INDEX LIST OF PICTURES

In this Index all the pictures (of Foreign Schools) belonging to the National Gallery are enumerated in the order of the numbers given to them on the frames and in the Official Catalogues.

Following the title and painter of each picture, there has been in previous editions of the Handbook a reference to the room in the Gallery in which the picture was hung; but as the Gallery is now, and will for some time be, under extensive rearrangement (see above, p. xxv), these references are for the present omitted.

Several pictures belonging to the National Gallery have, however, been removed on loan to other institutions (under a Treasury Minute, 1861, and the "National Gallery Loan Act," 1883). These pictures are distinguished in the Index by their titles being printed in italics; whilst the name of the institution, or (in the case of provincial galleries) the name of the town in which they are now to be seen is stated in the fourth column.

In the next two columns, the manner and date of each picture's acquisition are given. The names are those of the persons from whom the pictures were purchased, or by whom they were given or bequeathed.

In the last column, the prices paid for all the purchased pictures are given. Except where otherwise specified, the funds out of which pictures were purchased have been provided by Parliamentary Grants. The Trustees have at their disposal other funds derived from the Clarke, Lewis, Mackrell, Temple West, and Walker bequests. (The Wheeler bequest is available for the purchase of English pictures only.) The letter C., L., M., or W. before the price in the last column denotes that the funds were derived from one or other of those bequests.

The dates of the appointment of successive Keepers or Directors are also given at their proper places in the Index, so that the curious reader may discover the use made by these officers of the funds at their disposal. It should, however, be remembered that up to 1855 the responsibility for purchases rested rather with the Trustees and the Treasury than with the Keeper.

The following is a summary of the cost of the pictures (both British[265] and Foreign) purchased up to the end of 1906:—

It will be seen from this table that 701 pictures in all have been purchased at a total cost of £814,648: 16: 7, an average of £1162 per picture.

A. Mr. Angerstein's Collection (38 pictures) was purchased in one lot for £57,000.

(1) Nos. 9, 35, and 62 were purchased together for £9000.

(2) Nos. 10 and 15 were purchased together for £11,500.

(3) Nos. 13 and 59 were purchased together for £7350.

(4) The KrÜger Collection (64 pictures) was purchased in 1854 by, and on the responsibility of, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gladstone), for £2800. Seventeen of them were originally hung in the Gallery; 10 were sent to Dublin; and the remaining 37 were sold at Christie's in 1857, and realised £249: 8s., or £6: 14s. each. Of the 17 originally hung in the Gallery, all but 4 were weeded out in 1862, the rejected pictures being divided between Dublin and the Science and Art Department.

(5) Nos. 280, 285, and 286, together with five others deposited in the National Gallery of Ireland, and two which were sold at Christie's for £130: 9s., were purchased from the Baron Galvagna, Venice, for £2189: 16: 10.

(6) The Lombardi-Baldi Collection (Florence), 31 pictures, was purchased in one lot for £7035.

(7) The Beaucousin Collection of 46 pictures (13 of which were not kept for the Gallery) was purchased at Paris in one lot for £9205: 3: 1.

(8) The Peel Collection of 77 pictures and 18 drawings was purchased in one lot for £75,000.