The authorities of the National Gallery have expended 16321. 15s.
at the Rogers sale in the following purchases : the reduction from Rubens's " Horrors of War " in the Pitti Palace, 2101. ; Rubens's " Triumph of
Cesar," after Mante ' a, 11021. 108. • John Bassano's " Good Samaritan," 2411. 108. ; and the ■Iment from a fresco by Giotto, "Peter and John in
adoration," 781. 168. .e last is one of the works which we had noted as peculiarly eligible for purchase. The others also are in themselves, exceed- ingly well worth having ; yet we cannot forget that Bassano, though the " Good Samaritan" is a specimen of extraordinary excellence, was a painter very deficient in elevation, and already represented in our Gal- lery better than some of his betters; and that of Rubens we have almost
a glut for so small a collection, while the chief of the two new acquisi- tions—splendid and characteristic as it is—is not even his own design.
Previous page
