THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. Edited by Lionel Cust, M.V.O., F.S.A. Cassell.
It was a happy thought of Messrs. Cassell to issue an illustrated catalogue of the National Portrait Gallery similar to that of the National Gallery. The Portrait Gallery, in spite of great difficulties in the matter of space and funds, has become a place of which the nation may well be proud. It already contains a series of British portraits which if not absolutely complete, is at least representative, sensibly arranged, and catalogued with much more fullness and accuracy than some better endowed collections. One or two possible improvements may suggest themselves to the outsider—the addition, for instance, of photographs (we hear that some arrangement of this kind is actually contemplated) or careful copies of unique portraits of famous men which can never leave their present owners. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge contain several pictures which would fill gaps in the Gallery, and other works in private hands are equally desirable. Nevertheless, the National Portrait Gallery, like the British Museum, has hitherto been so fortunate in its directors that there is no reason for regarding its future with serious anxiety. ¶ Nor can we be surprised that Mr. Cust, who has had so much to do with the well-being of the Portrait Gallery, has edited its illustrated catalogue on thoroughly sound lines. To precisians a chronological arrangement may seem to have disadvantages. These disadvantages, in our opinion, are minimized by the addition of an index of portraits and an index of artists, while the grouping together of men of the same generation, family, or profession, has the enormous advantage of making the book a thing attractive both to the casual reader and to the student of history, instead of a dry alphabetical list. ¶ We have only one fault to find with the abbreviated biographies which Mr. Cust supplies. They are laudably impartial, but the impartiality is sometimes carried to an extreme which places a second-rate man on the same level as a first-rate one. ¶ As a rule, a very wise discretion has been exercised in reproducing the pictures on a scale proportionate to their actual size and importance, so that the defects which marred the kindred volumes on the National Gallery have generally been avoided. One or two exceptions may perhaps be noted. We do not, for instance, think that justice is done to Kneller’s vivid portrait of the poet Gay (No. 622) by a cut less than two inches in height and less than one and a half inches in breadth, especially when Mr. Sargent’s portrait of Coventry Patmore is honoured by a full-page engraving. The juxtaposition of the two portraits of Sir William Hamilton also is not a success. The figure by David Allan looks a giant compared with that painted by Reynolds. ¶ The photographing, engraving, and printing of the pictures have on the whole been so admirably done that we have no more fault to find with them than with the letterpress or the arrangement of the book. We notice, indeed, that Kneller is again unfortunate. His portrait of John Smith, the mezzotint engraver (No. 699), is one of his most masterly works, showing a grip of character, an artistic taste, and a technical perfection for which in his Court portraits we seek in vain. In the reproduction the portrait loses all its spirit and all its quality. On the other hand, almost all the slight sketches and pencil drawings in the gallery come out excellently, so that any occasional failure cannot be attributed to want of care or want of science. ¶ Perhaps, considering its price, the publishers might have bound the book more strongly, even if they retained the limp cover which allows the book to open comfortably. The present paper binding is too flimsy for a book that has to be used for reference, and to send a work of reference to the binder often results in deprivation just when one needs the book most. ¶ These, after all, are minor details. As a whole, the catalogue is a thoroughly sound piece of work, and does credit to its editor, publishers, and printers (if not to its binder), and we have no doubt it will take its place by the Dictionary of National Biography on the shelves of all who are interested in the past history of the British race.
C. J. H.