In submitting to you the following brief observations, it is neither my
wish nor intention to undervalue or disparage the labours of Horace
Walpole, and Granger, and Pennant, and Lodge, and the numerous writers who
have followed in their train, and to whom we are so much indebted for their
notices of a great variety of original portraits of distinguished
Englishmen, which still adorn the mansions of our aristocracy, and are
found in the smaller collections throughout the realm. But I may be
permitted to express my surprise and regret that in this age of inquiry no
general catalogue of these national treasures should ever have been
published. It is true that the portraits, as well as the other objects of
attraction in our royal palaces, have been described in print with
tolerable accuracy, and some good accounts are to be met with of the
pictures at Woburn, and Blenheim, and Althorpe, and many of the residences
of the nobility which can boast their local historian. We are, however, in
most cases obliged to content ourselves with the meagre information
afforded by county topography, or such works as the _Beauties of England_,
_Neale's Country Seats_, and unsatisfactory guide-books.
No one, then, can doubt that such a compilation as I am advocating would
prove a most welcome addition to our increasing stock of historical lore,
and greatly assist the biographer in those researches upon which, from no
sufficient materials being at hand, too much time is frequently expended
without any adequate result. A catalogue would also tend to the
preservation of ancient portraits, which, by being brought into notice,
would acquire more importance in the estimation of the possessors; and in
the event of any old houses falling into decay, the recorded fact of
certain pictures having existed there, would cause them to be inquired
after, and rescue them from destruction. Opportunities would likewise be
afforded of correcting misnomers, and testing the authenticity of reputed
likenesses of the same individual; further, the printed lists would survive
after all the family traditions had been forgotten, and passed away with
the antiquated housekeeper, and her worn-out inventory. The practice, too,
of inscribing the names of the artist and person represented on the backs
of the frames, would probably be better observed; and I may mention as a
proof of this precaution being necessary, the instance of a {234} baronet
in our day having inherited an old house full of pictures, which were _one
and all_ described, in laconic and most unsatisfactory terms, as
"_Portraits of Ladies and Gentlemen Unknown_." The losses of works of art
and interest by the lamentable fires that have occurred so frequently
within the memory of man, may furnish a further motive for using every
endeavour to preserve those pictures that remain to us; but probably a far
greater number have perished from damp or neglect, and a strange
combination of mischief and ignorance. Let us hope that in this respect the
times are improving. For one, I cannot consent to the wanton destruction of
a single portrait, though Horace Walpole assures us--
"That it is almost as necessary that the representations of men should
perish and quit the scene to their successors, as it is that the human
race should give place to rising generations; and, indeed, the
mortality is almost as rapid. Portraits that cost twenty, thirty, sixty
guineas, and that proudly take possession of the drawing-room, give way
in the next generation to the new married couple, descending into the
parlour, where they are slightly mentioned as my _father_ and
_mother's_ pictures. When they become my _grandfather_ and
_grandmother_, they mount to the two pair of stairs, and then, unless
dispatched to the mansion-house in the country, or crowded into the
housekeeper's room, they perish among the lumber of garrets, or flutter
into rags before a broker's shop at the Seven Dials."--_Lives of the
Painters_, vol. iv. pp. 14, 15.
I am tempted to add, that many years ago I saw a large roll of canvass
produced from under a bed at a furniture shop in "Hockley in the Hole,"
which, when unfolded, displayed a variety of old portraits, that had been
torn out of their frames, and stowed away like worn-out sail-cloth; the
place was so filthy that I was glad to make my escape without further
investigation, but I noticed a whole-length of a judge in scarlet robes,
and I could not help reflecting how much surprised the painter and the son
of the law whom he delineated would have been, could they have anticipated
the fate of the picture.
Having made these remarks, I am not unaware how much easier it is to point
out a grievance than to provide a remedy; but perhaps some of your readers
more conversant with such matters, may form an opinion whether it would
answer to any one to undertake to compile such a catalogue as I have
described. Though much would remain to be done, a great deal of information
is to be gleaned from printed works, and doubtless lists of portraits might
be in many instances procured from the persons who are fortunate enough to
possess them. It should also be remembered that amongst the MSS. of Sir
William Musgrave in the British Museum, there are many inventories of
English portraits, affording a strong presumption that he may once have
meditated such a publication as I have pointed out.
But, whether we are ever to have a catalogue or not, some advantage may
arise from the discussion of the subject in "NOTES AND QUERIES;" and if it
should lead to the rescue of a single portrait from destruction, we shall
have advanced one step in the right direction.