the two statues called "The Prisoners," executed by Michael Angelo for the tomb of Julius II. The Museum of Modern Sculpture is a collection arranged in five halls, filling the north half of the western side of the quadrangle. It consists chiefly of the works of artists of the French school, though there are a few by foreign artists. Here are Puget's "Milo of Croton devoured by the Lion," " Psyche" by Pajon, and statues by Clodion, Houdon, Pradier and others. Here also is Canova's "Cupid and Psyche."

The famous Great Gallery (Musée des Tableaux des Ecoles Italiennes et Flamandes), contains pictures by the Italian masters. Here are Mantegna, the celebrated Madonna della Vittoria; Palma Vecchio, a Holy Family; Sandro Botticelli, a Holy Family; Raphael, Portrait of a Young Man, the so-called Raphael and his fencing master; Leonardo da Vinci, “La Belle Ferronière," and St. John Baptist; with others by Titian, Perugino, Cima da Conegliano, Bonifazio, and Carpaccio. A gallery supported on gilded columns runs round the greater part of it. The western half of the Great Gallery is devoted to the Flemish, Dutch, and German schools. Here are some fine Van Dycks, the " Children of Charles I."; Holbein, portraits of Nicholas Kratzer, Ruben, ("The Kermesse ") with others by Denner, Bol, Paul Potter, Metza, and Teniers. The most striking contents of the Flemish collection are the twenty-one large paintings by Rubens and his scholars, representing events in the life of Maria di Medici, and of her husband, Henry IV. They were painted to decorate the Luxembourg. Also at the western end of the Great Gallery is a suite of rooms in which have been hung the paintings of the French school of the sixteenth century. On one side of the grand staircase is situated the Musée des Dessins. It consists of fourteen rooms, and comprises some 36,000 specimens of the great

masters of nearly all the schools. A number of rooms in the other half of the northern side of the Louvre are devoted to the medieval collections, the greater part consisting of the Musée Sauvageot, formed by the gentleman whose name it bears, and who left it to the Louvre in 1856. It consists of furniture, wood-carvings, miniatures, Venetian glass and enamels, bronzes, &c. In other rooms of the suite are admirable collections of Palissy ware and other specimens of French pottery; two rooms devoted to Italian faïence or majolica with Della Robbia reliefs. The Musée de la Marine contains models of Oriental boats and vessels, and of the apparatus used in removing the Obelisk or Luxor, now in the Place de la Concorde. Beyond this Museum is the Musée Ethnographique, a collection of articles of domestic use and of manufacture of uncivilised nations, together with Chinese manufactures, and objects from India and elsewhere. There is also an American Museum, consisting of antiquities discovered in Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Yucatan, &c.; and in another part of this storey are three rooms containing Chinese objects, mostly the plunder of the Emperor's palace at Pekin.

No marked differences either of classification or arrangement between the Louvre and the British Museum are noticeable. What visitors miss are cheap, handy and clear guides such as can be obtained at the British Museum. The official catalogues of the Louvre are bulky volumes, too profuse for the general visitor, and so he has to content himself with his Galignani, Baedeker, or Murray, all of which give good descriptions of the various sections. Many of the Continental Galleries are closed at three o'clock, an unnecessarily early hour, leading often to much dissatisfaction among English visitors. The authorities at the Louvre, however, have for the past few years

extended the hours during which it is open till four in winter and five in summer. Other Galleries would do well to follow this example.

The small cost of superintendence in France is surprising. The work of watching and keeping order in the four great Museums, the Louvre, the Luxembourg, Versailles and St. Germains is accomplished by a staff of 158 men; the two chiefs receive only £80 a-year, while 132 of this number are engaged at salaries varying from £54 to £66.

There are many other Museums in France. One point worth naming is that in connection with the porcelain works at Sèvres and other manufactories there are excellent Museums. That at the Government porcelain factory contains many valuable specimens of old Sèvres ware. It may, however, be stated that what has required a Government subsidy in France has been better accomplished in this country by private enterprise. The Museums attached to the works of the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company, and Messrs. Minton's, of Stoke-on-Trent, are quite equal in every respect to that at Sèvres. Mr. R. W. Binns, F.S.A., of the former Company, and Mr. Thomas Minton and his predecessors, of the latter Company, have devoted special attention to these trade Museums.

The Greek Government in July, 1888, created some consternation in French art circles. The French Fine Arts Department were surprised at the representations made to the French Ministry of Justice by the Greek judicial authorities, who claimed the right to seize in the art dealers' shops, and even in the French archæological Museums, the antiquities which might appear to have been illegally exported from Greece. As the matter at present stands the Greek Government has to take steps to make its own laws respected.

The Guille-Allès Library and Museum, Guernsey, is

well known in the Channel Islands. This Museum comprises local collections and objects of general interest. It occupies several extensive rooms, and consists largely of objects formerly belonging to the Guernsey Mechanics' Institute. These were handed over in 1883 to the Guille-Allès Library for the benefit of the public. The collections comprise fine specimens of ethnographical interest from various parts of the world; birds of almost all the species known to visit the Channel Islands; also 200 specimens of birds presented from the East India Museum, London, and a considerable number from America. Specimens of conchology occupy several large cases. The Guernsey shipping at one time visited all parts of the world, while Guernsey men went out as settlers or traders into many foreign countries. Many of these sent or brought home interesting specimens with which they enriched the Museum, and which include curiosities from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Australasia, &c. There is also a good collection of rocks and minerals, with many objects of local interest. Mr. Thomas Guille and Mr. F. M. Allès have added a valuable series of fossils, principally from the coal measures; also large specimens of minerals, crystals, cases of insects, and cabinets of coins. The Museum is now being fitted up with large wall and other cases, principally at the cost of the honorary Curator, Mr. Whitehead, in one of which has been arranged a very complete collection of local and British shells. When the re-arrangements now in progress are completed, the Museum will become a very attractive resort. The Guille-Allès Library and Museum has been established and maintained entirely at the cost of the gentlemen whose name the institution bears, and it is their intention to endow it and present it to the Guernsey States as a gift to the people. Mr. A. Cotgreave is at present engaged in cataloguing the books.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE MUSEUMS OF BELGIUM, HOLLAND AND DENMARK.

NDUSTRIOUS Belgium can boast of a number of capital Museums. The Royal Museum, or Palais de Beaux Arts, in Brussels, forming one of a group of Government buildings, has nothing marked in its exterior architecture. It was formerly an old palace, and used as the residence of the Spanish and Austrian Governors of the Low Countries. Like all adapted buildings, it has had several additions in the form of side Galleries, to contain modern paintings by Belgian artists, and these have not improved its architectural appearance.

The building has four distinct sections, the Picture Gallery, the Sculpture Gallery, the Museum of Natural History, and the Palace of Industry. In the first there are thirteen works by Rubens, but competent critics say that many of these are inferior to the pictures at Antwerp. One portrait of interest to Englishmen is that of Sir Thomas More, by Holbein. There is also a sketch by D. Teniers of exceptional interest, containing the figures of the painter himself, his two daughters, and several servants, while his carriage and house are also conspicuous. The picture is entitled "The Village Wake." Some eighteenth century tapestry forms a capital background for the groups of statuary.

It is claimed that the Museum of Natural History is the most complete in Belgium, but this is hardly to