If the representation of French art at the National Gallery in London
is admittedly meagre and inadequate, the British section at the Louvre
can scarcely be considered worthy of serious consideration. Its entire
removal, with the exception of about half a dozen pictures, would not
only entail no serious loss to the collection, but would be an act of
justice to the reputation of several great artists who are here made
responsible for pictures upon which they presumably never set eyes.
Under these circumstances it is quite impossible to illustrate the
progress of British art by the two-score or so examples in the Long
Gallery, part of which is devoted to the English pictures. Of the
leading masters, Hogarth (1697-1764) and Gainsborough (1727-1788) will
be vainly looked for, since the two _Landscapes_ (Nos. 1811 and 1811B)
attributed to the latter in the La Caze Room are inferior conventional
compositions in Italian taste, which can no more be connected with the
name of Gainsborough than the wretched _Still Life_ which has lately
been added to the Louvre collection.