The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-09 00:00:00

KENSING7 ON MUSEUM.

CONVERSAZIONE OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
Last evening this society again held a reunion
within the walls of the Museum, chiefly for the
purpose of a farewell meeting to the
various distinguished foreigners who will
be present at the elo.o of the Exhibition,
as well as a parting courtesy to its numerous
supporters and commissioners. Owing to the post-
ponement of the above event scarcely as many of
our notabilities are in town as were expected,
but the invitation was amply responded to
from every other quarter, so that shortly
after ten o'clock two thousand persons, at least,
must have assembled on the occasion. The sufficient
space, the thorough ventilation, and the admirable
lighting of the Museum, by means of continuous
lines of gas parallel to the corners of the several rooms
which sufficed to render distinct the minutest ob-
ject in their cases—supplied advantages for such a
meeting, which it would be difficult to rival. We
consider this occasion appropriate for a double
congratulation. We think the society, in the
first place, is to be complimented upon
the good taste of the various reunions it has
held during the period of the Exhihition
as a means of bringing into personal contact most
of its leading foreign and native supporters, and
thereby strengthening and diffusing the enlightened
spirit the event engenders—and we think it is to be
complimented secondlyupon the perfect successwhich
has attended its truly excellent conception of associ-
ating with the Exhibition the present display of the
Museum—enlarged, as it is, by a " Loan Collection,"
in fictile and fine art which is beyond all
question the most valuable that was ever yet
assembled. As it is quite possible that in the su-
perior attraction of the year's great event, the un-
usual claims of this collection may have been in a
measure overlooked even by those who are most
interested in the peculiar arta which it illus-
trates, we feel it our duty to announce that
it will close simultaneously with the doors of the
greater gallery—and that but a fortnight is there-
fore left us to take advantage of an enjoyment
which may never again be offered.
With due acknowledgments of course to
the various contributors to this collection,
we certainly think it a most felicitous
conception of the Society, to place side by side
with the unrivalled display of the practical
and fine art of the present, this most perfect exhibi-
tion of the fine art of the past. Separated only
by a few yards, and capable of being inspected on
the same day, here are placed the evi
Ideuces of the power and progress of the artistic
mind of Europe, which really seem on a
slight reflection to be mutually essential to a just
estimate. Without the knowledge that the one
affords, we should be almost incapable of appre-
ciating the starting points of art in the middle and
recent ages—just as much as, without the other, we
should want the data for deciding to what immediate
heights of excellence fine art especially has
reached. The two collections, in fact, place
before us in the most striking manner the
practical records of art-history up to our own
immediate time. To the general student, there-
fore, as well as to the decided virtuoso, such
a combination must be a source of as much instruc-
tion as enjoyment.- When we state that the money
value of this Loan Collection has been actually
estimated at six millions sterling, we give
our general readers some tolerable notion
of its importance, as well as some ground
on which to measure the liberality of its con-
tributors (the majority, we are proud to say,
being members of our own aristocracy), but we
afford but little notion of its intrinsic worth and
beauty, which only an attentive inspection can
place within our reach.
Any detail of the collection is of course out of our
power. Even its catalogues—full as they are upon
every necessary point respecting it—would not
suffice to convey its merits without the test of direct
inspection. We can only briefly remark that whe-
ther in respect to its superb majolica—of which
the specimens are perfectly marvellous—the
Gubbio lustre ware —the art of which is
entirely lost, and the specimens of which
are quite unrivalled—the chasings and carvings of
the Cinque Cento—and the more florid and peculiar
Renaissance—or whether, in respect to the pure anti-
quities—the old armour textile work and tapestries,
together with the endless variety of were bijoute-
rie and marquetrie—in clu di n g cameos end enamels,
stone settings, rings, and miniatures—this collection
is the most various and the in,-Ist beautiful
which, we believe, has ever been assem-
bled in this or any other country. we
have only to add that the evening was further
enlivened by the hands of the Coldstrearns and Ist
Life Guards, and that refreshments were served in
the Picture Galleries shortly after nine o'clock.