Recollections of the late William Beckford of Fonthill, Wilts and Lansdown, Bath | Page 5

tangibly, so poetically developed the
poet's idea in colour. The personifying the planets according to their
names, as Venus, Mercury, and so forth, was charming, and the
splendour of the nearer figures, overwhelmed as it were with excess of
light, and the gloom and darkness of the distant, were admirably
managed. What a wonderful picture!" "He never painted a finer."
Mr. Beckford then pointed out his Claude. It is a cool picture, the
colouring grey and greenish, the time of day, early morning just before
sunrise: but words fail to express its beauties. There is a something in it,
a je ne sais quoi. Such clearness in the colouring; the trees are all green,
but so tenderly green; the sky and distance of such an exquisite tone
that you are at once in imagination transported to those "southern
climes and cloudless skies" that inspired Claude Lorraine. I can give no
possible idea in writing of the tone of colour in this picture, except by
comparing it to the semi-transparency of Mosaic, such are the clearness
of the tints and pearliness of the sky and distance. As to chiaro-oscure,
it is breadth and simplicity itself. Nothing but the purest ultramarine
could ever produce such a green as that which colours the trees.
On the same side of the room are two small Vander Meulens,
landscapes. They are very highly finished, and the colouring is
delicious; the trees are grouped with all the grandeur of Claude or
Poussin. Above are two of the finest Vernets; they are both sea pieces.
The colouring has a depth and richness I never before saw in anything
attributed to him. In the Louvre are his most famous pictures, and what
I now say is the result of calm and mature reflection. I had the Louvre
pictures constantly before my eyes for three months. They are very
large, and certainly have great merit; but had I my choice I would
prefer Mr. Beckford's to any of the set.

West's original sketch for his great picture of King Lear, painted for
Boydell's Shakspeare Gallery--"Blow, blow, thou winter wind." A most
wonderful performance. The expression of face of the poor mad king is
astonishing; the colouring rich and mellow--nothing of West's usually
hard outline. The whole picture is full of energy and fire, and seems to
have been struck off with the greatest ease and rapidity. "Do observe
the face of Edgar," said Mr. Beckford. "Under his assumed madness
you trace a sentiment of respect and anxiety for the monarch; he could
not forget that it was his sovereign." "I have seen," I said, "most of
West's great pictures, but there is more genius in that sketch than in
anything I ever saw of his. I think he took too much pains with his
sketches. The consequence was that the original spirit evaporated long
before the completion of the great tame painting, where his men and
women too often look like wooden lay figures covered with drapery."
"Sir, did you ever see his sketch of Death on the Pale Horse? The large
picture is certainly very fine, but I have heard the best judges say that
the original sketch is one of the finest things in existence. The President
himself considered it his best and refused 100 pounds, offered for it by
the Prince Regent; yet afterwards, being distressed for money, he
parted with it, I believe, to Mr. Thompson, the artist, for 50 pounds."
"Is it possible? I wish I had known that he wanted to dispose of it. I
should have liked it beyond anything. It was most wonderful."
Above the picture of King Lear hangs a noble picture by Titian, the
composition of which reminded me much of Raphael. The Virgin's face
is extremely beautiful, but it is the sort of beauty we sometimes meet
with, that we sometimes may have seen. The St. Catherine is of a more
elevated style of beauty, more intellectual; in short, it possesses a
combination of charms that has never yet fallen to the lot of any mortal.
The infant is extremely fine. On this side is also a portrait of himself
exquisitely coloured and finished.
Near these paintings is a Canaletti, not a real view, but an assemblage
of various fine buildings; in fact, a sort of union of Rome and Venice.
In the centre is the Mole of Hadrian, round which he has amused
himself by putting an elegant colonnade; on the right hand is a bridge.
The colouring is clear, the shadows rich, and the water softly painted

and extremely transparent. This is the most beautiful Canaletti I ever
saw. I observed that the generality of his pictures had a hardness,
dryness, and blackness that we saw nothing of here. "You are quite
right," he said, "and the reason