PICTURE-GALLERIES IN ENGLAND
In 1824 a volume was published, entitled British Galleries of Art, ‘printed for G. & W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane,’ by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars, which is sometimes put forward by second-hand booksellers as by William Hazlitt. The articles composing the volume appeared in the New Monthly Magazine in 1823 (see vols. VII. and VIII.), and their subjects are in most cases identical with those in Hazlitt’s Picture-Galleries in England (Angerstein, Dulwich, the Marquis of Stafford’s Gallery, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Blenheim); apart from the internal evidence, however, which is overwhelming, the anonymous author says in his preface that ‘any merit that may attach to the mere plan of “British Galleries of Art” belongs entirely to the author of [the Picture-Galleries in England], the separate Papers of which appeared, (also in a periodical work) about the same time with those of the following which are on the same subjects.’
Hazlitt included his criticism on the pictures of Titian at the Marquis of Stafford’s and at Windsor Castle in the Appendix to ‘The Life of Titian: with anecdotes of the distinguished persons of his time. By James Northcote, Esq., R.A. In two volumes. London. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 8, New Burlington Street, 1830.’ See Memoirs of William Hazlitt, vol. II. pp. 212–13, and also the Biographical Sketch by Hazlitt’s son, contributed to The Literary Remains of William Hazlitt, 1836, for particulars of Hazlitt’s share in Northcote’s work. This Appendix to Northcote’s Titian also contains ‘Character of Titian’s Portraits’ from The Plain Speaker and ‘An Enquiry whether the Fine Arts are promoted by Academies and Public Institutions.’
MR. ANGERSTEIN’S COLLECTION
From The London Magazine, December 1822.
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[7]. Balm of hurt minds. Macbeth, Act II. Sc. 2.
Mr. Angerstein. John Julius Angerstein (1735–1823), merchant and art connoisseur. His collection of pictures formed a basis for the present National Gallery.
[8]. Colnaghi’s. Paul Colnaghi (1751–1833), of the famous print-selling house. He was of Milanese birth, but a naturalised Englishman.
[9]. Ludovico Caracci. Lodovico Carracci (1555–1619), of Bologna, the founder of the Eclectic School of Painting, known better as a teacher than as a painter. His nephew, Annibale (1560–1609), was the decorator of the Farnese Palace.
Piping as though he should never be old. Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, Book I. chap. 2.
[10]. A letter to his uncle Ludovico. Hazlitt gives this letter in the Appendix to Northcote’s Life of Titian.
Sebastian del Piombo. Sebastiano Luciani (1485–1547) of Venice, a disciple
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of Giorgione. After the death of Raphael he was thought the greatest painter in Rome.
[10]. And still walking under. Ben Jonson, Underwoods, XXX., ‘An Epistle to Sir Edward Sackvile.’
[11]. Parmegiano. Francesco Mazzuola (1504–1540), of Parma. Vasari relates that at Rome it was held ‘that the soul of Raphael had passed into the person of Parmigiano.’ He was a follower of Correggio.
Which pale passion loves. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Nice Valour, III. 3.
All ear. Comus, l. 560.
Mask or midnight serenade.
‘ball
Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
To his proud fair.’
Paradise Lost, IV. 768.
[12]. Carlo Dolce. Carlo Dolci (1616–1686), of Florence, a painter of tender and placid expressions, highly finished.
Somerset-house. The rooms of the Royal Academy of Arts were here, 1780–1838. See vol. VI. Mr. Northcote’s Conversations, where, by a misprint, these dates are given in the note to p. [435] as 1870–1838.
[13]. Where universal Pan. Paradise Lost, IV. 266.
Lord Egremont. Sir George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751–1837), stock-breeder and art patron. He first promoted the recognition of Turner.
N. Poussin. Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), of Villers, in Normandy. See vol. VI. Table Talk, pp. 168 et seq.
The British Institution. In Pall Mall (No. 52), built by Boydell to contain his Shakespeare Gallery. The Institution was dissolved in 1866 and the building pulled down in 1868.
Of outward show. Paradise Lost, VIII. 539.
[14]. Pious orgies. Hazlitt may have been thinking of a passage by Burke. See Select Works, ed. Payne, II. p. 85.
Vice, by losing all its grossness. Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, (Select Works, ed. Payne, II. 89).
Gaspar Poussin. Gaspard Dughet (1613–1675), born in Rome of French parents, Nicolas’s brother-in-law and pupil.
The air is delicate. Macbeth, Act I. Sc. 6.
Sear and [the] yellow leaf. Macbeth, Act V. Sc. 3.
Mr. Wilkie. David Wilkie (1785–1841). He was knighted in 1836.
[15]. Mr. Liston. John Liston (1776?-1846).
Flock of drunkards. Othello, Act II. Sc. 3.
Mr. Fuseli’s Milton Gallery. Johann Heinrich Fuessly, or Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), of Zurich, who came to England in 1763, writer and painter, opened his Milton Gallery in 1799.
A Catalogue. This list was added to later issues of the Picture-Galleries, with the title-page still dated 1824. The pages so occupied are numbered 19*-22*. The list was not given in The London Magazine.