VI

their preservation,—and that is, the immense value
of such property in every part of the civilized world,
when in a pure and genuine state ; but if once in-
jured by the dangerous solvent of the unfeeling ope-
rator in renovating, no after skill can recover or
replace the delicate tints and spirited touches of the
master. A picture of great value, when thus treated,
is from that moment reduced to that of one of an
ordinary description.
It could hardly have been expected that a work
like the present, embracing so extensive a notice of
the productions of the artists of which it treats,
should have been so written as to escape all censure
and animadversion ; and if the writer were disposed
to reply to such charges, this would be the proper
time and place to do so ;—but as replies and dis-
cussions on the subject would tend to no positive
advantage, and might engender angry feelings, with-
out arriving at any satisfactory conclusion, the
writer therefore (with one exception) leaves the cha-
racter of his work in the hands of a discerning and
impartial public, with this candid observation,-—-that
as he never pretended to infallibility, the faults and
errors, both of omission and commission, which from
the multifarious nature of the work he has unavoid-
ably committed, he has to the best of his ability
noticed and corrected in the present Supplement.
But while thus abstaining from all useless discussion,
he begs to be allowed the privilege of correcting an
opinion given in a popular and highly interesting