154 ARION AND THE DOLPHIN. designs by G. Gibbons, the celebrated carver on wood: they are formed into four different subjects, and they embellish the east and west sides of the court. They are the workmanship of Mr. Samuel Watson, a native of the Peak of Derbyshire, a man who attained to uncommon excellence in his profession, and who sculptured figures and ornaments in stone in bas relief with great skill and ability: nearly the whole of the rich and exquisite carving that adorns the exterior of this noble mansion, is the work of 'this artist. The middle of the court is occupied with a marble statue of Arion seated on the back of a Dolphin, and surrounded with the clear living waters of a fountain, which fall into a capacious basin, composed of the marble of the Peak of Derbyshire. This figure, by some strange propensity to blundering, is generally called Orpheus, probably from the circumstance of his playing on a lyre, and the well known classical fable of Arion is forgotten. He was a musician and a poet of Lesbos, at a time when those characters, though now distinct from each other, were intimately connected. Having acquired great fame in his own country, he travelled into Italy, and became rich by the exercise of his professional excellence: returning homewards, full of the hope of enjoying in his own country the wealth he had amassed in another, the mariners who accompanied him were tempted to throw him into the sea, that they might possess themselves of his riches. In this extremity he requested permission once more to play upon his harp before he died: the request was granted: he struck the chords, and amidst a stream of music that astonished the mariners, he leaped into the sea: a dolphin, charmed with the strains of his harp, caught him on its back, and in return for the sweet music it had made, bore him safely through the waves to his home, where he arrived long before the vessel in which he had embarked, when he told the story of his danger and escape. The mariners, on their examination, acknowledged their murderous intention, and as far as they were concerned in the transaction, they confirmed the tale of the miraculous escape of Arion on the back of a Dolphin. SECTION XI. Interior of Chatsworth. - Paintings. - Verrio and Laguerre. Gallery of Drawings.- Chapel. - Library. - Tapestry. Sculpture. -Portraits. Closterman. Sir James Thornhill. Carving in Wood. Gibbons.-Samuel Watson. - Cibber. WE now entered the hall, the first apartment that strangers are introduced into at Chatsworth: it is a spacious and noble room, and the flight of steps which connects it with the grand stair-case, passing between two rocks of variegated alabaster, and ornamented with rich gilt balustrades, has a grand effect. This apartment exhibits the first specimen of the kind of painting that most prevails at Chatsworth. Verrio, Laguerre, and Sir James Thornhill, were the principal artists who decorated the walls and ceilings of this splendid mansion, and in the hall, Verrio has attempted the assassination of Cæsar at the foot of Pompey's statue "when Brutus rose, Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate, "Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm "Aloft extending, like eternal Jove, "When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud “ On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, AKENSIDE. The subject of this picture was too mighty for the grasp of such a mind as Verrio's. His Brutus has none of the dignity with which Akenside has clothed his noble Roman, and his conspirators are altogether a miserable set of common-place ruffians, who seem in the act of butchering one of their associates, who had threatened to turn informer. I am aware that this painting has been attributed to Louis Laguerre; but as this artist was only employed by Verrio as an assistant in his labours, I have chosen to characterise their joint productions here as the works of the master. Pope has associated these artists together, and his verse will probably perpetuate the remembrance of their names when their works are forgotten. "And now the chapel's silver bell you hear, "Where sprawl the Saints of Verrio and Laguerre." POPE. The pencil of Verrio indeed has freely expatiated over the walls of the staircases, and the ceilings of the rooms in every part of Chatsworth, and gods and goddesses, and allegorical personages, in which he unrestrainedly indulged, are introduced into the humble company of mortals, without any great portion of either taste or feeling, and splendid colouring is made to supply the place of elevated design and grandeur of conception. This artist, in one of his most important and elaborate productions, has introduced Sir Godfrey Kneller and himself in long periwigs, as spectators of Christ healing the Sick. Even Sir Joshua Reynolds, a man whose very name ought to be mentioned with reverence, in one of his designs, has fallen into this absurd error absurd, because it has a tendency to defeat the intention of the artist, by abstracting the mind of the spectator from the action exhibited before him, and fixing it on a period of time and a series of personages that have no connexion with the events which the canvass represents. Verrio and Sir Godfrey Kneller attending to one of Christ's miracles is hardly more absurd than Sir Joshua Reynolds and his coadjutor Jervais appearing in the character of shepherds at the nativity of Jesus, in the great window at New College, Oxford. Sir Joshua's fine picture on this subject is now in the possession of Earl Fitzwilliam, at Wentworth House. -- Verrio, though deficient in design and composition, had a free and ready pencil, and he was in great favour with King Charles the Second. From 1676 to 1681 he received nearly seven thousand pounds for paintings done at Windsor only so munificently were the arts patronised during the reign of this remarkable prince. The following anecdote is abridged from Horace Walpole, and detailed on his authority, and it exhibits so much of the character of both Verrio and his royal patron, that I cannot resist the introduction of it, where haps it may be regarded as out of place. Verrio, in his style and manner of living, was very expensive: he kept a splendid table, and often pressed the king for money with great freedom, which his Majesty good-naturedly indulged. Once, at Hampton Court, when he had but lately received an advance of one per GALLERY OF DRAWINGS. 157 thousand pounds, he found the king in such a circle that he could not conveniently approach him. He called out, "Sire, I desire the favour of speaking to your Majesty." "Well, Verrio,” said the king," what is your request?"" Money, Sir; I am so short of cash that I am not able to pay my workmen, and your Majesty and I have learnt that pedlars and painters cannot give credit long." The king smiled, and said he had but lately ordered him a thousand pounds. Yes, Sire," replied he, "but that was soon paid away, and I have no gold left." "At that rate," said the king, "you would spend more than I do to maintain my family." "True," answered Verrio, "but does your Majesty keep an open table as I do?" Verrio, influenced by feelings that did honour to his nature, retained his attachment to his royal master long after the latter had descended into the grave, and at the revolution of 1688, he relinquished the place he held at court, and contemning the offers of new regal favours, he refused to employ his pencil in the service of King William: at this time he quitted the capital and retired into the country, where he executed the paintings at Chatsworth and at Burleigh, the princely mansion of the Marquis of Exeter, where his works are equally numerous and of the same character. With such feelings it is perhaps extraordinary that Verrio should have been induced to spend so much of his time in ornamenting the mansion of the first Duke of Devonshire, who, it is well known, was a principal agent in the production of that event which Verrio appears so much to have deplored. From the entrance-hall we passed onward through a long narrow gallery, and one of the most attractive and interesting apartments in Chatsworth. We entered it with delight and left it with regret. Nearly one thousand original sketches, by the most eminent Flemish, Venetian, Spanish, and Italian masters, cover its walls, forming altogether an assemblage of drawings which for number and excellence can hardly be surpassed in any part of the kingdom. An arrangement which would throw the works of the different artists into distinct classes, would greatly improve this fine collection. On entering the chapel we felt the delightful fragrance of the cedar wood, of which it is almost entirely composed: it is a richly ornamented place, and carving, painting, and sculpture, have all contributed to its decoration: the ceiling, and every part of it which is not otherwise appropriated, have been embellished by the pencils of Verrio and Laguerre. The orna 158 CHAPEL. LIBRARY. ments in wood are represented to be the work of Gibbons, and the altar is the sculpture of Cibber. It is composed of the fluors and marbles of Derbyshire, and enriched with the figures of Faith and Hope in full relief: they are ssid to be of exquisite workmanship, but they want simplicity, and the drapery, which has been highly spoken of, is heavy, even to loading what it should only cover. As statues intended for ornament only, they are tolerable, but as works of art they are but indifferent productions. I observed that a niche, apparently intended for a third figure, forms a part of the design of this sculptured altar. Charity, as a proper companion to the Faith and Hope of Cibber, might be introduced into this vacant niche, and thus fill up what appears to have been the original intention of the sculptor. One of the best and most successful efforts of Verrio's pencil is in this chapel; the subject is the incredulity of Saint Thomas. The visitors to Chatsworth are generally told by their attendant that this painting is by Laguerre. I have before represented this artist as an assistant only in works that were undertaken by Verrio, and it is highly probable that Laguerre was employed on this picture. Pilkington, in his Dictionary of Painters, when speaking of Verrio, says, "That performance which is accounted his best, is the altar-piece in the chapel at Chatsworth, representing the Incredulity of Saint Thomas." On this authority, and that of Horace Walpole, I have taken from Laguerre the honour of painting this picture, notwithstanding the share that he probably had in its production. He had a free pencil, and executed with great facility those common-place combinations with which his mind was stored. To this artist Sir James Thornhill is reported to have been greatly indebted for the formation of his style and manner. Laguerre had only one son, who was on the stage in the capacity of a singer. On his benefit night his father attended to witness his performance, but before the drawing up of the curtain he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and expired in the pit of Old Drury. Such, and so sudden, was the death of Laguerre. It is not necessary to enumerate the different apartments, as they are passed over in succession by those who visit this palace of the Peak: they are generally spacious and lofty, but not particularly magnificent: some of them are hung with tapestry, and the whole are elegantly, but not sumptuously, furnished. The new library, however, is a splendid room, and has been lately fitted up in a style of magnificence every way |