ART.
EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL HOUSE OF STUART.- NEW GALLERY.
[SECOND NOTICE.]
On entering the North Gallery, devoted to portraits and relics of the later Stuarts, we feel at once on a lower level as regards Art. Lely but very inadequately replaces Vandyck, and his is the best work shown here ; the taste of the day is particularly
hard on his special defects,—shortcomings, withal, which require no great knowledge to discover. In spite, however, of these mannerisms and exaggerations, we must in justice allow Lely at least one merit,—namely, that his colouring, though at times disagreeable and forced, has stood (i.e., kept up to the pitch at which it was painted) better than the work of any other painter of the last century. This is especially to be observed in his draperies, where the crimsons and pinks he so much affects are as brilliant as on the day they left the painter's studio. Lely is generally believed to have had rather a rare accomplishment with painters, considerable chemical knowledge of the composition and qualities of the pigments he was using, and to have been always testing his colours as to their durability, &c. Sir Joshua Reynolds had the same love of experimenting, but, unfortunately for posterity, without the knowledge requisite. To illustrate this, we would recommend to the visitor's notice "Mary of Modena, Queen of James II." (121), where the colour has stood well; though better examples may be seen at Hampton Court in the gallery of Charles II. beauties painted by him. In any case, he is a far better painter than Kneller, who is largely represented here.
Our "merry monarch," Charles II., is well represented here both by portraits and relics. We see him (107), surrounded by an admiring audience, footing it very delicately and " disposedly " at a ball at the Hague, before his restoration ; opening Parliament (99) ; and last, but not least, as monarch in all the splendour of ermine-lined robes, orb, and sceptre (135). The picture is life-size, and the painting very solid and finished, and is the work of a comparatively unknown man, Nason. It is rather amnsing to compare this portrait mentally with those of the same character of Louis XIV., his brother-monarch. Poor Charles looks as if he were somewhat ashamed of himself, thoroughly bored, and all the while wishing to be off on some frolic with Buckingham or Rochester. Louis, on. the contrary, stands, looking about 6 ft. 2 in. (we know he was 5 ft. without wig and high-heeled shoes), swelling himself out, and thoroughly carrying out his own saying,—" L'etat, c'est moi." Not far from this picture hangs "Catherine of Braganza " (120), most appropriately, poor Queen, painted as St. Catherine ; and side by side with her, one of the many thorns of her martyrdom, la belle Stuart, afterwards Duchess of Richmond (119), the celebrated beauty who flung such a glamour over Charles that he is even said to have contem- plated divorcing the luckless Catherine, and taking her rival to wife. She is known to have sat to Rotier—who is said to have become distracted from his love for her—for the original " Britannia " on the penny, and in this picture she is costumed for the part. The time of Charles's life when he appears to best advantage is during his wanderings and concealments after the Battle of Worcester. Of that period, upstairs in the gallery is to be seen a very interesting and old engraving of Boscobel and Whitela.dies, from which, if accu- rate, we gather that the two houses must have been situated very near one another. This plate is very minute, and points out with suspicious exactitude the Royal oak where Charles and Colonel Carlos sat, whilst "Far below the Roundhead rode, and hummed a surly hymn." Not only Tennyson's cele- brated poem, but also all the old tavern signs have given colour to the popular idea of the unfortunate Charles being perched high up in the topmost branches of a lofty oak : as a matter of fact, as we gather from his own account of his escape, dictated to Mr. Samuel Pepys, he lay, as in a nest, on the top of a pollard oak, not twelve feet from the ground, and the surly Roundhead was not riding so far below but that the King might have tapped on his pot-helmet if he had so wished. Other confusion arose from the fact of the Cavaliers keeping the date of his restora- tion and Royal Oak Day at the same time : "29th May, Royal Oak Day," says the old rhyme ; whereas he really was in the oak in September, when, of course, the leaves gave him that shelter which they could not have afforded in May. In the gallery will also be found a most highly finished and individual drawing of Charles II. by Lely (868), evidentlymuch worked on, and bearing every trace of being done directly from life ; every line of the face tells its own tale, and well bears out all we know of the habits, manners, and customs of the Royal sitter. Lely most probably has used this drawing to paint his official like- nesses from. Of James II. there are several portraits, and a very refined death-mask in wax, taken at St. Germains, which
gives him the appearance of a dignified old cleric. From his portraits here one would conceive the idea of a better-looking man than history has generally described. The fishermen at Newhaven, where he was embarking, disguised, on his flight to France, not knowing who he was, cried, " D—n him for a hatchet-faced old Jesuit,"—so, Macaulay, who was, however, prejudiced against him, records. There is a sword exhibited here, supposed to have belonged to him, which was found years after in a cupboard at Ham House, near Twickenham. Here he lingered for a short while after his flight from White- hall, abandoned by almost every one, until William kindly gave orders to allow, or rather compel, him to escape out of England. A more melancholy house than Ham for the musings and meditations of a dethroned monarch, it would be difficult to conceive. Of the religious fervour, or rather bigotry, of his later years, interesting records are preserved in the two sets of "papers of devotion" (479 and 480) bequeathed to the Scots College at Paris.
Amongst all the narrow-minded, dull, wooden-headed characters, thrust into some prominence by Royal birth or historical association, surely Prince James Francis Edward, the elder Pretender, or Chevalier de St. Georges, takes a high place. His portraits well bear out this idea; we have him here in many characters,—in armour (167), rather a good picture, but his pretensions to military distinction were about as well founded as those of his late Majesty, George IV., who was also great in dressing the part ; again, at his marriage ; and as the proud father at the christening of Prince Charles Edward (147 and 184). He looks equally uninteresting everywhere. His behaviour in 1715 disgusted even the warmest enthusiasts of his party, and he was a true Stuart in his treatment of his wife and all who trusted in him. Notice the interesting letter from him to Charles Edward (1,022) dated Albano, May 18th, 174-5. He says, referring to the campaign in Scotland,—" As long as there is hopes, those who may be useful must be managed." It is observable in the two large pictures of functions at his Court, that the prominent place in the fore- ground are occupied by Italian ecclesiastics, the devoted Scotch Lords who followed him into exile being quite in the background. • Leaving old "Mr. James Misfortunate ' (so called by his con- temporaries), we come to his better known and more interesting son, Prince Charles Edward Casimir, the Young Chevalier. He seems to have inherited through his mother some touch of the spirited Polish blood of his grandfather, John Sobieski, King of Poland, the Deliverer of Vienna. Of him we have a very complete series of indifferent portraits, the best of them in artistic merit being, in our opinion, a small
drawing in gouache (158), representing him as a discontented, broken-down old man, very plainly dressed in a brown
coat, but with the ribbon of the Garter,—notice the long nose and the loose protruding under-lip so hereditary in the family. Contemporary chroniclers speak of his face having been very red and bloated with drink ; this the artist would seem to have toned down, as the face is pale, as it is also in one of the best miniatures (680), where he is repre- sented in a richly embroidered red coat, probably rather an imitation of the uniform of the English Foot Guards of the period. There is a wealth of relics of the 1745 rising, and enough pieces of tartan from the Pretender's different kilts and plaids to make at least one patchwork quilt.
Of Flora Macdonald, for whom every one taking any interest in the '45 will eagerly look out, there are two
portraits, one by Allan Ramsay (197), which gives one the impression of a very faithful likeness. She wears the
Jacobite white rose in her dark-brown hair, and a tartan plaid over her shoulder. Her face is very Scotch, shrewd, and kind withal, but not beautiful. The other portrait (198) is more prettified, but less individual. We must not omit the celebrated punch-bowl (543) broken by the Prince when, disguised as Betty Burke, he was hospitably entertained at Kingsburgh, Flora Macdonald's house. The Prince being, by contemporary accounts, as good a " bowlsman as any in Scotland," insisted, in spite of his being obliged to make a very early start in the morning, on fresh supplies of toddy to such a pitch that Macdonald was for putting away the bowl, and in the struggle it was broken. At this period he is described as smoking a short cutty-pipe, and not scrupling to put the "brandy-bottle to his head when he wanted a dram."
The last of the whole line, Henry Benedict (better known as Cardinal York) is frequently portrayed on the walls, a quiet, inoffensive man, of antiquarian tastes. He disgusted his fiercer brother Charles by entering clerical life, in which, thanks to the protection of several Popes, he naturally attained the highest honours. His celebrated medal, struck on his brother's death—Henry IX., Xing of England "by the will of God, but not by the wish of the people "—will be found among the medals in the collection. Towards the close of his life, he was in very poor circumstances, owing to the French entering Italy after their revolution, and the pension paid him by George III. must have been very welcome. There are several portraits of people here who, though not Stuarts, were staunch friends to their cause,—such are Dundee (195) and Atterbury (202). Dundee is handsome, but remarkably girlish-looking for so ruthless a partisan ; the picture is rather a good one, though it is apparently by an unknown artist.
Previous page
