viz. MAY is, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
399
again and again through his brother, Sir Henry
Wellesley, British Minister in Spain, with the
Regency, requesting that some one in London
might be commissioned to see and receive the
pictures, and ultimately wrote a formal letter to
Count Fernan Nunez, the Spanish Minister in Eng-
land, to the same effect, receiving an answer that
the monarch, touched with the delicacy of the
proceeding, did not wish to deprive the duke of
possessions obtained " by means as just as they are
honourable."
Nothing approaching a complete or satisfac- tory catalogue of the Apsley House pictures has previously been made. ' A Catalogue of the Prin- cipal Pictures found in Baggage of Joseph Bona- parte ' was compiled by Mr. Seguier on their arrival in London. This was inaccurate in important respects. Information was with difficulty obtained. The ascription to various painters was wrong, the well-known ' Water -Seller ' of Velasquez being assigned to M. A. Caravaggio. Many of the works were not identified. This list the duchess reprints with all its errors, adding only some marginal notes and the numbers borne oy the various pictures in her own catalogue. In 1841 a MS. catalogue of the Wellington heirlooms was made. This also was incorrect. Lists of the pictures were issued in 1853 by Messrs. Mitchell of Bond Street and Clarke & Co. of the Strand. They occupied, however, no more than four pages each. Rough notes, of no special value, were made by the secretary to the second duke. Fortunately, the heirloom catalogue was trustworthy in the main. On this the present work is founded. Access has been had to various royal Spanish manuscript catalogues, and by means of these the great majority of the pictures have been identified. To Major Martin Hume is ascribed this part of the research. He obtained per- mission to examine the palace archives, and suc- ceeded in unearthing catalogues the existence of which had been invariably and officially denied. An appropriate frontispiece to the work consists of a reproduction of a picture by John Massey Wright, presenting the rout at Vitoria and the capture of Joseph Bonaparte's baggage, one of two pictures of incidents in the Peninsular War pur- chased by the third Duke of Wellington.
The collection is richest in Dutch and Spanish pictures. Among the former is the famous picture by Peter de Hooch, or de Hooghe, called, when it was exhibited at the British Institution, ' A Lady at her Toilette,' but now renamed ' A Conversation.' Jan Steen is scarcely to be seen at his best else- where ; and Van derHeyden, Wouvermans, Teniers, Claude Lorraine, and Ostade are well repre- sented. Among the half-dozen fine pictures by Velasquez which are reproduced is the superb 'Portrait of a Gentleman,' which was long, but erroneously, taken for a likeness of the painter himself. It is said to have once hung in the principal salon of the Prince of Asturias in the palace at Madrid. A companion picture, no less perfect in detail, which once hung in the same salon, is the portrait of Pope Innocent X. by the same artist. Another ' Portrait of a Gentleman,' by Murillo, which was exhibited in 1837 at the British Institution, was not among the Bonaparte prizes, but was purchased in London by the first duke in 1838. The exquisite 'Christ in the Garden' of Correggip, held by some to be the masterpiece of that artist, is also reproduced. A mere enumera- tion of the treasures comprised in the collection
would occupy more space than we are able to assign
to reviews. In every case the size of the picture,
its description, and its source (when known) are
fiven, together with the dates and places of exhi- ition, and particulars of prices realized at various sales. Among the works in the collection are twelve pictures presented to the first Duke of Wellington in 1812 by the Intendant of Segovia on the part of the Spanish nation, together with others bought by the duke in Paris in 1817 and 1818. Some diffi- culty has been experienced in the case of the Segovia pictures, only two of which have been identified. Much interesting criticism is supplied from the Athenaeum, and from Smith's 'Catalogue Raisonne,' and extracts are given from the cata- logues of the Parisian sales in which some of the works were purchased. The portraits by Hoppner, two of which are reproduced, have much interest. In all typographical respects the work is excellent, the process pictures are admirable, and the binding in vellum and canvas, with the Wellington arms on the side, is tasteful. The catalogue must occupy a place in every well-chosen artistic library.
GierJce's Political Theories of the Middle Ages.
Translated by F. W. Maitland. (Cambridge,
University Press.)
THIS book is a boon to all students of legal and political ideas. It is welcome on three grounds.
1. The text of the section of the ' Genossenschaft- recht' here rendered into English forms the best, and indeed the only complete conspectus of the political literature of the Middle Ages. The sur- vey is rapid, and does not always take sufficient account of the minor controversies which were the occasion of the great majority of the treatises. It suffers a little from the German love for over- generalization ; but for all that, and in spite of the difficulty of following at times the line of thought, it is the most valuable piece of writing that exists on the subject. It is a boon to have it in an English dress and admirably translated.
2. The notes are the best guide that we know among the hitherto almost pathless wilderness of mediaeval political pamphleteering. Many of those who know the Middle Ages fairly well must be ignorant of the names even of some among the mass of writers cited by Dr. Gierke. Still more useful is it to have the references to their views on any particular notion in politics all gathered together. The notes will be to the serious student the most valuable portion of the text, and a reference even to a few of the authorities will fill in with flesh and blood the somewhat dry bones of Dr. Gierke's essay. Probably their very number will be a reve- lation to most readers, though a glance at the volumes ' De Lite' ought to carry conviction of the wealth of words, if not of thought, which the politico-ecclesiastical conflict evoked.
3. The introduction is the most interesting as it is the most brilliant part of the book. Prof. Mait- land is at his very best in these pages. Its object is to illustrate the context rather than the text of the translated section, and to show the bearing of political ideas on Koi-porations-lehre and vice versa. It is impossible to describe or even outline the course of the argument within the limits of this notice. But its wit, insight, and erudition ought to win for it many readers whom the subject does not attract. Yet the subject itself ought to attract. For the question debated is really this: What is the meaning of a social group? Is it
