Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (best ebook reader under 100 TXT) 📖

painting and of sculpture as can never be again united."

These works were intended as a great treasury of art, from which not

only artists, but the whole world might derive instruction and profit.

To secure the utmost perfection in every department, no expense was

spared. The drawings for the engravers to engrave from, were executed by

the most distinguished artists, in order to ensure that every

peculiarity, perfection, and _imperfection_ in the originals should be

exactly copied, and these are pointed out in the accompanying

criticisms. These drawings alone cost the French government 400,000

francs.

 

The engravings were executed by the most distinguished engravers of

Europe, without regard to country, among whom it is sufficient to

mention Raffaelle Morghen, the Chevalier von Müller, and his son C. F.

von Müller, Bervic, Richomme, Rosaspina, Bartolozzi, Gandolfi,

Schiavonetti, the elder and younger Laurent, Massard, Girardet, Lignon,

Chatillon, Audouin, Forster, Claessens, etc. Stanley says that proof

impressions of Bervic's masterpiece, the Laocoön, have been sold in

London for thirty guineas each. There are many prints in these works

not less celebrated, and which are regarded by connoisseurs as

masterpieces of the art.

 

Nor was this all. Napoleon summoned Visconti, the famous antiquary,

archæologist, and connoisseur, from Rome to Paris, to assist in getting

up the admirable descriptions and criticisms, particularly of the

ancient statues. This department was confided to Visconti, Guizot,

Clarac, and the elder Duchesne. The supervision of the engraving and

publishing department was entrusted to the Messrs. Robilliard,

Peronville, and Laurent. These works were published in numbers of four

plates, atlas folio, at the price of 96 francs each for the proofs

before the letter, and 48 francs for the prints. The first number of the

Musée Français was issued in 1803, and the last in 1811; but the Musée

Royal, which was intended to supply the deficiencies of the Musée

Français, was not completed till 1819; nevertheless, it was Napoleon's

work, though consummated in the reign of Louis XVIII.

 

The Musée Français was originally published in five volumes, and

contains, besides the descriptions and criticisms on the plates,

admirable essays--1st. on the History of Painting, from its origin in

ancient times down to the time of Cimabue; 2d. on the History of

Painting in the German, Dutch, Flemish, and French schools; 3d. on the

History of Engraving; 4th. on the History of Ancient Sculpture. The

Musée Royal was published in two volumes. A second edition of the Musée

Français was published by the Messrs. Galignani, in four volumes, with

an English and French letter-press, but both greatly abridged. The

letter-press of the Musée Royal has never been rendered into English.

The plates were sold by the French government in 1836, since which time

a small edition has been printed from both works.

 

 

 

 

BOYDELL'S SHAKSPEARE GALLERY.

 

 

About the year 1785, Alderman J. Boydell, of London, conceived the

project of establishing a 'Shakspeare Gallery,' upon a scale of grandeur

and magnificence which should be in accordance with the fame of the

poet, and, at the same time, reflect honor upon the state of the arts in

Great Britain and throughout the world. Mr. Boydell was at this time a

man of great wealth and influence, and a patron of the fine arts, being

an engraver himself, and having accumulated his fortune mostly by

dealings in works of that character.

 

He advertised for designs from artists throughout Great Britain, and

paid a guinea for every one submitted, whether accepted or not; and for

every one accepted by the committee, a prize of one hundred guineas. The

committee for selecting these designs was composed of five eminent

artists, Boydell himself being the president. The first painters of the

age were then employed to paint these pictures, among whom were Sir

Joshua Reynolds, Sir Benjamin West, Fusell, Romney, Northcote, Smirke,

Sir William Beechy, and Opie.

 

Allan Cunningham, in his 'Lives of Eminent British Artists,' mentions

that Sir Joshua Reynolds was at first opposed to Boydell's project, as

impracticable on such an immense scale, and Boydell, to gain his

approbation and assistance, privately sent him a letter enclosing a

£1000 Bank of England note, and requesting him to paint two pictures at

his own price. What sum was paid by Boydell for these pictures was never

known. A magnificent building was erected in Pall Mall to exhibit this

immense collection, called the Shakspeare Gallery, which was for a long

time the pride of London.

 

The first engravers of England were employed to transfer these gems to

copper, and such artists as Sharp, Bartolozzi, Earlom, Thew, Simon,

Middiman, Watson, Fyttler, Wilson, and many others, exerted their

talents for years in this great work. In some instances, the labor of

more than five years was expended on a single plate, and proof

impressions were taken for subscribers at almost every stage of the

work. At length in 1803, after nearly twenty years, the work was

completed. The price fixed (which was never reduced) was two guineas

each for the first three hundred impressions, and the subscription list

was then filled up at one guinea each, or one hundred guineas a set of

one hundred plates.

 

Besides these subscriptions, large donations were made by many of the

noblemen of England, to encourage the undertaking, and to enable Boydell

to meet his enormous outlay. The cost of the whole work, from the

commencement, is said to have been about one million pounds sterling;

and although the projector was a wealthy man when he commenced it, he

died soon after its completion, a bankrupt to the amount, it is said, of

£250,000.

 

After these plates were issued, Boydell petitioned Parliament to allow

him to dispose of his gallery of paintings by a lottery. The petition

was granted, and the whole collection was thus disposed of. One of the

finest of these pictures, King Lear, by Sir Benjamin West, is now in the

Boston Athenæum.

 

One fact in relation to these plates gives great value to them. "All the

principal historical characters are genuine portraits of the persons

represented in the play; every picture gallery and old castle in England

was ransacked to furnish these portraits."

 

 

 

 

BRIEF SKETCH OF A PLAN FOR AN AMERICAN NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART.

 

 

Public Galleries of Art are now regarded by the most enlightened men,

and the wisest legislators, as of incalculable benefit to every

civilized country. (See vol. i., page 6, of this work.)

They communicate to the mind, through the eye, "the accumulated wisdom

of ages," relative to every form of beauty, in the most rapid and

captivating manner. If such institutions are important in Europe,

abounding in works of art, how much more so in our country, separated as

it is by the broad Atlantic from the artistic world, which few

comparatively can ever visit: many of our young artists, for the want of

such an institution, are obliged to grope their way in the dark, and to

spend months and years to find out a few simple principles of art.

 

A distinguished professor, high in public estimation, has declared that

the formation of such an institution in this country, however important

and desirable it may be, is almost hopeless. He founds his opinion on

the difficulty of obtaining the authenticated works of the great

masters, and the enormous prices they now command in Europe. The writer

ventures to declare it as his long cherished opinion that a United

States National Gallery is entirely practicable, as far as all useful

purposes are concerned; and at a tithe of the cost of such institutions

in Europe. In the present state of the Fine Arts in our country, we

should not attempt to emulate European magnificence, but utility. The

"course of empire is westward," and in the course of time, as wealth and

taste increases, sale will be sought here, as now in England, for many

works of the highest art. It is also to be hoped that some public

benefactors will rise to our assistance. After the foundation of the

institution, it may be extended according to the taste and wants of the

country; professorships may be added, and the rarest works purchased.

When the country can and will afford it, no price should be regarded too

great for a perfect masterpiece of art, as a model in a national

collection. To begin, the Gallery should contain,

 

1st. A complete library of all standard works on Art, historical and

illustrative, in every language.

 

2d. A collection of the masterpieces of engraving; these should be

mounted on linen, numbered, bound, described and criticised.

 

3d. A complete collection of casts of medals and antique gems, where the

originals cannot be obtained. There are about 70,000 antique medals of

high importance to art. (See Numismatics, vol. iii., p. 269, of this work.) These casts could easily be obtained through our

diplomatic agents; they should be taken in Plaster of Paris or Sulphur,

double--i.e., the reverse and obverse,--classified, catalogued,

described, and arranged in cases covered with plate glass, for their

preservation.

 

4th. A collection of plaster casts of all the best works of sculpture,

particularly of the antique. Correct casts of the Elgin marbles are sold

by the British Museum at a very reasonable price, and in this case

would doubtless be presented to the institution.

 

5th. A collection of Paintings. This is the most difficult part of the

project, yet practicable. Masterpieces of the art only should be

admitted, but historical authenticity disregarded. The works of the

great masters have been so closely imitated, that there are no certain

marks of authenticity, where the history of the picture cannot be

traced. (See Spooner's Dictionary of Painters, etc., Introduction, and

Table of Imitators.) Half the pictures in foreign collections cannot be

authenticated, and many of those which are, are not the best productions

of the master, nor worthy of the places they occupy. (See Mrs. Jameson's

Hand-Book to the Public Galleries in and near London; also the

Catalogues of the various Public Galleries of Europe.) Therefore,

instead of paying 5,000 or 10,000 guineas for an authenticated piece by

a certain master, as is sometimes done in Europe, competent and _true_

men should be appointed to select capital works, executed in the style

of the great masters. Many such can be had in this country as well as in

Europe, at moderate prices.

 

6th. The Institution should be located in New York, as the most

convenient place, and as the great centre of commerce, where artists

could most readily dispose of their works. For this favor, the city

would doubtless donate the ground, and her citizens make liberal

contributions. The edifice should be built fire-proof, and three

stories high--the upper with a skylight, for the gallery of paintings.

Such an institution need not be very expensive; yet it would afford the

elements for the instruction and accomplishment of the painter, the

engraver, the sculptor, the architect, the connoisseur, the

archæologist, and the public at large; it would be the means of

awakening and developing the sleeping genius of many men, to the honor,

glory, and advantage of their country, which, without it, must sleep on

forever. See vol. ii., pp. 149 and 155, and vol. iii., p. 265

of this work.

INDEX.

Advantages of the Cultivation of the Fine Arts to a Country, i, 6;

   Sir M. A. Shoe's Opinion, i, 6;

   Sir George Beaumont's, i, 7;

   West's, i, 8;

   Taylor's, i, 9;

   see also, i, 69;

   Reynolds' Opinion, i, 204;

   Napoleon's, iii, 274.

 

Ætion, his picture of the Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana, ii, 184.

 

Agaptos, Porticos of, ii, 185.

 

Ageladus, his works, ii, 185.

 

Aldobrandini Wedding, Fresco of, ii, 55.

 

Allston, Washington, i, 60;

   his Prayer answered, i, 61;

   his success in London, i, 62;

   his Death, i, 62;

   Vanderlyn's letter--his Reflections on his Death, i, 63.

 

American Patronage at Home and Abroad, i, 66;

   Weir, Greenough, and Cooper's testimony, i, 67;

   Cooper's Letter, i, 68.

 

Amiconi, Jacopo, iii, 249.

 

Angelo, Michael, his Early Passion for Art, i, 47;

   his Mask of a Satyr, i, 48;

   his Sleeping Cupid, i, 48;

   Angela and Julius II, i, 50;

   St. Peter's Church, i, 50;

   Angelo and Lorenzo the Magnificent, i, 52;

   his Cartoon of Pisa, i, 53;

   his Last Judgment, i, 54;

   his Coloring, i, 56;

   his Grace, i, 57;

   his Oil Paintings, i, 58;

   his Prophets