DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0024
XX
GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
while lie spoke, in the slow, quiet tone of a weary man, he
turned his eyes on a forest scene of Ruysdaal, and gazed
on it for a minute or two in silence—a silence I was care-
ful not to break,—as if its cool, dewy verdure, its deep
seclusion, its transparent waters stealing through the glade,
had sent refreshment into his very soul I
And then, again, there is some one favourite picture,
preferred, not so much for its intrinsic merit, but because
it has been obtained with difficulty,—has been competed for,
conquered from some rival amateur,—or it is a recent acqui-
sition, and “ the honeymoon is not yet over”—or it has
been picked up for a trifle, and turned out a prize—or it has
been rightfully or wrongfully doubted and abused, conse-
quently has assumed an exaggerated value and importance
in the mind of the possessor, even from the force of con-
tradiction—who knows? Now one cannot well put these
delightful dilettante fancies into a catalogue raisonne, but
how truly, deeply, cordially, one can understand and sym-
pathize with them!
The original plan was to have prefaced the whole with a
history of English collections and collectors, filling up the
outline of Dr. Waagen; such a thing well and completely
done, would occupy a volume of itself, and certainly form
a very amusing and edifying expose of our national pro-
gress in matters of taste. A brief sketch, or chronicle, such
as the limits of a preface confine me to, will, however,
prepare the mind of the reader for the details given in the
historical and critical introductions to each gallery.
'•Foreigners and critics love to flout at English taste: it
is therefore a curious fact, and one we have reason to be
proud of, that the earliest instance on record of any pri-
vate individual indulging a taste for art, was our own Lord
Arundel. I believe he was the first collector, of private
rank, in civilized Europe. It was not till the end of the
fifteenth century that painting, from being wholly eccle-
GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
while lie spoke, in the slow, quiet tone of a weary man, he
turned his eyes on a forest scene of Ruysdaal, and gazed
on it for a minute or two in silence—a silence I was care-
ful not to break,—as if its cool, dewy verdure, its deep
seclusion, its transparent waters stealing through the glade,
had sent refreshment into his very soul I
And then, again, there is some one favourite picture,
preferred, not so much for its intrinsic merit, but because
it has been obtained with difficulty,—has been competed for,
conquered from some rival amateur,—or it is a recent acqui-
sition, and “ the honeymoon is not yet over”—or it has
been picked up for a trifle, and turned out a prize—or it has
been rightfully or wrongfully doubted and abused, conse-
quently has assumed an exaggerated value and importance
in the mind of the possessor, even from the force of con-
tradiction—who knows? Now one cannot well put these
delightful dilettante fancies into a catalogue raisonne, but
how truly, deeply, cordially, one can understand and sym-
pathize with them!
The original plan was to have prefaced the whole with a
history of English collections and collectors, filling up the
outline of Dr. Waagen; such a thing well and completely
done, would occupy a volume of itself, and certainly form
a very amusing and edifying expose of our national pro-
gress in matters of taste. A brief sketch, or chronicle, such
as the limits of a preface confine me to, will, however,
prepare the mind of the reader for the details given in the
historical and critical introductions to each gallery.
'•Foreigners and critics love to flout at English taste: it
is therefore a curious fact, and one we have reason to be
proud of, that the earliest instance on record of any pri-
vate individual indulging a taste for art, was our own Lord
Arundel. I believe he was the first collector, of private
rank, in civilized Europe. It was not till the end of the
fifteenth century that painting, from being wholly eccle-