The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-02-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

OWSEKYATUONS ON THE ARTS, WITH TABLES OF THE PRIN-
CIPAL PAINTERS OF THE VARIOUS ITALIAN, SPANISH,
FRENCH, FLEMISH, DUTCH, AND GERMAN SCHOOLS, THEIR
SCHOLARS AND IMITATORS, WITH LISTS OF THE :HAAT WILE-
SEATED ARTISTS OF THOSE SCHOOLS, ARRANGED BY THE
SUBJECTS IN WHICH THEY EXCELLED. A NEW EDITION,
WITH AN ALPHABRTICAL INDEX. BY THOMAS WINsTAN-
Lay. Liverpool: Wales and Baines.
We take the following extract from this interesting
little work, which is full of valuable information:-
1. know of only three motives for purchasing or possessing.
.pictures, viz., Capp ice, a Rope of Profit, and Taste.
Of the first of these three motives, 1 can say but little. I
sipcerely pity those unhappy individuals who are under such
an influence. I have known several, and so dearly have they
Raid for their folly, that I have 'always thought the crime bore
its an punishment. To those who unfortunately labour under
this species of mental delusion, it is not possible to give advice,
for-caprice was never vet regulated by judgment, or governed
by prudence, and it is of I:ttle consequence to these who are
under its inalign iufluence, whether they possess a copy or au
original, a Raphael or a ilemskirck.
On the second motive, Profit, somewhat more may be said.
The hope of gain exists, at ail times, in mankind, more espe-
cially in the present state of society, and in a country so much
at:enstomed to traffic. There is not a sober calculating mer-
chant or trader that frequents the Kxchange, but would listen
to the tale which offers a certain, or even a probable profit, on
a purchase of pictures "recently landed from the continent."
'fhe traffic in these articles of taste, the value of which is at
all times varying and uncertain, and is oftener governed by for-
tuitous circumstances than by judgment, has many attractions;
and a speculation in works of art is always supposed fo offer a
golden harvest of profit. Stories are frequently told of the
great advantages made by lucky purchasers of pictures! In-
stances are quoted where units have become tens, and tens have
been multiplied into thousands, by a single purchase, made per-
haps at a broker's'shop, in a cellar at home, or a cottage abroad,
of some Raphael, Titian, Corregio, or Rubens, which for many
years had been hid from public view, until the fortunate mo-
ment when it was rescued from its obscurity, and having pre-
-viously filled the pockets-of the discoverer, became the pride
and ornament of some noble collection. How many gems "of
purest ray" have been purchased at auctions in the countl7,
which have afterwards shone in gilded fiames amongst the trea-
sures of the great? Many a chef d'oeuvre has been purchased
bye. skilful dealer, (whose penetrating eye has seen through the
mist which obscured, it,) even at a public auction in the metro-
polis, which masterpiece of art having been cleansed from the
filth and discoloured varnish, by which it was perhaps pre-
served, although-obscured, and having also been "got up" (as
the dealer's phrase is), has sold for many times its cost, having
deservedly become of the highest value and importance to the
tasteful and judicious collector. With all these and many other
inducements, if is not surprising that, in a commercial country,
there should be a fondness for purchasing paintings with a view
to profit. But the e is a reverse, "a sad reverse" of this pic-
tore, and, like most others, it has its light and shade—its bright
and sombre tints. Many a suns of high importance has been
given fur a worthless daub, extolled by practised fraud and
well-planned artifice. Many "splendid collections" have been
purchased abroad by the united efforts of cupidity and igno-
rance, and imported into this country on speculation, which,
when brought to sale; would not produce the expense of con-
veyance and duty on the importation. It is well known that
many hundreds of pictures have been re-exported, or destroyed
by the importers, rather than risk the payment of the duty, thus
Causing a total loss of the original cost and expense to die un-
fortunate speculator. Many a boasting adventurer has found
.himself grossly deceived by fancying he possessed the finest
Works of the great Italian and Spanish masters, which have
turned out to be fraudulent copies; and it would be an endless
as well as an ungracious task to point out how many have been
'the dupes of, and consequently sufferers by the iniquitous sys-
•thin of fraud and deception carried on by the artifice of dis-
honest and unworthy dealers in virtu, brat at home and abroad.
The experience of many years has shown me that " such things
are," and the only advice that I can give to those who are in-
duced to risk their: property in the purchase of pictures, with
-"a view of profit," is to consult some experienced judge of art,
both as to the merit and value, and to act upon his opinion,
=premising that his honesty and fair dealing can be relied upon,
for it has been wisely observed, that "knowledge is power,"
•and a person possessing a "knowledge" of the value of works
of art, has a wonderful " power" over those who are ignorant
of the subject.
It Seldom or ever happens that those who make speculations
works of art have leisure to gain mach information, or take
much trouble on the sdbject; should they however be so in-
clined, I refer them to the following pages for the best advice I
can give them.
The third motive for purchasing, or rather for possessing,
pictures, is the must honourable and praiseworthy, viz., Taste.
It is not my intention critically to define taste; but I will
take the meaning assigued to that word by Dr. Johnson—" In-
tellectual relish or discernment." Every individual who is
prompted by a taste for the arts to purchase, possess, or even to
admire, pictures, must have discernment enough to discover
beauties in them, and intellect enough enjoy the pleasure and
gratification they afford; such gratifications are purely intel-
lectual. To those individuals who collect and cherish the arts,
-the gratitude of the public is due, for at this same time that they
secure to themselves the pleasure or enjoyment which ever ac-
companies the possession of the works of art, they afford to
their friends and to the public a participation in their pleasures.
A man who thus devotes a part of his wealth is a benefactor,
as well as au ornament to society, for he atapce gratifies the
senses by offering to them a display. of ssing objects of
research and curiosity ; and, as it is iskyved that the arts have
the effect of polishing or refining the public manners, and of
cultivating the public taste, he has a large share in effecting
this refiuement and cultivation. He sets the example of libe-
.vality of sentiment, of patriotic feeling, and he deserves well of
his country.
It is to men such as I have described that 1 would, with
.great deference, but at the same time with that confideuce
which an intimate acquaintance with pictures for thirty years
has given me, offer my best advice, in forming their jurigm-ut
and assist their progress in the purchase of pictures. It is not
to the dealer, whose business it is to protect himself from ho-
position, whose "poring sagacity" is at all times on the alert
to increase his property, nor to the connoisseur, whose matured
jielguaerit and well-founded experience will perhaps induce him
to think lightly of this humble endeavour which he may find
but of little or no value to him ; but it is to the ardent and true
admirer of art that I would offer my candid advice and friendly
caution, the result of my experiencE. I will endeavour to make
them- acceptable to the young amateur who, from a fondness
for pictures, would willingly become a collector, were he not
afraid of becoming the dupe of the artful and designing, of
wasting his wealth, and of being laughed at by the connoisseur,
after having been plundered by the cunning and unprincipled
dealer.
In the course of my experience,—and few persons I believe
have had more ample opportunities of observing the conse-
quence of picture-buying than 1 have, in a limited sphere of
action,—I have ever found the most fatal mistakes are those
which arise "from the want of a system which should 'have
been previously formed, arranged, and settled in the mind of
the purchaser. To establish this system is by no means dif-
ficult—the research is pleasing as well as instructive, and thus
it may be effected.
The young amateur should make himself acquainted with
the number and names of the principal schools of painting,
He must know not only how to distinguish the Italian from
the Flemish, or the French from the German, but he must
learn to decide upon seeing a picture, whether it be a work of
the Florentine, the Roman, the Venetian, the Lombard, the
Bolognese, or of the Spanish school. This may seem at first
a work of some difficulty, but the difficulty vanishes when the
subject is looked into, and the great pleasure as well as the
benefit that is derived rom such knowledge, most amply repays
the trouble or mental labour of the pursuit. To the young
amateur and would-be collector, I would say, "Form :hen a
system of thinking on the subject, and do not consider that
time wholly unspent which is devoted to,obtaining that which
enables you to judge with something like precision and cor-
rectness on a subject that, in this country, has become so
general and important. and which affords so much intellectual
'pleasure." The establishment of this system in your mind,
and the possession of the information which you gain in this
interesting, research, will teach you at once to avoid coveting
every picture which bears a great master's name—to know
whether it be of one school or of another, if it was painted in
the best or the worst time of the master. It will teach you to
know that all Venetian. pictures are not Titians—all Roman
pictures not Raphaels—that all Flemish ones were not painted
by Rubens or Vandyke, and that every Dutch daub is not the
work of an Ostade, a Teniers, a Both, or Hohbima.
My observations oit this subject, and the advice I have
offered, I trust may be of advantage also to those who look at
pictures only for their amusement, without the most• distant
hope of possessing them, for nothing can surely be more de-
lightful to admirers of painting than to be able to judge for
themselves, and perhaps to direct the taste of others, at a
public exhibition, or at a view of a private collection, or at an
auction of the works of the old masters. I will not venture to
mention those of the living artists, more than to say, that a true
knowledge of those of their predecessors in their art will fur-
nish the means of juding by comparison, and which comparison
will often be found tope in favour of model u art.
rETER GOFF;TItkMAN WITH HIS MOUTH OPEN.