The National Gallery

Előszó

INTRODUCTION
When the Trustees of the National Gallery gave permission for the publication of the large Illustrated Catalogue under their sanction, it was on condition that a cheap edition should follow, which in the style of its production should endeavour to excel those already before the public; and the present volume, which contains a catalogue of all the pictures of the Foreign and English Schools hanging in the Galleries in Trafalgar Square, with reproductions of the more important works, is the result.
The illustrations are for the most part on the same scale as those in the full quarto Edition, and only in a few instances was it found necessary to reduce such full-page blocks as could not be contained in this smaller edition ; as in the case of the masterpiece of John van Eyck, and one or two other pictures of the first importance, where the alternative would have been to omit them altogether. Certain masters—as Correggio, Raphael, Rembrandt, Titian, Claude, Reynolds, and others—may be said to be imperfectly represented unless by illustrations of all, or almost all, their works in the collection ; but such a course was impossible within the limits prescribed: there was, consequently, a considerable embarras de choix in making the best selection, and it was tantalising to find that I had to abandon—one after another—many favourite pictures which I had at first included in my list. It will be found, however, that this volume is fairly re-presentative of the masterpieces of all the schools, and that every master of importance is illustrated by at least one of his pictures.
EDWARD J. POYNTER. - Vissza