fiat arts.
THE NEW TURNER AND VERNON GALLERIES.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has shown great tact in the settle- ment of the vexed questions for the fit accommodation for the National pictures. The Buildings at Brompton adjacent to the Sheepshanks Gallery destined to receive the Turner and Vernon collections, are a creditable expenditure of public money, perfectly adapted for the uses for which they were raised, and to be studied as models for the architect of the future House of the Royal Academy, (Sir C. Barry will probably be the master mind for this service), and the new National Gallery. Captain Fowke has superintendeil the designs and construction of the edifice, and has performed his task with his customary efficiency and readiness. The pictures may be sent into the smaller apartments by the end of the present week, and the larger hall will be ready for occupancy by the end of the month; hardly two months have elapsed since the foundations were laid. The buildings consist of two blocks: the first runs north and south at the end of the Sheepshanks' Gallery, being di- vided into six rooms, each fifty feet long by twenty-five feet wide, and twenty-four feet high up to the light : at the northern end of these apart- ments comes the larger gallery, 110 feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high up to the light. The light is entirely from the roof by skylights along its apex ventilation is afforded by flaps at the foot of the lights. The walls of the galleries are canvassed, papered, and co- loured the olive-green tint of the other gallery : there is an utter absence of ornament, but the proportions of the rooms are very satisfactory ; that of the larger one noble certainly. Including the hot-water pipes for warming the buildings, the cost of the whole is reported at 70001. • and this sum for solid fire-proof constructions' affording 410 feet of pinery, and offices of a very ample and sufficient character for the Library and other uses of the Department, is little enough, and cannot but be ap- proved even by the honourable gentlemen who aspire to wear the mantle of Joseph Hume ; that is if they look to rational, honest, intelligible expenditure rather than to =elms cheeseparings and retrospective grumblings. From one the highest points to the north of the city, Mr. Burford has taken an admirable panoramic view of Canton, embracing the old and new town' and in the distant background a glimpse of the River Tigris —some disappointment will be felt by those prepared for the pagoda style of architecture, accepted by us Englishman as typical of Chinese houses, for the mass of hovels on all sides of the spectator give him the idea of the crowded commonplace character of an early European town. The pictorial effect has that pleasing real character exhibited in all Mr. Burford's works, and in this case he has been assisted by the photo- graphs taken by the Royal Engineers after the bombardment in Decem- ber 1857, very properly lent to him by the military authorities. The Times correspondent, Mr. W. Cooke, also afforded his very serviceable reminiscences in aid of Messrs. Burford and Scions.
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