HC Deb 19 April 1826 vol 15 cc382-4

Mr. Herries brought up a copy of the Treasury Minute for the purchase of the three pictures which had lately been added to the National Gallery.

Sir C. Long

said, that being one of those at whose suggestion those pictures had been purchased, he thought that the public had a right to be satisfied with respect to the transaction. He confessed that he knew of no other way in which purchases for the National Gallery could be so satisfactorily effected as by the recommendation of a committee of competent persons. It was under such au arrangement that those pictures had been purchased, and it was the intention of government that no purchases should in future be made without a similar recommendation. He thought that, when the House looked at the names of those by whom the purchase had been recommended, they would find that they had every security they could desire. Those names included the earl of Aberdeen, sir George Beaumont, and sir Thomas Lawrence. When he mentioned sir George Beaumont, he could not help observing, that at the very time he was advising this purchase, he was presenting his own collection [hear, hear!]. With regard to the share which he himself had had in the formation of the National Gallery, he had found it rather an ungracious office. He was continually receiving letters, offering collections, and sometimes single pictures for sale, and inviting him to call upon the possessors, and give his opinion as to their worth. In some instances, he had, unguardedly, been induced to make the visit. What was the result? If he declared his opinion that the picture was a copy, or not the work of a master, he gave offence, and sometimes made the party his mortal enemy. The hon. member for Montrose, among others, had written to him to go and see the collection of a friend of his; but having made up his mind at that time not to visit private collections for the future, he had declined the offer; but in doing so, he hoped that no want of courtesy had been shown to the hon. gentleman. His only motive in declining the offer was, that he did not wish any longer to take upon himself the very thankless office of passing judgment on pictures in the possession of private individuals. It was at best an ungracious task to be obliged to pass an opinion on works of taste in the presence of their owners. If that opinion happened not to agree with the notions which the proprietors might entertain as to their excellence, nothing was more easy than to throw out insinuations of an injurious tendency, and to complain of a want of taste and judgment; and if, on the other hand, the opinion should be favourable, the owners were too apt to go into the market, and quote that opinion, whatever weight it might possess, for the purpose of raising, perhaps, a disproportionate price. The right hon. gentleman then proceeded to state, that so little inclination had been shown by government to add to the national collection by indiscriminate purchases, that since the gallery had first been formed, only four pictures, including these three, had been purchased. It was unnecessary for him to state, that those pictures were of the first class; as the concurrent testimony of artists and men of taste had fully admitted. He hoped the chancellor of the Exchequer would continue to proceed slowly and cautiously in the purchase of other pictures; and that none would be added to the collection but those of the highest order of merit. It had been suggested that government should purchase different collections of pictures; but he thought it would not be wise to do so, as it was well known that although those collections might contain some admirable pictures, the majority might be inferior; and he repeated, that none but first-rate works should have a place in the national collection.

Mr. Bankes

agreed with the right hon. baronet, as to the propriety of purchasing separate pictures, and not whole collections. The three last purchased he considered works of great merit, and believed that one of them was worth nearly the whole sum paid for the three.

Mr. R. Colborne

expressed his approbation of the purchases already made. They were the first specimens of the first-rate artists. There could not be a better foundation for a national gallery of paintings than those bought of the late Mr. Angerstein. To these were to be added the magnificent collection of sir G. Beaumont.

Mr. Hume

wished that, in the purchase of pictures for the national gallery, the names of those on whose recommendation they were selected, might be made known to the public; because the names of the selectors would be a pledge of the genuineness and excellence of the pictures. He highly approved of the beginning already made for the formation of a national gallery. By the selection of works like the pictures of Mr. Angerstein and those of sir G. Beaumont, we should soon have a most magnificent collection of the finest works of art.