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'œuvre 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'œuvre, 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.