The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-11 00:00:00

THE NEW PALACE AT WEST

MINSTER.

THE COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS•

We are enabled to anticipate an important report
of the committee appointed by the Commissioners of
Fine Arts to select subjects in painting, with a view
to the future decoration of the Palace at West-
minster. The committee have just brought their
labours to a close, and their report has been privately
circulated among the members of the commission
only. The document is not only of great public in-
terest, but of the highest importance to British
artists, for the committee have so clearly defined the
subjects for the paintings which are intended to adorn
that magnificent structure, that the size of every
compartment intended to be so decorated is accu-
rately given.

The report commences by stating that the com•
mittee was appointed by the Commissioners to con-
sider a general plan for the selection of subjects in
painting, for the various apartments of the Palace at
Westminster, agreeable to the orders of the Commis-
sioners, in their sixth report to her Majesty, in the
following words : _

" In accordance with the principles which have
already guided us'in deciding on the plan of decora-
tion in the House of Lords—viz., with reference to
fresco paintings, stained windows, and statues pro-
posed for St. Stephen's Porch, St. Stephen's Hall, and
the royal approaches, we conceive it to be the duty of
this commission, for the better guidance of present
and future artists, and in order to maintain a cha-
racter of harmony and unity worthy of such a build-
ing, to determine a complete scheme for the future
decoration of the Palace. We are of opinion, in de-
termining such a scheme, the especial destination of
each portion of the building should be attended to ;
that in the selection of subjects the chief object to be
regarded should be the expression of some specific
idea ; and the second, its illustration by means of
some well-known historic or poetic incident adapted
for representation in painting.'
The remainder of the document we give at length.
The duty which has devolved on the committee
being thus defined, their labours have been di-
rected to the selection of subjects in accordance
with the plan above explained. They have
for the present given their attention to subjects in
painting ; a considerable number of names of distin-
guished persons to whom statues might with pro-
priety be erected having been before proposed, and of
these some have been selected by former committees
for particular localities.
ST. STEPHEN'S PORCH.

Containing two compartments, one measuring 26
feet high (to the point of the gothic arch) by 16 feet
8 inches wide ; the other measuring 18 feet 3 inches
high, to the point of the arch, by 11 feet 4 inches
wide. The statues of Marlborough and Nelson have
already been recommended by the commission to be
placed in this porch; and your committee are of
opinion that the subjects of Peace and War would be
appropriate to the two compartments intended for
paintings.

ST. STEPHEN'S HALL.
Containing on the side walls eight compartments,
each measuring 14 feet 5 inches wide, by 9 feet 8
inches high ; and two end compartments, one mea-
suring 20 feet 9 inches high to the point of the arch
by 11 feet 6 inches wide; the other measuring 17
feet 6 inches high to the point of the arch, by 11
feet 3 inches wide. An opinion has before been ex-
pressed by the commission generally that, as St.
Stephen's Hall stands on the spot where the House
of Commons was, during many centuries, in the
habit of assembling, it should be adorned with sta-
tues of men who rose to eminence by the eloquence
and abilities which they displayed in that House.
Twelve personages selected on this principle were
accordingly named in the fourth report of the Com-
missioners to her Majesty. Your committee con•
ceived that the walls might properly be decorated
with paintings illustrating some of the greatest epochs
in our constitutional, social, and ecclesiastical his-
tory, from the time when the Anglo-Saxon nation
embraced Christianity to the accession of the House
of Stuart; and that the following subjects would be
well adapted for this purpose :-
1. In the State,—A sitting in the Wittena-gemot ;
the homage of the Barons to William the Conqueror ;
the first writ for the election of Representatives
brought down to the city of London; Stanley and
Oxford crowning Henry VII. over the dead body of
Richard III.; the termination of the baronial wars.
For the Side Compartments.—An early trial by
jury; the signing of Magna Charta; the abolition of
villeinage ; the privileges of the House of Commons
asserted by Sir T. More against Cardinal Wolsey.
2. In the Church.—For the End Compartments.—
West End.—The preaching of St. Augustine ; the
introduction of Christianity.
East End.—Queen Elizabeth receiving the Bible in
Cheapside; the Reformation.
THE CENTRAL HALL.
Containing four compartments, each measuring 17
feet 7 inches high, to the point of the gothic arch, by
12 feet 7 inches wide; and three small panels under-
neath three of the large compartments, each mea
suring 5 feet 5 inches high to the point of the arch,
by about 4 feet 6 inches wide. Your committee,
bearing in mind that this hall is the central point of
-
the whole building, were of opinion that the na-
tionality of the component parts of the United King-
dom should be the idea here illustrated, and would be
appropriately expressed by the representation of the
four patron saints—St. George, St. Andrew, St.
Patrick, and St. David, in the four compartments,
intended for painting ; and that in the three small
spaces underneath three of the compartments, the he-
raldic emblazoning of the Orders of the Garter, the
Thistle, and of St. Patrick, might be introduced.
CORRIDORS FROM THE CENTRAL HALL.
Consisting of the Peers' Corridor, the Commons'
Corridor, and the Central or Public Corridor. The
committee are of opinion that corridors which join
the two Houses might properly be decorated with
paintings illustrative of the great contest which com-
menced with the meeting of the Long Parliament,
and terminated in 1689. It will be seen that the
subjects have been selected on the principle of paral-
ellism, and that an attempt has been made to do
justice to the heroic virtues which were displayed on
both sides.

THE PEERS' CORRIDOR.
Containing eight compartments intended for paint-
ings, each measuring 9 feet 6 inches wide by 7 feet
high :—Charles I. erecting his standard at Notting-
ham ; Speaker Lenthal asserting the privileges of the
Commons against Charles 1., when the attempt was
made to seize the five Members; Basing House
defended by the Cavaliers against the Parliamentary
army ; the setting out of the Train Bands from
London to raise the siege of Gloucester; the Expul-
sion of the Fellows of a College at Oxford for re-
fusing to sign the Covenant; the Embarkation of a
Puritan Family for New England ; the Burial of
Charles I.; and the Parting of Lord and Lady
Russell.
THE COMMONS' CORRIDOR.

Containing eight compartments intended for paint-
ings, each measuring 7 feet 93- inches wide by 6 feet
9 inches high :—Charles 11. assisted in his escape by
Mrs. Lane ; Alice Lisle concealing the fugitives after
the Battle of Sedgemoor ; the Executioner tying
Wishart's book round the neck of Montrose ; the
Sleep of Argyll; Monk declaring for a free Parlia.
ment ; the Acquittal of the Seven Bishops; the Land-
ing of Charles H.; the Lords and Commons present-
ing the Crown to William and Mary in the Ban-
quetting-house.
THE CENTRAL CORRIDOR.
Containing six compartments, each measuring 8
feet 9 inches high by 7 feet wide. The paintings in
St. Stephen's Hall, and in the corridors which join
the two Houses, illustrate the gradual progress of our
institutions during the interval which elapsed between
the introduction of Christianity and the Revolution.
It has been thought that the central corridor might
with advantage be adorned with paintings exhibiting
in strong contrast the extremes which are sepa-
rated by that interval. With this view, six subjects
have been selected ; in three, Britain appears much
in ignorance, slavery, and heathen supersfition ; in the
other three :he appears instructing the savage, libe-
rating the slave, and abolishing barbarous rites, simi-
lar to those she:once practised, viz.:—The Phoenicians
in Cornwall ; Cook in Otaheite ; a Druidical Sacri-
fice ; English Authorities stopping the sacrifice of a
Suttee; Anglo-Saxon Captives exposed for Sale in
the Market-place at Rome ; and the Emancipation of
the Negro Slaves.
THE UPPER WAITING HALL.
The subjects for six (out of eight) compartments
in this locality have been proposed to be selected from
following
the poetsDryden,
and: --
Pope Chaucer,;
the
Spe
choicense of such
Spenser, Shakspere,
Milton,
sub-
jects being left to the artists appointed or to be ap-
pointed to execute them, after they have been ap-
proved by the Commissioners.
THE HOUSE OF PEERS.
The subjects for the six compartments intended for
painting,, and the selection of historical personages
proposed for statues to be placed in the 18 niches as
well as the decorations for the stained windows, have
been determined by former committees.