Roy, two noble specimens of Vandyck; Holy Family, by Rubens (24781.); the Unmerciful Servant, by Rembrandt, from Stowe, cost 23007.; Nelly O'Brien, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, one of the finest portraits in the world; Mrs. Braddyl; The Girl with a dog; and Strawberry Girl, all by Reynolds; 4 Holy Families, Murillo; The Rainbow Landscape, Rubens ; The Rape of Europa, Titian;-16 Canalettos; Views of Venice, A. Ostade; The Fishmonger,-Metzu; The Sportsman (cost 30007.). HOUSE OF SIR ROBERT PEEL, PRIVY GARDENS, contains a very fine collection of Dutch, Flemish, and English pictures, formed by the late Sir Robert Peel, at great cost, and with extreme good taste. The collection ornaments the walls of rooms in the daily occupation of the family, and consequently cannot be very often shown to strangers. The Dutch and Flemish Pictures, some 72 in number; 3 by Rembrandt; 1 by Rubens, the well-known Chapeau de Paille, (3500 guineas), and the Triumph of Silenus, (11007.); 2 by Van Dyck, a Genoese Senator and his wife, bought at Genoa by Sir David Wilkie; 7 by D. Teniers; 2 by Isaac Ostade, one a Village Scene, very fine; 1 by Adrian Ostade; 1 by Jan Steen; 1 by Terburg; 2 by G. Metzu; 1 by F. Mieris; 1 by W. Mieris; 1 by G. Douw, the Poulterer's Shop, fine; 3 by Cuyp, one an Old Castle, very fine; 4 by Hobbema, one very fine, the ducks and geese by Wyntrank, and the figures by Lingelback; 2 by De Hooghe; 1 by Paul Potter; 3 by Ruysdael; 2 by Backhuysen; 1 by Berghem; 1 by Gonzales Coques; 3 by Karel du Jardin; 6 by Wouvermans; 2 by Vander Heyden; 3 by A. Vandervelde, one a Calm, very fine; 8 by W. Vandervelde; 1 by F. Snyders; 2 by Wynants; 1 by Slingelandt; 1 by Jan. Lingelback; 1 by Moucheron and A. Vandervelde; 3 by Gaspar Netscher. The late Sir Robert Peel died (1850) in the dining-room of this house-the room towards the river. HOUSE OF MR. HENRY THOMAS HOPE, in Piccadilly, at the corner of Down-street, built 1848-49, from the designs of M. Dusillon and Mr. Donaldson. The handsome iron railing in front was cast at Paris, by Mons. J. P. V. André. The cost of the whole building is said to have been 30,000l. Mrs. Hope is the possessor of the celebrated collection of pictures (chiefly Dutch) formed at the Hague by the family of the Hopes-and described by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It is not shown to the public. VANDYCK: The Assumption of the Virgin; a faint picture. Charity. -RUBENS; The Shipwreck of Æneas; the clouds in Mr. Turner's manner, "Highly poetical in the design, and executed in a most masterly manner in a deep full tone."-Waagen.-CLAUDE: Landscape.-S. ROSA: Landscape.-DOMENICHINO: St. Sebastian.-GIORGIONE: Judith with the Head of Holofernes.-REMBRANDT: Young Woman in an Arm-chair by which a Man is standing. "One of the rare family portraits of this master in whole-length figures."-Waagen.-BACKHUYSEN: Sea Piece with Ships. "A large and capital picture."-Sir J. R.-NETSCHER: Lady at a Window with Parrot and Ape, marked 1664.-JAN STEEN: An Oyster Feast, "in which is introduced an excellent figure of Old Mieris, standing with his hands behind him."-Sir J. R.-LAIRESSE: Death of Cleopatra.-VAN DER HELST: Halt of Travellers. "In Van der Helst's middle and best period."- Waagen.-REMBRANDT: Our Saviour in the Tempest. "In this picture there is a great effect of light, but it is carried to a degree of affectation."-Sir J. R.-TERBURG: The Music Lesson; the Trumpeter.-F. MIERIS: A Gentleman with a Violin; a young Woman with her back turned is making out the reckoning, marked 1660. "This picture, painted when he was only twenty-six years of age, is one of his great master-pieces."-Waagen.- METZU Woman reading a Letter; Woman writing a Letter.-SCHALKEN: Man reading by Candlelight. "A carefully executed picture; the impasto particularly good." - Waagen. - RUYSDAEL: Landscape, Cattle and Figures.-VERKOLJE: David and Bathsheba. - A. VANDERVELDE: Cattle at a Watering-place; an evening scene; a wonderful picture: perhaps the finest Adrian Vandervelde in the world.-P. DE HOOGE; An interior, with Figures. "Spoiled by cleaning."- Waagen.-WEENIX: A Dead Swan and Dead Hare. "Perfect every way; beyond Hondekoeter."-Sir J. R.-VANDERWERF: The Incredulity of St. Thomas. D. TENIERS: Soldiers playing at Backgammon.-G. Dow: "A Woman at a Window with a Hare in her Hand. Bright colouring and well drawn " D. TENIERS: Soldiers Smoking.-P. POTTER: Exterior of Stable-Cattle and Figures.-P. WOUVERMANS: Halt of Hawking Party (fine). - A. OSTADE: Exterior of Cottage with Figures.- HOBBEMA: Wood Scenery.-TERBURG: Trumpeter waiting (fine).-WOUVERMANS: Cavaliers and Ladies, Bagpiper, &c. "The best I ever saw."-Sir J. R. -METZU: Lady in blue velvet tunic and white satin petticoat. CUYP: Cattle and a Shepherd. "The best I ever saw of him; and the figure likewise is better than usual; but the employment which he has given the shepherd in his solitude is not very poetical."Sir J. R.-P. GYZENS: Dead Swan and small Birds. "Highly finished and well coloured."-Sir J. R. Antiquities, Vases, &c. The antiques are, for the most part, unfortunately much disfigured by indifferent restorations, and there is much that was originally of little value. The vases consist of the second collection made by Sir William Hamilton at Naples; and among them are several choice specimens. Some of the pictures enumerated above have been removed, it is understood, to Deepdene, Mr. Hope's beautiful seat near Dorking, in Surrey. HOUSE OF BARON LIONEL ROTHSCHILD, PICCADILLY, contains a few fine pictures: good specimen of Cuyp, "Skating;" a choice De Hooge, a good Greuze, Head of a Girl, and The Pinch of Snuff, an early work of Wilkie; with a noble collection of hanaps, cups, &c., of fourteenth and fifteenth century work; rare old china, fine carvings in ivory, &c DORCHESTER HOUSE, PARK LANE, HYDE PARK, residence of R. S. Holford, Esq. (Lewis Vulliamy, architect). A building of good design, and showing in its interior the most refined taste and splendour. Besides the picture gallery, it contains a most choice and valuable Library.-Among the pictures very fine specimen of Hobbema; View of Dort from the River, by Cuyp, very fine; good examples of Claude, Both, Isaac Ostade, &c.; Columbus by Wilkie. Mr. Holford's country house is at Westonbirt, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. MUNRO COLLECTION, HAMILTON PLACE, PICCADILLY, last house on right-hand side. Observe. The Lucca Madonna and Child, by Raphael; St. Francis Praying, a small picture by Filippo Lippi; Landscape by Gaspar Poussin, fine; Les Deux Petites Marquises, half-lengths, size of life, by Watteau, very fine; characteristic specimens of Jan Steen, one "After a Repast," very clever; also, good, if not choice, specimens of Cuyp, Vandervelde, Backhuysen, &c. Mrs. Stanhope, half-length, in white, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, very fine; 5 fine Landscapes, by Richard Wilson; large View in Venice, the masterpiece of Bonington; The Fishmarket, by Bonington; The Good Samaritan, by Etty, a choice specimen: 2 fine Italian Landscapes, by Turner, in the best time of his second period, and many other pictures and drawings by that master. List of other Private Collections of Paintings and Works of Art. Bale, C. Sackville, Esq., 71, Caledon, Lord, 5, Carlton House Terrace. Ellis, Wynn, Esq., 30, Cado- Morrison, Chas., 57, Upper IV.-PARKS AND PUBLIC GARDENS. HYDE PARK. A park of 388 acres, deservedly looked upon as one of the lungs of London, extending to Kensington Gardens, and thus carrying a continuous tract of open ground, or park, from Whitehall, to Kensington. The whole Park is intersected with well-kept footpaths, and the carriage drives are spacious, and, at certain hours, much frequented. The Park is accessible for private carriages, but hackney-coaches and cabs are excluded. The triple archway at Hyde-Parkcorner, combined with an iron screen, was erected in 1828 from the designs of Decimus Burton. It cost 17,0697. 18. 94d., including 1000l. to Mr. Henning for the bas-reliefs from the Elgin marbles which surround it. The Park derives its name from the Hyde, an ancient manor of that name adjoining Knightsbridge, and, until the dissolution of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII., the property of the abbots and monks of Westminster. It then became the property of the Crown. For much of its present beauty it is indebted to William III., and Caroline, consort of George II. In this Park, in the London season, from May to August (between 11 and 1, and 5 and 7, may be seen all the wealth and fashion and splendid equipages of the nobility and gentry of Great Britain. As many as 800 equestrians, including the Knot at the music, have been seen assembled at Hyde-Park in the height of the season. The bridle-road, running east and west (from Apsley House to Kensington Gardens) is called Rotten Row, a corruption, it is supposed, of Route du Roi-King's Drive. The first set of horsemen are valetudinarians, along with leading counsel, hard-worked barristers, and solicitors of eminence, some bankers, city merchants, taking their "constitutional" before breakfast. From 12 to 2 the ride is sprinkled with the wives and daughters of our aristocracy, taking exercise with papas, brothers, or grooms; increased by a few officers and M.P.'s seeking fresh air after a night spent in the House of Commons. The sheet of water called the Serpentine was formed by Caroline, Queen of George II. The carriage-drive along the upper side is called "The Lady's Mile." The boats may be hired by the hour. Certain traces of the Ring, formed in the reign of Charles I. and long celebrated, may be recognised by the large trees somewhat circularly arranged in the centre of the Park. Beyond the Humane Society's Receiving-house (on the north bank of the Serpentine) and close to the bridge is the government store of gunpowder, including upwards of one million rounds of ball and blank ammunition kept ready for immediate use of the Garrison of London. A review of troops in Hyde Park is a sight worth seeing; they usually take place in June or July. Reviews or parades of Volunteers are more frequent. Observe.-Statue of Achilles, "inscribed by the women of England, to Arthur, Duke of Wellington, and his brave companions in arms," erected in Hyde Park, 18th of June, 1822, by command of his Majesty George IV. The statue was cast by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A., from cannon taken in the victories of Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, and Waterloo, and the cost was defrayed by a subscription of 10,000l., raised among the ladies. The figure is copied from one of the famous antiques on the Monte Cavallo, at Rome: so that the name Achilles is a misnomer. The Marble Arch, facing Great Cumberland-street (near where the Tyburn tree formerly stood) was moved from Buckingham Palace in 1850 and erected here in 1851. The original cost was 80,000l., and the cost of removal 11,000l. The equestrian statue of George IV., now in Trafalgar-square, was intended for the top of this arch. The sculpture on the S. front of arch by Baily; N. by Sir R. Westmacott. The Crystal Palace, or Great Exhibition Building of 1851 (now re-erected and enlarged at Sydenham, in Kent), stood on the S. side of the Park, opposite Prince's Gate. During the 24 weeks the Exhibition was open, it was visited by upwards of 6,000,000 persons, or about 250,000 weekly. The receipts exceeded 400,000l. On the site of the Crystal Palace, nearly opposite the Horticultural Gardens, rises the Albert Memorial: a Gothic Canopy, designed by G. G. Scott, rising in a spire 160 feet high, supported by four groups of granite columns, and serving as a shrine to enclose a statue of his Royal Highness sitting, by Marochetti. It is approached by flights of steps, occupying a square of 130 feet each way, of grey Irish granite. The shafts of the four clustered columns are of red granite from the isle of Mull. The mosaics are by Salviati. The marble is Sicilian. The building will cost 120,000l., raised by subscriptions of the public, including her Majesty's bounteous contributions, and a grant of 50,000l. made by Parliament. At the lower angle of the pyramid of steps are groups of marble statues-Europe by Mc Dowell, Asia by Foley, Africa by Theed, and America by John Bell. Above these are marble groups-Agriculture by Calder Marshall, Manufactures by Weeks, Commerce by Thornycroft, Engineering by Lawlor. |