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advances on account of them.

Whilst but for the foundation of the British Museum and of the National Gallery, the collections of Cracherode and Holwell Carr, of Beaumont, of Sir Joseph Banks, and of King George III., would have continued in the hands of individuals.

In addition then to the broad principle that public funds can never be better employed (the extension of pure religion always excepted) than in the establishment of institutions tending at once to refine the feeling and to improve the industry of the whole population, there is the subordinate but yet important ground of inducing and enabling private persons greatly to benefit the public by contributing towards the same end.

But if we proceed to enquire what England-with so many advantages-has actually done in this respect, the answer is far from satisfactory.

There is in the United Kingdom but one National Gallery of Pictures, but one National Collection of Sculpture, and but one National Library; and of these the collection of Sculpture (at the British Museum) which owes its origin to the taste and patriotism of Lord Elgin, and (less in degree, though earlier in point of time,) of the late Mr. Charles Townley, is the only one of which we have any cause to be proud, due regard being had to those national advantages.

To any collection of pictures capable of leading the student from the early dawn to the glorious and consummate noon of Painting, of pointing out to him the successive steps of its ascension, and of its decline, we have scarcely made any perceptible approach. And of the production of those men, who, in later times, have conferred distinction upon our own country, and who honour it still, we have not even the smallest beginning of a public collection, to which we might refer the foreigner who, having heard of their fame, enquires after their works.

Or if an earnest student of Art, marking how many rich natural gifts are utterly wasted in the pursuit of excellence through illusory and barren paths, were to devote his life to the task of tracing the history of Art through all its various phases, and of developing the causes which assisted its progress or brought about its decline,—a task yet to be accomplished, and which never can be accomplished but by the union of artistic knowledge with a thorough acquaintance with the history of literature and of social progress,-if such an one were to undertake this task in the hope that he might help to give a better direction to the efforts of his countrymen, we have not one national library rich enough to supply him with the half of the accessible books indispensable to his undertaking.

It is needless to add, that of public collections of works of Art in our great manufacturing towns, fitted to elevate the taste and to develop the capabilities of our artisans, we are wholly and absolutely destitute.

Yet such collections, besides their immediate results, are intrinsically" so much treasure, but for the possession of which Rome and Florence would be poor towns."

The suggestions which I have to offer on this subject relate, first, to the nature of the collections which are most wanted, and to the means of establishing them; and secondly, to the improvement of those which we already possess.

kind of collections are most want

ed.

With respect to the nature of the collections most 1. What wanted, I quote the following from the evidence of wellinformed witnesses before the Commons' Committee on · Arts and Manufactures, so frequently referred to already. I apprehend that, under existing circumstances, the wants of the manufacturing towns ought, beyond all doubt, to be first attended to. In London, and as respects the productions of the highest order of Art, the

Mr. Cock

Arts' Com.

I. 1478.

beginning has been made: in the former, almost everything has yet to be done.

"I have seen," says Mr. Cockerell, R.A., the architect of the Bank erell, Evid. of England,—“I have seen and watched with very great interest the establishment and growth of voluntary institutions for the encourage. ment of the Fine Arts in Dublin, Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham, and many other places; these have been raised by the subscriptions of individuals, often manufacturers themselves, very enthusiastic for the honour and for the real improvement of their native towns; but the means being very small, they have been obliged to support them by the attraction of fine art and annual exhibitions; they have not been able to bring them to bear more directly on manufactures to such an extent as they otherwise might have done; and I doubt not that if those institutions were in a situation to add to their means, by the encouragement and aid of government, afforded under proper conditions, and were enabled to give rewards, and to hold out premiums for works wholly applicable to manufactures, that the original promoters of these institutions would be gratified and stimulated, and the ultimate objects of these interesting schools would be fulfilled; a permanent solidity would be given to those occasional and fluctuating efforts of enthusiasm or prosperity, of which we see so many examples, and the legislature would obtain the desired effect at a much cheaper rate and more effectually, than by any other means I have been able to contemplate for general improvement in the application of art to manufactures."

Mr. W.
Wyon,
Ibid. 1717.

Mr. Papworth,

Ibid. 1286.

Ante, p. 102.

Mr. G.
Rennie,
Ibid. 959.

"In towns such as Sheffield, and Birmingham, and Manchester," says Mr. William Wyon, R.A. (of the Mint,) "they should have museums, if you may so call them, of the works that are particularly applicable to the manufacture that flourishes there.”

Mr. Papworth recommends exhibitions of works of Art, such as vases, casts, bronzes, and works of decorative architecture, &c. distinct from the higher works of painting and sculpture, fearing (in common with others, as we have seen,) that from mixed exhibitions, "young men might be tempted to leave the intended object to pursue that which is more accredited and honoured, to the disadvantage of the manufacturing Arts."

"It is very desirable," says Mr. George Rennie, speaking chiefly of plaster casts from statues, original ornaments, &c., "that there should be a central museum in London, and branch museums in the provincial towns, where every species of casts and models, and means by which design might be promoted, should be transmitted from London to the provinces, and vice versâ.”

And more in detail:

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"Collections of Art," says Sir John Dean Paul, are not sufficiently applied. If there were professors who had classes, and could read lectures with these fine models before them, it would be of great use. . . . and that might be followed by examinations. . . ..

"I dare say," he continues, "that in the towns of Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle, one half of the people never saw any good specimens of the higher Arts. . . . . . One thing which I think would be particularly useful as applied to the manufactures, is the whole of the Loggie of the Vatican, all those beautiful things which are unrivalled in excellence; if there were merely engravings made on stone, which might be done cheaply, from the Loggie of the Vatican, I think those alone would establish a most useful school."

Sir J. D.
Paul, Ib.II.

2067-8.

Ib. I.

716-7.

Mr. George Foggo also recommends the establishment of "public Mr. G. lectures on the great principles of design and taste," in connexion Foggo, with collections of Art; and he adds, "good taste is so essential to the interests of the community, that museums should be provided at the national expense; but practical skill being an advantage of a more individual nature ought rather to be paid for (moderately) by the individual."

Mr. James Crabb, a practical decorator, insists on the importance Mr. J. of collections both of works of art and of natural history, and of bo- Crabb, tanical gardens; and that to be valuable to working artisans, they must Ib. 1078, et seq. be open in the evening, or else (in some cases) very early in the morning.

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Dr. Waagen, the eminent director of the Berlin Gallery, and the Dr. Waaauthor of a valuable book on the private collections of Art in England,* gen, Ib. I says, I should consider it advantageous for the working classes if 92. public galleries [and botanical gardens] were open on Sundays for a few hours;" and adds, " in addition to this, it is very important to have brief catalogues with introductory remarks, giving a short history of the art, and with remarks on the objects exhibited, so that the spectator, when he enters, may not be quite ignorant of the subject."

Briefly, then, it may be stated, that collections of casts from the best works of sculpture, of ornaments

• Kunstwerke und Kunstler in England, (Works of Art, &c., in England,) 8vo., Berlin, 1836. This work has been translated in England by Mr. H. S. Lloyd, and published by Mr. Murray. It is by far the best account of Art-collections in England, which has yet appeared.

Means of establishing them;

partly by govern

nicipal

grants.

in plaster and in metal, both ancient and of the latter part of the middle ages, of prints and of books of ornamental design, such as those which the French and Prussian governments have caused to be produced on so splendid a scale,* are those which are most desirable in our great manufacturing towns.

As in all of these there either are, or soon will be, corporate bodies for the direction of their municipal affairs, I conceive the readiest and least objectionable ment, part- mode of establishing such collections would be for the ly by mumu- government, with the sanction of the legislature, to offer grants of a determined proportion of the sums required at the outset; and to empower the corporation to levy the remainder within each municipal district to be so benefited: the government grant being contingent on that of the corporation. These galleries and museums once established, I think there is little doubt that adequate provision for their future support would be readily made from the local funds.

Collections of machi

nery, mo

dels of new inventions,

&c. Ante, Chap. II.

Next in importance to these are collections of original and improved machines, models of new inventions, and specimens of new and improved fabrics, patterns, &c. These, as it has been already suggested, might easily be established in connexion with an improved law for the protection of patents and copyright, whenever that needful improvement shall take place. If real and adequate protection be afforded, no inventor will feel it a hardship to deposit one specimen, example, or model, at the place of local registration, and one other at the place of central registration. To do so will be at once the condition of the right to protection and the means of obtaining it.

* Such, for instance, as the Ornamente aller classischen Kunstepoken, of Zahn; the Ornamente zum praktischen Gebrauche für Stubenmaler, of Stodh; and the Ornamenten-buch für Dekorations-und-Stubenmaler, Tapetenfabrikanter, Seider-Woll-und-Damast-weber, of Boetticher.

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