4 
of painting. It is net improbable that, at 
the time, it was found necessary to cover 
this master-piece with a landscape before 
x could be exported. It is well known 
with what difficulties the re:noval of the 
productions of the ancient masters was at- 
tended. ‘This performance has been en- 
graved by V. Green. 
The portrait of Luca Giordano, painted 
by himself, is in the manner of |’Espag- 
nolet. 
The Blessed Virgin, with the Infant Je- 
sus, is, without doubt, the master-plece 
of Carlo Dolce. He painted it in 1649, 
at the age of thirty-three.. You know that 
Tam not partial to this master, but I ne- 
vertheless think that this performance 
has been criticised too severely, per- 
haps, because it is hung immediately un=: 
derneath the beautiful Raphael. Our 
opimion of a picture too frequently de- 
pends on the manner in which it is placed. 
Many picturesare exceedingly great losers 
by being misplaced. Different. artists 
have assured me, that this is the reason 
why certain pieces of Rubens excite less 
adiniration at Paris than at Antwerp. 
Fhe head of Christ, by Correggio, is 
very expressive: it made me melancholy. 
By Andrea del Sarto, who treated 
Francis I, with such ingratitude, we find 
a Holy Family, consisting of the Blessed 
Virgin, the infat it Jesus, Ehizabeth, and 
the. infant St. John. I was uncommonly 
chighted with the head and the white 
ee of Elizabeth. This piece is un- 
éoubtedly one of the most capital per- 
tormanees of that master, 
count of the gr ce of the heads, as the 
beanty of the colourmg. This picture, 
which is four feet two inches in eer 
sud three feet two inches m breadth, i 
wainted on wosd, and has been oa 
m the dotted manner by L. Cosse. 
By Domenichino, whose St. Jerome T 
arm never weary of admiring, there is here 
ene Dp p picture that does him honour, Susanna 
bathing. 
the first painters of expression. Susanna, 
baving just come out of the water, is sitt- 
mg on the steps of the basin, drying ber 
fair body. She is surprised by the two el- 
ders,aud appears to be shrieking out. One of 
the elders on the outside of the balustrade, 
feans over, ¢ 
her, whilst the other forces the door, and 
approaches her. 
sanna is not at all distorted, as Forster 
asserts; om the contrary, the distress and 
agitation of a virtuous woman are admi- 
rably expressed 1 init. Theheads of the 
elders are repicte with expression: it is 
4 
Observations on the Gallery of Dusseldorf. 
as wellon ac- 
He here proves himself one of 
nd extends his arms faire 
The countenance of Su- | 
[Feb. I, 
impossible to paint desire with greater 
truth than inthe head of him who is break~ 
ing open the door. This picture is eight 
feet five inches high, and ten feet seven 
inches broad. It has been engraved in 
the dotted manner by Eginton. 
‘The various judgments passed on Adri- 
an Vanderwerff are overcharged. Soine 
find in his works all the perfections of 
painting, and others all its defects. The 
latter have seen too little of hnn, and the 
former, en: aptured with the finish of the 
details, forget the faults of the general 
composition; a wise medium should be 
observed in every thing. A painter who 
has bestowed so much pains on details as 
Vanderwerfl, ought to be studied before 
an opinion is passed on him. No paimter 
perhaps excels him in drapery. Fault is. 
found with his flesh, which, 1¢ must be ad- 
mitted, is daubed; and of an ivory cast; 
but if we have discovered one defect, 
must we for that reason forget all his 
beauties? 
Vanderwerffought to be studied at Dus- 
seldorf: we there find a great number of 
his works, and even of his most capital 
ones. He resided there at different times 
during the reign of John William. We 
see here twenty-five pieces by that mas- | 
ter, and all but one are nearly of the same 
dimensions. Ofthese I prefer the follow- 
i ’ : 
1. Jesus in the midst of the Dectors. 
Jesus Christ is represented asa handsome 
child, full of intelligence : standing before 
a table, on which are lying papers and 
the Sacred Scriptures. ‘The doctors stand 
round him; his bare head is shadowed with 
light hair; he is dressed in a grey habit 
over which a purple mantle reaches down 
to his knees.. The eyes and attention of 
all present are fixed upon him, and the 
principal hght falls on his head. The ex- 
pression in the heads, ihe colouring, 2 
well studied architecture, and in par tie 
cular the choice and execution of the 
draperies, cannot fail to excite admira- 
tion, ‘This picture, painted in 1705, is 
two feet six inches in height, and one foot, 
nine inches in breadth; it has been en- 
eraved by Green in the ‘stroke manner. 
2. Jesus laid im the Tomb, pamted in 
4703,1s among the pictures of this master 
at Dusseldorf, andis that to which I should 
give the palm, both on account of the 
correctness of the desion and the expression 
of the heads. [he head of Jesus Christis 
laid upon a ee Joseph of Arimathea, 
richly dressed, on the topotit; beside him 
is the Biessed Virgin taking the crown of 
thorns from the head of the Saviour; the 
three 
