Page:Life of William Blake, Gilchrist.djvu/269

 two pamphlets to be found in the 'Dance Collection' in the Bodleian Library. One is a Proposal for the Establishment of a Public Gallery of Pictures in London, by Count Joseph Truchsess, London, 1802; and the other a Catalogue of the Truchsessian Picture Gallery, Now Exhibiting in the New Road, opposite Portland Place, London, 1803. In the first of these, the Count, who signs himself Joseph, Count Truchsess, of Zeyl-Wurzach, Grand Dean of the Cathedral of Strasburg and Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of Cologne, affirms that he has lost a large fortune in the French Revolution, but has saved with difficulty a very large and valuable collection of pictures, which he has been obliged to 'pledge' in Vienna. He refers to the Imperial Academy of Vienna and to many travelling Englishmen of distinction, especially Lord Minto, as willing to attest its genuineness and importance. He proposes to bring the best part of the collection to England and make it the nucleus of a gallery, in which people may find the 'means of making themselves acquainted with all the schools of painting.' He then proposes that a company shall be formed to raise the requisite amount (60,000 guineas) and gives references to well-known bankers who will act as his trustees. He is not, he writes, 'an adventurer, nor his gallery a chimera,' and 'all who are particularly acquainted with him will gladly do justice to the uprightness of his moral character.' As to his subscribers, 'their names shall not only be publicly printed, but they shall also remain indelibly engraven on his heart.' In the Catalogue, printed next year, there is no information regarding the purchase of the pictures. Their whole number is very large, and they are classified as follows:—

(1) German Painters:—among whom are Albert Dürer, Brand, Edlinger, Hans Holbein senior (father of the great painter), Roos, Sarbach, &c., &c.

(2) Dutch and Flemish:—Aertsens, Breughel, Vandyck, Geldorp, De Laar, Miel, Uchterwelt, &c. &c.