Handbook to the Public Picture Galleries of Europe; With the History of the Various Schools of Painting

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt: ...of style, and cleverness in hinting what he would not stay to define, sufficed in great measure to cover the defect. His style was particularly suited to express the delicate traits and unrivalled beauty of English women, especially of those belonging to our noble families. His canvases still charm us by their grace and elegance, although not a few have lost the original tints with which they were finished. Many of them, now pale and colourless, are reduced to the white and warm greys of the first painting, because in many instances he depended entirely upon thin glazes for the flesh-tints, and these were often fleeting in their character. Sir Joshua also made many experiments with vehicles of different kinds, in attempting to obtain a thick and rich impasto, and the cracking of these has fatally damaged several works. Those examples of the master which are preserved in our National Gallery, and thoy number twenty-three in all, are, however, for the most part in excellent preservation. One of the most important of these is the pleasing composition known as the 'Graces decorating a terminal figure of Hymen, ' No. 79, portraits of the three daughters of Sir William Montgomery, all beautiful women and admirably grouped. A specimen of his 'Holy families' occurs in the Gallery, No. 78: it is simply a domestic group of English type. Of the well-known 'Infant Samuel'there is an example here, No. 162; but the subject was often repeated--one is in the Dulwich Gallery, No. 285, and another may be seen in the Musee Fabre at Montpellier, France, No. 416. Similar to the 'Samuel' in size and treatment are two other works in our National Gallery: the carefully executed but somewhat faded ' Age of Innocence, ' No. 307; and a girl with a robin and cage, known as ' Eobinetta, '...