Lorenzo Lotto (Venice) Self-portrait 1540s oil on panel Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Palma il Giovane (Venice) Victory of Francesco Bembo 1578 oil on canvas Palazzo Ducale, Venice |
Passages below are from Ulisse Forni's Manual for the Painter-Restorer (1866) –
"The infinite number of pictorial works, and the damage they have been subjected to by time or by neglect, have nurtured in men of good judgment, or men of science and lovers of Art, the notion that they must not lose them and should endeavor to prolong their life with all means available, or at least to safeguard them in the best possible manner. For this purpose, governments and wealthy citizens began to spend enormous sums to acquire the best paintings. In this way, they started building up small collections, which increased in size as they were handed down from father to son, from generation to generation, and turned from private into public collections. Finally, thus enlarged, they became what we know today as Picture Galleries, Art Galleries, or Museums."
Palma il Giovane (Venice) Reconquest of Padua 1584 oil on canvas Palazzo Ducale, Venice |
Palma il Giovane (Venice) Allegory of Victory (detail) ca. 1590 oil on canvas Palazzo Ducale, Venice |
"Experience, comparisons, and the good results that are always sought after by men of science and experts, teach us that the best way to ward off progressive or immediate damage to paintings is to keep them in surroundings with average and consistent temperatures. This extremely useful goal can be maintained though the use of heaters in the winter and fans in the summer. The thermometer is used to measure the required temperature, which is greatly influenced by the daily or temporary crowds of scholars and visitors."
Alessandro Allori (Florence) Pearl fishers 1570-72 oil on slate Palazzo Vecchio, Florence |
Jacopo Pontormo (Florence) The Visitation 1528-29 oil on panel San Michele e San Francesco, Carmignano |
"Many of these aforementioned cautions have already been put to work in the gallery of the Louvre in Paris, in those in Dresden and St. Petersburg, and in the National Gallery in London. The latter, which was built at the expense of the Nation from 1822 to 1838, according to the design of William Wilkins, is perhaps the most perfect example of modern galleries, precisely because it was built later, and in more limited proportions. There are no more than 300 paintings from foreign schools, as seen in the catalogue of 1862, compiled with great historical expertise by Mr. Wornum, and revised by Mr. Charles Lock Eastlake, director of the Gallery. Indeed, among the notices that preceded this catalogue, on page seven there is a list of the number of paintings that were in the principle national collections in Europe at the time. We feel we would render our readers a service by concluding this First Part with a duplication of this important survey.
In the Vatican Gallery in Rome, 225 paintings; in the Borghese, one of the most beautiful private galleries in Europe, 526. – In the Pinacoteca in Bologna, approximately 280. – In the Accademia di Brera in Milan, 503. – Turin, 569. – Venice, 688. – Naples, excluding the paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum, 700. – In the Academy in Frankfurt, approximately 380. – In the new Gallery in Berlin, approximately 1,350. – In the Pinakothek in Munich, approximately 1,270. – In the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, 1,300. – In Florence, in the Uffizi Gallery 1,200. – In the Pitti Palace gallery, 500. – Amsterdam, 386. – In the Museum of the Hague, 304. In the Antwerp collection, 584. – In Brussels, 400. – In Paris, in the Gallery of the Louvre (Italian school, 543), in all paintings 1,800. – In Versailles, Palace of Louis XIV, now the Historical Museum dedicated to all the glories of France, 3,300. – In the Prado Museum in Madrid, 1,833. – In the celebrated Gallery of Dresden, excluding the collection of pastels, 2,000. – In the Grosvenor Gallery in London, 157; in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland, 323; in the Bridgewater Gallery, belonging to Major Ellesmere, 318; and in the gallery of Burghley House, Northamptonshire, belonging to the Marquis of Exeter, approximately 600."
Tintoretto (Venice) Portrait of Marino Grimani 1578 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
Paolo Veronese (Venice) Allegory of Navigation with Cross-staff - Averroës 1557 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
Paolo Veronese (Venice) Allegory of Navigation with Astrolabe - Ptolemy 1557 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
Vincenzo Campi (Cremona) St Matthew and the Angel 1588 oil on canvas San Francesco d'Assisi, Pavia |
Titian (Venice) St Jerome in Penitence ca. 1575 canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Parmigianino (Parma) Mystic marriage of St Catherine ca. 1527 oil on panel Louvre |
Rosso Fiorentino (Florence) Allegory of Salvation with Virgin & Child, St Elizabeth & St John the Baptist ca. 1521 oil on panel Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
Giorgio Vasari (Florence) Holy Family with St Francis in a Landscape 1542 canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |