Reverse Pygmalionism Art and Samuel Rogers’s Italy

Pictures are for use, for solace, for ornament, for parade;—as invested wealth, as an appendage of rank. Some people love pictures as they love friends; some, as they love music; some, as they love money. There are those who collect them for instruction, as a student collects grammars, dictionaries, and commentaries;—these are artists; such were the collections of Rubens, of Sir Peter Lely, of the President West, of Lawrence, of Sir Joshua Reynolds. There are those who collect pictures around them as a king assembles his court—as significant of state, as subservient to ornament or pride; such were Buckingham and Talleyrand. There are those who collect pictures as a man speculates in the funds;—picture-fanciers, like bird-fanciers, or flower-fanciers—amateur picture-dealers, who buy, sell, exchange, bargain; with whom a glorious Cuyp represents 800l. sterling, and a celebrated Claude is 3000l. securely invested—safe as in a bank; and his is not the right spirit, surely. Lastly, there are those who collect pictures for love, for companionship, for communion; to whom each picture, well-chosen at first, unfolds new beauties—becomes dearer every day; such a one was Sir George Beaumont—such a one is Mr. Rogers