[261] According to William Morris, most visitors to the Gallery are apt to pass by some of its principal treasures. "If ordinary people go to our National Gallery, the thing which they want to see is the Blenheim Raphael, which, though well done, is a very dull picture to any one not an artist. While, when Holbein shows them the Danish princess of the sixteenth century yet living on the canvas ...; when Van Eyck opens a window for them into Bruges of the fourteenth century; when Botticelli shows them Heaven as it lived in the hearts of men before theology was dead, these things produce no impression on them, not so much even as to stimulate their curiosity and make them ask what 'tis all about; because these things were done to be looked at, and to make the eyes tell the mind tales of the past, the present, and the future" (Mackail's Life of William Morris, ii. 273).
[262] The precise nature of the transaction was this:—Lady Carlisle received in cash £40,000 and the Treasury paid the death-duties (£2776). Of these sums, the National Gallery funds contributed £15,000; the National Art-Collections' Fund, £10,000; and the Treasury £17,776 (see House of Commons Debate, February 28, 1912).
[PICTURES ON LOAN]
THE HOLY FAMILY.
B. Fungai (Sienese: about 1460-1516). See 1331.
This picture, not yet numbered, is lent by the Victoria and Albert (South Kensington) Museum. It is generally characteristic of Fungai, but the figure of the Infant Christ is not pleasing.
Lent by Mr. Pierpont Morgan.
THE MADONNA DI SANTI ANTONIO.
Raphael (Urbino: 1483-1520). See 1171.
"In the same city (says Vasari)—[the city of Perugia, for which also the Ansidei Madonna was painted]—Raphael was commissioned to paint a picture of Our Lady by the nuns of Sant' Antonio of Padua; the Infant Christ is in the lap of the Virgin and is fully clothed, as it pleased those simple and pious ladies that he should be; on each side of Our Lady are figures of saints, San Pietro, namely, with San Paolo, Santa Cecilia, and Santa Catarina. To these two holy virgins the master has given the most lovely features and the most graceful attitudes; he has also adorned them with the most fanciful and varied head-dresses that could be imagined—a very unusual thing at that time. In a lunette above this picture he painted a figure of the Almighty Father, which is extremely fine, and on the predella are three scenes from the history of Christ, in very small figures.... The whole work is without doubt very admirable; it is full of devout feeling, and is held in the utmost veneration by the nuns for whom it was painted. It is very highly commended by all painters likewise."