FINE ARTS.
THE GOVERNMENT PICTURE PURCHASE.
Tut three pictures for whose purchase 9,030/. was voted on Monday night, are now exhibited among the National Collection, at the old house in Pall Mall. They are three in number,—namely, a ',Land- scape, with the Story of Mercury and the Woodman," by SALVATOR Rost. ; " Moses lifting up the Brazen Serpent," by RUBES; and a Holy Family, by MumsLo. The SALVATOR ROSA has been exhi- bited in the Gallery for some little time past ; the RUBENS and the MURILLO were shown there for the first time on Thursday. The prices given for them are as follows : for the MurtILLo, six thousand guineas-6,3001. ; for the RUBENS, one thousand guineas-1,050/. ; and for the SALVATOR, sixteen hundred guineas-1,6S0/. ; making the total sum of 9,030/.
The SALVATOR is a very fine picture: we think the price is high enough, but not more perhaps than its value as a good specimen of the master. It is a simple composition, consisting of a bank of trees fringing a piece of water, from which Mercury has risen, and is re- storing his hatchet to the Woodman, who has stepped into the stream to receive it : a distant landscape opens the picture on one side. The principal object is the mass of foliage, which is painted with all the power of SALvATOR'S pencil, uniting definition of form and elaboration with a free and bold touch—the branches seem actually to project and to wave in the air. The effect is that of an evening sun, with streaks of golden clouds across the sky, harmonizing with the sombre tone of the foliage, and at the same time enriching it with light and colour. The merits of this picture were prominently put forward by Mi- nisters, to cover the other transaction. In no report of the debate tbat we have seen was the name of MURILLO mentioned : at any rate that, the most important purchase, was not dwelt upon ; but it and the RUBENS were lumped together as "two other pictures," leaving it to be inferred that the SALvArott was the principal. Had it been stated openly that six thousand guineas was the price to he given for a Mu- Risco, the most listless Member any way acquainted with the prices of pictures would have been startled, even if he had had no previous inti- mation of the job. For that this is a job, and a rank one too, it only needs the mention of the price in conjunction with the name of the painter to prove. Hundreds, not thousands, is the scale for MURILLOS : the celebrated "Flower Girl," in the Dulwich Gallery, was bought for eight hundred guineas ; and that was considered a large price for this chef d'reuere—the subject, moreover, being one that the painter was well qualified to treat. But, not to prejudge, let us describe the picture in question.
The infant Christ stands on a sort of step in the middle, looking up to heaven; the Virgin sitting on one side and Joseph kneeling on the other, each holding one of his hands : the Almighty Father appears above, resting on a globe, and surrounded by cherubim ; and the mystic dove hovers over the head of Jesus. The figures are the life size. Mary and Joseph are Spanish peasants, and Jesus is a plump, inno- cent, little boy: the Virgin's guze of motherly fondness and admiration is beautiful, for its tenderness and intensity ; and Joseph's appealing look of awe and reverence is calculated to impress the simple wor- shipper at a pictured shrine with stronger feelings of veneration than the unconscious child would excite, in whose face we can perceive no divine inspiration. MuttiLLo could rise no higher than real life the human feeling is depicted with the utmost simplicity, but divinity there is none—or at best but cottage divinity; the Impersonation of the Godhead is weak to a fault.
The picture is a beautiful composition, richly coloured, and painted with extreme delicacy, and greater force than is usual in pictures of this class by MURILL0. It appears free from the restorer's touches; but to its state of preservation we are not competent to speak : there appear some specks about it, the cause of which we know not, nor whether they be of any importance. As a piece of painting, it is un- questionably a chef d'ceuere of MURILLO the attitude of the infant Christ is simple and graceful, and the way in which his purple vesture Unites the blue and red of the Virgin's drapery with the brown and amber of Joseph's garments, so as to balance the colouring, is a nice stroke of art. The group of cherubim, too, at the top of the picture, is exquisite. But there are two principal objections to it : besides its being a subject that has been repeated to satiety, it is one that is be- yond the powers of MURILL0 to treat. These, though they do not counterbalance its transcendent merits as a painting, render it less in- teresting and less valuable as a specimen of the master. Had GOLD- SMITH emulated MiLroN, as MURILI.0 has RAFFAELLE, who would prefer his epic to his " Deserted Village?" The subject of a picture 111 of no small importance in reference to the objects of a national gallery; a principal one of which is to enlighten the multitude by making them take an interest in the productions of fine art.
Without insisting on these objections,however, and giving full praise to the executive merits of the picture, we challenge any one to prove that this picture is worth more than half what was given for it; nay, we think that 2,000/. would have been a liberal price. We are credibly informed that it was sold for 1,500/. a little while before. The Duke of SUTHERLAND paid very high prices for his MuaiLLos, bought at Marshal SouLT's sale : two of them, " Abraham and the Angels" and the " Prodigal Son," both very fine ones, were exhibited in the British Institution. We may, without improper curiosity, inquire what they cost : not six thousand guineas each, nor three either, we venture to say. The RUBENS—if it be by him—is one of the coarsest paintings that ever bore the name of this great artist. The figures are smaller than life, and represent Moses and Aaron pointing out the Brazen Serpent to a group of men in armour and half naked, and blowsy dames in flaunting gowns, forming a confused mass of limbs and drapery. The Jewish leaders are devoid of dignity or grandeur ; and the Flemish Israelites, though twined round with serpents, look any thing but horror- stricken or imploring. It is the worst specimen of RUBENS'S physical painting we have ever seen; and is unworthy a place in the National Gallery, as a specimen of such a master. And for this, a thousand guineas were paid. Eight thousand were asked for this and the Mu- RILLO—for they are both included in one bargain ; and seven thousand were kindly taken. Nay, Mr. RICE has the face to tell the country that it is indebted to the seller for relinquishing these precious productions to the nation at such& price. Monstrous! Why were not these pictures
exhibited before the bargain was concluded, that the public might know what they are flaying thousands for ? There ought to be a room appropriated in the National Gallery for the public exhibition of pictures offered to the nation, either as gilts or as purchases. Dearly as these last acquisitions have cost us, same good will have resulted if such an arrangement is made in consequence, Another novelty, is a flimsy, affected, whole-length portrait of a lady and a harp, by LAWRENCE, that is a disgrace not only to the Gallery, but to the painter. This daub was accepted, " unsight unseen ; " and the donor, we suppose, will figure as a benefactor to the National Gallery. A cheap celebrity may thus be acquired by sending an acre or two of canvas not worth house-room. It hangs on the stair- case, where did hang that living reality the portrait of Mr. Schomberg, by GAINSBOROUGH ; which, since its merit became known, the family have reclaimed : we fear the lady and her harp will not soon be sent for back. What with dear-bought, doubtful, and worthless paintings, the National Collection is in a hopeful state of progress. If all the trashy pictures mind those of questionable authenticity were weeded out, one room of the New Gallery, paltry as it is, would suffice to in- clude the National Collection.
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