DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0272
228
THE GROSVENOR GALLERY.
the wants of the expanding intellect, whether in the lofty
or the low, are comprised in a b c, and two and two make
four, they will be like the hard father in the scripture
parable, “ When thy son asks for bread, wilt thou give
him a stone?”
The Grosvenor Gallery, in the days I allude to, was
more accessible than it is now.* Formerly during the
London season, one day in the week, Friday, was set apart
for the reception of visitors, who were admitted by tickets
in the same manner, and with the same restrictions as to
the Bridgewater Gallery; but within the last ten years,
from various causes and impediments of which it were
impertinent to speak, these arrangements have been altered.
There is no stated day of admission, nor any stated mode
of application, though visitors known to Lord Westminster
and his friends are occasionally admitted.
The founder of the Grosvenor Gallery was Richard,
first Earl Grosvenor, who succeeded to the immense riches
of his family in 1755; and at a time when the patronage of
art and the taste for collecting pictures was yet uncommon
in England, except with princes and ministers, he began to
make purchases of pictures, without, however, confining
himself to any particular school. At the sale of Sir Luke
Schaub’s collection, which took place in 1758 he purchased
two pictures at prices considered very high at that period-
the “ Infant Christ” of Guido, and Le Brun’s “ Alexander
in the tent of Darius,” (Nos. 33, 41.) At the time that
George III. sent Mr. Dalton, his librarian, to Italy to
make purchases for him, (about 1763,) Lord Grosvenor
gave him a similar commission, and several pictures were
accordingly obtained and forwarded to England, among
them two exquisite little pictures by Ludovico Caracci
and Baroccio, (Nos. 16 and 9,) but none that give us a
* (i. e. in 1842.) I believe the Grosvenor Gallery was first opened to the
public in 1808.
THE GROSVENOR GALLERY.
the wants of the expanding intellect, whether in the lofty
or the low, are comprised in a b c, and two and two make
four, they will be like the hard father in the scripture
parable, “ When thy son asks for bread, wilt thou give
him a stone?”
The Grosvenor Gallery, in the days I allude to, was
more accessible than it is now.* Formerly during the
London season, one day in the week, Friday, was set apart
for the reception of visitors, who were admitted by tickets
in the same manner, and with the same restrictions as to
the Bridgewater Gallery; but within the last ten years,
from various causes and impediments of which it were
impertinent to speak, these arrangements have been altered.
There is no stated day of admission, nor any stated mode
of application, though visitors known to Lord Westminster
and his friends are occasionally admitted.
The founder of the Grosvenor Gallery was Richard,
first Earl Grosvenor, who succeeded to the immense riches
of his family in 1755; and at a time when the patronage of
art and the taste for collecting pictures was yet uncommon
in England, except with princes and ministers, he began to
make purchases of pictures, without, however, confining
himself to any particular school. At the sale of Sir Luke
Schaub’s collection, which took place in 1758 he purchased
two pictures at prices considered very high at that period-
the “ Infant Christ” of Guido, and Le Brun’s “ Alexander
in the tent of Darius,” (Nos. 33, 41.) At the time that
George III. sent Mr. Dalton, his librarian, to Italy to
make purchases for him, (about 1763,) Lord Grosvenor
gave him a similar commission, and several pictures were
accordingly obtained and forwarded to England, among
them two exquisite little pictures by Ludovico Caracci
and Baroccio, (Nos. 16 and 9,) but none that give us a
* (i. e. in 1842.) I believe the Grosvenor Gallery was first opened to the
public in 1808.