BOSTON, llth OCTOBEK, 1859. A T a meeting of the Trustees of the BOSTON ATHEN^UM, held on Monday, 10th October, the following resolution was unani- mously adopted : Resolved, That the Trustees of the Boston Athenaeum, desirous to second the generous design of Mr. JARVES, and to secure for the Athenaeum and the citizens of Boston a collection of works of peculiar value, hereby guarantee a subscription of $5,000 toward the purchase of the Jarves Gallery, provided that the remaining sum needed for its purchase be raised by private subscription or otherwise, within a month from this date. The undersigned were, by a subsequent vote, appointed a Com- mittee to endeavor to obtain by subscription the sum needed ($15,000) to complete the amount required for the purchase. They confidently appeal to all lovers of Art in the community, and to the citizens generally, to assist them by their subscriptions to obtain a Gallery of Paintings, which will be of permanent and increasing value, and which, in its kind, will be unrivalled in America. EDWARD C. CABOT. ROBERT W. HOOPER. FRANCIS E. PARKER. MARTIN BRIMMER. CHARLES E. NORTON. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON LETTERS RELATING TO A COLLECTION OF PICTURES/ MADE BY MR. J. J. JAKVES. CAMBRIDGE: PRIVATELY PRINTED. 1859. RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: PRINTF.D BY H. O. IIOIXIHTON AND COMPAM .^ MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON h INTRODUCTORY NOTE. THE following papers, relating to the collection of pictures formed by Mr. Jarves, are printed in order to present to those interested to obtain such a gallery for Boston the information necessary as a basis for action. In compliance with a request to that eifect from Mr. Jarves, I would beg those to whom this pamphlet may be sent to con- sider that part of his letter which relates to the value set upon his pictures, and the terms of his offer, as a private communi- cation. If the proposal made by Mr. Jarves should be ac- cepted, there would be no further need of privacy. It is greatly to be hoped that such an opportunity of obtain- ing for Boston a gallery of specimens of the best Italian Art may not be lost, and that Mr. Jarves' s very generous proposi- tion may be at once accepted. CHARLES ELIOT NORTON. Sept. 27, 1859. CONTENTS. I'A'iK LETTER OF MR. JARVES 5 LETTER OF MR. C. C. BLACK 15 LETTER OF MR. T. A. TROLLOPS, FROM THE LONDON ATHE- N-iEUM OF 12TH FEBRUARY, 1859 23 ARTICLE FROM THE BOSTON COURIER OF 9Tii FEBRUARY, 1859 2 LETTER OF MONSIEUR A. F. Rio :; i LETTERS. LETTER OF MR. JARVES. FLORENCE, August 26, 1859. MY DEAR SIR: IT has long been a pet scheme of mine to ini- tiate in Boston a permanent gallery of paintings, with particular reference to the chronology, motives, and technical progress of Art, from the earliest development in Italy of the Christian idea, until its climax in the matured genius of its several illustrious schools. Master- pieces it was hopeless to expect to secure. Researches, however, made for my private studies, showed me that it was feasible for one on the spot to get together a valu- able collection of pictures, covering the ground from the tenth to the sixteenth century, characteristic of the great masters and their schools, illustrating the history of Art, provided it were gone about promptly, quietly, and diligently. Unwilling to lose the opportunity, I decided on taking the responsibility upon myself of making such a collection and of its subsequent adoption by my towns- men. My own means being inadequate, I borrowed a sufficient sum to warrant the undertaking, being per- suaded, that, should my project fail as regarded Boston, the pictures would always he valuahle in the European market. I lost no time in going systematically to work to secure genuine specimens of Byzantine and Graeco- Italian paintings, and so in chiefly following the current of the Florentine, Sienese, and Umbrian schools to the time of Raflfael. My adventures in this pursuit were often curious and instructive. They involved an inquisi- tion into the intricacies of numberless villas, palaces, con- vents, churches, and household dens, all over this portion of Italy ; the employment of many agents to scent out my prey; many fatiguing journeyings; miles upon miles of wearisome staircases ; dusty explorations of dark re- treats ; dirt, disappointment, fraud, lies, and money often fruitlessly spent ; all compensated, however, by the grad- ual accumulation of a valuable gallery. It sometimes happened that the search for some indispensable master in the series cost more time and money than would have secured many more popular names, though of less true merit. On one occasion, to get nine pictures, I was obliged to purchase a gallery of upwards of two hundred; the unnecessary ones being sold at auction in England. On another, having discovered a fine old Pollajuolo, the owner would not let me have it, unless I bought all in the room, (forty-four in number,) which also went to auction. I discovered a hoard of four thousand pictures got to- gether a century ago by an eccentric Abbe who bought everything brought to him. They had been inherited by an aged miser, from whom, with painful negotiation, I obtained a fine altar-piece by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo and other pictures. In the lumber-room of a famous con- vent I chanced upon a beautiful Perugino, so smoked and dirtied as to be cast aside by the monks, who, for a consideration, gladly let me bear it away, and which, upon cleaning, proved to be untouched, and one of his finest compositions. It was a small easel picture. A beautiful full-length portrait of a Spanish grandee, by Velasquez, was found among the earth and rubbish of a noble villa, cut out from its frame, crusted with dirt, but beneath in fine preservation. But as I have written a chapter on the Acquisition and Authentication of Pictures in a History of the Italian Schools that I am preparing for the press, I will not prolong this part of my letter. Suffice it to say that the collection has become sufficiently interesting and valuable to attract the encomiums of dis- tinguished amateurs from various countries and obtain proposals for advantageous sales. I will give a few details of the principal pictures. A Byzantine Triptych, 12th century, containing De- scent into Hades, Transfiguration and Wanderings of Israelites, etc., is for preservation and beauty a unique specimen, so far as my knowledge extends. It demon- strates a condition of Art greatly in advance of corre- sponding Italian, uniting the strength of Orgagna to the miniature delicacy of Fra Angelico. An altar-piece, A. D. 1190, of Greece-Italian school, a mystic painting of rare beauty and singular excellence ; engraved in Fumagalli's "Museo di Pitture" plate 1035, vol. 13, and fully described. A tripartite picture of the tenth century, very characteristic and rare, nothing cor- responding to it in collections here. Migliarini says, from the character of the cross on it (Y)? it may date back as 8 far as the seventh century. Another curious Triptych anterior to Cimabue, containing nineteen compositions from Lives of Christ and St. John Baptist. A.n altar-piece by Margaritone, (124-0,) seven composi- tions, perfect, naive, and curious. A beautiful specimen of Cimabue ; Story of S. Nicolo di Bari. Annunciation, by Pietro Cavallini. Entombment, (altar-piece,) by Giotto. A magnificent Triptych, five feet high, painted for the noble Vecchietta family, with a document, ascribing it to Giotto, of the family from whom I purchased it ; but the color is more like the Paduan Giotteschi, deep and rich, in fine preservation. Two fine specimens of Puccio Capanna ; ditto of Taddeo and Agnolo Gaddi ; ditto of Orgagna (for which an offer was made by Sir Charles Eastlake) ; ditto of Giottino, uncommonly fine, both in sub- jects and preservation, one of them from the Rinuccini Gallery. A small altar-piece, by Fra Angelico ; a noble Duccio of Siena, a Diptych ; Spinello Aretino, a Cruci- fixion ; and numerous other pictures of importance, as illustrating some special Christian motive or local style. Among the Sienese, a gem of an altar-piece by Simone di Martino (Memmi) an Epiphany, with gradino ; the drawing of this is in the Uffizii. Of Sano di Pietro, the equal of Fra Angelico, two as fine specimens as Italy can show: the Coronation, thirty-six figures, and the Journey of the Magi. Sassetto, Giovanni di Paolo, Matteo da Siena, Taddeo di Bartolo, a unique and magnificent Assumption of the Virgin, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, a gem of mystic art, etc., represent the Purists. For the Naturalists, tracing the progress of landscape, mythological and 9 historical painting, I have beautiful specimens by Paolo Uccello, Dello, Gozzoli, and a singular picture, a Bridal- Waiter, painted for the Piccolomini of Siena, by Pintu- ricchio ; The Disarming of Cupid; a signed picture, by Gentile da Fabriano ; Tabernacle picture by Maso- lino ; fragment of a gradino by Masaccio, figures won- derful for their vigorous naturalness ; a Botticelli, not excelled in beauty and perfection by any in Florence ; Pollajuolo, Filippino, Fra Filippo, Lorenzo di Credi (an injured altar-piece, and a perfect easel-picture in his best manner) ; Piero di Cosimo, Andrea del Sarto (altar-piece and a fresco, the latter injured) ; Franciabigio, Pontormo, Beccafumi, Albertinelli, Granacci, Luca Signorelli ; a fresco of Domenico Ghirlandajo, perfect; Giovanni Bel- lini; Squarcione; Giorgione, wonderful in color, a Cir- cumcision ; Cesare da Sesto, etc., etc. To you, who are familiar with these artists, their names will convey an adequate idea of the scope of the collection. In condition, they are, as a whole, purer than those of the galleries, and are favorable specimens of the masters they represent, outside of their greatest works. Authentic documents seldom accompany pictures ; fic- titious, often. I have piles of documentary evidence, opinions, etc., but my chief reliance is internal proof. My own judgment, after many years' conscientious study in the presence of acknowledged originals, and constant association with experienced artists and amateurs, has with myself considerable weight. Besides, I fortify it by the opinions and testimony of the best European judges, my sole desire being historic truth, unbiased by any preconceived theory or enthusiasm for one specialty 10 of Art over another. Hence, in several cases, my pic- tures have names of less weight than might pass cur- rent with observers in general, or which, imitating the custom of public galleries, I might with impunity adopt. Thus, one of my most remarkable paintings is ascribed by good judges to Botticelli, or Pietro Pollajuolo, names of pecuniary weight in the picture-market ; but my own studies lead me to ascribe it to Francesco di Mar- tino of Siena, a name little known, though the picture in question is worthy of either of the other painters. One of my most interesting is a Pietd, bought of the Chigi family as a Perugino, but which subsequent examination, confirmed by high opinions, leads me to ascribe to Raflfael, before he was sixteen, from a design of his master's, with variations. The Perugino already referred to is the Baptism of Christ, the Almighty and angels overhead. Other pictures in the collection are an Ecce Homo by Sodoma, equal to anything of the kind by Raffael, - and one of his lovely Madonnas, the type being superior to his rival's ; a noble picture by Paul Veronese, from the Pisani Gallery ; a Crucifixion by Rubens, solemn in color, and remarkable for its horses and dogs ; a large altar-piece of Fra Bartolommeo, painted for the Antinori family, rich in color, with broad landscape containing the histories of Christ subsequent to the Resurrection ; and, lastly, a Leonardo, a Holy Family, referred to in one of his own letters, inherited by a will recorded at Florence by the gentleman from whom it came to me through the intervention of one party only. I affix an estimate of value upon the pictures, based 11 upon my experience of the market, though less than I should demand, were the collection to be sold on specu- lation. The Leonardo has been estimated by Baron Garriod at 100,000 francs, as the price I ought to receive for it, whenever fairly made known. Rio puts it at ,2,000. I value it, at the lowest, say 10,000 dollars. The Leonardo, Fra Bartolommeo, Perugino, Sodoma, Ecce Homo, " Holy Family, Velasquez, Botticelli, Sano di Pietro, Coronation " " Epiphany, Paul Veronese, Fra Angelico,* Byzantine Triptych, Gentile da Fabriano, Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Domenico Ghirlandajo, Andrea del Sarto, Raff'ael, youthful, Matteo da Siena, In Boston, Murillo, 5,000) S. Rosa, 600 i- 6,300 Sundry others, 700 ) 57,570 Besides a number set aside for sale or exchange, being duplicates of masters, or not necessary, but which cost upwards of 2,000 $59,570 In round numbers, I value the entire collection at $60,000, which is much less than it would be held at in the hands of dealers, and considerably under the rates at $10,000 Masolino, $225 8,000 Masaccio, 450 2,000 Lorenzo di Credi, 750 2,500 2 Orgagna, 600 1,000 Giotto, Triptych, 1,000 2,000 Lorenzetti, Entombment, 400 1,500 " Assumption, 600 i, 1,500 Lo Spagna, 600 1,200 G. Bellini, 350 500 Giorgione, 250 750 (?) 400 125 2 Paolo Uccello, 600 600 Dello, 400 800 Giovanni di Paolo, 150 300 Sassetto, 100 500 Simone Memmi 750 450 Margaritone, 200 400 Altar-Piece, 320 34,125 8,145 34,125 fay seventy-five others, at 9,000 * The companion piece is held at 1,320 dollars by the owner. which Messrs. Lombardi & Ugobaldi sold their early masters to the National Gallery, viz. : $36,000 for twenty pictures. I am now urged to put prices upon the pic- tures by an agent from London recommended by Sir Charles Eastlake. I still cling to my original project; but if my fellow-citizens do not consider in a favorable light the proposition I authorize you to make in my behalf, I shall soon be compelled to consent to the sale of at least a portion of the gallery in England or Rus- sia, because, as one always does in such affairs, I ex- ceeded my original limits, and the interest money I must pay is heavier than I can continue long to afford. It would gratify me, however, to have my estimate amended or confirmed by judicious judges. Perhaps the fairest method would be to select three, an ama- teur, artist, and dealer ; the several kinds of valuation would then be represented, and an average could be struck. I am persuaded that for $60,000 it would be impossible now to get together a collection of equal value. Indeed, some of the pictures parted with, it would be out of the question to hope to replace them. I have worked hard for several years, with extraordinary facilities for their collection, my entire time, energies, and all the money I could control being devoted to it ; and nothing less than the enthusiasm I feel for Art, and the desire to aid in forming an institution worthy of the intellectual claims of Boston, unique of its kind in America, has sustained me thus far. You fully comprehend that this sort of labor can neither be incited nor repaid by pecu- niary gain ; and though I might finally realize a hand- some profit from its sale, still it would be at the cost of 13 much feeling. To obviate this and secure my aim, I propose, for $20,000, to deliver the collection, with a descriptive catalogue, published in connection with my History of the Schools of Painting represented by the Gallery, (copyrights of both to be mine, with the privi- lege of illustration from the pictures,) in good order, either in Italy or Boston, (if the latter, actual expenses to be paid, of packing, freight, and insurance,) to any asso- ciation or individuals pledged to make it finally the nucleus of a permanent gallery for Boston, the final arrangement for exhibition (hanging, lights, and temperature, the last an important consideration for pictures on wood) to be intrusted to me, and the collection to be kept to- gether as a whole, under some distinctive name. Or, including the above conditions, a committee, as above suggested, being appointed to appraise the pictures, I will give one half of their appraisal for the above purpose, the other half being paid to me. Further, as it is desirable to increase the value and efficiency of the gallery by the addition of masters of the Venetian, Lombard, and Bolognese schools, illustrating the gradual decline of Art in Italy, if funds be raised for that end, I agree to give my time and experience (travel- ling-expenses paid) to their acquisition. I have on my list several valuable paintings, known only to a few, which the exhaustion of my means alone has prevented me from obtaining. Among them a fine Giorgione, Titian, and an undoubted Raffael, second manner, somewhat injured, but untouched. The subject, Vision of St. Ber- nard, the Madonna introduced being that of the Foligno. It was the gradino of one of his altar-pieces. But these u or others must be approached with much caution, as Italian imaginations are never more vivid than in regard to the prices of works of Art, especially if sought for by strangers. For a sum not exceeding $50,000, I can secure for Boston, including my own, a highly respectable gal- lery of Italian Art, consisting of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred genuine paintings, embracing many good specimens of the best masters, provided the means be promptly and quietly furnished. Mr. E. N. Perkins tells me that the common Athenaeum exhibitions have netted from $2,000 to $3,000 yearly to that institu- / J tion. Would not the exhibition of such a gallery as I propose, supposing it was considered advisable to put on it a small admittance fee for the present, produce a hand- some fund for ulterior purposes 1 and would it not greatly benefit Boston by attracting visitors from all parts of the Union ] While some public-spirited citizens of New York have been debating the buying of the Campana Gallery of Rome, the Russian government has taken it at $1,840,000. Boston pays $10,000 for a statue, and $8,000 for a picture of Copley's. Surely, then, it is not too much to hope that her large-minded men should be willing to contribute $50,000 to inaugu- rate a Public Gallery, beginning with some two hundred paintings, embracing a history of the Italian schools for five centuries ; or, if that be too large an idea for the present, $20,000 for those that I possess ; which price even would make me an actual contributor of nearly one- third their entire cost. My sole motive in mentioning this is to show that I am in earnest, and to stimulate others. 15 It was my intention to return to Boston the coming- autumn, but I shall probably be detained here another year. My time here may be usefully devoted to the en- largement of the gallery, as has been suggested. The locality and history of every picture this way to be pro- cured are well known to me. Faithfully yours, JAMES J. JARVES. CHARLES E. NORTON, Esq. LETTER OF MR. C. C. BLACK. July, 1859. MY DEAR NORTON : WHEN Goldsmith laid down, as one of the two rules by which a reputation for connoisseurship might be attained, that the aspirant must praise the works of Pietro Perugino, we may presume he did so, not from any accurate appreciation he himself possessed of that old painter's merits, but rather that he selected the name as that of a recondite and rarely investigated luminary in the galaxy of Art. Keener eyes and better aesthetic telescopes have, however, of late years, been directed towards the pictorial sky, and Perugino's name would now stand far down, were we to catalogue the lights which shine from distances beyond the orbits even of Giotto and Cimabue, till the gazer is finally bewildered among Sienese nebulae and Byzantine star-dust. These thoughts came on me forcibly, on crossing the Piazza Ma- ria Antonia, after a by no means thorough examination of 16 the very interesting collection formed by our friend J. J. Jarves. Although I think you visited it, when in Flor- ence some years ago, his untiring energy has added to it so largely since you were among us, that I am minded to give you (without much pretence to chronological accu- racy) some notes of a few chief objects of my admiration. Though aware that Mr. Jarves had confined his pur- chases principally to the more ancient masters, proposing and wisely to illustrate the germ and growth of Modern Art, I was not prepared for the distance to which skill and patience have carried him back, and found him, to my surprise, the possessor of one of the earliest known representations of the Crucifixion, dating from the tenth, or possibly the ninth century. By the wjiy, in writing to one who is acquainted with the gal- leries of the Catacombs, I may enter a caveat against the accusation of inaccuracy, by explaining that 1 mean one of the earliest movable representations, excluding, of course, wall-paintings. Specimens of this date are natu- rally very rare ; some, however, there are, and well authenticated, one in particular in the Museum of Fine Arts at Florence, closely resembling this of Mr. Jarves. A marked and distinctive peculiarity is the form of the cross, which, indeed, can be termed so merely for con- venience, as it is Y-shaped, curiously resembling the embroidery on a priestly stole, and figuring, moreover, in the shield of the Archbishop of Canterbury. To step from this strange relic of early piety to Margaritone of Arezzo may not be strictly chronological ; but, as I said before, this I do not profess to be. This old master is represented here by a Virgin, attended by the Saints 17 Peter and Paul, the central painting surrounded with smaller ones, which show various events of their lives. Their martyrdoms in particular are packed with an econ- omy of space truly wonderful. In singular contrast to the hard, rugged, Ben-Jon sonish energy of Margari- tone is a Greek painting of very early date, (well known to collectors, and engraved by Fumagalli,) highly finished in detail, the jewels of the tiara and the folds of embroidered drapery quite wonderful, but the features smooth, polished, and insignificant as one of Hayley's poems. I was much pleased with a small Gio- vanni di Paolo, representing a female saint in gray who kneels to a Pope. How these old artists caught the key- note of character in their figures ! It seems as though there was in the childhood of Art something analogous to the actual childhood of human life ; for even as an observant child unfailingly selects the chief characteristic, bodily or mental, of a visitor, so do we find these early pai nters insisting on distinctive character as determinately as though they had just been reading the "Ars Poetica." We have here a demure train-bearer and a sulky cardi- nal, both of whom 1 have seen in Roman processions, Corpus Domini, for instance, times without number. Duccio, whose noble picture at Siena hangs on the Cathedral walls so awkwardly as to be hardly visible, may be admired here much more satisfactorily, in a beautiful Virgin and Child, as also in a Crucifixion, showing what, to me, was a somewhat novel treatment of this much-worn subject. The chief personage among the spectators is a Roman soldier in all the gorgeous panoply of war, sagum, paludamentum, etc., etc., whose 3 18 attitude of determination somewhat puzzled me till I bgthought me of the centurion (called by the Church of Rome ' Longinus ") who declared, " Truly, this man was the Son of God ! " If any doubt could exist, it would be removed by noticing the countenance of the soldier behind him. Wonder, horror, and the reserve generated by discipline, are all combined in his attitude ; and we may clearly see his consciousness that what in his cap- tain may be but an unguarded word would in him be flat blasphemy. Perhaps no better example could be found, to show the soul these early masters put into their works, than the various expressions, gestures, and cos- tumes here displayed on a space not larger than a sheet of letter-paper. A Virgin and Child with a Goldfinch, which hangs near the Duccio, shows how much the Italian painters fol- lowed each other, or were, possibly, all led by some now obsolete tradition, in the accompaniments to their chief figures. This work is ascribed, doubtfully, to Giotto, who, however, contributes one indubitable Entombment. There is a Cimabue, genuine in style, and genuine in subject, too, as representing one of those delightful facts which occurred only in the "good old times," St. Nich- olas throwing gold balls into the windows of poor, por- tionless maidens. You have Santa Glaus still among you, and can tell whether he yet indulges in that benefi- cent play : I fear that the acquaintance our English poor have with gilded balls is of a less pleasing character. Fra Angelico appears here unmistakably in a painting of three saints, St. Zenobio, St. Francis, and St. Thomas (I forget which of them) ; and an Adoration of the Magi, 19 by Simone Mem mi, would attract any one's notice, if only from a wonderful group of men, horses, and camels, thrust together in much-admired disorder. Some such group may have been seen by Shakspeare, in his mind's eye or otherwise, when he wrote the description of the tapestry in the " Rape of Lucrece," where " for Achilles' image stood a spear grasped in an armed hand." I have really no time to expatiate on the various excel- lent specimens of painters, good and rare, such as Pietro Cavallini, Andrea Castagno, Matteo da Siena, of whom we have a Virgin and Child, and happily not his oft- repeated and horribly elaborated Murder of the Innocents, - Taddeo Gaddi, who shows us St. Dominic receiving at the hands of St. Peter the sword he used so ruthlessly against heretics. Nor can I do more than offer to more leisurely speculation two quaint Byzantine tablets, in which Julian the Apostate is being speared by Mercou- rios (1), while Maxentius undergoes the same fate at the hand, not of Constantine, but of one Dicaterina, St. Catharine, I suppose ; but let it pass. I must, however, do homage to Sano di Pietro, an artist whose works, even in Italy, must be sought with care, as nearly all the best are confined to his native city of Siena. Nevertheless we find here no less than three specimens of his handi- work, an Adoration of Magi, a St. Margaret, wonderful in drapery, and a Coronation of the Virgin, so pure and sacred in feeling as to show at once his right to the title of the Sienese Fra Angelico. Of Filippo Lippi there is an Annunciation, in a state of preservation very uncom- mon, and the same subject by Credi, clean and fresh in coloring as all his works are, and treated in a very pleas- ing, unconventional manner. 20 " Omnia ex oz'0," says the old physiological adage ; and I presume that the Virgin Mary herself forms no excep- tion to the rule, unless, indeed, the dogma of the Immacu- late Conception interfere, a question which I heg to refer to his Holiness Pio Nono. At all events, here we have the Virgin, very pleasingly painted by a scholar of Alberti- nelli, inclosed in an egg, not a vesica piscis glory, nor an oval mass of clouds, hut a veritably well-painted egg, the shell broken open at the side, the fractured edges carefully drawn, so as to display the figure. Leaving unsolved the mystic meaning of this very pretty picture, I pass to another Virgin and Child, delicate in coloring, and charming in expression, by Sandro Botticelli, and to a small panel, liable to be overlooked by a casual observer, but very interesting as being not improbably the identical Birth of St. John painted by Masaccio and described in Vasari. The circumstantial evidence, with which I shall not trouble you, is very strong in its favor. You know the man of many names : Sodoma to the world, Razzi of Siena to his familiars ; and now, by favor of some of those confounded investigators who up- set our faith in Romulus, Richard, Joan of Arc, nay, even would do so in respect to Shakspeare himself, Bazzi of Piedmont would seem to be the genuine name of the painter. Happily, these rixce de lana caprhiu are very unimportant ; the names may perish, but Romeo, Lear, Hamlet, and, though in an humbler sphere, the Chapel of San Bernardino at Siena, and the upper floor of the Farnesina at Rome, are undeniable facts. Mr. Jarves possesses a glorious Razzi, Christ bearing the Cross, almost as rich in coloring as the grand fresco in the Belle Arti at Siena, and decidedly no- bler in expression, the point in which Sodorna w;ts most commonly weak. A proof of this assertion may he seen by comparing his celebrated St. Catharine Faint- ing, in the Dominican Church at Siena, with the same subject as treated by Beccafumi in this gallery. Although in many points closely resembling, and generally to the advantage of Sodoma, the countenance of the Father in Beccafumi 's work is far grander. Do you remember the shops of the pizzicaroli at Rome during Passion Week, those mysterious cav- erns propped by sides of bacon, panelled with hams, and roofed with numerous starry lamps twinkling from a heaven of lard \ If not, read Hans Anderssen's Impro- visatore, or look with me at a picture of Masolino da Panicale, where the Virgin is adoring her new-born in- fant in front of just such a cave. Though meant for stone, the brown walls and whitish roof bear unmistak- able traces of their adipose porcine models. Germany, ever anxious to get a foothold in Italy, here sends, as her representative, a Crucifixion, by F. Franck, how oddly the name resembles Francesco Francia ! richly colored, carefully executed, and showing a wonderfully elaborate background, where Jerusalem appears crowded with steep roofs, golden weather-cocks, and pepper-box turrets. Truly, the early Germans were no more solicitous as to anachronisms than the later Italians ; as witness a Cruci- fixion here by Paolo Veronese, and a Tintoretto, where St. Agnes is unveiled by a knightly personage in rich black armor of the fifteenth century. The painter has somewhat softened the painful character of this subject by the compassionate air which lie has given to the warrior. But I find my letter has already run to an unconscion- able length. I have left myself no room to speak at all, as it deserves, of what is, perhaps, the most valuable gem of the whole gallery, an undoubted Leonardo da Vinci. You, who know that Leonardos are so rare that they may in general terms be declared quite unattainable. albeit they figure in every catalogue as surely as Johanniaber- ger in a Rhine-steamer's wine-list, will be glad to learn that Migliarini, whose judgment cannot be called in quo- tion, adds the weight of his authority to the preponderat- ing historical evidence of the authenticity of this work. I should like to detail to you some of the gorgeous court-costumes devised by Paolo Uccello, to grace the pageant where King Solomon in all his glory meets the Queen of Sheba, to speculate on the interpreta- tion of a most perplexing and enticing allegory by Gen- tile da Fabriano, called the Triumph of Love, and to speak more fully than is now possible of a beautiful female head by Cesare da Sesto, of a soldierly Velas- quez, of a large and important Ridolfo Ghirlandajo. Before concluding this very imperfect review, in which I have left quite unmentioned many interesting pictures, let me revert to our old friend Perugino, with whose name I began my letter, and of whom Mr. Jarves pos- sesses a small but unmistakably genuine painting, as also to our dearer friend Noll Goldsmith, whose other recipe was, " to observe that the picture would have been better, if the painter had taken more pains." How very safely this remark may yet be applied to the Caracci and their school ! Rarely, if ever, do we meet a work of the Bolognese school which does not, in spite of its unques- tionable merit, offend by a certain careless air, which seems to show that the painter felt himself fully equal, nay, possibly superior, to the requirements of his subject. On the other hand, the conscientious labor, the solemn purity, visible in every portion of a painting by Duccio, Fra Angelico, or Sano di Pietro, impresses on us the conviction that these men felt called on to make a holo- caust of the talent God had given them, in serving as best they could the Giver. I must now conclude, and only hope that this imperfect summary may suffice to show what can be done, even at this late period of picture-hunting, when good judgment and activity are backed by patience and well-timed libe- rality. C. C. BLACK. LETTER OF MR. T. A. TROLLOPE, FROM THE LONDON ATHENJEUM OF 12TH FEBRUARY, 1859. FLORENCE, January 20. ***** I WAS invited the other day to visit a gallery of pic- tures, the collection and object of which interested me much, and seemed strangely to indicate the apparently inexhaustible artistic wealth which has been stored up in these old Tuscan cities, as in a garner for the perennial supply of the entire world. They have furnished forth galleries for the delight and Art-instruction of every na- Di- llon of Europe. And now they are called on to perform a similar civilizing office for the rising world on the other side of the Atlantic. And to how great an extent they are still able to answer to the demand, the collection I am speaking of most surprisingly proves. It has been brought together by an American gentleman, a Bostonian, of the name of Jarves, and is destined to form the nucleus of a public gallery in his native city, the young Athens of America. The funds necessary for its collec- tion have been furnished, I understand, by a public-spirited lover of Art in Boston, with the view of supplying his countrymen, before it is too late, with the means of ob- taining a tolerably competent Art-education without the necessity of crossing the Atlantic for it. One would have thought that it had been already too late to accom- plish so patriotic a purpose, were not the gallery in ques- tion here to prove the contrary. Sir Charles Eastlake, I am told, when recently here, wistfully sounded the owner as to the possibility of tempting him to relinquish one or two of his treasures. But "the almighty dollar" has already ceased, it seems, to be almighty in Boston ; for the answer was, that the collection would go unmu- tilated to America. This first attempt to make the New World a sharer in the great Art-heritage of Europe's old civilization is a cir- cumstance so interesting, and, in view of the special bent the specimens obtained may give to an entire new lineage of Art and artists, is so important, that it seems worth while to say a few words of the nature and merit of the col- lection. Mr. Jarves has been for some years a resident in Flor- 25 ence, and has devoted himself entirely to this object. In the pursuit of it, Yankee energy and industry were, as a matter of course, not wanting. But the very creditable knowledge and judgment manifested in expending the funds devoted to the object might, perhaps, have been less to be anticipated. And Boston has been very fortunate in being catered for by one of her citizens, perhaps the only one living who has given many years of his life to the study of Italian Art. But, most of all, the amazing good-fortune which has helped him in his aim will strike those who can appreciate the difficulty of obtaining speci- mens of many of the masters, who will be well repre- sented in the Boston gallery. Mr. Jarves has done wisely in seeking to make his col- lection especially illustrative of the history, progress, and, so to speak, genealogy of the Art ; being aware that it is by such a study of its masters that an artist, as distin- guished from an imitator, must be formed. He has also done well in paying particular attention to the condition of his specimens, preferring to have them with the mark of time upon them, when not such as to deface the mas- ter's sense and treatment, rather than to have more showy pictures at the cost of restoration amounting to re-paint- ing. The collection is especially rich in specimens, one or two of them almost, if not quite, unique, of the earliest days of revived Art. Some very curious Byzantine works of the tenth and subsequent centuries bring the history down to Margaritone da Arezzo, in 1&4-0, who is represented by a most remarkable altar-piece. There is also a very important picture, as an historical document, 4 -26 of date between 1198 and 1216, which maybe found engraved in the 13th volume of Futnagalli's ' Collection of the Principal Pictures of Europe. " Cimabue, Giotto, Duccio, Taddeo and Agnolo Gaddi, Andrea Orgagna (a picture by him which Sir Charles Eastlake had previously sought to purchase), Gentile da Fahriano (a signed picture by this very rare artist, of whom not above eight works are known to be extant in Europe), Fra Angelico, Sano di Pietro, Masaccio (a frag- ment of a predella cited by Vasari), Fra Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, P. di Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Fra 13ar- tolommeo (a very grand altar-piece), Leonardo da Vinci (Holy Family, with same character of background and about the same date as Lord Suffolk's Vierge aux Rockers, a very valuable and undoubtedly authentic work), Lo Spagna, Sodoma (two fine specimens), Pinturicchio, Do- menico and Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Raphael (a very inter- esting early work, painted by him while still with his master, Perugino, from a design of his, but with varia- tions), all these, and several other less generally known names, are represented. There are also some interest- ing portraits, especially a contemporary one of Fernando Cortes, and a full-length Spanish grandee in armor, by Velasquez. It will be admitted that no ordinary degree of good- fortune must have been added to activity and judgment, to render feasible the collection of such an assemblage of genuine pictures at this time of day. Those who have attempted, with more or less success, to purchase pictures recently in Italy, will probably be not a little surprised that it should have been possible. And it may In- safely asserted, that, if any other of the more wealthy commu- nities of the United States, stimulated by the example and success of my Bostonian friend, should think, like Jack the Giant-killer's Cornish foe, " her can do that herself," and should attempt the feat with twice the pecuniary means, they will find that it is not to be re- peated. And it is probable that the old Puritan city of Xevv England will hereafter be the only community in America possessing a fair sample of ancient religious Art, unless, indeed, some transatlantic Napoleon should, in the fulness of time, administer a course of " idees Na- poleoniennes " to the cities of the Old World after the manner of the great original. A very large quantity of painted canvas and wood has of late years been exported hence to the United States, to the great encouragement of our staple manufacture. But while the fact shows that the " demon," who " whis- pers, 'Have a taste,' " has crossed the Atlantic, the acqui- sitions hitherto made by the Great Republic have only proved the urgent need that some means of instruction, such as that here provided for Boston, should be furnished to the American Art-patrons who travel, as well as to the American artists who stay at home. T. A. TROLLOPE. ARTICLE FROM THE BOSTON COURIER OF 9XH FEBRUARY, 1859. IT will be remembered that a few weeks ago there ap- peared in our columns a letter from a correspondent in Florence, speaking in very high terms of a collection of pictures, especially of the works of the early Italian artists, made by our townsman, Mr. James Jackson Jarves. Mr. Jarves has been for some years engaged in gathering together his acquisition, and his intention is to continue in the same pursuit for some years longer ; not with a view of accumulating a valuable collection which shall be held for the exclusive gratification of himself and his friends, and transmitted to his heirs, but with higher aims and ends. He wishes to employ it in such a way as to promote a taste for Art, and the cultivation of Art. among his countrymen ; and having been born and reared in Boston, he naturally prefers that his collection should have a resting-place here. His desire is, that it should be purchased by subscription, and form the nucleus and beginning of a free gallery of Art, for the benefit of the public and the instruction of artists. The possession of such a gallery, in combination with our public library, and the splendid museum of natural history which is des- tined to be reared at once in our immediate neighborhood, would give to Boston peculiar advantages for bestowing upon its citizens that finished education which includes science, literature, and the fine arts, and make it propor- tionally attractive to strangers. In a community like ours, where wealth and political distinction are so eagerly pursued, neither object of pursuit being very elevating or refining in its effects, a public gallery of works of Art would shed a benignant and beneficent influence over all that came within its sphere, and thus tend to correct the hardening and narrowing tendencies which so much beset us. With this view we have much pleasure in bringing this collection again to the notice of our readers, and in laving before them some testimony which proves, beyond question or cavil, its merit and importance. The first piece that we offer is a letter addressed to Mr. Jarves by Sir Charles Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy, a gentleman cautious alike by temperament and official position, and whose words may be fairly taken, therefore, to mean a little more than they say : 7 FITZROY SQUARE, LONDON, 16th Nov., 1858. DEAR SIR : I rejoice to hear that you propose to send your col- lection of specimens of early Italian masters, in its entire state, to America. Few would have taken the trouble you have gone through in discovering and obtaining these works. Your continued residence in Tuscany has enabled you to avail yourself of many excellent opportu- nities. Good-fortune has also sometimes rewarded you ; but to your discrimination and knowledge your success is chiefly to be ascribed. I consider that the series in question would form an excellent foundation for a gallery of Italian Art, and I trust that in your native country it will be appreciated and kept together. I purposely avoid particularizing any works, because I have at all times uniformly declined to 30 any kind of certificate as regards single pictures ; but I can conscientiously congratulate you on the forma- tion of tbe collection as a whole. I believe that many valuable additions have been made to it even since I saw it. Wishing you all success in your patriotic object, I am, dear Sir, Your faithful servant, C. L. EASTLAKE. JAMES J. JARVKS, Esq. We next present a translation of a communication addressed to Mr. Jarves by Prof. Migliarini, director of the Uffizii Gallery, an artist of merit, and probably the very highest authority on Art in Italy. His observations are mostly confined to a single picture in Mr. Jarves's collection, which he affirms to be an original Leonardo