THE NATIONAL GALLERY: "THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI."
7 Canning Place,. Kensington, 26th March 1856. Sin—I feel it incumbent on me to contribute whatever authority I may claim from twenty years' pursuit of art, ten of which were spent m Italy, towards exposing the disgraceful character of the last purchase for the Na- tional Gallery. I have no hesitation in pronouncing the 4' Adoration of the Magi " a work of the lowest type of the Venetian school, and so damaged by what is called " cleaning," and by repainting, that even such slender pretensions to notice as it may once have possessed are entirely ex- tinguished. It is my deliberate conviction that the "Adoration of the Magi ' is not deserving of a place in the National Gallery.
I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without remarking, that the wasting of upwards of two thousand_ pounds of public money on such a 'work is but a natural consequence of placing the National Gallery under the con- trol of three such notoriously incapable men as Sir Charles Eastlake, Mr. Womim, and their German 'travelling" adviser Herr Miindier.
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