Buchanan, William: Memoirs of painting: with a chronological history of the importation of pictures by the great masters into England since the French Revolution (Band 1) (London: Ackermann, 1824)

20

ORLEANS COLLECTION.

of art, which are of a rank to attract the general
attention of the public itself.
When matters of this description are presented
to the world, it is always interesting to know in
what manner they are received at the period, and
likewise to be informed of all circumstances which
tend to throw light upon the subject itself. In
the present instance, the interest which this fa-
mous collection had excited was great beyond any
thing which had preceded it. The amateur was
anxious to secure the genuine works of those
masters which had long been sought for in
England; and the present was among the first
opportunities which had occurred where the same
could be obtained to any extent. The whole pic-
tures of the Bolognese school were engaged in an
incalculably short time, although it formed the
most numerous branch of this collection; and the
amateurs seem to have vied with each other in
gaining possession of the works of particular
masters.
On the first morning of opening for the private
view to the principal amateurs, the late Mr. An-
gerstein became a purchaser of some of the most
important pictures in the collection ; in particular,
of the Resurrection of Lazarus, by Sebastian del
Piombo, which he immediately, and without he-
sitation, secured at the price demanded of 3,500