This very capital picture belonged to the collection of the crown, and was purchased by Lewis XIV.: PIERINO DEL VAGA. N° 928. (Gallery.) The Muses challenged by the Pierides. An excellent picture from Versailles. BALTASSARE PERUZZI. N° 929. (Gallery.) The Virgin discovering the infant Jesus asleep. A remarkably fine production. N° ( SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO. ) Portrait of the young sculptor, Baccio Bomdinelli. This picture is worthy of the pencil of RAPHAEL. It is not yet exhibited. PIETRO DA CORTONA. N° 52. (Saloon.) The Birth of the Virgin. 53. Remus and Romulus. These are the finest pictures in the collection by this master. We have now noticed the best productions of the Italian School: in our next visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM, I shall point out the most distinguished pictures of the French and Flemish Schools. P. S. Lord Cornwallis is sumptuously entertained here, all the ministers giving him a grand dinner, each in rotation. After having viewed the curiosities of Paris, he will, in about a fortnight, proceed to the congress at Amiens. On his Lordship's arrival, I thought it my duty to leave my name at his hotel, and was most agreeably surprised to meet with a very old acquaintance in his military Secretary, Lieut. Col. L -S. For any of the ambassador's further proceedings, I refer you to the English newspapers, which seem to anticipate all his movements. LETTER XVII. Paris, November 15, 1801. THE more frequently I visit the CENtral Mu SEUM OF THE ARTS, the more am I inclined to think that such a vast number of pictures, suspended together, lessen each other's effect. This is the first idea which now presents itself to me, whenever I enter the GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE. Were this collection rendered apparently less numerous by being subdivided into different apartments, the eye would certainly be less dazzled than it is, at present, by an assemblage of so many various objects, which, though arranged as judiciously as possible, somehow convey to the mind an image of confusion. The consequence is that attention flags, and no single picture is seen to advantage, because so many are seen together. In proportion as the lover of the arts becomes more familiarized with the choicest productions of the pencil, he perceives that there are few pictures, if any, really faultless. In some, he finds beauties, which are general, or forming, as it were, a whole, and producing a general effect; in others, he meets with particular or detached beauties, whose effect is partial: assembled, they constitute the beautiful: insulated, they have a merit which the amateur appreciates, and the artist ought to study. General or congregated beautics always arise from genius and talent: particular or detached beauties belong to study, to labour, that is, to the nulla die sine lined, and sometimes solely to chance, as is exemplified in the old story of Protogenes, the celebrated Rhodian painter. To discover some of these beauties, requires no extraordinary discernment; a person of common observation might decide whether the froth at the mouth of an animal, panting for breath, was naturally represented: but a spectator, possessing a cultivated and refined taste, minutely surveys every part of a picture, examines the grandeur of the composition, the elevation of the ideas, the nobleness of the expression, the truth and correctness of the design, the grace scattered over the different objects, the imitation of nature in the colouring, and the masterly strokes of the pencil. Our last visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM terminated with the Italian School; let us now continue our examination, beginning with the FRENCH SCHOOL. LE BRUN. No 17. (Gallery) The Defeat of Porus. 18. The Family of Darius at the feet of Alexander. 19. The Entrance of Alexander into Babylon. The Passage of the Granicus. 14. Jesus asleep, or Silence. 16. The Crucifix surrounded by angels. The compositions of LE BRUN are grand and rich; his costume well-chosen, and tolerably sci entific; the tone of his pictures well-suited to the subject. But, in this master, we must not look for purity and correctness of drawing, in an eminent degree. He much resembles PIETRO DA COR+ TONA. LE BRUN, however, has a taste more in the style of RAPHAEL and the antique, though it is a distant imitation. The colouring of PIETRO DA CORTONA is far more agreeable and more captivating. Among the small pictures by LE BRUN, Nos, 14 and 16 deserve to be distinguished; but his chefs d'œuvre are the achievements of Alexander, When the plates from these historical paintings, engraved by AUDRAN, reached Rome, it is related that the Italians, astonished, exclaimed: "Povero Raffaello! non sei più il primo." But, when they afterwards saw the originals, they restored to RAPHAEL his former pre-eminence, CLAUDE LORRAIN, N° 43. (Gallery.) View of a sea-port at sun-set. 45. A Sea-piece on a fine morning. 46. A Landscape enlivened by the setting sun. The superior merit of CLAUDE in landscapepainting is too well known to need any eulogium. The three preceding are the finest of his pictures in this collection. However, at Roine, and in England, there are some more perfect than those in the |