That Richard Parkes Bonington (1801-1828) should be seen to better
advantage in this collection, is only natural in view of the fact
that by his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and under
Gros he belongs to the French rather than to the English school.
He was closely allied by the bond of friendship to Delacroix, and
played an important part in the romantic movement. The two little
pictures _François I. and the Duchesse d’Etampes_ (No. 1802) and
_Mazarin and Anne of Austria_ (No. 1803) are conceived quite in the
spirit of the French Romanticists. Bonington’s genius as a colourist
is, however, best displayed in the sparkling and animated _View of
Venice_ (No. 1805). Admirable, too, in their spontaneous freshness are
the _View of the Gardens at Versailles_ (No. 1804) and the _View of
the Coast of Normandy_ (No. 1804A). _The Old Governess_ (No. 1805A),
one of Bonington’s rare attempts at portraiture, is remarkable for
the accentuation of the modelling, which somehow suggests the broad
treatment of the planes adopted by a wood-carver.
The picture which is catalogued as _La Halte_ (No. 1814), by George
Morland (1763-1804), is merely a poor copy of that artist’s painting
_The Public-house Door_, engraved by Ward. It was presented to the
Louvre by the proprietors of the magazine _L’Art_.
When we come to the great school of British portrait painting, we have
to record at least two or three masterpieces worthy of being included
in a great museum. A picture of unquestioned authenticity and great
charm is the _Portrait of Master Hare_ (No. 1818B) by Sir Joshua
Reynolds (1723-1792), who in this, as in other similar pieces, proved
himself the painter _par excellence_ of childhood in all its innocence
and ingenuousness, even though this picture is by no means impeccable
as regards draughtsmanship. The _Master Hare_ was bequeathed to the
Louvre by Baron Alphonse de Rothschild in 1905. The badly repainted
_Portrait of a Lady_ (No. 1818A) in a white dress, and with powdered
hair, is certainly not the work of Sir Joshua, under whose name it
figures in the catalogue.