No! I
Cannot Describe These Things, I Can Only Feel Them; I Throw Down The Pen
And Call Upon Expressive Silence To Muse Their Praise.
Of the Picture Gallery too what can I say that can possibly give you an
idea of its variety and extent?
Here are the finest works of the Italian,
Flemish, and French schools, and you are as much embarrassed to single out
the favourite object, as the Grand Signor would be, among six or seven
hundred of the most beautiful women in the world, to make his choice. The
only fault I find in this collection is that there were rather too many
Scripture pieces, Crucifixions, Martyrdoms and allegorical pictures, and
too few from historical or mythological subjects. Yet perhaps I am wrong in
classing the Scripture pieces with Martyrdoms, Crucifixions, Grillings of
Saints and Madonnas; there are very many beautiful episodes in the
Scriptures which would furnish admirable subjects for painters. Why then
have they chosen disgusting subjects such as Judith sawing off Holofernes'
head, Siserah's head nailed to the bedpost, John the Baptist's on a
trencher, etc.? But the pictures representing Martyrdoms are too revolting
to the eye and should not be placed in this Museum.
It is reported that the Allies mean to strip this Museum [of sculpture and
painting]. No! it cannot be, they never surely can be guilty of such an act
of Vandalism and contemptible spite. I am aware that there is a great
clamour amongst a certain description of English for restoring these
statues and pictures to the countries from whence they came, and that it is
the fashion to term the translation of them to Paris a revolutionary
robbery; but let us bring these gentlemen to a calm reasoning on the
subject.
The statues and paintings in question belonged either to Governments at war
with France, or to individuals inhabiting those countries; now, with
respect to individuals, I will venture to affirm, on the best authority,
that the property of no individual was taken from him without an
equivalent. Those who had statues and pictures of value and wished to sell
them, received their full value from the French Government, but there was
no force used on the occasion; in fact, many who were in want of money were
rejoiced at the opportunity of selling, as they could never have otherwise
disposed of those valuable articles to individuals at the same price that
the French Government gave. I recollect a day or two ago being in
conversation with a Milanese on this subject and others connected with the
occupation of Italy by the French. I happened to mention that the conquest
of Italy by the Republican armies must have been attended with confiscation
of property; he assured me that no such thing as confiscation of property
took place; that so far from being the losers by the French invasion and
the establishment of their system, they had on the contrary been
considerable gainers, for that the country flourished under their
domination in a manner before unknown, and that one of the greatest
advantages attendant on the occupation was the establishment of an equality
of weight and measures, the decimal division of the coin, the introduction
of an admirable code of laws free'd from all barbarisms - legal, political
and theological - and intelligible to all classes, so that there was no
occasion to cite old authors and go back for three or four hundred years to
hunt out authorities and precedents for what men of sense could determine
at once by following the dictates of their own judgment.
With respect to the statues and pictures belonging to the different
governments of Italy, it must never be forgotten that these governments
made war against the French Revolution either openly or insidiously, and
did their utmost to aid the coalition to crush the infant liberties of
France. Those who did not act openly did so covertly and indirectly; in
short, from their tergiversations and intrigues, they had no claim whatever
on the mercy of the conquerors, who treated them with a great deal of
clemency. The destruction of these governments was loudly called for by the
people themselves, who looked on the French as their deliverers.
It will be admitted, I believe, that it is and has been the custom on the
continent, in all wars, for all parties to levy war contributions on the
conquered or occupied countries; but Buonoparte thought it more glorious
for the French name to take works of art instead of money; and not a statue
or picture was taken from the vanquished governments except by a solemn
treaty of cession, or given in lieu of contributions at the option of the
owners, and the Princes were very glad to give up their pictures and
statues, which the most of them did not know how to appreciate, in lieu of
money which they were all anxious to keep; and on these articles a fair
value was fixed by competent judges. In this manner did the French become
the possessors of these valuable objects of art, and in this manner was the
noble Museum in Paris filled up, and surely nothing could be more generous
and liberal than the use made of the Museum by the French Government;
foreigners were indeed more favoured than the inhabitants themselves. To
the inhabitants of Paris this Museum is open twice a week; but to
foreigners on producing their passports, it is open every day in the week
all the year round; artists of all nations are allowed, during a certain
number of hours each day, to come to copy the statues and pictures which
suit their taste; and stoves are lighted for their accommodation during
winter, and all this gratis. - Now, before these objects of art were
collected here, they were distributed, some in churches, and some in
Government palaces. To see the first, required a specific introduction to
the owner; to see the second, application to the attendants of the churches
became necessary, and for both these you were required to pay fees to the
servants and church-attendants, who are always impatient to take your fee
and hurry you through the apartments or chapels, scarcely giving you time
to examine anything.
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