Modern Art workmanship, originated in the year a lofty and spacious building, surrounded with 1852 with a small collection, exhibited in Marlborough House in connection with the Schools of Art. In 1857 the collection was transferred hither to some temporary iron buildings which had been erected for its reception, which, from their material, and from some peculiarities of construction, became popularly known as the "Brompton Boilers." These temporary buildings have been gradually replaced by a permanent edifice. From the year 1853 the Museum has included objects contributed on loan by private owners. In 1862the year of the second International Exhibition-a special "loan exhibition" of works, chiefly of Medieval and Renaissance Art, was held here; and since that time the number of objects on loan has always been considerable. By this means very many of the rarest and most precious examples of art workmanship in this country have been generously permitted by their owners to be seen and leisurely studied by the public. In addition to the "loans," many objects have been acquired by purchase, gift, and bequest; besides which are reproductions, by the electrotype process and in plaster, of objects in other collections which have been judged to be of special interest and value to the art student.

galleries, and rich in ornamentation. The upper
portion of the walls is divided into thirty-six
alcoves, (eighteen on either side), containing por-
traits, in mosaic, of eminent men of all ages con-
nected with the arts, especially those who have
been distinguished as ornamentalists, or as workers
in bronze, marble, or pottery.
These portraits,
which include such men as Phidias, the sculptor
of the Elgin marbles, William of Wykeham, Dona-
tello, Torrigiano, Albert Dürer, Michael Angelo,
Titian, Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Mul-
ready, are from designs by some of the first artists
of the day. This court is divided into two parts
by a broad passage which crosses it, above which
is the Prince Consort Gallery above mentioned.
It would be impossible to give, within the limits at
our disposal, a list of the various objects here exhi-
bited, and indeed such a task would be needless,
as they are all detailed in the various catalogues
sold at the Museum; suffice it to say that here
are deposited the numerous and costly objects
comprising the "Loan Collections," together with
a miscellaneous assortment of art manufactures.
The "Oriental Courts," appropriately decorated
by Mr. Owen Jones, contain some examples of
the art workmanship of the East Indies, China,
Japan, Persia, &c.

The North Court is specially appropriated to the exhibition of Italian sculpture, and architectural models and casts. Many of the most beautiful of these objects are, so to speak, incorporated into the building, the decoration of which is much simpler than that of the South Court. In the east arcade of this court are some textile or woven fabrics, of European origin, including several ecclesiastical vestments and rare fragments of mediæval embroidery.

The plan of the Museum is somewhat irregular, and covers a large space of ground-about twelve acres in extent-acquired by the Government, at a cost of £60,000, being a portion of the estate purchased by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, out of the surplus proceeds of that undertaking. The buildings, with their courts and galleries, are constructed chiefly of brick, some what profusely ornamented with terra-cotta, and were built from the designs of Captain Fowke, R.E. The art collections are chiefly contained in three large courts and a long range of cloisters on the ground floor; but many rare and valuable objects are shown in the picture-galleries, and also in what is called the Prince Consort Gallery. The visitor, on entering the Museum from the Cromwell Road, passes through a corridor to the New or Architectural Court. This is divided by a central passage and gallery. The majority of the objects in Ecclesiasticus, chapter xxxviii., descriptive of it contains are full-size reproductions (in plaster) of architectural works of large dimensions designed for erection in the open air, or in large halls or churches, including the famous Trajan Column at Rome, and the "'Prentice Pillar" in Roslin Chapel, Scotland; there is also a full-size copy (by photography) of the Bayeux Tapestry, coloured in imitation of the original needlework.

Through the windows of the north arcade is seen the "fernery," which was designed to enable the students in training as art-teachers to draw from plants at all seasons. A considerable portion of the west arcade forms the reading-room of the Art Library. The staircase leading to the galleries is lighted by a large stained-glass window, the subject of which was suggested by a passage

trades. The keramic, or pottery gallery, contains a large collection of Wedgwood's jasper and other wares, and also examples of the porcelain of Bow, Chelsea, Bristol, Plymouth, Worcester, and Derby. Here, too, are represented the great manufacturers of pottery of the present day in Italy, France, and England. The next gallery into which the visitor passes contains a collection of Venetian, German, From this Court we enter the South Court, and other ancient glass vessels. In the Prince

South Kensington.]

THE RAPHAEL CARTOONS.

III

Consort Gallery are placed many of the most his Dungeon at Philippi." A copy A copy in tapestry of interesting and costly possessions of the Museum, Christ's "Charge to Peter" is hung opposite the in enamel, gold, and silversmith's work, jewellery, original cartoon; and also a tapestry from the Imwatches, clocks, &c. The South Gallery, which perial manufactory, the Gobelins, at Paris, a copy now enter, is filled with cases containing of the "Holy Family" by Raphael in the Louvre. examples of ancient and mediaval ivories. The The tapestries, worked in wool, silk, and gold, gallery of the Architectural Court is devoted to were hung in the Sistine Chapel at Rome in the examples of art iron-work. From an arched open-year 1519, the year before Raphael died. These ing at the north end of the Prince Consort Gallery are now in the Vatican. a view of the North Court is obtained. The The cartoons remained neglected in the warebalcony here is the Singing Gallery from Florence. house of the manufacturer at Arras, and were seen To the right is the grand fresco of the Industrial there by Rubens, who advised Charles I. to purArts as applied to War, by Sir Frederick Leighton, chase them for the use of a tapestry manufactory P.R.A. It is a lunette, thirty-five feet long at the which was then established at Mortlake. On the base and sixteen feet high. "The scene," observes death of Charles I., Cromwell bought them for a writer in the Athenæum, "is the entrance to a £300 for the nation. They remained for a long town or fortress of Italian Gothic architecture; and time in a lumber-room at Whitehall, till, by comthe figures wear those Italian costumes of the four-mand of William III., Sir Christopher Wren erected teenth century which are dear to artists in designs of the Early Renaissance. The effect of brilliant open daylight has been rendered with peculiar splendour; the colouration is vivid and in a bright, pure key; the treatment is at once severe and elegant, decorative, and monumental, without achaism and without those Mantegnesque affectations of which we have seen much of late. The composition of the figures, not less than that of the chiaroscuro, general colouring, and light and shade, is architectonic; the lines throughout and the arrangement of the groups are adapted to the pedimental form of the lunette; even the shadow of the overhanging arch has been considered in the disposition of the white clouds and buildings in the distance." The companion subject, The Industrial Arts as applied to Peace, is destined to fill the corresponding space on the other side of the north end of the South Court.

a room for them at Hampton Court, in which they hung till Her Majesty permitted them to be removed hither.

Passing through the door at the east end of the gallery, we enter the rooms containing the Sheepshanks' Collection of Paintings. A bust, by Foley, of the late John Sheepshanks, the donor of the pictures, has been placed in this gallery by Miss Sheepshanks. The south-eastern gallery contains the Jones Collection of furniture, Sèvres, and other porcelain, enamelled miniatures, paintings, sculpture, bronzes, &c. It was bequeathed to the Museum in 1882 by Mr. John Jones, of Piccadilly. In five rooms at the south end of the Western Galleries are placed the Dyce and Forster collections. The former collection, bequeathed to the Museum by the Rev. Alexander Dyce, the eminent scholar and editor of Shakespeare, consists of oil paintings, miniatures, drawings, enThree staircases in different parts of the building gravings, &c., a few manuscripts, and a library lead to the Picture Galleries, which are above the containing upwards of 11,000 volumes. The cloisters of the North and South Courts. Several Forster collection, bequeathed to the Museum rooms or galleries are devoted to the National in 1876, by Mr. John Forster, the friend and Collection of Pictures by British artists. Critical | biographer of Charles Dickens, consists of oil and notices of many of the paintings here exhibited will be found in Redgrave's "Century of British Art." In the north gallery are hung the Raphael cartoons. From the authorised "Guide to the Museum" we glean the following particulars concerning these celebrated productions. They are drawn with chalk upon strong paper, and coloured in distemper, and are the original designs, executed by Raphael and his scholars for Pope Leo X., in the year 1513, as copies for tapestry work. Each cartoon is about twelve feet high. They were originally ten, but three are lost-viz., "The Stoning of St. Stephen," the "Conversion of St. Paul," and "St. Paul in

water-colour paintings, drawings, manuscripts, autographs, and a library of 18,000 volumes. Oliver Goldsmith's chair, desk, and walking-cane, bequeathed by Goldsmith to his friend Dr. Hawes, and given to the Museum by Lady Hawes, are exhibited in this gallery. A painting by Maclise, representing "Caxton's Printing-office in the Almonry at Westminster," was bequeathed by Mr. Forster to Lord Lytton, and has been lent by his lordship to the Museum.

The reading-room for the Dyce and Forster libraries is open from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. daily. The Historical Collection of British Water

colour Drawings, exhibited in two rooms facing the head of the staircase, is for the most part composed of the gifts of Mrs. Ellison, of Sudbrooke Holme, Lincolnshire, Mr. William Smith, Mrs. Tatlock, Miss Twining, Mr. C. T. Maud, the bequests of the Rev. C. H. Townshend and Mr. J. M. Parsons; examples of Gainsborough, Rooker, Barret, Gilpin, De Loutherbourg, Sandby, Payne, Dayes, Rowlandson, Cerres, and Cipriani; and on a screen several original sketches by the late John Leech.

students have obtained certificates of qualification, they may be appointed teachers to the local Schools of Art throughout the United Kingdom. The object of the Science Schools and Classes is to promote instruction in science, especially among the industrial classes, in such subjects as Mathematics, Geometry, Naval Architecture, Mechanics, Chemistry, Botany, and the like. The assistance granted by the Science and Art Department to that end is in the form of public examinations, in which Queen's medals and Queen's prizes are awarded; payments on the results of examination and on attendance; scholarships and exhibitions; building grants; grants towards the purchase of apparatus, &c., and supplementary grants in certain subjects; and special aid to teachers and students. The sum voted by Parliament, for the year 1882-3, for the Science and Art Department, amounted

The Museum of Patents, adjoining the South Court, is a collection illustrative of the progress of national invention, and contains not only models, but several original machines which have been the means of developing our prosperity, and have given new life to the world. As examples may be mentioned the first steam-engine to which James Watt applied his condenser; the first locomotive, to nearly £351,400. The department, it may "Puffing Billy," and its successor, George Stephenson's "Rocket ;" the first engine ever used in steam navigation, the first Bramah's press, and many other pieces of mechanism of not less historical value.

On the west side of the main buildings of the Museum, facing the Exhibition Road, is a large edifice, containing class-rooms for instruction in various branches of science. This structure was built on the site of the "International Bazaar," a building which was constructed in 1862, and filled with a choice selection of works by persons whose application for space in the Exhibition could not be complied with. The Art Schools extend along the north side of the Museum, and have separate apartments for male and female students.

be added, has the advantage of the services of gentlemen of the highest standing in their several professions, as examiners both for Science and Art Schools, and as official referees for the purchases made for the collections.

The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, to which we now pass, owes its origin to the fund, which was raised in 1862, for the purpose of erecting in Hyde Park the national memorial to the late Prince Consort, which we have already described. With every desire that this recognition of the debt which English art, science, and industry owed to the Prince should be, in every sense of the word, such a memorial as the country itself preferred, the Queen requested a committee of gentlemen to suggest the form which the testimonial should The Science and Art Department is a division assume. After deliberating upon the matter, the of the Education Department, under the direction committee recommended the erection of a personal of the Lord President of the Council and the memorial to the Prince Consort in Hyde Park, Vice-President of the Committee of Council on opposite to what was best known as the Central Education. It was established in 1852. A sum Hall of Arts and Sciences. Naturally enough, it of money is voted annually by Parliament, in aid was expected that large subscriptions would flow in of local efforts to promote science and art applied towards the object in view. These expectations to productive industry, such efforts originating were not fully realised, the amount subscribed at with the localities. Payments are made upon that period being less than £70,000. To this results of instruction in science and art, as tested sum Parliament added £50,000; and with the by examination by properly-appointed officials. £120,000 thus obtained it was resolved to place The National Art Training School was established in Hyde Park the monument of which we have for the purpose of training art-masters and mis- spoken. Further efforts were yet to be made, and tresses for the United Kingdom, and for the in these the Prince of Wales took the initiative. In instruction of students in designing, &c., to which the year 1865 the Prince of Wales called together male and female students are admitted when pro- a number of gentlemen, who were asked and conperly qualified, receiving an allowance in aid of sented to become vice-patrons of the proposed their maintenance, which is proportioned to their memorial building. A statement of the intentions attainments, and to their qualification for the duties of the promoters of the undertaking was issued; of teaching required from them. When such the Royal Commissioners of the Exhibition of