34. Diana and Calista. _Wilson._ A beautifully poetic composition: yet
the painter lived and died nearer to indigence than ease.
35. Alexander Pope and Martha Blount. _Jervas._ Of comparatively
little interest for its pictorial merit; though Pope has enshrined the
painter in elegant couplet. If poetry and painting be sister arts,
they are rarely twin.
41 and 227. Dead Game, &c. _Blake._ Among the finest compositions of
their class. It is worth while to compare these pictures, with what
Smith, in his Life of Nollekens, tells us of Blake's colouring: "his
modes of preparing his grounds, and laying them over his panels for
painting, mixing his colours, and manner of working, were those which
he considered to have been practised by the early fresco painters,
whose productions still remain in many instances vividly and
permanently fresh. His ground was a mixture of whiting and carpenters'
glue, which he passed over several times in the coatings; his colours
he ground himself and also united with them the same sort of glue, but
in a much weaker state; he would in the course of painting, pass a
very thin transparent wash of glue-water over the whole of the parts
he had worked upon and then proceed with his finishing."
43. The Captive, _Jackson._ One of the finest pictures in the room. In
colouring it approaches the olden school nearer than any recent
specimen.
44. Carnarvon Castle, Moon-rising. _E. Childe._ A clever picture, and
altogether an interesting scene.
53. Portrait of the late Queen Caroline, and the Princess Charlotte.
_Lawrence._ One of the painter's early productions. The attitude of
the Queen beside a harp is majestic, and her figure is not of such
bulky proportion as she attained in after-life; the features are, too,
more intelligent than many beneath a crown: the figure of the darling
Princess in sportive mood, half clambering and reclining upon a chair,
is pretty. Indeed, the picture, as well from its characters as from
its merit and size, must command considerable interest in the
collection. It may have associations of melancholy tendency; for the
princesses and the painter have been numbered with the dead within a
score of years.
55. The Benevolent Squire. _Morland._ A small oval picture of touching
truth and nature. In the foreground is a widow, with two children,
seated beside a cottage door. They have just divided a small loaf with
hungry zest: in the distance is an old English 'squire on horseback,
who is instructing his groom with undrawn purse to relieve the wants
of the widow, while the good Samaritan casts an eye of true compassion
at the almost starving group.
58. Portrait of Opie. _Opie_: showing, as Mr. Cunningham observes, "a
noble forehead and an intellectual eye," with much of his country,
Cornish air. The picture is but of few inches dimension, in a homely,
broad, flat, oaken frame, somewhat resembling that of a miniature,
with the name "Opie," plainly cut in capitals. It is noticeable for
its unadornment.
64. The adjourned Debate. _T. Clater._ A cobbler, despite the ancient
saw, _ne sutor ultra crepidam_, intently devouring the "folio of four
pages."
67. The Sisters. _John Wood._ One of the painter's most successful
productions, and deservedly so.
74. Diana and Actaeon. Another of _Wilson's_ classic compositions of
captivating loveliness, proving the painter, as Mr. Cunningham
observes, to have wrought under historical and poetic influence.
80. Portrait of the late James Perry, Esq. _Lawrence._ The likeness is
striking, and the colouring that of a master hand. The "head and
front" bear intellectuality in an eminent degree.
82. Henry III. of France. _Bonington._ One of the lamented artist's
most celebrated pictures. The personal elegance of the sovereign, and
the luxurious details of the scene are in fine keeping with the
minuteness of history in these matters.
89. The Trial Scene in the Merchant of Venice. _Zoffani._ With
Macklin,
--The Jew
That Shakspeare drew;
his daughter as Portia, in the habiliaments of "the learned lawyer;"
Clark, Bensley, &c.