THE TITIANS IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY. TO THE EDITOR OF
THE SPECTATOR.
Kensington, 3d November 1846.
Sin-In your brief allusion to the mismanagement of the National Gallery, last week, you do not particularly mention the cleansing of the "Bacchus and Ariadne": nor was it perhaps necessary, since that picture has not suffered from the scouring process as the Rubens has, and as a picture really by Titian would probably have done.
In proportion as the beauty of colouring and harmony of tone in a picture de- pend upon the glazed or transparent tints, must be the injury it is likely to suffer from cleaning of any kind, however judicious and careful, if it extend to the re- moval of the varnish; for to remove the yams' h without any detriment to the delicate glazings ofoil-colour is next to impossible. Now, as Titian is known to have made use of glazing freely, I tremble to think what will be the effect of cleaning the " Ganymede," when its tarn comes to be scarified. The successful resistance of the "Bacchus and Ariadne" to the scraping and scouring of the operator may induce him to think that the pictures of Titian will bear such a process; believing, as no doubt lie does, this to be the work of Titian, for so it is supposed to be. But, Sir, I be leave to question the pretensions of this picture of " Bacchus and Ariadne" to be regarded as the production of Titian. I have never been able to persuade myself that it was either designed or painted by Titian; nor have I been convinced by the arguments used to satisfy my doubts on this subject. My own impression is that it is a painting by Nicholas Poussin; who has m this in- stance emulated the rich and deep colouring of Titian. The spirit of the concep- tion-the sentiment as well as style of the design-the composition, the drawing, ay, even the colouring-appear to me to be characteristic of N. Poussin. Let any unprejudiced inquirer study attentively the three pictures of Bacchanalian subjects by N. Peasant in the National Gallery, and then look at the " Bacchus and Ariadne," and the resemblance in the faces, forms, attitudes, and grouping of the figures-in the trees, animals, and accessories-to those in the acknow- ledged works of N. Poussin, will be strikingly apparent. Then compare the " Bacchus and Ariadne" with the " Venus and Adonis " and " Ganymede" of Titian, near it, and the dissimilarity in style and effect will be equally striking. The subject of "Bacchus and Ariadne is treated in the severe classical taste and with that close attention to mythological details, for which the "learned Poussin" is distinguished; and the figures are all in action, a peculiarity remark- able in the Bacchanalian scenes of this painter. There is none of that voluptuous repose and grandeur which characterize Titian; nor of the broad free style of psi ting which is as much a characteristic of this great master as his fine colour-
ni Would Titian have wound that raw red scarf round the cold blue dress of Ariadne? or have carved that solid lump of clouds on the intense blue board that . forms the sky, on which is fastened, as with a nail, the starry crown of Ariadne? All the unquestionable works of the great Venetian colourist are against such a supposition. The loose flying mantle of Bacchus has something of the vinous richness of Titian's colour, and so has the brown hue of the Satyrs; but Titian would never have painted that brassy bit of vesture on the foremost Nymph; and the oval vase lying on the heap of drapery is an unmistakeable evidence of N. Poussin's taste. The jolly urchin Fawn dragging the calf's head is one of Pons- sin's family of boys-and a noble race of infants they are; as is apparent from a glance at the group of chubby children contending on the ground in the little Poussin next to the Bacchus.
But to enumerate all the points of similarity between the design and execution of this picture and those of others acknowledged to be by N. Poussin-though very inferior to this in colour-would occupy too much of your space.
AN AMATEUR.
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