THE LAWRENCE COLLECTION OF DRAWINGS.
THIS splendid collection of Drawings and Sketches by the Great Masters is now dispersed, never to be brought together again ; but though the corner-stones and capitals are scattered abroad, there yet remain some precious fragments that connoisseurs may cull from out the ruins.
Messrs. Wow:fillies, have made a fresh exhibition of the debris of the specimens of RUBENS and VANDYKE, for the purpose of sale : to those amateurs who can only admire and long, the sight will be a treat. It is painful, nay, humiliating, in a national point of view, to consider that the entire of this magnificent cabinet of five thousand original studies—the first thoughts of the master-minds of all the schools of painting—forming a consecutive series from the early Florentines, CIMABUE and AlAsAccro, downwards, might have been secured for the nation at a price that the sale of only a fourth part of them has already realized. The Prince of ORANGE, who had the first picking of the spoils, bought to the amount of 12,0001.—a sum modestly offered by our Government for the whole. The Prince has taken the greater portion of those by RAFFAELLE, MICHAEL ANGELO, CORREGIO, and LEONARDO DA VINCI, and all by ANDREA DEL SARTO. SOIlle of the Dutch connoisseurs and Sir ROBERT PEEL have shared with him those by RUBENS and VANDYKE ; but many very covetable bits yet remain. That Sir ROBERT PEEL, in his private character, should have laid out upwards of a thousand pounds in the drawings of one master alone, and yet have refused the whole for 25,0001. in his official capacity as Prime Minister, only shows that he knows better what is good for himself than for the nation. The whole of the REMBRANDTB, T1TIANS, and CLAUDE% are bought by WILLIAM &DAME, Esq. ; and those of the three CARACCI, and JULIO ROMANO, by Lord FRANCIS EGERTON. Fac-similes of a selection of thirty designs by RAFFAELLE have been made for publication, under the auspices of the Queen. As the work will form a fitting sequel to Mr. OTTLEY'S specimens of the Italian School of Design, only those drawings will be given which have not been copied before. Judging from a cursory glance of several speci- mens of the plates, they appear to be executed with scrupulous fidelity to the originals. In conjunction with the forthcoming work of RAFFAELLE, we may mention, that Mr. BURNET has published a third of the set of Car. tonal, Christ's Charge to Peter. The praise we bestowed on sae two first belongs in an equal degree to the pi esent ; and the tints of the engraving are brighter and m. ore transparent, though the same roughness and inequality characterize the mode of execie ion. In ell the essentials of a true and spirited copy—a clear understanding of tie painter's feeling and meaning, combined with a vigorous fidelity et transeript—these plates are completely satisfactory ; and those to whom the peculiar manner of engraving is a stumbling-block, may be etie. pected of wanting a genuine appreciation of the sublime originals. Nevertheless, we cannot help wishing that price did not stand in the way of a more agreeable medium.
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