The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-01 00:00:00

tint ',lds.

MR. RUSKIN ON THE TURNER BEQUEST.
MR. RUSKIN writes to the Times this week with re-
ference to the "Turner Bequest." Mr. Ruskin gives
some interesting details connected with the drawings
so soon to be exhibited to the public, and makes an
offer of his services in the arrangement of the
same :

As active measures are being now taken to give
the public access to the pictures and drawings left
by the late Mr. Turner, you will perhaps allow me
space in your columns for a few words respecting
them.
I was appointed by Mr. Turner one of his execu-
tors. I examined the will and the state of the pro-
perty needing administration, and, finding that the
questions arising out of the obscurity of the one and
the disorder of the other would be numerous and
would involve a kind of business in which I had no
skill or knowledge, I resigned the office ; but in the
course of the inquiry I catalogued the most interest.
ing of the drawings which are now national property,
and respecting these the public will, I think, be glad
of more definite information than they at present
possess. They are referable mainly to three classes.
1. Finished water-colour drawings.
2. Studies from nature, or first thoughts for pic-
tures ; in colour.
3. Sketches in pencil or pen and ink.
The drawings belonging to the two latter classes
are in various stages of completion, and would con-
tain, if rightly arranged, a perfect record of the
movements of the master's mind during his whole
life. Many of them were so confused among prints
and waste paper that I could not collect nor catalogue
them all in the time I had at my disposal ; some
portfolios I was not able even to open. The follow-
ing statement, therefore, omits mention of many, and
I believe even of some large water-colour drawings.
There are in the first class 45 drawings of the
" Rivers of France ;" 57 illustrating Rogers's poems,
23 of the "River Scenery" and " Harbours of Eng
land," 4 marine vignettes, 5 middle-sized drawings
(including the beautiful " Ivy Bridge "), and a draw-
ing, some three feet by two, finished with exquisite
care, of a scene in the Val d'Aosta ; total, 135.
It would occupy too much of your space if I were
to specify all the various kinds of studies forming
the second class. Many are far carried, and are, to
my mind, more precious and lovely than any finished
drawings; respecting some there may be question
whether Turner regarded them as finished or not.
The larger number are light sketches, valuable only
to artists or to those interested in the processes of
Turner's mind and hand. The total number of
those which I catalogued as important is 1,757.
The sketches of the third class are usually more
elaborate than the coloured ones. They consist of
studies from nature or for compositions, in firm out-
lines, usually on grey paper, heightened with white.
They include, among other subjects more or les3
complete, 50 of the original drawings for the Liber
Studiorum, and many of the others are of large folio

1051

size. The total number of those I consider impor
taut is 1,322. Now, the value of these sketches to
the public consists greatly, first, in the preservation
of each, as far as possible, in the state in which
Turner left it ; secondly, in their careful arrange-
ment and explanation ; thirdly, in convenience of
general access to them. Permit me a word on each
of these heads.

Turner was in the habit of using unusual vehicles,
and in the coloured studies many hues are wrought
out by singular means and with singular delicacy—
nearly always in textures which the slightest damp
(to which t he drawings would necessarily be subjected
in the process of mounting) would assuredly alter.
I have made many experiments in mounting, putting
coloured drawings of which I had previously ex-
amined the tones into the bands of the best mounters,
and I never yet had a drawing returned to me with-
out alteration. The vast mass of these sketches, and
the comparative slightness of many, would but too
probably induce a carelessness and generalisation in
the treatment they might have to undergo, still more
fatally detrimental to them.
Secondly, a large number are without names, and
so slight that it requires careful examination and
somewhat extended acquaintance with Turner's
works to ascertain their intention. The sketches of
this class are nearly valueless till their meaning is
deciphered, but of great interest, when seen in their
proper connection. Thus there are three progressive
studies fa: one vignette in Rogers's " Italy " (Hannibal
passing the Alps), which I extricated from three
several heaps of other mountain sketches with which
they had no connection. Thirdly, a large number of
the drawings are executed with body colour, the
bloom of which any friction or handling would in a
short period destroy. Their delicate tones of colour
would be equally destroyed by continuous exposure
to the light, or to smoke and dust.
Drawings of a valuable character, when thus de-
structible, are in European museums hardly accessi-
ble to the general public. But there is no need for
this seclusion. They should be inclosed each in a
light wooden frame, under a glass, the surface of
which a raised mount should prevent them frt m
touching. These frames should slide into cases,
containing about twelve drawings each, which would
he portable to any part of the room where they were
to be seen. I have long kept my own smaller Turnt r
drawings in this manner; fifteen frames going into
the depth of about a foot. Men are usually accused
of " bad taste," if they express any conviction of
their own ability to execute any given work. But it
would perhaps be better if in people's sayings in
general, whether concerning others or themselves,
there were less taste, and more truth ; and I think
it, under the circumstances, my duty to state that I
believe no one would treat these drawings with more
scrupulous care, or arrange them with greater
patience, than I should myself ; that I am ready to
undertake the task, and enter upon it instantly ; that
I will fui.lish, in order to prove the working of the
system proposed, one hundred of the frames, with
their cases, at my own cost ; and that within six
weeks of the day on which I am permitted to begin
work (illness or accident not interfering) I will have
the one hundred drawings arranged, framed, accom-
panied by a printed explanatory catalogue, and ready
for public inspectir n. It would then be in the power
of the commissioners intrusted with the administra-
tion of this portion of the national property to
decide if ary or how many more of the sketches
shoull be exhibited in the same manner, as a large
mass of the less i .teresting ones might be kept as
the drawings are at the British Museum, and shown
only on special inquiry.
I will only undertake this task on condition of the
entire management of the drawings, in every parti-
cular, being intrusted to me; but I should ask the
advice of Mr. Carpenter, of the British Museum, on
all doubtful points, and intrust any necessary opera-
tions only to the person who mounts the drawings
for the British Museum.

I make this offer in your columns rather than
privately, first, because I wish it to be clearly known
to the public, and also because I have no time to
make representations in official ways, the very hours
which I could give to the work needing to be re-
deemed by allowing none to he wasted in formalities .

THE INAUGURATION OF THE JUNcTION of the Dutch,
Rhenish, and Cologne and Minden Railways has been
celebrated in Holland. The series of festivities com-
menced on Friday, the 17th ult., when the Prussian
Minister for Foreign Affairs and several other dis•
tinguished individuals were invited to Amsterdam to
partake of a magnificet entertainment frovidcd by
the Government. An English party, deeply intt restt d
in the undertaking, were present. The Ministm of
the Home Department, in an eloquent speech, pro-
posed "The happy alliance or Prussia, Holland, and
England," and stated that it was mainly owing to the
perseverance of English talent and capital that they
were this day met to celebrate the junction of the two
countries by railway

A