15 AUGUST 1835, Page 20

PICTURES AND ARTISTS.

THE LAWRENCE GALLERY—CLAUDE AND N. POUSSIN.

THE third century of Drawings by the Great Masters of Painting, con- sisting of those of CLAUDE and NICHOLAS POUSSIN, in the LAWRENCE Collection, opened to public view this week, at the house of the pro- prietors, Messrs. WOODBURN, 112, St. Martin's Lane. The change from the hot and narrow room in Regent Street, to the cool and spa- cious gallery of Messrs. WOODBURN, is a great improvement. The wonderful effects produced by the slightest indications in an almost colourless medium, in these drawings, show not merely the com- plete command that the artist had over his material, but bis inde- pendence of it. We lose sight of the pen scratches and the washes of bistre, in contemplating a lovely landscape of CLAUDE and a classic design of Poussisr, as we should forget the mere handwriting in reading a manuscript tale of Scow or poem of BYRON; though in either case the manner of drawing or writing are of themselves interesting, sepa- rately considered. The extempore character of these memoranda of the sinter gives them freshness and a peculiar value. The landscape drawings of CLAUDE—and indeed the sketches of POUSSIN, and all the other painters—may be divided into three classes : first, the fragmentary studies of details, such as portions of trees, foregrounds, figures, draperies, Ike. ; second, the completer sketches of scenes or persons, from nature, as the artist saw them ; and third, the first designs for composition pictures. In the fragmentary studies, it is instructive to see with what discrimi- nating accuracy of imitation and finish the Great Masters followed the details of objects, at a time when by their mastery of hand it is evident they hail long before passed the state of studentship. That is, as the moderns would say ; for the Old Masters were careful students all their lives: we believe it was NI( 1101.AS Poirssirs who drew from the antique for practice at a very advanced age. Some of POUSSIN'S drawings of the figure, in the present collection, are as delicate and elaborate as an engraver's copy ; and CLAUDE'S studies of foliage, weeds, and grass, are equally admirable for freedom of style and minuteness of detail that would satisfy the botanist. CLAUDE'S sketches of Italian scenery are chiefly on the banks of the Tiber; and they are all characterized by the repose and elegance that belong to his landscapes. Beautiful as the country is, the scenes look more lovely from the point of view being well chosen. Even in the slight pen-and-ink sketch, the feeling of the landscape is conveyed.

Both in these and the compositions, a variety of form and arrangement

in the design, and of style in the execution, are remarkable,—a proof of the fertility of CLAUDE'S invention, and his freedom from manner- ism. He seems to have been thinking only of the scene before him, not of how he should imitate it : that was a matter of instinct. The aerial effect in all is wonderful ; but especially in one of the most forcible, which is the original study for the splendid picture in the National Gallery of " The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba" (17). The sunlight is magical. The atmosphere glows with warmth and bright. ness ; the waves seem undulating, and each ripple glistening with the reflection. This powerful drawing is in bistre, with pen outlines, and the high lights touched on with white. These drawings restore fifty leaves to CLAUDE'S sketchbook—the " Liber Veritatis," belonging to the Duke of Devonshire.

Among the designs by N. PoUssiN, are those for both series of the " Seven Sacraments," one of which forms part of the Bridgewater collection ; and a grand composition of the sacking of the Temple of Jerusalem. In all, the classic taste and feeling with which the mind and style of N. Ponssisz were imbued, and his learned and correct drawing are strikingly evident. Some forcible and spirited copies of antique bassi-relievi, and a few classic landscapes, add variety and interest. All the drawings of each master in the LAWRENCE Col- lection have not been exhibited hitherto. There are upwards of a hundred by CLACDF, and seventy-four by N. POUSSIN. We cannot help wishing that the whole were shown ; more especially as there is space for them in Messrs. 1VOODBURN'S galleries. All hope of the collection being preserved entire appears now to be at an end. the drawings of each master are announced for sale, in mass, at fixed prices.

The upper space of the gallery is worthily filled by some fine car- toon drawings, in crayons, by ANNIBALE CARACCI and others; and by a few crayon portraits of the life size (chiefly foreign potentates), by

LAWRENCE. Among these, however, are the beautiful drawings of

Countess LIEVEN and the Princess CHARLOTTE; and the best flat- tered resemblance of GEORGE the Fourth—a profile sketched for the medallist to work from in engraving the dies for the coin of his reign. In en ante-room, filled with a series of one hundred drawings of CANOVA'S sculptures, stands a very curious and valuable relic of an- tique art. It is a Greek statue, the life size, in gilt bronze : the figure is that of a man in the prime of life; the limbs taper, round, and fleshy, and the muscles not prominently expressed. The form and proportions are beautiful. The limbs are mutilated, but the torso is perfect ; and although the surface is corroded so that the more delicate markings of the anatomy are not visible, from what appears it has been justly pro- nounced of surpassing beauty.