THE NATIONAL GALLERY 405

of the wretched panel which now bears his name is a mere insult), no Angelico, no Fra Bartolomeo, no Albertinelli, no Ghirlandajo, no Verrochio, no Lorenzo di Credi-(what shall I more say, for the time would fail me?)-but now, Sir, what vestige of apology remains for the cumbering our walls with pictures that have no single virtue, no colour, no drawing, no character, no history, no thought? Yet 2000 guineas were, I believe, given for one of those encumbrances,¹ and 5000 for the coarse and unnecessary Rubens,² added to a room half filled with Rubens before, while a mighty and perfect work of Angelico was sold from Cardinal Fesch’s collection for 1500.³ I do not speak of the spurious Holbein,⁴ for though the veriest tyro might well be ashamed of such a purchase, it would have been a judicious addition had it been genuine; so was the John Bellini, so was the Van Eyck; but the mighty Venetian master who alone of all the painters of Italy united purity of religious aim with perfection of artistical

Virgin adoring the Infant Christ, the Archangel Michael, the Archangel Raphael and Tobias” (No. 288)-an acquisition which greatly delighted Ruskin (see, e.g., Elements of Drawing, § 199). Other examples were afterwards added. The Gallery boasts also two Angelicos, “The Adoration of the Magi” (No. 582), and “Christ amid the Blessed” (No. 663), purchased in 1857 and 1860;-one Albertinelli, “Virgin and Child” (No. 645), also purchased in 1860;-and two Lorenzo di Credis, both of the “Virgin and Child” (Nos. 593 and 648), purchased in 1857 and 1865. A work which is attributed to Fra Bartolommeo-“Virgin and Child with St. John” (No. 1694)-was purchased in 1900. The Gallery still possesses no D. Ghirlandajo, and no Verrocchio.]

¹[For Guido’s “Lot and his Daughters” the sum of £1680 was paid.]

²[“The Judgment of Paris” (No. 194), purchased from Mr. Penrice’s collection in 1846. The price was £4200.]

³[“The Last Judgment”;-its purchaser was the Earl of Dudley, from whom it was subsequently acquired by the Berlin Museum. A photographic reproduction of this work (pronounced the most important of all Angelico’s representations of the subject), is given at p. 132 of Mr. Langton Douglas’ Fra Angelico, and an engraving of it in Mrs. Jameson’s History of Our Lord, ii. 414. Cardinal Fesch was Archbishop of Lyons, and the uncle of Napoleon Buonaparte. His gallery contained in its time the finest private collection of pictures in Rome.]

⁴[The “libel on Holbein” was bought as an original, from Mr. Rochard, in 1845, for £630. And very much ashamed the Trustees were, when immediately after the purchase the facts were discovered; they subscribed £100 between them, which they offered to the dealer, “to induce him to annul the bargain, but he declined, and there was an end of it” (Report of the Select Committee, 1853, Q. 6181). It now figures in the National Gallery as “A Medical Professor,” German school, sixteenth century (No. 195).]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]