DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0331
INTRODUCTION.
Most of the picture galleries of our nobility are either
heir looms, or the accumulations of more than one genera-
tion. The collection of the present Marquess of Lans-
downe has been formed entirely by himself.
The gallery of antique sculpture which now adorns
Lansdowne House, did not descend to him with the title,
from the first Marquess, by whom it was acquired; but
having been bequeathed by the second Marquess of Lans-
downe to his widow, was purchased from her by the pre-
sent Marquess, soon after his accession to the title.* The
collection of pictures once known as the Lansdowne Col-
lection, was formed by the first Marquess, but after his
death in 1805, sold and dispersed; the Grosvenor Gal-
lery, the National Gallery, and others being enriched by
its spoils. When the present Marquess succeeded to the
title, in 1809, there was not, I believe, a single picture
in the family mansion, except, perhaps, a few family por-
traits. Without setting forth any of the pretensions of
connoisseurship, without apparently making it a matter
of ambition or ostentation to add a gallery of pictures to
the other appendages of his rank—guided simply by the
love of art, and a wish to possess what is beautiful in
itself, for its own sake—Lord Lansdowne has gradually
collected together about 160 pictures, all of more or less
* A notice of the Gallery of Sculpture is subjoined to the catalogue of the
pictures.
Most of the picture galleries of our nobility are either
heir looms, or the accumulations of more than one genera-
tion. The collection of the present Marquess of Lans-
downe has been formed entirely by himself.
The gallery of antique sculpture which now adorns
Lansdowne House, did not descend to him with the title,
from the first Marquess, by whom it was acquired; but
having been bequeathed by the second Marquess of Lans-
downe to his widow, was purchased from her by the pre-
sent Marquess, soon after his accession to the title.* The
collection of pictures once known as the Lansdowne Col-
lection, was formed by the first Marquess, but after his
death in 1805, sold and dispersed; the Grosvenor Gal-
lery, the National Gallery, and others being enriched by
its spoils. When the present Marquess succeeded to the
title, in 1809, there was not, I believe, a single picture
in the family mansion, except, perhaps, a few family por-
traits. Without setting forth any of the pretensions of
connoisseurship, without apparently making it a matter
of ambition or ostentation to add a gallery of pictures to
the other appendages of his rank—guided simply by the
love of art, and a wish to possess what is beautiful in
itself, for its own sake—Lord Lansdowne has gradually
collected together about 160 pictures, all of more or less
* A notice of the Gallery of Sculpture is subjoined to the catalogue of the
pictures.