take that there is a resemblance in the manner of Domenico Feti to that of Correggio; what there is, which is very little, lies in the colouring; there is something of a transparent and pearly tint of colour in this head, but the character is much inferior to Correggio: it is in heads or small parts of pictures only that perhaps some resemblance may be discovered; in the larger works of Domenico Feti nobody can be deceived.

CARLO DOLCI. A Carlo Dolci; Madonna and Bambino with a lily. This is one of his best works: the expression of the Virgin is very beautiful; the Christ, which is a little figure at length, though not excellent, is still better than his children generally

are.

LUCA GIORDANO. - Two portraits dressed in rags, like beggars, by Luca Giordano, in imitation of Spagnolet's manner; well painted. They are said to be his own and his father's pictures. I have seen a portrait of Caravaggio, painted by himself, in the same style it is difficult to find out the wit or humour of this conceit of being drawn in the characters of beggars.

C. PROCACCINI.

A holy family by Camillo Procaccini, his best; finely coloured: the Christ's head admirable.

GIACOMO BASSAN..

St. Jerome, said to be by Paul Veronese, but certainly by Giacomo Bassan.

Fourth Room.

VANDERWERF. The most distinguished pictures in this room are the Vanderwerfs, which are twentyfour in number. Three of them are as large as life; a Magdalen whole-length, and two portraits. The Mag.dalen was painted as a companion to the St. John of

Raffaelle, but it was not thought, even by his friends and admirers, that he had succeeded: however, he certainly has spared no pains; it is as smooth and as highly finished as his small pictures; but his defects are here magnified, and consequently more apparent. His pictures, whether great or small, certainly afford but little pleasure. Of their want of effect it is worth a painter's while to enquire into the cause. One of the principal causes appears to me, his having entertained an opinion that the light of a picture ought to be thrown solely on the figures, and little or none on the ground or sky. This gives great coldness to the effect, and is so contrary to nature and the practice of those painters with whose works he was surrounded, that we cannot help wondering how he fell into this mistake.

His naked figures appear to be of a much harder substance than flesh, though his outline is far from cutting, or the light not united with the shade, which are the most common causes of hardness; but it appears to me, that in the present instance the hardness of manner proceeds from the softness and union being too general; the light being every where equally lost in the ground or its shadow: for this is not expressing the true effect of flesh, the light of which is sometimes losing itself in the ground, and sometimes distinctly seen, according to the rising or sinking of the muscles: an attention to these variations is what gives the effect of suppleness, which is one of the characteristics of a good manner of colouring.

There is in nature a certain proportion of bluntness and sharpness; in the medium between these two extremes, the true and perfect art of imitating consists. If the sharp predominate, it gives a dry mnnner; if the blunt predominate, it makes a manner equally removed from nature; it gives what painters call woolliness and

heaviness, or that kind of hardness which is found in those pictures of Vanderwerf.

In describing Vanderwerf's manner, were I to say that all the parts every where melt into each other, it might naturally be supposed that the effect would be a high degree of softness; but it is notoriously the contrary, and I think for the reason that has been given: his flesh has the appearance of ivory, or plaster, or some other hard substance. What contributes likewise to give this hardness, is a want of transparency in this colouring, from its admitting little or no reflections of light. He has also the defect which is often found in Rembrandt; that of making his light only a single spot. However, to do him justice, his figures and his heads are generally well drawn, and his drapery is excellent; perhaps there are in his pictures as perfect examples of drapery as are to be found in any other painter's works whatever.

REMBRANDT. There are likewise in this room eight Rembrandts; the chief merit of which consists in his peculiarity of manner, of admitting but little light, and giving to that little a wonderful brilliancy. The colouring of Christ in the Elevation of the Cross, cannot be exceeded; it is exactly the tint of Vandyck's Susanna in the other room; but whether the ground of this picture has been repainted, or the white horse, which was certainly intended to make the mass of light broader, has lost its brightness, at present the Christ makes a disagreeable string of light.

In reality here are too many Rembrandts brought together: his peculiarity does not come amiss, when mixed with the performances of other artists of more regular manners; the variety then may contribute to relieve the mind, fatigued with regularity.

The same may be said of the Vanderwerfs: they

also are too numerous. These pictures, however, tire the spectator for reasons totally opposite to each other; the Rembrandts have too much salt, and the Vanderwerfs too much water, on neither of which we can live. These Rembrandts are now engraving by The storm at Mr. Hope's seems to belong

to this set.

TITIAN. A portrait of a gentleman by Titian, a Kitcat; one hand a-kimbo, the hand itself not seen, only a bit of the ruffle; the other, the left, rests on what appears to be his sword; he is looking off. This portrait has a very pleasing countenance, but is not painted with much facility, nor is it at all mannered : the shadows are of no colour; the drapery being black, and the ground being very near as dark as it, prevents the arm a-kimbo from having a bad effect. It is no small part of our art to know what to bring forward in the light, and what to throw into shade.

FLINK. The portrait of Flink and his wife, said to be of Rembrandt, but I think, from the yellow bad taste of colouring, that they are rather by Flink himself.

JORDAENS. The rest of the pictures in this room are but ordinary, if we except a picture by Jordaens, of the satyr blowing hot and cold, which is equally well painted with the feast above mentioned. He ought never to have attempted higher subjects than satyrs, or animals, or men little above beasts; for he had no idea of grace or dignity of character; he makes therefore a wretched figure in grand subjects. He certainly, however, understood very well the mechanical part of the art; his works are generally well coloured, and executed with great freedom of hand.

PIETRO GEnoese.. - Over the door, the tributemoney, by Pietro Genoese: the characters, as usual,

wretched; particularly St. Peter. It is wonderful by what fatality this painter finds his way into great collections: he has no merit in drawing or colouring, that is by any means sufficient to compensate for the meanness and vulgarity of his ideas.

VANDYCK. A Susanna and the two Elders, the same as the Duke of Devonshire's: this likewise appears original.

PIETRO DA CORTONA. - A Virgin and Child, and St. Joseph, by Pietro da Cartona, painted in guazzo; the child is of a red brick colour, and the whole wants harmony.

GUIDO. The Assumption of the Virgin, said to be by Guido, but it is undoubtedly a copy. It has that regularity of composition, which is frequent with Guido: two large angels and two little angels on each side, and two cherubims, regularly placed in the middle, under the Virgin's feet. This formality is certainly a defect in Guido, however it might become other painters who have adopted a style of more dignity.

POLYDORE.

The upper part of three sides of this room are surrounded with a continued picture in chiaro-oscuro, as large as life, said to be by Polydore; but it is in the wretched taste of Goltzius.

Fifth Room.

RUBENS. The fifth room is furnished almost entirely with the works of Rubens. On the right hand Silenus with satyrs; one of Rubens's highest coloured pictures, but not superior to that on the same subject at Blenheim. The composition of this varies in many points; the naked Bacchante is here omitted, and there is an addition of a female satyr lying with her children drunk on the ground.