FINE ARTS.
Twer portion of the Tunbridge toy in Trafalgar Square appropriated to the national pictures, was opened to the public on Monday. The suite of rooms corresponds with that allotted to the Academy exhibi- tion; consisting of two closets on either hand of the passage, and three good-sized apartments beyond. Such is the English National Gallery, for which the country has paid about 80,0001. But we have overlooked the entrance halt and vestibule, that occupy nearly half as much space as the gallery they lead to : indeed, the sticks and umbrellas are much better amenimodated than the pictures and the public.
The best that can be said of this paltry place is, that there is plenty of light ; though it requires better management. There is only one picture that is not seen to advantage ; but this is no other than the " Raising of Lazarus," by SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO, the grandest of all: the reason being, that the room is not lofty enough for it to be placed at a due elevation, so that it may receive the light properly, and be viewed from the true point of sight. As regards space, there is enough to contain the present small and medley collection, with blanks for fifteen pictures bequeathed by the late Lord FARNBOROUGH: nay, even a few more might be crammed in some- how. But as to arrangement, the necessity for classing the works of the several schools does not seem to have entered the wise head of the architect who planned the building. The consequence is, a heterogene- ous admixture of styles and sizes—Italian, Flemish, and English, jum- bled together: we have a " Beggar-boy " of Mumma) cheek by jowl with a "Christ in the Garden," of COREGGIO ; both being put out of countenance by a trio of fashionable women, by Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS, giving themselves airs in the character of "the Graces." An attempt at something like order has been made in placing the more prominent pictures ; but many exquisite little works are thrust into corners to make way for great flaring daubs that attract the gaze of the vulgar, and divert their attention from some of the choicest gems of the col- lection.
The richest array is in the great room—the last that is entered : it contains the Trrimas, the CLAUDES, the COREGGIOS, and the CARAC. cis; the Lazarus and others by SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO ; the fine Mu- RILLO ; the Christ of LEONARDO DA VINCI ; RAFFAELLE'S portrait of Pope Julius ; and two large landscapes by GASPAR POUSSIN—ill short the cream of the collection. In the next room are the RUBENSES —a gorgeous display ; the VANDYKES, REMBRANDTS, and POUSSINS. The other rooms are more miscellaneous. The two cupboards pre- sent a striking contrast: that on the left contains, besides 1VEsr's teaboard paintings, a weak allegorical piece by ANGELICA KAUFFMAN, and other recent additions ; consisting of LAWRENCE'S whole-length por- traits of Kemble as Hamlet and the President West, and REYNOLDS'S of Lord Ligonier on horseback, presented by WILLIAM the Fourth ; and some worthless trash such as a picture-broker in Wardour Street would turn up his nose at. This room—much to the credit of the public taste —is commonly empty: but the opposite one, containing HOGARTH'S " Marriage.a.la.mode," W/LKIE'S inimitable "Blind Fiddler" and "Village Festival," some landscapes by GAINSBOROUGH and WILSON, and one by CONSTABLE, IS always crowded. The only valuable acquisitions are the two GUIDOS, also the gift of WILLIAM the Fourth —" Perseus and Andromeda," and "Venus Attired by the Graces." The graceful air of languishment that is the charm of GUIDO'S women, and redeems the insipidity and affectation of his style, is conspicuous in the Andromeda : this picture is more carefully finished, more chaste in colour, and of a warmer tone than the other: indeed, the Venus is too cold, and is crudely and feebly painted in parts. The " Three Graces," by REYNOLDS, already men- tioned, is a very fine portrait-picture; but, like the staring whole- lengths in the lumber-closet, only valuable as an example of the painter's manner. Pictures of this class are very well calculated to swell the pageant of the English school, where the humblest specimen becomes of use in piecing out the series; but set amongst the elite of all the schools, they do but injure the reputation of the painters. A large picture by NICHOLAS POUSSIN, " Phineas and his Followers Turned to Stone at Sight of Gorgon," is the most glaring instance a. ever saw of the faults of the master and of the badness of his colours a: well as of his colouring: the imitation of the petrified and petrifying people, too, increases the discordant confusion. The reds and UR'S are in full strength, and the other colours have faded ; so that it re. sembles a painted window patched with common glass. Still, there are redeeming points in the composition, that give it value. Four delightful little WATTEAes, " 'rho Four Ages " (Nos. 101 to 10). are the only acceptable portions of a bequest by a Colonel OLLNEY; who appears to have been duped by the dealers to a considerable extent, A portrait of Izaak Walton, by HOUSMAN, and one of " Getale. man Smith," the comedian, by HoresEtt, take up little room, and pos,, gess some interest as resemblances, though their worth as paintings is trifling. If, however, donations such as these are to be received, the Gallery might be soon filled though it should cover the space in front and the burrack.yard in the rear. It NVI)111d he cheap celebrity to give a portrait of some bygone worthy for the honour of figuring on a golden tablet as a patrou of the National Gallery like the " benefae, riohreseliairnioitihice tors " to churches and hospitals. lltit while such performances as a Moonlight, by l'erittot, and a Landseape, by Sir GEOILGE BEACMON ,T find places, with what decency tan the most commonplace pictures he declined? The homely proverb, " never loto.kje mouth," does not hold good in this case ; for I Itiasgteirtofi
involved. As it is, the National Gallery will he the laughingstock of foreigners, not only for its trumpery outside and petty dimensions, but also on account of the rubbish that is admitted. We may justly be accused of not duly appreciating the really fine pictures, when we prize such poor stuff.
What with the meanness of the building, the motley and ill-assorted collection, and the shabby lining of the walls—strips of board licked over with paint of a dull green hue—the place altogether has more the look of an auction sale-room than a national picture-gallery. The proper ground for showing pictures to advantage is red : deep crimso hangings would harmonize and enrich the ensemble ; but here the cold neutral tint and bare ribs at the back are positively annoying to the eye and injurious to the effect. Where will you find a picture-room in any private house, the owner of which has any claim to taste, with dingy walls, as here, or salmon-coloured, like the Dulwich Gallery? The pictures have all been cleaned and varnished afresh ; but they lays happily escaped the injury we apprehended, and are come out unscathed from the perilous ordeal. The process was evidently needful, and it seems to have been judiciously and carefully performed. The "Water. lug Place" by GAINSBOBOUGH, the large landscape by GAqa POUSSIN, and the " Brazen Serpent " by RUBENS—one of the recent acquisitions--in particular, are wonderfully improved : they are quite different pictures now that the dirt is washed off. The colouring of this RUBENS is fine, but the treatment of the subject is in the grossest style of the painter. We did not perceive any deteriorating effects of the cleaning ; for we attribute the comparative rawness of some pictures to the great glare of light, added to the loss of the old cover. ing of oil and dirt : we fancied, however, the golden haze that veiled the distance in the CUYP had vanished.
" But where are the Cartoons ?" asks the reader, in a tone of sat. prise : and this question will be put by every one who knows them to be a precious jewel in the crown of England. To leave them out, is indeed omitting the part of Hamlet in the play. Why, if we possessed no other pictures whatever, these alone are worthy of a building to
themselves. It is inconceivable, that a country with arty pretensions to taste, and priding itself on the possession of such inestimable Ma. cures of art, should exclude from its " National Gallery" the most sub- lime conceptions that were ever delineated by the hand of genius. It will hardly be credited, but the principal reason assigned for their not being placed here is, that—the Gallery is too small! Mr. WILIONS, however, says there is room for them ; and that he "always contem- plated their -being placed in the hall,"--which.is at present tenanted only by a huge marble salt.cellar, that might as well be stuck up outside along with the mustard-pot and pepper-boxes. If there were not light enough to show the Cartoons, they would have the full benefit of the dust that blows in at the door; and, as they are already saturated with the moisture from the fountain that plays under the open windows of the gallery at Hampton .Court, the smoke and dust would stielt. The possibility of injury is a more plausible and rational objection to theg being brought to town : but they are at present in danger from damp, and the risk of fire is superadded. It is not likely, however, that with ordinary care, they would stiffer from the smoke and fog of London, more than oil-paintings. At any rate, they might be protected by gloss; a few plates, such as every haberdasher can afford to show off his silks and ribbons, might surely be bestowed to screen them from dirt and damp. For the purposes of study to the artist, for the gratification of the amateur, and for the instruction of the multitude, these unload pictures are the most valuable in the world. What a contrast does our so-called " National Gallery," consisting of five rooms and a hundred and fifty pictures, present to
the Louvre,
where about fourteen hundred pictures are arranged in a gallery almost as many feet in length. The mere sensation of the coup (I:Leil as y.ou walk up this magnificent vista, formed by the most splendid trophies of painting, is worth the journey to Paris. Mr. lirtuttNs, however, sneers at this so he has given us his beau ideal of a
p.ct arc-gallery.
In one respect, certainly, his low rooms are better for viewing the pie- tures--they are lighted from the roof; which is the case with only one saloon of the Louvre. But the Louvre is an old palace appropriated to the uses of a picture-gallery : had the French built one for the pur- pose, they would have followed some such plan as that adopted m the Pinaeotheca at Munich. There a corridor runs the whole length of the building, from which doors open into the suites of apartments ap- propriated to the several schools : each school having one or miloroe large saloons for the great works, and two or three small ones..74ht_ being as spacious as the largest of WILKINS'S, and twice the hog_ e for the cabinet pictures ; the whole being lighted from the top.
t to
pictures in the Louvre are, of course, arranged by schools ; so tha. works of each class of painters nuke their impression in the nuost_e. well as in detail : but it is a disadvantage having to run the gatta.lel of the French battle-pieces and Dutch kitchens to get to the hall n divinities; though it is worth draining the cup to come to the exqui- site drop at the bottom—the RATPAELLES and DA Vrtscrs. To return to our lumber-rooms, and dismiss the disagreeable subject. A more disgraceful job never was perpetrated—disgraceful alike to the architect who planned and the Government who sanctioned it, and discreditable to the country which has paid for and must put up with the eyesore. So much for :John Roll's first step in connoisseurship, taken while yet in the leading-strings of his nursing-mother the Royal Academy.
Previous page
