SINGULAR FATE OF CORREGGIO’S ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
A few days before the entry of the French into Seville, during the Peninsular war, when the inhabitants in great consternation were packing up their most valuable effects to send them to Cadiz, a masterpiece of Correggio, in one of the convents, representing the Adoration of the Shepherds, painted on wood, was sawn in two, for its more easy carriage to a place of safety, to preserve it from the enemy. By some accident, the two parts were separated on their way to Cadiz; and on their arrival in that city, one part was sold to one connoisseur, with the promise that the part wanting should subsequently be delivered to him; while the other part was sold to another connoisseur under the same engagement. Both the parts arrived in England, and the possessor of each maintained that he was entitled to the other.
It is somewhat remarkable that though the harmony of the picture is somewhat broken by the separation, yet each part forms of itself an admirable picture, and as the rival proprietors are rich and obstinate, the parts are not likely to be united. The whole picture is reckoned to be worth about 4,000 guineas.
CURIOUS HISTORY OF CORREGGIO’S “EDUCATION OF CUPID.”
Correggio’s picture of Mercury teaching Cupid to read, in the presence of Venus, called the Education of Cupid, is one of the most celebrated works of art extant. It now adorns the English National Gallery, and its history is exceedingly interesting. It was painted for Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, the predecessor of him who a hundred years later patronized Rubens. When Charles I. of England, in 1630, purchased the Mantuan collection for £20,000, this picture and three others by Correggio were included in the bargain. On the sale of the king’s effects by order of parliament, it was purchased by the Duke of Alva, and from his family passed into the hands of the famous Godoy, Prince of Peace. When his collection was sold at Madrid during the French invasion, it was bought by Murat, who took it to Naples, where it adorned the royal palace. On his fall from power, it was among the precious effects with which his wife, Caroline Buonaparte, escaped to Rome, and thence to Vienna, where her collection of pictures was bought by the Marquis of Londonderry, the English ambassador, who instantly dispatched the two Correggios--the Education of Cupid and the Ecce Homo--to London. They were purchased of his Lordship by Parliament in 1834, for 10,000 guineas, and now adorn the English National Gallery. Sir Thomas Lawrence was allowed a furtive glance at these pictures, at Rome, in the hope that he would procure a purchaser for them. He says in a letter, “I had them brought down to me, and placed them in all lights, and I _know_ them to be most rare and precious.” By his recommendation, Mr. Angerstein offered £6,500 for the two, which was declined. At the time when the Marquis of Londonderry closed with General M’Donald, who was chamberlain to Madame Murat, then known as Countess Lipona (this was during the Congress of Sovereigns at Verona in 1822), the Emperor of Russia was negociating for them, and supposing that he had a right to them, messengers were despatched after Londonderry’s couriers, but fortunately they were not overtaken, though pursued to the Hague.