The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-21 00:00:00

THE LATE JACOB BELL.

On the Sunday before last Mr. Jacob Bell died at
Tunbridge Wells, in his 49th year. He died of hard
work. In the full expectation of death, and in spite
of a most painful malady, he could not desist from
his labours, and in a half-fainting state was buckled
up to his work till within an hour before he breathed
his:last. The principal part of these labours was
directed to the raising of his profession, which was
that of a dispensing chemist. He spent a fortune in
starting and in advancing the Pharmaceutical
Society, which bids fair to embrace before long all
the chemists and druggists of Great Britain, and
which in the meantime has raised enormously the
educational standard of the class. He was the pre-
sident of the society, and it is somaproof of the esti-
mation in which he was held, not only in his profes-
sion, but throughout the district where he resided,
that on the day of his funeral there was scarcely a
town in the kingdom in which some " Pharma-
ceutical chemist" had not • his shutters closed to
mark the event, and in many of the streets in
Marylebone--notably all down Oxford-street—the
same respect was paid to his memory. He was a
man of the most unselfish nature, who devoted him-
self to public objects, who toiled like a galley-slave
for other people, and who won the affection of all
who knew him. One ()lass of the community besides
that to which he more immediately belonged will
feel his death as a great loss—artists of every sort,
with whom he had a genuine sympathy, and for whom
he was always planning some auceiymous benefit—
some pleasant surprise. It is pretty well known that,
subsidiary to the professional views which were the
absorbing object of his life, Mr. Jacob Bell was a
most generous patron of the arts, and had collected
in his house at Langham-place a very Valuable
gallery of pictures, many of them from the easel of
his friend Sir Edwin Landseer. Those who knew
the liberality of the man, and how much good he
did in a quiet unassuming way, will not be sur-
prised to hear, what he kept a profound secret from
even his most intimate friends, . that he has be-
queathed the best of his pictures to the nation.
Among them are the following of Landseer's :
" The Maid and the Magpie," exhibited last year
at the Royal Academy ; the celebrated picture of
the " Shoeing," " The Sleeping Bloodhound,"
" Alexander and. Diogenes' " "Dignity and Impu-
dence," and the " Defeat of Comus." In addition to
these there is "The Sacking of a Jew's House," by
Charles Landseer-; there is a couple of landscapes
in which Lee and Sidney Cooper have united
their efforts ; there is O'Neil's picture of " The
Foundling examined by the Board of Guardians ;"
there is one of Ward's best historical works
—" James 11. receiving the news of the Landing
of the Prince of Orange ;" there is the "Derby-day"
of Mr. Frith, which, however, has to fulfil certain
engagements with the engravers before it can
appear in the national collection ; and to crown
all, there is the " Horse Fair" of Rosa, Bonheur.
This last is not the large pi •
cture of the
" Horse
Fair" with which everybody is familiar, but a
smaller edition of it, painted
simultaneously.
In
everything but size it is a
.fae simile of the larger
canvas, and it is the original from which the
engraving has been made. There are 13 pictures,
and the commission for the fourteenth has been
given to Mr. Frank Stone, but what is the nature
of the subject, and whether any progress has been
made in the iivork, we are unable to say. This is
certain, that the public have received froni Jacob
Bell a most valuable gift, and we may add that the
testator has attached no conditions to the accept-
ance -t)f his lqgacy. Such a great public benefit-is
the Atting close of a life of much public usefulness.