tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">148

The Dresden Gallery and the Italian School 155 Rosalba—Violante Siries—Henrietta Walters—Maria von Osterwyck—Elizabeth Sirani—the Sofonisba 171 Thoughts on Female Artists—Louisa and Eliza Sharpe—The Countess Julie von Egloffstein 179 Moritz Retzsch 183 English and German Art 197 Catalogue of German Artists 201

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A Visit to Hardwicke 213 A Visit to Althorpe 275

SKETCHES OF ART, LITERATURE, AND CHARACTER.

(Continued.)

VOL. II.

Page	7,	line	13,	for	to read too.
	18,	—	2,	for	Neurather read Neureuther.
	68,	—	5,	for	Scheckner read Schechner.
	72,	—	16,		ditto. ditto.
	94,	—	23,	for	interior read exterior.
	133,	—	1,	note,	for Frederic Augustus read Anthony.
	203,	—	16,	for	Steiler read Stieler.
	204,	—	21,	for	Neurather read Neureuther.
	209,	—	2,	for	Reitchel read Rietschel.

SKETCHES OF ART, LITERATURE, AND CHARACTER.

MUNICH (CONTINUED).

Tuesday.—M. de Klenze called this morning and conducted me over the whole of the new palace. The design, when completed, will form a vast quadrangle. It was begun about seven years ago; and as only a certain sum is set apart every year for the works, it will probably be seven years more before the portion now in progress, which is the south side of the quadrangle, can be completed.

The exterior of the building is plain, but has an air of grandeur even from its simplicity and uniformity. It reminds me of Sir Philip Sydney's beautiful description—"A house built of fair and strong stone; not affecting so much any extraordinary kind of fineness, as an honourable representing of a firm stateliness; all more lasting than beautiful, but that the consideration of the exceeding lastingness made the eye believe it was exceeding beautiful."

When a selfish despot designs a palace, it is for himself he builds. He thinks first of his own personal tastes and peculiar habits, and the arrangements are contrived to suit his exclusive propensities. Thus, for Nero's overwhelming pride, no space, no height, could suffice; so he built his "golden house" upon a scale which obliged its next possessor to pull it to pieces, as only fit to lodge a colossus. George the Fourth had a predilection for low ceilings, so all the future inhabitants of the Pimlico palace must endure suffocation; and as his majesty did not live on good terms with his wife, no accommodation was prepared for a future queen of England.

The commands which the king of Bavaria gave De Klenze were in a different spirit. "Build me a palace, in which nothing within or without shall be of transient fashion or interest; a palace for my posterity, and my people, as well as myself; of which the decorations shall be durable as well as splendid, and shall appear one or two centuries hence as pleasing to the eye and taste as they do now." "Upon this principle," said De Klenze, looking round, "I designed what you now see."

On the first floor are the apartments of the king and queen, all facing the south: a parallel range of apartments behind contains accommodation for the attendants, ladies of honour, chamberlains, &c.; a grand staircase on the east leads to the apartments of the king, another on the west to those of the queen; the two suites of apartments uniting in the centre, where the private and sleeping rooms communicate with each other. All the chambers allotted to the king's use are painted with subjects from the Greek poets, and those of the queen from the German poets.

We began with the king's apartments. The approach to the staircase I did not quite understand, for it appears small and narrow; but this part of the building is evidently incomplete.

The staircase is beautiful, but simple, consisting of a flight of wide broad steps of the native marble; there is no gilding; the ornaments on the ceiling represent the different arts and manufactures carried on in Bavaria. Over the door which opens into the apartments is the king's motto in gold letters, Gerecht und Beharrlich—Just and Firm. Two Caryatides support the entrance: on one side the statue of Astrea, and on the other the Greek Victory without wings—the first expressing justice, the last firmness or constancy. These figures are colossal, and modelled by Schwanthaler in a grand and severe style of art.

I. The first antechamber is decorated with great simplicity. On the cornice round the top is represented the history