LEWIS'S FAC-SIMILES OF CLAUDE. LEWIS'S FAC-SIMILES OF CLAUDE.
A VOLUME of twenty fac-similes of original sketches by CLAUDE, (never before engraved,) from the collection bequeathed by Mr. PAYNE KNIGHT to the British Museum, has been produced by F. C. LEWIS, is that perfect style of imitation for which he is famed. They are mostly studies of trees and scenery in the vicinity of Rome, with two or three compositions for pictures. The subjects consist of few and simple elements; and they are sketched with a pen and washes of sepia or bistre, touched here and there with white.
It is refreshing to turn from the works of the moderns, where the artist seems to be thinking more of his own dexterity than of the scene before him, to these unostentatious studies, all ease and purpose, and with a charm like that of the reality. These are the germs of those beauties that are developed in Cl.aeor.'s exquisite paintings : they are full of the sentiment of repose and loveliness.: The care with which
the details of the trees are delineated, even to a spray or broken branch on the stem, as well as the broad outline and general effect, shows a delicate sense of the value of accidents in nature in conveying the im- pression of locality.
The most finished drawing of the set is a view of Rome, from the Doria.Pamfili Palace; St. Peter's being the principal object in the picture. It has the tranquil and sunny glow of Italian landscape. The curious fidelity of these imitations of the manner of the ori- ginals, is coupled with a congenial perception of the painter's feeling. They are engravings in aquatint, printed in brown ink, the whites being put on by hand afterwards. Now that the public are learning to appreciate the value of facsimiles of artists' sketches, a choice se-
lection of similar fragments of ore from the mine of genius on a larger scale than Mr. OTTLEY'S School of Design, would be acceptable, and, we think, would amply repay the speculator. The LAWRENCE. Collection would have furnished a multitude of " gems rich and rare; " but alas ! it is nearly dispersed. We have no tidings yet of the RAFFAELLE Drawings and the Cartoon Heads of LF.ONARDO DA VINCI being secured for the National Gallery. Loons PHILIP, though he goes in fear of his life, does not pass the opportu- nity of buying up all the choicest pictures that the Spanish monas- teries yield. Baron TAYLOR has just returned to Paris from his mis- sion, bringing with him nearly four hundred specimens of the Spanish school—the voila opinia of the warfare in the Peninsula. But our en- lightened Whig Ministers, only in fear for their places, allow the choicest morceau.r of the inspired pencils of RAFFAELLE and DA VINCL to remain under their very eyes, unpurchased.
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