THE MOND COLLECTION.*
THIS illustrated catalogue of the collection formed by Dr. Richter for the late Dr. Ludwig Mond gives us some idea of the pictures which eventually will belong to the National Gallery. Dr. Mond, we are told, when he determined to form a gallery of Italian art, instructed Dr. Richter to acquire for him nothing but works which would be worthy of a public gallery, and made no conditions as to the amount to be spent upon them. In these favourable circumstances the Mond Collection was brought together. The work before us com- prises two large volumes, besides a portfolio of reproductions of the finest of the pictures. The catalogue itself is illustrated with many pictures which throw light on the works under discussion, and are a helpful addition to the critical views put forward. Dr. Richter was a friend of Morelli, and adopts his line of criticism, so that we find a good deal about "morphological details" and such-like things. But the reasons given for the attributions are always interesting and worthy of study, and in many cases as convincing as they can be in such a region of speculation. Dr. Richter says that during the formation of this collection many pictures were acquired which it was afterwards decided not to keep. Such works were • The Mond Collection an Appreciation. By J. P. Eichter, Ph.D. London. John Murray. [X15 15o. net.]
offered to other galleries, and the writer speaks somewhat scornfully of the authorities of the National Gallery, who. refused to buy the celebrated portrait of a man now at Berlin,. though they could have secured this masterpiece for a muck smaller sum than was eveatually given for it by the German Government. Dr. Richter, however, offers no explanation of the extraordinary fact that a generally acknowledged picture by Giorgione should have been considered undesirable for the collection which he was employed to form. Was the- picture in question, we wonder, only accepted as a work of the Venetian master after it had left Dr. Richter's- hands?
The excitements of picture-hunting must be great, and we are told that the small early Bellini Madonna when it was found' in Italy had a sixteenth-century landscape background, which when it was removed revealed the original gold ground. Bnt Italy is no longer the place where treasures can be easily acquired, owing to the wisdom of the Italian Government. Now the collector turns his attention to English country houses. In the present instance from this source have come works by Raphael, Leonardo, and Titian. Fortunately these works of unquestioned authorship and splendid quality will eventually form part of the National Gallery ; for the things which were dispersed by the descendants of English patrons of art Dr. Mond collected together and left to the nation.
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