DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0027
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Xxiii
way relates the anecdote.* He does not quote his autho-
rity, but one can believe anything of Buckingham—at once
so haughty and so servile—so magnificent and so mean!
At Paris and at the court of Madrid he had made the
acquaintance of Rubens, and persuaded the painter to cede
to him the collection of pictures, gems, antiques, &c.,
formed by himself when in Italy, and since his return.
Rubens sold the whole to him for 10,000/., reluctantly, as
it appears, for he did not want the money; and as for
Buckingham, he scarcely lived to call himself possessor of
the treasures he had coveted. Assassinated a few months
after (in 1628), many of his pictures were dispersed. King
Charles, Lord Arundel, and Lord Montague, purchased
several from the family; others descended to his young
son, the Duke of Buckingham. The old catalogue of this
collection, published by Bathoe, is now lying before me;
it contained 220 pictures; among them, three by Raphael,
three by L. da Vinci, nineteen by Titian, seventeen by
Tintoretto, and thirteen by Rubens himself.
It is clear that, previous to 1643, the works of art accu-
mulated in England were of the highest value and im-
portance. The gallery of Charles I. was unequalled by
that of any crowned head.f No subject in Europe pos-
sessed such treasures as had been collected by Arundel and
Buckingham. But then came the deadly struggle between
Charles and his Parliament: all these precious objects
were lost, dispersed, and went to enrich and adorn foreign
capitals. Charles’s collection was confiscated, and sold.
Of Lord Arundel’s, a portion was sold in Holland, for his
subsistence; the rest scattered among different members
of his family: and as for the rich collection of the Duke of
* “ Anecdotes of the Arts in England.”
t For a particular account of the Royal collections in England from Charles I.
to the present time, see the “ Companion to the Public Galleries.”
way relates the anecdote.* He does not quote his autho-
rity, but one can believe anything of Buckingham—at once
so haughty and so servile—so magnificent and so mean!
At Paris and at the court of Madrid he had made the
acquaintance of Rubens, and persuaded the painter to cede
to him the collection of pictures, gems, antiques, &c.,
formed by himself when in Italy, and since his return.
Rubens sold the whole to him for 10,000/., reluctantly, as
it appears, for he did not want the money; and as for
Buckingham, he scarcely lived to call himself possessor of
the treasures he had coveted. Assassinated a few months
after (in 1628), many of his pictures were dispersed. King
Charles, Lord Arundel, and Lord Montague, purchased
several from the family; others descended to his young
son, the Duke of Buckingham. The old catalogue of this
collection, published by Bathoe, is now lying before me;
it contained 220 pictures; among them, three by Raphael,
three by L. da Vinci, nineteen by Titian, seventeen by
Tintoretto, and thirteen by Rubens himself.
It is clear that, previous to 1643, the works of art accu-
mulated in England were of the highest value and im-
portance. The gallery of Charles I. was unequalled by
that of any crowned head.f No subject in Europe pos-
sessed such treasures as had been collected by Arundel and
Buckingham. But then came the deadly struggle between
Charles and his Parliament: all these precious objects
were lost, dispersed, and went to enrich and adorn foreign
capitals. Charles’s collection was confiscated, and sold.
Of Lord Arundel’s, a portion was sold in Holland, for his
subsistence; the rest scattered among different members
of his family: and as for the rich collection of the Duke of
* “ Anecdotes of the Arts in England.”
t For a particular account of the Royal collections in England from Charles I.
to the present time, see the “ Companion to the Public Galleries.”