GALLERIES OF ART.
THERE is perhaps nothing in which the wealth of England is so faith- fully portrayed as in the splendid collections which artists or manu- facturers are enabled to make, in their prosecution of that course by which they qualify themselves to become ranked among the wealthy of the land. If you travel on the Continent with the view of seeing what there is costly, or magnificent, or decorative, you must gain admission to regal palaces or princely chateaux ; but in London an admission to the workshop of our leading artists in their respective callings will throw open as many wonders as all the noblesse of the Continent can command.
Some months ago, we called the attention of our readers to the richly furnished gallery of Mr. COLLINS, the glass enameller, in the Strand; and this week we beg to lay before them a short notice of the collection of sculpture, &c. which is to be seen at the scagliola works of Messrs. BROWNE and Co. in Carmarthen Street.
For his lady visitors Mr. BROWNE has a delightful assemblage of prettinesses : variegated marbles, mosaics of centuries gone by, tables inlaid after the fashion of a thousand " dainty devices," seal copies of the sculptured riches of the Vatican and other Continental storehouses of art, accumulate one on another, in sufficient abundance to exhaust a lady's "morning" in their examination.
For the more solid observers of the arts, there are magnificent co- pies of the Medici vase, the Warwick vase, and several others of equal note, raised on pedestals so as to present them to the eye in a light as favourable as even their designer could desire. The upper room contains a series in small of some of CANOVA'S most admired pieces, as well as samples of the varied tints which have been imparted to the imitation scaghola for which Mr. BROWNE'S manufactory is fa- mous. The marble copy of the Laocoon, in the lower room, is of itself worth travelling some score miles to see ; and the finding that in a show-room in London, which was expressly ordered for one of NAPOLEON'S palaces, gives a sort of unexpected zest to the piece, in addition to that which its intrinsic merit commands.
To these enumerated works of art must be added an immense va- riety of bustos, pedestals, and groupes, most of which are of first-rate excellence.
Some of the chimney-pieces in marble deserve particular notice, —especially a pair now executing for the Marquis of STAFFORD, to be placed in his new house, which was originally intended for the Duke of YORK. The spirit with which the design of these pieces has been conceived, and the skill with which it has been executed, reflect the greatest credit on Mr. BROWNE and the workmen under his direc- tion. We may likewise mention, that to this establishment has been confided the execution of a considerable portion of the decorative ar- chitecture of Buckingham Palace ; and that a specimen of the splen- did ornamental columns to be erected in the semicircular saloon of that edifice is now standing in Mr. BROWNE'S manufactory.
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