Jameson, Anna: Companion to the most celebrated private galleries of art in London: containing accurate catalogues, arranged alphabetically, for immediate reference, each preceded by an historical & critical introduction, with a prefactory essay on art, artists, collectors & connoisseurs (London: Saunders and Otley, 1844)

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

A PREFATORY ESSAY ON ART, ARTISTS, COLLECTORS,
AND CONNOISSEURS.

I call this book a Companion, not a Guide to the gal-
leries of art; too sensible of its many deficiencies to give it
a title implying a degree of responsibility, as well as an
amount of completeness, to which it has no pretension.
But the reader, in turning over these pages, will find that
I have here endeavoured to unite the attractions of a plea-
sant companion and a safe guide; to arrange information
methodically, for immediate reference, like plants in a botanic
garden; yet now and then to wander into “ the pleasure
grounds and haunts of ease” of reflection or fancy; to
combine the convenience and order of a book of reference,
with a certain degree of amusement and interest arising from
new illustrations of thought and criticism. In the arrange-
ment of the pictures, I have aimed at the combination of
two advantages—first, a simple, intelligible classification;
and, secondly, the facility of reference afforded by a dic-
tionary. Thus each catalogue is divided into three sec-
tions: the first containing the Italian, Spanish, and French
schools; the second, the Flemish, Dutch, and German
schools; and the third, the painters of our own country.
The names in each section are alphabetically arranged,
and the pictures by each painter under his name. There
is also a general catalogue of all the known and interesting
b