FINE ARTS.
PICTURE-BUYING FOR THE PEOPLE.
INTELLIGENCE of the purchase by Government, for the National Gal- lery, of Mr. BECHFORD'S famous little RAFFAELLE, the Saint Catherine, which he bought of Lord NORTHWICK and is said to be an immaculate original, has been sent to the papers ; but other purchases of a less po- pular and more questionable character are not mentioned. Three pic- tures have, we understand, been purchased of Mr. BECKFORD; and the price we have heard named is 7,000 guineas ; the RAFFAELLE, though a small picture, if undoubtedly genuine and pure from the contamination of 'restorers," is well worth, 3,500 guineas; but the value of the finest specimens of MAZZOLINO DI FERRARA and GAROFALO can never come up'to the other half of the sum-total. We rather doubt the correctness of the figures ; but there is something suspicious in the circumstance of only one of the three being mentioned. We have heard, also, that the purchase of the large Hunting-scene by.VELASQUEZ, exhibited in the British Institution last year, for 4,000 guineas, is contemplated, if not determined upon. The picture is only a curiosity, after all : it has no Interest beyond that of being a representation of the costumes and amusements of the Spanish Court in the time of Philip the Second, and the work of a great muster; and such a price is monstrous. We . strongly suspect this to be' a dealer's job. Again we protest against this secret system of picture-buying on the part of the Trustees of the National Gallery : the pictures are bought for the people and paid for by the people ; the people therefore have a right to a voice in the =Wet There ought to be an exhibition of all works offered for sale to the nation, that the public may judge of their value beforehand : on no.other conditions should the grant of money be voted.
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