DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0332
288 LANSDOWNE COLLECTION.
merit, honourable to the taste which selected them, and
not a few of rare interest and value.
The collection is quite miscellaneous in character; every
school, every style, every age, every country, is here repre-
sented by one genuine specimen, at least; of a few favourite
painters the examples are numerous. It is strictly a pri-
vate collection, the pictures being distributed through the
family apartments at Lansdowne House, and at Bowood,
the country seat of the Marquess; and they frequently
change their locality; Lord Lansdowne sometimes brings
favourite pictures to town, or removes others for a season
to the country. I have never known any possessor of rare
and beautiful things, who seemed so really and habitually
to enjoy all the pleasure they can impart, except, perhaps,
Mr. Rogers and Sir George Beaumont, nor one who
more kindly imparted a gratification of which he felt the
full value; I believe that no lover of art, foreign or
English, who came properly introduced, was ever denied
access to the collection.
Of the most distinguished masters in the different schools
of art, we find here sometimes a single good and genuine
specimen, sometimes two or three. The beautiful little
Raphael, the “ Preaching of St. John,” is undoubted.
The grand portrait by Sebastian del Piombo, (No. 33,)
the head of Maria de Padillas, at Bowood, (No. 27;) that
chef d'ceuvre of the Spanish school of portraiture, the full
length of Don Justino de Neve, (No. 28;) the Magdalen
and the Virgin of Titian; and a very beautiful little
Claude; the portraits of Olivarez and Velasquez; and the
lovely little Schidone, (No. 46,) worthy of Correggio, may
be pointed out among the Italian and Spanish pictures.
Among the Flemish and Dutch pictures, there are four
which beai' a high value, from their celebrity in the his-
tory of art, as well as their own intrinsic beauty and ex-
cellence : these are the head of Rembrandt; the landscape
merit, honourable to the taste which selected them, and
not a few of rare interest and value.
The collection is quite miscellaneous in character; every
school, every style, every age, every country, is here repre-
sented by one genuine specimen, at least; of a few favourite
painters the examples are numerous. It is strictly a pri-
vate collection, the pictures being distributed through the
family apartments at Lansdowne House, and at Bowood,
the country seat of the Marquess; and they frequently
change their locality; Lord Lansdowne sometimes brings
favourite pictures to town, or removes others for a season
to the country. I have never known any possessor of rare
and beautiful things, who seemed so really and habitually
to enjoy all the pleasure they can impart, except, perhaps,
Mr. Rogers and Sir George Beaumont, nor one who
more kindly imparted a gratification of which he felt the
full value; I believe that no lover of art, foreign or
English, who came properly introduced, was ever denied
access to the collection.
Of the most distinguished masters in the different schools
of art, we find here sometimes a single good and genuine
specimen, sometimes two or three. The beautiful little
Raphael, the “ Preaching of St. John,” is undoubted.
The grand portrait by Sebastian del Piombo, (No. 33,)
the head of Maria de Padillas, at Bowood, (No. 27;) that
chef d'ceuvre of the Spanish school of portraiture, the full
length of Don Justino de Neve, (No. 28;) the Magdalen
and the Virgin of Titian; and a very beautiful little
Claude; the portraits of Olivarez and Velasquez; and the
lovely little Schidone, (No. 46,) worthy of Correggio, may
be pointed out among the Italian and Spanish pictures.
Among the Flemish and Dutch pictures, there are four
which beai' a high value, from their celebrity in the his-
tory of art, as well as their own intrinsic beauty and ex-
cellence : these are the head of Rembrandt; the landscape