ART AN EXHIBITION OF DRAWINGS FROM THE MALCOLM COLLECTION AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.1 [1894: AET. 31] I HE Malcolm collection of drawings and engravings by old masters has long been known to students and amateurs of art. Not only have the choicest examples been reproduced; but there are not a few of them of which almost every line must be familiar to those who have either followed or taken part in the controversies provoked by the sudden appearanceamong the critics without eyes and the painters without knowledge -of a redoubtable free-lance, namely, Ivan Lermolieff. At the death of the owner this priceless collection was not bequeathed to the British Museum, but only deposited there, like the Portland vase, which still forms one of the brightest ornaments of a collection to which, strictly speaking, it does not belong. However, as one would have expected, the Keeper of Prints and Drawings has taken prompt advantage of a unique opportunity. Side by side with the finest and rarest of the Malcolm drawings he has placed examples from our own collection that either illustrate them or fill up links in the historical chain; and the result is a display which for completeness no less than for artistic interest is probably without a rival in Europe. To begin with the Florentine school. Of the great masters that immediately preceded the so-called golden age, Pollaiuolo, Botticelli, and Verrocchio are each represented by important designs. To 1 "Guardian," April 11th, June 27th, and October 3rd, 1894. |