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)

28

ORLEANS COLLECTION.

session of the late Earl of Suffolk, and is now
in that of Charles Duncombe, Esq.; and another,
equally valuable, and which was formerly at the
Escurial, is now in the possession of Alexander
Baring, Esq.
A series of drawings for the celebrated work
of the Last Supper, which were formerly in the
Ambrosian Library at Milan, are now in the pos-
session of Sir Thomas Baring, Bart, and from the
great injuries which that sublime composition has
sustained, these may now be considered as among
the precious reliques of this master. The drawing
which represents the head of the Saviour is mag-
nificent, and probably superior to the same head
in the picture itself, which is well known to have
been left unfinished. Whether this circumstance
arose from the troubles which then existed in
Italy, and in which the Sforza family were so
immediately engaged, or from a feeling on the
part of the artist, that he had not been able to
surpass that sublimity of character to which he
had attained in his first design, and therefore left
the same to a more happy moment, may now be
matter of speculative conjecture.
It may appear singular that so few works of
this master should be found in the Orleans col-
lection, especially as Leonardo was the favourite
painter of Francois Premier, and as Ins works were