THE NATIONAL GALLERY—THE NEW PURCHASE.
9 Chester Street, Belgrave Square, March 1856. Ste—Having just returned from the Continent with a vivid impression of the works of Paolo Veronese in Italy and in the Louvre, I write to protest against the lamentable want of judgment shown in the purchase of the picture which has been recently hung in the National Gallery as a produc- tion of that master. Even were it granted that this picture ever was by Paolo Veronese, it certainly would have but little claim to be received as such now ; for besides that its entire surface has been greatly damaged by
over-cleaning, is scarcely any portion of it that has not been stippled up or repainted. So coarsely, indeed, and by so incompetent a hand, has the repainting been executed, that very little acquaintance with pictures is ne- cessary to detect it. But, Sir, there is strong evidence that the "Adoration of the Magi" is not by Paolo Veronese but merely an inferior school-picture. That evidence is the absence of the best characteristics of the artist. I do not forget that we are discussing a master of the decline of the Venetian school, not one who flourished in the meridian grandeur of the Tuscan, the Lombard, or the Boman. Yet no one will deny to Paolo Veronese a certain magnificence of composition, considerable power of drawing, harmony and brilliancy of cnlouring, and a striking proficiency in perspective. In vain we look for such qualities in the meanly-designed, feebly-drawn, discordant and slaty- looking canvass just imported ; its Patagonian-proportioned flgures on the middle plane threatening to push the dwarflike objects on the foreground headlong upon the spectator. Who will recognize in such a production the mind that conceived and the hand that executed the pictures in the Church of St. Sebastian, and in the Pisani and Doge's Nimes at Venice, the "Marriage of Cana," or even the "Consecration of St. Nicholas' which faces it? Damaged as the last-named work was by the "cleaning" of 1852, it nevertheless still bears the stamp of the master. And now a word about cost. I am not onprto ge sdibrnali,pric muine, and --favourable spef ii4( Uterwo national col- qection. The price, however, of the lath acrinuUtion wou d be excessive even had it been an -uudotibted es+ ,.T.t • well known to all who are conversant wtfh-the tficturtrr,- hat Paolo Veronese :its muter witoarworks, fwhetherfronstbeir:bein frapps*Iipibeltlwitikzeti Iron' the 4'01(44dr ci44136.E141L4-. c4k..11,_-&-6449..****ibtlisa.A.fa-Artekre .titisabie ex, mestezateSeirAd- WPw )Milf4caii104, trtgan-PK;,,,PAill-.. cittenthrexpenses," amen thehl' wellratt.lte"" tillpitrIted"-ratrle'retotiedk*, the " ot4fte Rio-of,'" is Krapabli eitieraiturri4o1' fdLitelhirtney,
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