ested. To these must be added
Velasquez and Vandyck, each of infinite genius, who won fame
especially as portrait-painters. And what other title has Sir Joshua
himself?

[Sidenote: Suyderhoef.]

Historical pictures are often collections of portraits arranged so as
to illustrate an important event. Such is the famous PEACE OF MUeNSTER,
by Terburg, just presented by a liberal Englishman to the National
Gallery at London. Here are the plenipotentiaries of Holland, Spain,
and Austria, uniting in the great treaty which constitutes an epoch in
the Law of Nations. The engraving by Suyderhoef is rare and
interesting. Similar in character is the Death of Chatham, by Copley,
where the illustrious statesman is surrounded by the peers he had
been addressing--every one a portrait. To this list must be added the
pictures by Trumbull in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington,
especially the Declaration of Independence, in which Thackeray took a
sincere interest. Standing before these, the author and artist said to
me, "These are the best pictures in the country," and he proceeded to
remark on their honesty and fidelity; but doubtless their real value
is in their portraits.

Unquestionably the finest assemblage of portraits anywhere is that of
the artists occupying two halls in the gallery at Florence, being
autographs contributed by the masters themselves. Here is Raffaelle,
with chestnut-brown hair, and dark eyes full of sensibility, painted
when he was twenty-three, and known by the engraving of Forster--Julio
Romano, in black and red chalk on paper,--Massaccio, called the father
of painting, much admired--Leonardo da Vinci, beautiful and
grand,--Titian, rich and splendid,--Pietro Perugino, remarkable for
execution and expression,--Albert Duerer, rigid but masterly,--Gerhard
Dow, finished according to his own exacting style,--and Reynolds, with
fresh English face; but these are only examples of this incomparable
collection, which was begun as far back as the Cardinal Leopold de
Medici, and has been happily continued to the present time. Here are
the lions, painted by themselves, except, perhaps, the foremost of
all, Michael Angelo, whose portrait seems the work of another. The
impression from this collection is confirmed by that of any group of
historic artists. Their portraits excel those of statesmen, soldiers,
or divines, as is easily seen by engravings accessible to all. The
engraved heads in Arnold Houbraken's biographies