GUIDE TO THE GALLERY WITH NOTES TO THE USE OF THIS HANDBOOK The pictures in the Gallery are hung methodically, so as to illustrate the different schools of painting and to facilitate their historical study. But the numbering of the rooms does not in all cases follow the historical order. Visitors who desire to study the pictures historically should make the tour of the rooms in the following order : Italian Schools: North Vestibule, IV. II. III. I. V. VI. VII. VIII., Octagon, IX. XIII. Schools of the Netherlands and Germany: XI. X. XII. Spanish School: XV. French School: XIV. British School: XVII. XVI., East and West Vestibules, XVIII. XX. XXI. XXII. XIX. If the Handbook be used in this order, the reader will find a continuous guide to the history of the different schools of painting repre sented in the Gallery. The pictures are arranged in this Handbook in the order in which a visitor, going round each room from left to right, will actually encounter them on the walls. This order has been revised up to June 1, 1888; but re-hanging, consequent on accessions and other causes, is sometimes adopted. If therefore any picture is not found in its proper place in the Handbook, visitors should look out its number in the NUMERICAL INDEX (Appendix II.), where a reference is given to the page on which each picture is described. The numbers given to pictures in this Handbook, and the painters to whom they are ascribed, correspond in all cases with those given on the frames and in the Official Catalogues. In references to pictures, the Roman numerals (I.-XXII.) refer to the rooms in which the several pictures are hung, the others (1-1250) to the numbers on the frames. Visitors desiring to see the works of some particular painter should consult the INDex of PAINTERS (Appendix I.), where references to all the pictures by each painter, and to a summary of his life and work, will be found. References to books in the following pages are, except where otherwise stated, to the works of Mr. Ruskin. Wherever possible, the references to his books are by sections and paragraphs instead of by pages, so as to make them applicable to all the different editions. The ON entering the Gallery from Trafalgar Square, and ascending the main staircase, the visitor reaches the North Vestibule. The architecture of the Entrance Hall and Vestibule is worth some attention, for here is the finest collection of marbles in London. Many distant parts of the world have contributed to it. The Alps, from a steep face of mountain 2000 feet high on the Simplon Pass, send the two massive square pillars of light green "cipollino" which form the approach to the Vestibule from the Square. Their carved capitals are of alabaster from Derbyshire, whilst the basis on which they stand are of Corrennie granite from near Aberdeen. square blocks of bluish gray beneath the columns come from New Zealand. Ascending the stone steps, the visitor should notice the side walls, built up of squares of "giallo antico," which was brought from the quarry at Simittu, in the territory of Tunis. This is a case of a quarry rediscovered by a railway. It had been long known that Rome was full of the beautiful "giallo antico," sometimes yellow, sometimes rosy in colour, but always of exquisite texture and even to work. It had come from the province of Africa; but it was not till a Belgian engineer, working on the railway then being made from Tunis to the Algerian frontier, observed at Simittu a half-consumed mountain with gaps |