room three times in two days, who have paid their 75 cents. In the space of two years the receipts of the exhibition not only repaid the expence of the building, but enabled the committee to enlarge the hospital with wards for the reception of thirty additional patients. The enthusiasm excited by this picture was productive of public honours to the painter. His name was enrolled among those of the founders of the hospital; and in the official writ of appointment addressed to him by the secretary, that body expressed, in the warmest terms, their high esteem for his amiable private character, their gratitude for his invaluable gift, and their admiration of his “exalted genius." He was unanimously elected, with exulting applause, a member of the Academy of Painting in Philadelphia, and of the similar institution at New York; the new world and the old thus bearing testimony to the high powers of his pencil.

That candid and zealous friend of the British School, Mr. Prince Hoare, has expressed his warm approbation of the munificent public spirit which the directors of the British Institution evinced in purchasing the grand composition of "Christ Healing the Sick." The opinion of this accomplished amateur, is of so much importance on every subject connected with the state of the fine arts, that we insert the following extract with pleasure" From every surmise of deficiency, the conduct of the Institution, with respect to the purchase of the historical picture by Mr. WEST, stands eminently exempt. No act of patriotic zeal towards the art can be more perfect, than the remuneration of contemporary merit, approved and established by the suffrages of professional judgment. All is then done, which the circumstances of the time allow. Happily for this country, the Picture of Christ Healing the Sick,'

ASSUMES SO HIGH a RANK in graphic composition, as to fear no future decline from its present just estimation. The GREAT MASTER OF COMPOSITION, from whose hand it came, holds a place in this respect amongst WHATEVER MODERN or ANCIENT SCHOOLS have produced oF EMINENCE. Above the sportive, desultory trains of Venetian grouping, HE RANKS WITH THE MORE CHASTE COMPOSERS of the FLORENTINE and LOMBARD SCHOOLS; and surpassing many, is excelled by few. The merits of the picture exhibited at the British Gallery, are not new in the artist, NEARLY FIFTY YEARS of his life have been passed in the production of WORKS OF SIMILAR worth. But had the merit of the work been less, the act of patriotism in the British Institution, would not have been less perfect." (Epochs of the Arts, p. 222.)

Mr. SHEE's warm sense of the directors' correct judgment and public spirit, and his very high estimate of West, as the Head of the British School, and of all contemporary art in other countries, are expressed with great candour in the following passage; and the opinion of this sound thinker is of more weight because it has never been lightly delivered to the public :-" In alluding to the purchase of Mr. West's picture, this author cannot resist the opportunity of paying his humble tribute of applause to the liberality of the British Institution in this instance. In common, he trusts, with every respectable member of his profession, he is gratified to see so proud a testimony of public favour conferred upon THIS GREAT and VENERABLE ARTIST, who STANDS AT THE HEAD, NOT ONLY OF THE ARTS IN THIS COUNTRY, but who has produced WORKS WHICH TAKE THE

LEAD OF HIS

COMPETITORS IN EVERY COUNTRY IN EUROPE. The author considers this act of the Institution not only just and generous towards the artist, but highly judicious towards the art. It is a powerful stimulus, applied at a proper time and in a right place." (Shee's Commemoration of Reynolds, Part I. page 33; published in 1814.)

To the above just observations, we subjoin a fact, that though "Christ Healing the Sick" was purchased by a body of the very best amateur judges of Painting and Sculpture in Europe, on the ground of its being the grandest composition from sacred history in modern times, and entitled to class among the eminent productions of the old schools; yet, in the opinion of the most acknowledged judges, West was roused to still greater exertions, and the manifestation of still higher powers, in his subsequent grand pictures of "Christ Rejected," and "Death on the Pale Horse." We have no hesitation in stating, that we perfectly agree with this opinion. But we are fortunately enabled to insert here, the observations of a distinguished artist on this extraordinary point. The following remarks are extracted from the Discourse of the present president of the Royal Academy, SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, delivered to the students in that institution, at the last distribution of the prizes:

"The elevated philosophy of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in these golden precepts, and that illustrious Society of which he was the centre, combined with his genius, to give a dazzling splendour to his name, which seemed to leave him without competitor; yet the powers and knowledge of Mr. WEST, DESERVED NOT THE CONTRAST IN THEIR PRESENT FORTUNES. At an era when historical painting was at the lowest ebb, (with the few

exceptions which the claims of the beautiful and the eminent permitted to the pencil of Sir Joshua). Mr. West, sustained by the benevolent patronage of his late Majesty, produced a series of compositions from sacred and profane history, profoundly studied, and executed with the most facile power, which not only were superior to any former productions of English art, but, FAR SURPASSING contemporary merit on the Continent, were UNE QUALLED at any period below the School OF THE CARACCI. The picture of the Return of Regulus to Carthage, preserved with gracious attention in the palace of Buckingham House, and of the Shipwreck of St. Paul, in the chapel of the Royal Hospital of Greenwich, are examples that may securely be adduced in testimony of the fact." "Towards the close of an honoured and laborious life, and when his advanced age might reasonably have deterred him from exertion, he produced a large and interesting work (Christ Healing the Sick, purchased by the British Institution), which, meeting with liberal reward, so forcibly excited the admiration of the public, as, even by its attraction, to add new means of patronage to the prompt benevolence that secured it. This was succeeded by others of still more arduous subjects, of greater magnitude, and, IF POSSIBLE, MORE POWERFULLY IMPRESSIVE. The display of such ASTONISHING ABILITIES in age (he was employed on them in his 80th year), combined with the importance of his sacred subject, gave him celebrity at the close of his life, far greater than he had ever before enjoyed, and he became (almost to forgetfulness of deceased greatness) the only popular painter of his country.'» "Yet what slight circumstances may retard the effect usually produced by death, on the fame of the eminent and the good! It is now more than three years that we have wit

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nessed at his own residence, an exhibition of the ACCUMULATED LABOURS of this venerable and great artist, whose remains were honoured with a public funeral, and WHOSE LOSS WAS FELT as a NATIONAL CALAMITY, totally neglected and deserted: the spacious rooms in which they are arranged, erected in just respect to a parent's memory, and due attention to the imagined expectations of the public, as destitute of spectators as the vacant halls of some corporate bodies; and, but for the possession of other property of known value, threatening to injure the remaining fortunes of the filial love that raised them. But though unnoticed by the public, THE GALLERY of Mr. West remains, Gentlemen, FOR YOU, and EXISTS FOR YOUR INSTRUCTION; while the extent of knowledge that he possessed, and was so liberal to convey—the useful weight of his opinions in societies of the highest rank, the gentle humanity of his nature, and that PARENTAL FONDNESS with which YOUTH and its young aspirings were INSTRUCTED and CHERISHED by him, will render his memory sacred to his friends, and endeared to the schools of this Academy, while respect for worth and for invaluable service is encouraged in them."

"For myself, indebted to his friendship for no inconsiderable portion of that service, I can truly say that I never estimated the comprehensive ability of that GREAT MASTER SO HIGHLY, as when comparing at Rome his labours in the memory, with many of THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSITIONS THEN BEFORE ME, OF the REVIVERS of MODERN ART, and were the revered friend now living to whom my letters were addressed, his report would be evidence of that impression."

"I hope it is not possible that the nation should long