Letter from David Wilkie, Venice, to Sir George Beaumont, 1826 May 14 : autograph manuscript signed.

Congratulating him on the gift of his collection to the nation; saying "The National Gallery while it exists, and I hope you may live to see many years of its glory, will be its commemoration and you will, with as much reason, be regarded as its founder as Lorenzo de Medici was of the Gallery of Florence. The formation of this collection has made a stir even in Italy. The dealers in works of art are on the alert, and it has even been urged by some professing influence at home that whole Galleries now breaking up in Rome should be bought in the gross by the Government. But however this may be, my attention was drawn to the Braschi Palace hearing the works there were to be sold and I must confess the Colossal Antinous which you mention appeared to me to be a desirable acquisition;" describing, in detail, the features and artistic merit of the Colossal Antinous and adding "In contemplating it as a purchase for the nation, one thing I am sure of, it has nothing English delicacies can object to either in subject or appearance. But your own recollection will supply to you I doubt not a perfect idea of its merits and of its defects;" saying he had a letter from Mr. Irvine who asked to be remembered to Sir Beaumont and to tell him that he was unable to see the drawings Sir George had mentioned to him when he was in Perugia but that he suspected that "...the supposed present possessor being one of the richest, and an amateur, there seems to be no probability of his parting with them;" relating news of his travels from Rome to Loretto, Ancona, Bologna and Parma; describing and commenting on, at length, the works he has seen in Venice and discussing Titian and Tintoretto; discussing "Venetian colouring" and comparing it to work being done in England; saying "...one thing only I would further remark which as this is the school we are, for colour, the most desirous of imitating in England, should not be overlooked. The deep and rich tone inseparable from Venetian colouring. Now that I am on the spot this appears one of the striking features of their art. All possess it, even from the best preserved, to the rubbed out Picture. Without this Paul Veronese would be gaudy and with it in its perfection Titian possesses a style in his heart that seems a perfect equivalent to the style in forms of Michael Angelo. But how frequently have we had occasion to remark the want of this in our present efforts in England. We appear to paint too much like fresco for our material, which never has the purity of fresco, trusting to time for the rest - that time which with the assistance of Varnish, blackens and ruins Venetian Pictures here as much as I have seen it do the lightest Vandeveldt [sic]. Yet after all England is the only place of the present day where colouring is attempted;" adding "Your M. Angelo I suppose takes a conspicuous place in the new Gallery. Thorvalsden mentioned this work accidentally to me and passed upon it a spontaneous and high eulogium both for the style and process of working of that great master. What you say of my small work honored through your means with a place in that high assemblage is extremely kind."