Witness smiles, and begs next to call the
attention of the Jury to a " lot" of pictures
purchased from one DE BAMMEVILLE. They were
five in number, and collectively cost £1088. 16s.
Out of this collection a head by ALBERT DURER,
price £147, alone was a desirable purchase, and
that chiefly because of the name attached to it.
The other pictures are by PACCHIAROTTO—- spoken
of above —- by NICOLO ALUNNS, by SAN SEVERINO
and PHILIPPINO LIPPI. There is nothing
important enough in this collection to justify its
purchase.

In 1855, two pictures by BOTTICELLI, each
labelled " Madonna and Child with Angels,"
were bought, and from different proprietors.
One of these might certainly have been omitted.
So might the St. Jerome of COSSIMO ROSSELLI,
the Madonna and Child of VIVARINI, the
St. Jerome Reading of MARCO BASAITI, and
Portrait by PORDENONE. Where is this last, by-
the-by? It is not in the catalogue, nor in the
list of pictures resold after their purchase.
Perhaps it is in the cellars? Can Dr. Waghorn
elucidate the difficulty?

Dr. Waghorn is not in a position to answer
that question. It is irregular.

With regard to the other pictures of the year
1855, witness has already expressed his opinion
of the Adoration of the Magi by PAUL VERONESE.
and he is not reconciled to the purchase
by finding it was effected for £1977. He also
thinks that the Madonna and Child of MANTEGUA
was dear at £1125. 12s., and that the Portrait of
a Young Man by BARTOLOMEUS VENETUS, was
an unnecessary, though cheap, venture, at £48.10s.
In the December of the year 1855, a
" deal" appears to have been effected with a
certain BARON GALVAGNA, by which transaction
that nobleman became possessed of £2189. 16s.10d.,
and our happy country of ten pictures, two
of which, a TINTORETTO and a JACOPO BASSAN,
it parted with again, for a consideration of £141;
one of which, the BELLINI, it thinks very fine,
two more of which, by SIGNORI TACCONI, and
DA' LIBRI, it could willingly have dispensed
with, and the remaining five of which it is
unable to say anything about, for the simple reason
that it cannot find them. They are not in the
catalogue, they are not in the list of the resold.
Perhaps they are being kept for us till we get
wise enough to appreciate them, when we shall
be allowed a peep, if we are good. The three
principal portions of an Altar-piece by PERUGINO,
for which £3571. 8s. 7d. was paid, in May, 1856,
to DUKE MELZI of Milan, was not, even at that
high price, unwisely secured; so fine a specimen
is this triptych of the master. The Good Samaritan
of BASSANO, bought in the same month,
was a lawful purchase enough, and the Two
Apostles, by GIOTTO, at £78. 15s., or at the rate
of £39. 7s. 6d. per apostle, cannot be called dear.
These purchases are succeeded, however, by
others that cannot be censured too strongly.
£1102 10s. for the Triumph of Julius Caesar, by
RUBENS, and £210 for The Horrors of War, by
the same master, "both valueless specimens. The
purchase of the Glorification of the Madonna, by
LO SPAGNA, for £651 puts a finishing touch to
the mistakes of the year. The next which succeeds
it, 1857, is characterised by the addition to our
National Gallery of one of the finest pictures
which it contains, the Family of Darius, by PAUL
VERONESE; a work so fine, indeed, that, even the
exorbitant demand of £13,650 was wisely
complied with, rather than that so glorious a picture
should be lost to a collection so poor.

The Portrait of a Lady, by LUCAS CRANACH,
bought in this same year 1857, was (inasmuch
as it has something characteristic and good
about it) justifiable enough, but the VAN EYCK
—- that master being, as has been said above,
already nobly represented —- need not have been
bought. A certain wild sadness which characterises
the Madonna and Saints by PHILIPPINO
LIPPI, pleads for the legitimacy of its admission
to the collection, and the GHIRLANDAJO Madonna
was also an allowable purchase, but the outlay
of so large a sum as £3155. 4s. 6d. on the
Martyrdom of St. Sebastian by ANTONIO POLLAIULO,
is not to be exceeded in any way; the only
interesting thing about the picture being the
enlightenment it affords us as to the way in which
the archers of those days used to string their
cross-bows a wrinkle, however, which is not
worth £3155. 4s. 6d.

The Eye-witness goes on to state that, still in
the eventful year 1857, a collection of pictures
from the LOMBARDI-BALDI Palace at Florence
entered this country, and that the sum of £7035.
departed from it to compensate the Lombardi-
Baldis for this loss. That loss they no doubt
bore, philosophically enough. Their collection
consisting mainly of red-nosed saints and
diagrams in the manner of those drawn by our
boy population on such blank walls as come
within their ken. Seven thousand pounds for
this!

From the year 1857 to '59, the pictures
secured to the country are none of them very
remarkable. There is an excusable QUENTIN
MATSYS to represent the name; an
inexcusable ROMANINO costing £804.; a
BORGOGNONE costing £430. The Portrait of a Lady by
AUTONIJ MORO has character and is good; it
was bought of MR. NIEWENHUYS for £200.
There is also among the purchases of this period,
a Portrait of an Italian Nobleman by one
ALESSANDRO BONVICINO, called Il Moretto, which is
remarkable as exhibiting a greater freedom in
the attitude than is generally seen in the
portraits of the time. It is a good picture, but
looks at first sight like a theatrical portrait of
Richard the Third. For the rest, the St. Francis
Glorified, of PHILIPPINO LIPPI, the Dead Christ
of PALMEZZANO, the atrocious Altar-piece of
LORENZO COSTA, and the Madonna of MORETTO,
may be classed among the unnecessary
purchases; the St. Dominic of ZOPPO and the
Madonna of BASAITI, among the allowable ones,
with which also may go to the TREVISO, from the
Northwick Gallery, and the Dead Christ of
CRIVELLI, which has feeling, in spite of its
quaintness; and perhaps the Madonna of DA
COMIGLIANO. There is a good Portrait of