ART EXHIBITION IN MANCHESTER.
The exhibition in the Hyde Park Crystal Palace in 1851 suggested various other enterprises of a similar kind. Those of Paris and Dublin were especially brilliant. In Manchester, however, a plan was devised by which the glories of all those exhibitions were surpassed. The scheme was to gather the art treasures of the United Kingdom, and present them together before the public. A building suitable to the purpose was erected. It was not only not beautiful itself, but was exceedingly unsightly. It was, however, spacious, convenient, and so lighted as conduced to effect in an artistic display. The collection of productions was estimated, in money value, at six millions sterling. Amidst this glorious arrangement of works of genius, none probably attracted so much attention as those of MacDowell, the Irish sculptor. His chef-d’ouvre, the “Death of Virginia,” occupied the centre of the exhibition, and in this advantageous position commanded extraordinary admiration. On the day of opening the Prince Consort inaugurated the auspicious occasion. Her majesty and many foreign princes afterwards visited it. All these rich trophies of genius were restored without injury to their owners, except a very valuable China vase, which was knocked down and broken.