John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

30. VI:15. I had visits this Morning, from Mr Lievin Bauwens of Ghent, and from a Mr Monnier van Manniert a native of this Country, but who has resided may years at Philadelphia, and there married a Miss Milner— He is now a widower, and has two daughters, both married— He was desirous of writing to America, and has the intention of going there himself the next Summer— About one O’Clock, Mr Renwett called upon me and went with me to see the Collection of Pictures of Mr Burtin— On the way he pointed out to me the house or rather the ruins where had been the house of Count Egmont.— I then recollected having seen the house when I was at Bruxelles before— It has since been demolished— We also went round by the marble fountain erected by the Testament of Bruce, Earl of Ailsbury an English Nobleman who resided forty years in this City, and left to his heir the order to erect this Monument as a token of his gratitude to the inhabitants of the place. He died in 1740. and the work was executed by Bergé, a sculptor of this Country in 1751— It is a costly monument, but gives no explanation how it happened that a British Peer, public-spirited enough to appropriate a part of his fortune to the comfort and embellishment of a foreign City, should have had so little of the Sentiment of patriotism, as to have lived as a private individual forty years absent from his Country and yet so near it— We were two hours in surveying Mr Burtin’s Collection, which is the choicest private Collection that I ever saw. He is himself a thorough Connoisseur in Painting, and a very proper object for a Painter. He is 72 years of age, and began by asking me, if I was an Amateur de Tableaux— I told him that I took great pleasure in looking at good Pictures; but that I could not assume the pretension of being an Amateur. He said he could give me in five minutes the secret which he had been forty years in learning, and which he had fully disclosed 216in two Octavo Volumes that he had published, and which he hoped would by my means become known in America. Since the English had got in here, they had taken more than seventy copies of it, so that he had scarcely any left— The French considered his work as the first upon the subject, though he had treated the French school harshly, and Mr: Malte-Brun the critic had styled him a connoisseur trés eclairé, juge sevère mais impartial de l’ecole Françoise. His secret was to look at every picture as if the original was behind you, and you saw it in a mirror— If it appeared natural to you as an object reflected by a mirror, you might boldly pronounce it a good picture— If not you might as certainly pronounce it a bad one— As to the French School it could boast of only one good Painter, which was Eustache le Sueur— I asked him how he considered Poussin?— As an Italian Painter; formed altogether in Italy— How of Claud?— Why his very name said he was of Lorraine— And all his Art of Painting he learnt at Rome— But Rubens, said I studied likewise in Italy— Yes; but he was a great Painter before he went there— You will find it all explained at large in my Book— You see, said he this whole side of my library— It consists altogether of Books upon the Art of Painting—and excepting these four middle shelves, which are Catalogues of sales, with their prices, all the rest now that my book is published may be thrown into the fire— There is nothing further to be got from them. After this introduction we went and looked at the Pictures, and as the chambers were cold, Mr Burtin left us with his housekeeper, a pretty girl, who he said could explain to us the subjects of the Pictures as well as himself. They are in four small chambers, and all excellent pictures— He prides himself upon not having one indifferent Painting in the whole Collection— Besides the Standards of the Dutch and Flemish Schools, Mieris, Rembrandt, Teniers, Ostade, Jan Steen, Van Dyke and Rubens, There are four capital Portraits by Holbein, three pictures of Albert Durer, one of Michael Angelo, and a small Portrait of Titian painted by himself— The large Pictures appeared to me the least remarkable— The Water-pieces, flowers, dead game, living animals, and inside views of churches were like those in all good collections of the flemish school. A number of sketches, mere daubings of Rubens, and one admirable Portrait by the same Master— Several Landscapes like most others; and a singular portrait of Terburg, painted by himself, a bitter Satire upon his disciple Caspar Netscher and upon William 3d. the Prince of Orange— After having admired these nearly two hours Mr Burtin sent his maid with us to see his four finest pictures in a separate chamber— They were covered with green silk veils— A Marriage of St. Catherine, the Master-Piece of Van Dyke— A St: Francis by Rubens; a Christ bearing his Cross by Leonardo da Vinci; and last and most exquisitely beautiful of all, a holy family by Guido— If it was mine I would not give it for all the rest of the Collection. The most perfect ideal head of the Virgin, that was perhaps ever painted. I took a copy of Mr Burtin’s Book and returned home— Dined at the Table d’Hote and spent the afternoon and Evening in my chamber, alone; reading and writing.