It will probably be more profitable to mention one or
two of the paintings which make the present exhibition really armor- tant, apart from those already described. The big room is quite properly devoted to Rubens and van Dyck. From the former are sketches of the greatest brilliance, one of his noblest landscapes, The Farm at Laeken (82), and -the huge Adoration, lent by the Duke of Westminster (94). Four magnificent full-. length van Dycks show almost the whole range of his portrai- ture ; and the big double portrait by Jordaens (83) displays his more solid and less flashy qualities at their best. Among the Dutch, Rembrandt's so-called Van Tromp (528) and the Old Lady (126) amply support the Old Man already mentioned. Almost all the minor Dutch masters appear in an unusually favourable light. There are some exceptionally interesting examples of the Caravaggiesque school in Holland, particularly' the Terbruggens and the Honthorst. From Spain are three Velasquez, two of them splendid examples of his early manner. Among the Italians the most remarkable are the Salvator Rosa of his mistress as a Sibyl (301), the Orazio Gentileschi Moses (285) (presented by the Spanish court to the Duke of Orleans as a Velasquez) and the Annibale Carracci of Christ in the Carpenter's Shop (306), a painting in which realism and allegory are mixed in a way typical of the seventeenth century (Christ watches Joseph making a Cross). Of the French the Pouscins have already been discussed, and the Claudes, four of which are as lovely as anything he produced, have been mentioned: The English portrait painters are, as is to be expected, fully and well represented ; and the paintings as a whole are supported by a collection of drawings brilliantly selected and arranged. These have been for the most part drawn from the collections at Windsor and Chatsworth, perhaps the two most important groups of seventeenth-century drawings in private possession. Among them are many sketches for decorations by Seicento artists, and it is in this room that the real Baroque can best be studied.
This exhibition, therefore, will provide not only much pleasure, but also food for a great deal of thought. Whether we want to watch the struggle of classicism, Raroque and realism, or to study the development of some particular style in detail or just to find out more about works of art as the expression of the mind of man, there will be enotigh to keep us occupied for the two months during which the exhibition is open.
ANTHONY BLUNT.
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