The Palace
THE London home of the King and Queen was known to be full of beautiful things. But the descriptions and photo- graphs of the Royal treasures in Mr. Clifford Smith's fine and erudite book surpass expectation. The Queen is justly
respected as a keen collector and a good judge of artistic work of all kinds, and the author has much to say of the valuable additions that she has made to the collections. It is evident, however, that George III, who bought Buckingham House in 1762, was well advised in the many purchases that he made for its furnishing and adornment. And it is equally clear that George IV, whose furniture, china, bronzes and other objects from Carlton House and the Brighton Pavilion form the principal contents of the Palace, was one of the shrewdest and most enthusiastic patrons that the arts have ever had in this country. This continuity of a sound tradition accounts for the very exceptional quality of the collections here recorded by an expert hand.
It is interesting to have a full account of Carlton House, which until 1827 stood upon Pall Mall, occupying the site now filled by the United Service and Athenaeum Clubs with the open square between them, and having gardens that extended from Spring Gardens to Marlborough House. Frederick, Prince of Wales, had bought it in 1732. When his grandson, George, Prince of Wales, took over the house in 1783, he set about decorating and furnishing it with the utmost magnifi- cence.
George IV spent freely on Carlton House, but he did not like it, because it opened on a busy street. Midway through his reign he ordered John Nash, his brilliant and tireless architect and town-planner, to reconstruct Buckingham House—the Queen's House, as it was then called—on palatial lines, regardless of Treasury doubts and Parliamentary growling. The Marble Arch was erected as a grand entrance to the new Palace, but the building was unfinished when George DI died in 1830. William IV tried to hasten its com- pletion, but he, too, died before the palace was ready to be occupied. Thus Queen Victoria, who removed there from Kensington immediately after her accession, was the first Sovereign to make Buckingham Palace her permanent home. In her early years the east front was built by Blore, and the Marble Arch was removed to its present site. Chantrey's Equestrian statue of George IV, which was to have sur- mounted the arch, found a resting-place in the north-east corner of the new Trafalgar Square. Under Queen Victoria the rich contents, first of Carlton House and then of the Brighton Pavilion which she abandoned in 1847, were disposed in the new and stately Palace. Mr. Clifford Smith's account of them is both interesting and valuable.
, Special attention may be drawn to his chapter on the wonderful series of lacquered furniture, including, besides French work, more fine Oriental pieces than any other collec- Pon can show, and to the chapter on the many superb clocki, both English and French. George III was, of course, specially interestee in clocks and watches, and his MS. direetions-fur
assembling a watch are printed in an appendix. For a molar. mental barometric clock made in 1765 by Alexander Cumming, the King paid £1178, with an allowance of £150 a year for keeping it in order. George IV shared his father's tastes so far as to form a collection of clocks by famous Parisian makers like Breguet, one of whose tall clocks cost £1115. All who care for fine craftsmanship in furniture and decorative work must be grateful to the King and Queen for permitting Mr. Clifford Smith to compile this fascinating and instructive account of their possessions.
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