Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/504

 474 Painting and where there is greatest display of talent, is the S. Thomas Aquinas, painted about 1625 for the church of the College of that Saint, now in the Museum of Seville, which possesses the finest collection of his works. In the Pardo at Madrid there are fourteen pictures attributed to Zurbaran. In England, the National Gallery, in which the artists of Spain are very poorly represented,* has but one picture by this artist. It is a vividly natural portrait of a Franciscan Monk. In the Duke of Sutherland's collection at Stafford House, there is a fine specimen three Spanish artists represented in the National Gallery — Zurbaran by one work, Murillo by three, and Velazquez by four : the Dulwich College Gallery is slightly richer ; it has in all 16 Spanish works — 4 by Murillo, 6 by his school, 1 by Velazquez, 1 after him, and 4 by unknown masters. Taking the exhibitions of "Old Masters" at Burlington House as an index to the contents of the private col- lections of England, we find that in 1881, of a gross total of 234 paintings exhibited, there were 73 English, 66 Italian, 55 Dutch, 23 Flemish, 6 German, 4 French, 4 Spanish, and 2 unknown. In 1880, of a total of 254 paintings, there were 68 English, 52 Italian, 45 German, 37 Dutch, 22 Flemish, 12 French, 11 Spanish, and 7 unknown. In making comparisons, it must be borne in mind that different exhibitions have been especially rich in a particular school or artist : thus that of 1881 will be remembered for its many examples of Dutch art from Deepdene and other galleries ; and that of 1880 for its 36 works by Holbein, and 4 of " his school," which went very far to make up the 45 total of the German works. Of the 11 Spanish, too, in that year, no less than 8 were recent importations from Spain, by Mr. J. C. Robinson. The figures given above, will, however, tend to show how very poorly Spanish art is represented in England. And it would be, perhaps, within the mark to say that fully two- thirds of the Spanish pictures in this country are attributed either to Murillo or Velazquez. These figures also show that after Italian, Dutch art is most popular in England ; that French is, perhaps, after Spanish, the least appreciated.
 * If we class Ribera with the Neapolitan School, there are but