24 JUNE 1837, Page 19

FINE ARTS.

ABUSES IN GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGEMENT OF ART: A COUNCIL OF TASTE PROPOSED.

Tim Government attempts to sustain the nation's newly-assumed cha- racter of " Patron of the Arts," must afford infinite amusement to our Continental brethren ; who cannot but regard John Bull's pretensions to connoisseurship with a mixture of compassion and ridicule, such as the Duke of DEVONSHIRE or Lord EGREMONT might feel towards a purse-proud cit- ."ro whom some demon whiliered, • have a tastel • "

who, aping their munificence, with only the requisites of wealth and good. intention, becomes the dupe of jobbers and the laughingstock of

his acquaintance. In the instance of the individual, the folly cures it- self, and ends where it began : finding he has paid too dear for his whistle, he flings the costly toy aside, content to use the experience

he has bought so as to keep out of the way of similar impositions.

But the case of a people is widely different : the country must turn its dear-bought experience to better amount. It cannot abandon the pursuit once begun—may not if it would, should not if it could: it has to learn how to follow it up with greater ardour and success under better auspices. The only way to redeem the credit of the country in this matter, is to adopt more efficient means of putting into effect our pur- pose of cultivating the public taste and promoting the progress of art at home. The people are convinced of the necessity of sound instruc- tion, of the benefits arising from the possession of fine works of art, and the policy of making a liberal outlay for these advantages ; but how to estimate the value of the rarities offered to us, what to seek for, where to find, and how best to secure them, remain yet to be learned. There is knowledge and judgment enough in the country ; all that is needed is to make this available to a wise purpose. What course so obvious and efficient as to form a Faculty of Arts, to be a deliberative and executive power for carrying out the views of Government with re- ference to the arts of design ? The history of the progress of art in this country is a series of job- bing and cajolery : the Government has been in the position of a per- son of great wealth, unbounded influence, and good disposition, but small wisdom, who is teased and tormented on all sides with suitors for his patronage ; and who, having neither understanding nor taste of his own to guide him, yields to the most pertinacious applicant, or is tricked by the most cunning intriguer. Art owes more, much more, to private influence than official protection. Hitherto all our great acquisitions have been made at second-hand : the TowNssv and EEGIN Marbles, the HAMILTON Collection of Vases, the Collections of Drawings by PAYNE KNIGHT, and other connoisseurs—would we could add the LAWRENCE Collection, now dispersed—torm the staple of the treasures of art, in the British Museum ; and the ANGERSTEIN and HOLWELL CARR Collections of Pictures constitute three-fourths of the National Gallery. Some of these, too, were bequests, others were purchased through powerful influence : in fact, it is either to individual -liberality, or to secret, if not sinister means, that we owe the possession of nearly all the productions of art that the nation can boast of. The executive, instead of acting, is acted upon ; it is made a " utensil" of—sometimes to honour, sometimes to dishonour—as accident may determine. The LAWRENCE Collection of Drawings by the Old Masters is a striking case in point. Seven years ago, when Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE died, the Government were offered the whole of this unrivalled collec- tion for 20,0001.,—a sum much less than it cost the collector, and, as it has since proved to be, far below its market value. The sum was large, and the Government hesitated,—though even the Royal Academy stirred in the affair : but, instead of appointing competent persons to inves- tigate the worth of these precious relics, they do nothing until the col- lection becomes the property of creditors, who, to reimburse themselves and make a fair profit as dealers, raise the price to 3121,0001. The Go. vemment now begin to find out the value of these treasures as mar- ketable commodities; but still the price deters them, seeing they are not yet able to appreciate their worth to the arts of the country. The drawings are exhibited by Messrs. Woonauati, the proprietors ; making twelve exhibitions of a hundred drawings each, not including the whole number : amateurs, artists, nay even the public at large, flock to see them ; the wonder and delight of the visiters is unbounded, and the press echoes the voice of the people : private individuals give propor- tionately larger prices for separate portions, but the Government con- tinues to bold off. It not only suffers the collection to be scattered, but does not even take means to secure the most valuable fragments. At last the choicest parts of all are exhibited—the works of RAF- FAELLE and MICHAEL ANGELO ; the price set on them being 12,000/. for the former and 8,0001. for the latter. For Government to pay as much for the works of two masters, though the greatest, as they might once have had the whole for, is like passing a vote of censure upon their former neglect of opportunity : but for very shame they can't let the brightest gems of the casket go without an effort, so they ob- tain the refusal of them. After much haggling, the owners offer the two portions for 18,000/., provided their proposal be accepted by a cer- tain time : no answer is given. Messrs. WOODBURN then offer to sub- mit the drawings to the valuation of any competent judges the Minis- ters may appoint, and to permit a selection to be made from them. Three proper persons are named,—Mr. Joss, of the British Museum, Mr. EASTLAKE, R.A., and the Reverend HENRY WELLESLEY ; Who, after inspecting and appraising the drawings one by one, find that their fair market value is 30,0001. instead of 20,000/. ; so that the Govern. ment thus has the option of purchasing what is worth 30,000/. for 20,0001., or of making a selection at the prices fixed by their own valuers. Still nothing results. The owners are not even released from their agreement to give the preference to the Government ; who will nei- ther say aye nor nay and thus the matter stands at present. We know not whether the RcBENS Drawings are sold ; but the seventy-five by LEONARDO DA VINCI, including the inestimable cartoon heads of the famous " Last Supper," of which no other authentic traces remain, are still procurable for 1,5001. ; a sum insignificant in comparison with their value to the country,—for the cartoons are not only of undoubted ori. ginality, but are powerful as paintings, so that all who look at them may understand and feel their beauty. Passing over the treatment of Messrs. WOODBURN by the Govern- ment, which is unhandsome and unbusiness-like, what pitiful, paltering conduct is this in a matter of national interest and importance ! Had Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE, when alive, been compelled by necessity to part with his collection of drawings, and wanted 30,0001. for them, who can doubt but his personal influence would have procured their purchase by the Government, even bad they been less worth the sum than they were ? We did not hear of these doubts and delays when Lord LONDONDERRY wanted to sell his CORREGIOS there was no haggling then about price, no holding off; the thing was done on the instant. So with the Muan.Lo we spoke of last week : though that picture was bought by a private individual a very short time before for 1,5001, the Government did not hesitate to give four times the price for it The public had not seen this MURILLO or the LONDONDERRY CORIVEGIOS when the bargains were struck ; and though they would, in the instance of the CORREGIOS, have confirmed the intended purchase, the case is not altered : but here are works whose value has been tested in every possible way, and which Ministers have been prayed to purchase by hundreds of persons—and among them are the names of the most dis- tinguished artists and connoisseurs, whose signatures appear to the memorial—left neglected and almost despised. The Ministers wait the moment of inspiration : the voice of the oracle has not spoken. We thought that Messrs. WOODBURN had been wiser in their generation, but they do not seem to have known the way to propitiate the high priest of the Temple of Taste or have they failed in their offerings to the shrine, trusting the justice of their cause would prevail without the aid of the oracle? Alas, they have slighted the " magic voice potential !" and the purse of the nation uncloses only to its " open sesame."

In making a collection of fine works of art, the necessity for liberality is as great as the liability to imposition ; and public opinion is of less value and less easily obtained in this than in any other matter. We have no lack of official bodies to intermeddle in affairs of art : there are the Royal Academy, ( God save the mark !) the Society of Arts,

the Trustees of the British Museum and of the National Gallery, the Directors of the British Institution, and that mysterious conclave

the Committee of Taste, and last, not least, the supreme dictator and arbiter elegantiarunt, Mr. SEGUIER. Favoured country ! Unfortunately, however, these are separate and independent powers ; independent, not

only of each other, but of the Government and the nation. For all

practical purposes, indeed, the country is without a tribunal to whom it can appeal for judgment on any question of taste, whether it be the

erection of a statue or the purchase of a picture, the building of a Senate-house or the founding of a School of Design. What are the consequences ? A pigmy picture-gallery, that, besides being a disgrace to the town as a specimen of architecture, will scarcely bold the few pictures we already possess—a National School of Design established on a narrower basis than any mechanical drawing academy—a competi- tion for a Legislative Palace, which, though the result fortunately has

proved satisfactory, restricted the genius of the architects and fettered their invention : to instance consequences, indeed, we have only to point to every act of Government relative to the fine arts. Yet we nevertheless give Ministers credit for good intentions—that pernicious virtue which, according to old BAXTER, forms the pavement of the un. nameable place.

If any good is to come of national patronage of art—if the energies of the artists are to be directed to high aims by state encouragement— if the taste of the public is to be enlightened by fine examples—if the glory of the country is to be promoted by its advancement in arts—if the National Gallery is to be any thing but a receptacle for huge and dear pictures that no one else will buy, and for the lumber ejected from lordly collections—there must be some efficient and responsible delibe- rative and executive power for regulating all matters connected with the arts of design. If we want models for the constitution of such a body, we have only to look to the practice of the Continental Governments : but, without directly imitating the course pursued by them, we would suggest the formation of a Faculty of Art—a Council of Taste, (call it what you will)—to be composed, in equal proportions, of the most eminent artists in painting, sculpture, and architecture, enlightened connoisseurs, re- spectable dealers in pictures and objects of vertu, and intelligent menu. facturers of ornamental articles. These should form a committee assem. bling at stated intervals and upon extraordinary occasions, when neces. sary, to deliberate and determine upon the plan to he adopted in all proceedings of the Government connected with arts and manufactures; their decisions, and the grounds of them, to be made public for at least two months previous to their being carried into effect. This is but a loose suggestion, thrown out on the instant, and pre. tends neither to maturity nor completeness : the points to be attained are the advice and opinion of a competent set of judges, and the confir. mation of their acts by the public at large. Such a contours might also be made available as a guide to public and private bodies in directing any work of art : it would be a focus of intelligence diffusing its Milli. ence through the whole kingdom. Free competition and publicity alone have done much ; but in the case of Government acts, publicity gene. rally comes too late.