Part 12
The grace of his pencil and his _chiaro oscuro_ place CORREGGIO in the first class of painters, where he ranks the third after RAPHAEL and TITIAN. He is inferior to them in design and composition; however the scarceness of his pictures frequently gives them a superior value. Poor CORREGGIO! It grieves one to recollect that he lost his life, in consequence of the fatigue of staggering home under a load of _copper_ coin, which avaricious monks had given him for pictures now become so valuable that they are not to be purchased for their weight, even in _gold_.
No collection is so rich in pictures of CORREGGIO as that of the CENTRAL MUSEUM.
PAOLO VERONESE.
N° 44. (Saloon.) _The Wedding at Cana_.
45. (Saloon.) _The Repast at the house of Levi_.
51. (Saloon.) _The Pilgrims of Emmaüs_.
These are astonishing compositions for their vast extent, the number and beauty of the figures and portraits, and the variety and truth of the colouring. Nothing in painting can be richer.
ANDREA DEL SARTO.
N° 4. (Saloon.) _Christ taken down from the cross_.
ANDREA SQUAZZELLI (his pupil.)
N° ( ) _Christ laid in the tomb_.
This capital picture is not in the catalogue.
GIORGIONE DEL CASTEL-FRANCO.
N° 32. (Saloon.) _A Concert containing three portraits_.
This master-piece is worthy of TITIAN.
GUERCINO.
N° 33 (Saloon.) _St. Petronilla_.
This large picture was executed for St. Peter's church in the Vatican, where it was replaced by a copy in Mosaic, on being removed to the pontificate palace of Monte Cavallo, at Rome.
In the great Gallery are exhibited no less than twenty-three pictures by GUERCINO: but to speak the truth, though, in looking at some of his productions, he appears an extremely agreeable painter, as soon as you see a number of them, you can no longer bear him. This is what happens to _mannerists_. The dark shades at first astonish you, afterwards they disgust you.
ANDREA SACCHI.
N° 65. (Saloon.) _St. Remuald_.
This picture was always one of the most esteemed of those in the churches at Rome. It was the altar-piece of the church of St. Remuald in that city.
ALBANO.
N° 676. (Gallery.) _Fire._
677. _Air._
678. _Water._
679. _Earth._
In the Gallery are twenty-nine pictures of this master, and all of them graceful; but the preceding four, representing the elements, which were taken from the royal Cabinet of Turin, are the most remarkable.
BAROCCIO.
N° 686. (Gallery.) _The Virgin, St Anthony, and St. Lucia._
688. _St. Michaelina._
These are the best pictures of BAROCCIO already exhibited. His colouring is enchanting. It is entirely transparent and seems as if impregnated with light: however, his forms, and every thing else, bespeak the _mannerist_.
ANNIBALE CARRACCI.
N° 721. (Gallery.) _Christ dead on the knees of the Virgin._
723. _The Resurrection of Christ._
728. _The Nativity of Christ._
730. _Christ laid in the tomb._
Of the CARRACCI, ANNIBALE is the most perfect. He is also remarkable for the different manners which he has displayed in his works. They appear to be by two or three different painters. Of more than twenty in the Gallery, the above are the best of his productions.
MICHAEL ANGELO DA CARAVAGGIO.
N° 744. (Gallery.) _Christ laid in the tomb._
This wonderful picture, which was brought from Rome, is, for vigour of execution and truth of colouring, superior to all the others by the same master. Every one of his works bears the stamp of a great genius.
DOMENICHINO.
N° 763. (Gallery.) _The Communion of St. Jerome._
This picture, the master-piece of DOMENICHICO, comes from the great altar of the church of _San Geronimo della Carità_, at Rome. It will appear incredible that for a work of such importance, which cost him so much time, study, and labour, he received no more than the sum of about £10 sterling.
N° 769. (Gallery.) _St. Cecilia_.
This capital performance is now removed to the drawing-room of the First Consul, in the palace of the _Tuileries_.
After RAPHAEL, DOMENICHINO is one of the most perfect masters; and his _St. Jerome_, together with RAPHAEL'S Transfiguration, are reckoned among the most famous _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the art of painting.
GUIDO.
N° 797. (Gallery.) _The Crucifixion of St. Peter_.
800. _Fortune_.
These are the finest of the twenty pictures by that master, now exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM. They both came from Rome; the former, from the Vatican; the latter, from the Capitol.
GUIDO is a noble and graceful painter; but, in general, he betrays a certain negligence in the execution of several parts.
LUINI.
N° 860. (Gallery.) _The Holy Family_.
In this picture, LUINI has fallen little short of his master, LEONARDO DA VINCI.
ANDREA SOLARIO.
N° 896. (Gallery.) _The Daughter of Herodias receiving the head of St. John_.
SOLARIO is another worthy pupil of LEONARDO. This very capital picture belonged to the collection of the crown, and was purchased by Lewis XIV.
PIERUNO DEL VAGA.
N° 928. (Gallery.) _The Muses challenged by the Piërides_.
An excellent picture from Versailles.
BALTASSARE PERUZZI.
N° 929. (Gallery.) _The Virgin discovering the infant Jesus asleep_.
A remarkably fine production.
SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO.
N° ( ) _Portrait of the young sculptor, Baccio Bomdinelli_.
This picture is worthy of the pencil of RAPHAEL. It is not yet exhibited.
PIETRO DA CORTONA.
N° 52. (Saloon.) _The Birth of the Virgin_.
53. _Remus and Romulus_.
These are the finest pictures in the collection by this master.
We have now noticed the best productions of the Italian School: in our next visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM, I shall point out the most distinguished pictures of the French and Flemish Schools.
P. S. Lord Cornwallis is sumptuously entertained here, all the ministers giving him a grand dinner, each in rotation. After having viewed the curiosities of Paris, he will, in about a fortnight, proceed to the congress at Amiens. On his Lordship's arrival, I thought it my duty to leave my name at his hotel, and was most agreeably surprised to meet with a very old acquaintance in his military Secretary, Lieut. Col. L--------s. For any of the ambassador's further proceedings, I refer you to the English newspapers, which seem to anticipate all his movements.
LETTER XVII.
_Paris, November 15, 1801._
The more frequently I visit the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, the more am I inclined to think that such a vast number of pictures, suspended together, lessen each other's effect. This is the first idea which now presents itself to me, whenever I enter the
GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE.
Were this collection rendered apparently less numerous by being subdivided into different apartments, the eye would certainly be less dazzled than it is, at present, by an assemblage of so many various objects, which, though arranged as judiciously as possible, somehow convey to the mind an image of confusion. The consequence is that attention flags, and no single picture is seen to advantage, because so many are seen together.
In proportion as the lover of the arts becomes more familiarized with the choicest productions of the pencil, he perceives that there are few pictures, if any, really faultless. In some, he finds beauties, which are general, or forming, as it were, a whole, and producing a general effect; in others, he meets with particular or detached beauties, whose effect is partial: assembled, they constitute the beautiful: insulated, they have a merit which the amateur appreciates, and the artist ought to study. General or congregated beauties always arise from genius and talent: particular or detached beauties belong to study, to labour, that is, to the _nulla die sine lineâ_ and sometimes solely to chance, as is exemplified in the old story of Protogenes, the celebrated Rhodian painter.
To discover some of these beauties, requires no extraordinary discernment; a person of common observation might decide whether the froth at the mouth of an animal, panting for breath, was naturally represented: but a spectator, possessing a cultivated and refined taste, minutely surveys every part of a picture, examines the grandeur of the composition, the elevation of the ideas, the nobleness of the expression, the truth and correctness of the design, the grace scattered over the different objects, the imitation of nature in the colouring, and the masterly strokes of the pencil.
Our last visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM terminated with the Italian School; let us now continue our examination, beginning with the
FRENCH SCHOOL.
LE BRUN.
N° 17. _(Gallery) The Defeat of Porus._
18. _The Family of Darius at the feet of Alexander._
19. _The Entrance of Alexander into Babylon. The Passage of the Granicus._
14. _Jesus asleep, or Silence._
16. _The Crucifix surrounded by angels._
The compositions of LE BRUN are grand and rich; his costume well-chosen, and tolerably scientific; the tone of his pictures well-suited to the subject. But, in this master, we must not look for purity and correctness of drawing, in an eminent degree. He much resembles PIETRO DA CORTONA. LE BRUN, however, has a taste more in the style of RAPHAEL and the antique, though it is a distant imitation. The colouring of PIETRO DA CORTONA is far more agreeable and more captivating.
Among the small pictures by LE BRUN, N°s. 14 and 16 deserve to be distinguished; but his _chefs d'oeuvre_ are the achievements of Alexander. When the plates from these historical paintings, engraved by AUDRAN, reached Rome, it is related that the Italians, astonished, exclaimed: "_Povero Raffaello! non sei più il primo_." But, when they afterwards saw the originals, they restored, to RAPHAEL his former pre-eminence.
CLAUDE LORRAIN.
N° 43. (Gallery.) _View of a sea-port at sun-set_.
45. _A Sea-piece on a fine morning_.
46. _A Landscape enlivened by the setting sun_.
The superior merit of CLAUDE in landscape-painting is too well known to need any eulogium, The three preceding are the finest of his pictures in this collection. However, at Rome, and in England, there are some more perfect than those in the CENTRAL MUSEUM. One of his _chefs d'oeuvre_, formerly at Rome, is now at Naples, in the Gallery of Prince Colonna.
JOUVENET.
N° 54. (Gallery.) _Christ taken down from the cross._
The above is the most remarkable picture here by this master.
MIGNARD.
N° 57. (Gallery.) _The Virgin_, called _La Vièrge à la grappe_, because she is taking from a basket of fruit a bunch of grapes to present to her son.
NICOLAS POUSSIN.
N° 70. (Gallery.) _The Fall of the manna in the desert._
75. _Rebecca and Eleazar._
77. _The Judgment of Solomon._
78. _The blind Men of Jericho._
82. _Winter or the Deluge._
In this collection, the above are the finest historical paintings of POUSSIN; and of his landscapes, the following deserve to be admired.
N° 76. (Gallery.) _Diogenes throwing away his porringer._
83. _The Death of Eurydice._
POUSSIN is the greatest painter of the French school. His compositions bear much resemblance to those of RAPHAEL, and to the antique: though they have not the same _naïveté_ and truth. His back-grounds are incomparable; his landscapes, in point of composition, superior even to those of CLAUDE. His large altar-pieces are the least beautiful of his productions. His feeble colouring cannot support proportions of the natural size: in these pictures, the charms of the background are also wanting.
LE SUEUR.
N° 98. (Gallery.) _St. Paul preaching at Ephesus._
This is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of LE SUEUR, who is to be admired for the simplicity of his pencil, as well as for the beauty of his compositions.
VALENTINO.
N° 111. (Gallery.) _The Martyrdom of St. Processa and St. Martinian._
112. _Cæsar's Tribute._
These are the finest productions of this master, who was a worthy rival of CARAVAGGIO.
VERNET.
N° 121. (Gallery.) _A Sea-port at sun-set_.
This painter's style is generally correct and agreeable. In the above picture he rivals CLAUDE.
* * * * *
We now come to the school which, of all others, is best known in England. This exempts me from making any observations on the comparative merits of the masters who compose it. I shall therefore confine myself to a bare mention of the best of their performances, at present exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM.
FLEMISH SCHOOL.
RUBENS.
N° 485. (Gallery.) _St. Francis, dying, receives the sacrament._
503. _Christ taken down from the cross_, a celebrated picture from the cathedral of Antwerp.
507. _Nicholas Rochox, a burgomaster of the city of Antwerp, and a friend of_ RUBENS.
509. _The Crucifixion of St. Peter_.
513. _St. Roch interceding for the people attacked by the plague._
526. _The Village-Festival_.
In this repository, the above are the most remarkable productions of RUBENS.
VANDYCK.
N° 255. (Gallery.) _The Mother of pity._
264. _The portraits of Charles I, elector palatine, and his brother, prince Robert._
265. _A full-length portrait of a man holding his daughter by the hand._
266. _A full-length portrait of a lady with her son._
These are superior to the other pictures by VANDYCK in this collection.
CHAMPAGNE.
N° 216. (Gallery.) _The Nuns._
The history of this piece is interesting. The eldest daughter of CHAMPAGNE was a nun in the convent of _Port-Royal_ at Paris. Being reduced to extremity by a fever of fourteen months' duration, and given over by her physicians, she falls to prayers with another nun, and recovers her health.
CRAYER.
N° 227. (Gallery.) _The Triumph of St. Catherine._
GERHARD DOUW.
N° 234. (Gallery.) _The dropsical Woman._
HANS HOLBEIN.
N° 319. (Gallery.) _A young woman, dressed in a yellow veil, and with her hands crossed on her knees._
JORDAENS.
N° 351. (Gallery.) _Twelfth-Day_.
352. _The Family-Concert_.
ADRIAN VAN OSTADE.
N° 428. (Gallery.) _The family of Ostade, painted by himself._
430. _A smoking Club_.
431. _The Schoolmaster, with the ferula in his hand, surrounded by his scholars_.
PAUL POTTER.
N° 446. (Gallery.) _An extensive pasture, with cattle._
This most remarkable picture represents, on the fore-ground, near an oak, a bull, a ewe with its lamb, and a herdsman, all as large as life.
REMBRANDT.
N° 457. (Gallery.) _The head of a woman with ear-rings, and dressed in a fur-cloak._
458. _The good Samaritan_.
465. _The Cabinet-maker's family._
466. _Tobias and his family kneeling before the angel Raphael, who disappears from his sight, after having made himself known._
469. _The Presentation of Jesus in the temple._
The pictures, exhibited in the _Saloon_ of the _Louvre_, have infinitely the advantage of those in the _Great Gallery_; the former apartment being lighted from the top; while in the latter, the light is admitted through large windows, placed on both sides, those on the one side facing the compartments between those on the other; so that, in this respect, the master-pieces in the _Gallery_ are viewed under very unfavourable circumstances.
The _Gallery_ of the _Louvre_ is still capable of containing more pictures, one eighth part of it (that next to the _Tuileries_), being under repair for the purpose.[1] It has long been a question with the French republican government, whether the palace of the _Tuileries_ should not be connected to the _Louvre_, by a gallery parallel to that which borders the Seine. Six years ago, I understand, the subject was agitated, and dropped again, on consideration of the state of the country in general, and particularly the finances. It is now revived; and I was told the other day, that a plan of construction had absolutely been adopted. This, no doubt, is more easy than to find the sums of money necessary for carrying on so expensive an undertaking.
If the fact were true, it is of a nature to produce a great sensation in modern art, since it is affirmed that the object of this work is to give a vast display to every article appropriated to general instruction; for, according to report, it is intended that these united buildings, should, in addition to the National Library, contain the collections of statues, pictures, &c. &c. still remaining at the disposal of the government. I would not undertake to vouch for the precise nature of the object proposed; but it cannot be denied that, in this project, there is a boldness well calculated to flatter the ambition of the Chief Consul.
However, I think it more probable that nothing, in this respect, will be positively determined in the present state of affairs. The expedition to St. Domingo will cost an immense sum, not to speak of the restoration of the French navy, which must occasion great and immediate calls for money. Whence I conclude that the erection of the new Gallery, like that of the National Column, will be much talked of, but remain among other projects in embryo, and the discussion be adjourned _sine die_.
Leaving the _Great Gallery_, we return to the _Saloon_ of the _Louvre_, which, being an intermediate apartment, serves as a point of communication between it and the
GALLERY OF APOLLO.
The old gallery of this name, first called _La petite galérie du Louvre_, was constructed under the reign of Henry IV, and, from its origin, ornamented with paintings. This gallery having been consumed by fire in 1661, owing to the negligence of a workman employed in preparing a theatre for a grand ballet, in which the king was to dance with all his court, Lewis XIV immediately ordered it to be rebuilt and magnificently decorated.
LE BRUN, who then directed works of this description in France, furnished the designs of all the paintings, sculpture, and ornaments, which are partly executed. He divided the vault of the roof into eleven principal compartments; in that which is in the centre, he intended to represent _Apollo_ in his car, with all the attributes peculiar to the Sun, which was the king's device. The _Seasons_ were to have occupied the four nearest compartments; in the others, were to have been _Evening_ and _Morning_, _Night_ and _Day-break_, the _Waking of the Waters_, and that of the _Earth at Sun-rise_.
Unfortunately for his fame, this vast project of LE BRUN was never completed. Lewis XIV, captivated by Versailles, soon turned all his thoughts towards the embellishment of that palace. The works of the GALLERY OF APOLLO were entirely abandoned, and, of all this grand composition, LE BRUN was enabled to execute no more than the following subjects:
1. _Evening_, represented by Morpheus, lying on a bed of poppies, and buried in a profound sleep.
2. _Night_ succeeding to day, and lighted by the silvery disk of the Moon, which, under the figure of Diana, appears in a car drawn by hinds.
3. _The Waking of the Waters_. Neptune and Amphitrite on a car drawn by sea-horses, and accompanied by Tritons, Nereïds, and other divinities of the waters, seem to be paying homage to the rising sun, whose first rays dispel the Winds and Tempests, figured by a group to the left; while, to the right, Polyphemus, seated on a rock, is calling with his loud instrument to his Galatea.
The other compartments, which LE BRUN could not paint, on account of the cessation of the works, remained a long time vacant, and would have been so at this day, had not the _ci-devant_ Academy of Painting, to whom the king, in 1764, granted the use of the GALLERY OF APOLLO, resolved that, in future, the historical painters who might be admitted members, should be bound to paint for their reception one of the subjects which were still wanting for the completion of the ceiling. In this manner, five of the compartments, which remained to be filled, were successively decorated, namely:
1. _Summer_, by DURAMEAU.
2. _Autumn_, by TARAVAL.
3. _Spring_, by CALLET.
4. _Winter_, by LAGRENÉE the younger,
5. _Morning_, or day-break, by RENOU.
The GALLERY OF APOLLO now making part of the CENTRAL MUSEUM, it would be worthy of the government to cause its ceiling to be completed, by having the three vacant compartments painted by skillful French artists.
Under the compartments, and immediately above the cornice, are twelve medallions, which were to represent the _twelve months of the year_, characterized by the different occupations peculiar to them: eight only are executed, and these are the months of summer, autumn, and winter.
The rich borders in gilt stucco, which serve as frames to all these paintings, the caryatides which support them, as well as the groups of Muses, Rivers, and Children, that are distributed over the great cornice, are worthy of remark. Not only were the most celebrated sculptors then in France, GASPAR and BALTHAZAR MARSY, REGNAUDIN, and GIRARDON, chosen to execute them; but their emulation was also excited by a premium of three hundred louis, which was promised to him who should excel. GIRARDON obtained it by the execution of the following pieces of sculpture:
1. The figure representing a river which is under the _Waking of the Waters_; at the south extremity of the gallery.
2. The two trophies of arms which are near that river.
3. The caryatides that support one of the octagonal compartments towards the quay, at the foot of which are seen two children; the one armed with a sickle, the other leaning on a lion.
4. The group of caryatides that supports the great compartment where _Summer_ is represented, and below which is a child holding a balance.
5. The two grouped figures of Tragedy and Comedy, which rest on the great cornice.
In the GALLERY OF APOLLO will be exhibited in succession, about twelve thousand original drawings of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools, the greater part of which formerly belonged to the crown. This valuable collection had been successively enriched by the choice of those of JABAK, LANQUE, MONTARSIS, LE BRUN, CROZAT, MARIETTE, &c. yet never rendered public. Private and partial admission to it had, indeed, been granted; but artists and amateurs, in general, were precluded from so rich a source of study. By inconceivable neglect, it seemed almost to have escaped the attention of the old government, having been for a hundred years shut up in a confined place, instead of being exhibited to public view.
The variety of the forms and dimensions of these drawings having opposed the more preferable mode of arranging them by schools, and in chronological order, the most capital drawings of each master have been selected (for, in so extensive a collection, it could not be supposed that they were all equally interesting); and these even are sufficiently numerous to furnish several successive exhibitions.
The present exhibition consists of upwards of two hundred drawings by the most distinguished masters of the Italian school, about one hundred by those of the Flemish, and as many, or rather more, by those of the French. They are placed in glazed frames, so contrived as to admit of the subjects being changed at pleasure. Among the drawings by RAPHAEL, is the great cartoon of the Athenian School, a valuable fragment which served for the execution of the grand _fresco_ painting in the Vatican, the largest and finest of all his productions. It was brought from the Ambrosian library at Milan, and is one of the most instructive works extant for a study.
Besides the drawings, is a frame containing a series of portraits of illustrious personages who made a figure in the reign of Lewis XIV. They are miniatures in enamel, painted chiefly by the celebrated PETITOT of Geneva.
Here are also to be seen some busts and antique vases. The most remarkable of the latter is one of Parian marble, about twenty-one inches in height by twelve in diameter. It is of an oval form; the handles, cut out of the solid stone, are ornamented with four swans' heads, and the neck with branches of ivy. On the swell is a bas-relief, sculptured in the old Greek style, and in the centre is an altar on which these words may be decyphered.
[Greek: SOSIBIOS ATÆNAIOS EPOIEI.] _Sosibios of Athens fecit._
This beautiful vase[2] is placed on a table of violet African breccia, remarkable for its size, being twelve feet in length, three feet ten inches in breadth, and upwards of three inches in thickness.