portrait of the late James Currie, 
M.D. F.R.S. of Liverpool, is engraving 
by Mr. Cromek, in a highly finished style. 
Tt will*be done of a size to bind with the 
Doctor’s Medical Reports, or his Life of 
Burns. 
VARIETIES, 
/ 
