82

MR. GORDON’S COLLECTION.

could then be procured from the Roman palaces,
or which had been recently purchased from thence
by bankers and others, who were in that Capital
at the period when it was occupied by the French
troops.
Mr. Gordon willingly adopted the offer of ser-
vices on the part of Mr. Irvine, and he furnished
him with the necessary credits for commencing
operations, stating his intention of extending the
same should he feel satisfied with the first pur-
chases.
Mr. Irvine left Scotland in May, 1800, to re-
turn to Italy, and he arrived at Rome in Octo-
ber of the same year. His first purchases for Mr.
Gordon were of inferior consequence; but as his
letters relative to objects of importance which were
afterwards purchased by him are highly interest-
ing, not only as regards these pictures themselves,
but also the state of the arts in Italy at that pe-
riod, some of them are here given, not only as in
reference to this collection, but to subsequent pur-
chases made for Mr. Buchanan.
Among the first letters of importance which Mr.
Irvine wrote to Mr. Gordon on this subject, is
that dated Rome, 28th March, 1801. In that
letter, it appears that although he had previously
made a number of purchases for that gentleman,
yet he had not made any acquisition of objects of