THE TATE GALLERY

BUILT as the home of modern British art, and nobly fulfilling that destiny, the Tate has become in particular a monument to the genius of Turner, Sir Henry Tate's generosity having been supplemented by that of the late Sir Joseph Duveen, the art dealer, to which we owe the new and superb Turner wing. How art dealers normally dispose of their wealth I know not ; but undoubtedly Sir Joseph set them an example in symmetrical public benefaction.

The entrance hall, under the dome, is given to sculpture, and here may be seen the late Havard Thomas' "Lycidas" and "Thyrsis" and Mr. Reynolds-Stephens' very lively group, "A Royal Game," in which Queen Elizabeth plays chess with Philip of Spain, with the most fascinating chessmen to represent the galleons and other vessels that then ruled the waves.

In a little room leading out of the large one are some charming small bronzes, including Onslow Ford's "Folly," a mask by W. Reid Dick, and a little portrait figure by Alfred Gilbert.

In Room I we find the great masters of the British School in the eighteenth century; Hogarth, with his Marriage a la Mode sequence, and a scene from "The Beggar's Opera" (in a wonderful frame) ; Reynolds; Wilson, now and then exquisitely lovely as in No. 2647 ; Romney, Gainsborough, Morland (father and son), Gilbert Stuart and George Stubbs.

Then in the octagonal No. II, are a number of Blake's illustrations to Dante and a selection of early water colours, many on loan. And here I might mention that the Tate is worth visiting on the strength solely of its borrowing, so many owners of fine pictures being ready to respond to the call of its Director. I have never yet succeeded in going to the Tate without finding something new.

In Room III are the painters of the British School of the early nineteenth century : Constable, in particular. It is indeed Constable's room, for not only are some of his most famous large pictures on the wall, but on a screen in the centre are many of his vivid oil sketches, where he caught the passing moods of the sky for all time. Here also are Old Crome, David Cox, Wilkie (the famous "John Knox"), Copley, Patrick Nasmyth, James Ward (with the huge cliff landscape), Thomas Stothard ("The Canterbury Pilgrims"), and Landseer. The most modern painter represented is Alfred Stevens, with a very beautiful, although unfinished, mother and child.

We now enter the Pre-Raphaelite Room, which is dominated by Millais, whose statue is on the lawn outside the gallery. Here are several of his best, because earliest, works, chief being the very beautiful "Carpenter's Shop," which is reproduced in this volume. After studying this very remarkable work the visitor should examine the drawing for it, on one of the screens, and see how wise was the artist in his second thoughts. Pictures by all the Pre-Raphaelites are here, including several which may come as a surprise. How many readers of this book, for example, know anything of R. B. Martineau? But his patient and accurate, if uninspired, work may be seen here, and the melodramatic secrets of "The Last Day in the Old Home" (that formidable compilation) laid bare. Ford Madox Brown's "Chaucer" is better worth study. To my mind, after "The Carpenter's Shop," the best work in the room is to be found in the portraits by Alfred Stevens.

THE CARPENTER'S SHOP,

FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS IN THE TATE GALLERY

We find Alfred Stevens, that very great artist, again in the little room adjoining, No. V, which belongs more properly to Burne-Jones and Rossetti. In Burne-Jones the gallery is rich, for not only is the "Cophetua" here, but also many drawings for other works, and you may see the beautiful hand at work.

We now come to the special glory of the Tate the Turner rooms. Turner's bequest to the nation consisted of 100 finished pictures, 182 unfinished, and 19,049 sketches in colours and pencil; and these are now divided between the National Gallery and the Tate, the Tate having the bulk of the paintings. In Room VI are the finished pictures, and it would be a sufficient achievement for one man; but there are hundreds and hundreds of other examples in galleries and private hands all over the world. A most interesting occupation for the student of art in this room is to detect Turner in his little jealous moods, when the praise given to a contemporary would prompt him to attempt something in a manner similar to that of the rival, although no real rivalry existed. Thus, in 491, 496, 469. and particularly in 467, it is possible to see a desire to show how easy it was to be Old Cromey. In 465 and in 475 Wilson was to be surpassed; in 473, the Holy Trinity, with a roguish Child, we may find a hint of Sir Joshua, and in 562 more than a hint of Wilkie, who was, however, one of the artists that Turner admired and whose funeral at sea is the subject of one of the great man's most daring works in this room. The portrait of himself as a young man is of interest in 1798, when he was twenty-three; and the rough sketch of him at work in old age, by J. T. Smith, should not be missed. For all its titanic strength and amazing variety, this room is somewhat gloomy; but the next room, No. VII, where the unfinished pictures hang, is sheer radiance and joy. Here the magician waves his mahl-stick wand, and we are transported to a land of faery and romance. Some of the pictures here, finished or not, are among the most beautiful things in the world: I would name in particular Nos. 1991 ("The Evening Star"), 1998, 560, 2065 and 2064. This room is always enchanted, but never so much so as when the sun shines.

We now, for a little while, leave British art and come to some of the great Continental moderns, who have to themselves a small room, which some day is to be exchanged for really worthy quarters. Here, in Room VIII, keeping to the right, we find examples of the genius of Fantin Latour, Boudin, Renoir, Ingres, Monet, Degas (strongly represented), Planet (also strongly represented), Daumier, Corot, Daubigny, Bosboom, Mauve, De Bock, Matthew and James Maris, Forain, Rousseau and the Belgian petit maitre, Alfred Stevens. Here also we find two decorations, rich in his favourite vermilion, by that strange haunted creature, Gauguin, and a head by Mestrovic.

NOON,

FROM THE PAINTING BY COROT IN THE TATE GALLERY

The next two rooms, IX and X, are given to a selection of Turner's water colours, including the very amusing Petworth series, and then we come to the basement where temporary exhibitions are held, always of interest, and where, in the passages and on the stairs, more and more Turner pictures hang. At the head of the stairs is a portrait of the Sir Joseph Duveen to whose generosity and enthusiasm the Tate owes so much.

In Room XV we enter upon the long series of pictures bought from Royal Academy exhibitions under the bequest of Chantrey the sculptor. The earliest pictures come later, but as I am following the numerical order of the rooms we will take those in Room XV now. Here are some of the later works of Millais, showing alas ! how he declined from the early days that gave the world "The Carpenter's Shop." Here is a version of one of Leighton's St. Paul's Dome decorations, "And The Sea Gave up the Dead," and his "Bath of Psyche." Luke Fildes' "Doctor" and Frank Dicksee's "Harmony," two other famous Academy pictures, are in this room, together with good examples by Henry Moore, Alma Tadema, Albert Moore, Alfred Parsons and George Mason. All the Chantrey rooms, I may remark here, give one the impression that one's ghost is revisiting old Academies.