The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

THE MANCHESTER ART.TREASURES
EX I-I IBITION.

THE interior preparations of the great building in
which the unsurpassed art treasures of the empire
will be contained are rapidly approaching comple-
tion. The building itself, in form a parallelogram,
upwards of 700 feet in length, 200 in width, and
covering some three acres of ground, is erected at
Old Trafford, a distance of some two miles from the
Manchester Exchange, and exhibits an appearance
which, if without pretensions to high architectural
beauty of design, is still effective. The great eastern
facade, built of white and red bricks, supports three
semicircular arches, the central one being of glass
and iron, the other two of corrugated iron, glazed
merely along the central section of the roof. "On
entering the building from this end," says a letter
from Manchester, " the harmonious and really
beautiful colouring of the interior must be even more
apparent than the great area of the hall. The semi•
circular ribs of the roof of the nave are ornamented
with scrools of Vitruvian and Grecian character, in
crimson and white, and the face is relieved with gold
and light bronze. The panels between the ribs are
of a pale aerial blue, of the same tint as a clear sky,
seen through the glazed portion in the centre.
Looking along the rcof from either end of the hall,
the coloured lines fade into a beautiful blending at
the other extremity, especially when the sunlight
plays upon them. The nave is divided from the
aisles by coupled columns of light bronze, relieved
with gold." Along the nave the sculpture and general
museum of art will be arranged. The gallery of
British portraits will cover the walls of the aisles,
while the north and south naves will be respectively
filled by modern and ancient paintings.
The works of art have nearly all arrived, and are
being rapidly arranged in their respective departments.
Eve►y preliminary, it is said, will be concluded by
the sth of May, wnen the ceremony of opening the
exhibition is fixed to take place. His Royal High-
ness Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince of
\Vales and the Princess Royal, will ba present.
The collection of ancient pictures, some nine
hundred in number•, to be exhibited in the
south gallery, has been placed under the charge
of Mr. Scharf, jun., who has adopted a novel
plan in its arrangement. He has proceeded upon
the broad principle of devoting one entire wall to the
works of the Italian and Spanish masters, and the
other to the productions of Germany, Flanders, Eng-
land, and all countries foreign to Spain and Italy.
But that is not all. The pictures on both sides of th.

391

gallery are arranged in chronological order, so that
the works of each master of Italy or Spain are placed
opposite those of a painter belonging to some other
country who lived in the same period. Angelico da
Fiesolo, for example, is opposed to John Van Eyck,
Rubens to Guido, and Vandyke to Velasquez. The
lesser divisions of schools, which are those of Tus-
cany, Siena, Naples, Umbria, Cologne, Flanders,
Saxony, and Nuremberg, are marked by being kept
in distinct groups, and arranged for the most part in
parallel lines one over the other. With a few excep-
tions, the pictures exhibited are those of masters
who flourished between the years 1400 and 1700, a
period of three centu►ies. The latest painting in
this gallery almost corresponds in point of date with
the commencement of the modern English school,
and consequently no place is given here to the pro-
ductions of Hudson, Hogarth, Thornhill, Richard•
son, or any of the English masters who lived at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. One of the
objects aimed at by Mr. Scharf in the formation of
the gallery has been to reunite, as far as possible,
the scattered fragments of the Orleans, the Solly,
and the Rogers collections. He has succeeded in
doing so to a great extent, and the visitor will have
an opportunity of viewing, recollected in these
galleries, collections whi.•.li are renowned throughout
the world.

The British Portrait Gallery will number some
4qo paintings; the Gallery of Mo lern Masters
(1700 to present day) will number about 900 pic-
tures ; while the water-colour, photograph, anti
miniature collections, will he very extensive. The
arrangement of these galleries is under the care of
Messrs. Creswick and Egg.
The general museum of art, besides containing
valuable specimens of ornamental art from the Anglo-
Saxon period to the present day, selected from the
richest private collection in the country, also includes
the entire Bernal and Soulage collections, and richly
and fully illustrates every species of manufacture
and decoration in glass, earthenware, marble, wood,
ivory, and the precious metal;. The glass, gold
metal work, majolica, and ivory sections are espe-
cially rich in materials for illustration, while the vast
collection of brilliant enamels, rare mosaics, costly
jewellery, and masterpieces in bronze and terra
cotta will justly excite the praise and admiration of
all beholders. The collection of arms and armour
will also form "a prominent and attractive feature "
in the exhibition.

In fine, says a recent letter from Manchester, " it
would be vain to attempt to enumerate, within rea-
sonable limits, a hundredth part of the objects con-
tained in the general museum. Whole classes even
must be left unnoticed. Some idea of the extent,
richness, and variety of the collection may be formed
when it is stated that upwards of 6,000 articles, each
remarkable for the beauty of its material, the bril-
liancy of its colour, and the exquisite taste of its
workmanship or the elegance of its design, are com•
bined in one dazzling mass to astonish and delight
the beholder. The labour required to collect and
arrange such a vast multitude of treasures must
have been immense, and still greater, if possible,
must he the liberality and public spirit of those who
have consented to part for a season with possessions
so rare and valuable."