Memoirs of Painting - 2 Author:William Buchanan Volume: 2 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1824 Original Publisher: Printed for R. Ackermann Subjects: Painting France Painters Art Paintings Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books... more » edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: MEMOIRS OF PAINTING. THE INTRODUCTION OF COLLECTIONS INTO ENGLAND. THE ORLEANS. The late Mr. President West used to remark, that next to the merit of having painted a picture which should do honour to the art, and become an ornament to the state wherein it was produced, was the credit of having brought from foreign countries works of the great masters. -- The importation of such works tends to enrich the nation which receives them, it holds out a bright example for imitation, and rouses and calls into action the native talents of those who feel the sacred flame of emulation. The irreparable loss which this country sustained in the dispersion of the magnificent collection which had belonged to King Charles the First, acollection formed upon the soundest principles of good j udgment, aided by the elegant and refined taste of the monarch himself; the subsequent diminution of its riches in the transfer of the Houghton collection to a northern Potentate, the meagre state of the collections which remained to us, in works of the Italian school, made us strongly feel in our own case the truth of the worthy president's remark, and the public was prepared to avail itself of the first opportunity which should occur, to remedy in part these heavy losses. The period was not far distant which offered such an occasion. The public mind of France had for a long tune been in a state of great agitation; those best acquainted with it foresaw a storm approaching, and many, among others Monsieur de Calonne, who h...« less