et la pynacothèque de Munich, où se trouvent maintenant les tableaux de la galerie de Dusseldorff, formée avec tant de soin par l'électeur palatin, ainsi que dans la nombreuse réunion des tableaux qui décorent le palais de Schleissheim. On y verra aussi des tableaux du plus grand mérite, tirés de la galerie de Sans-Souci et du palais neuf à Potsdam, ainsi que quelques uns de ceux de l'ancienne école d'Italie, réunis avec tant de dépense par M. Soly, et dont le roi de Prusse a fait l'acquisition depuis peu. On y trouvera également des tableaux des Musées d'Amsterdam et de La Haye : l'Angleterre fournira aussi son contingent, et on verra figurer dans l'ouvrage quelques antiquités tirées du British Museum, des galeries du duc de Bedford et du marquis de Lansdown; des tableaux du roi à Buckingham-House et au château de Windsor, puís quelques uns de ceux des collections du marquis de Stafford et du comte de Grosvenor. La France enfin ne sera pas oubliée, et l'ouvrage présentera les objets les plus importans des Musées du Louvre et du Luxembourg, ainsi que plusieurs tableaux des Galeries de LL. RR. AA. Mεr le duc d'Orléans, de madame la duchesse de Berry, des cabinets de M. le maréchal duc de Dalmatie, de M. de Sommariva et autres.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The extent that will be given to this work, the variety of the objects of which it will be composed, and the manner in which its publication is effected, having rendered it impossible for any method of classification to be adopted, care has been taken, on the contrary, to give together compositions of the different schools and of different kinds. The plan already pursued will herefore be continued, namely, in each part will be given a picture of the Italian school; one of one of the German schools; one each of the ancient and modern French schools; next a statue; and the sixth plate will be alternately of one or the other of the above mentioned classes.

The order in which the plates will appear therefore will be in a great degree the result of chance, and cannot be considered as a classification suited to subscribers. We are of opinion that most of them will not leave the work in the same state as it is published; some, probably, will arrange it in the order of masters; others will place the pictures according to the public galleries or private cabinets of which they form a part, and others again will perhaps class them according to the nature of the subjects, and thus form a sacred history, a profane history, or even a fabulous history.

In order to form these divers classifications, it will be necessary to unstitch the parts and take out the engra

vings from their cover. If then an accident should occur to derange the order that may have been adopted; or if it be wished to change the method to which preference may at first have been given, it would be a tiresome task to assort the notices with the engravings to which they belong. With a view to obviate this inconvenience, care has been taken to place at the bottom of the page, on the right, a number which is the same on the engraving and the notice. This number, which merely indicates the order in which the plate appeared, will be useful, 1stly, to ascertain whether there are errors; 2dly, to apply for errors to be rectified in case there are any; 3dly, to serve for reference, in case of necessity, from one notice to another; 4thly, to give a more precise and clear indication in the tables that will be published at the end of the work.

As to the capital letter which sometimes follows this number, it is a mark customary in typography to assist in finding out and classing the whole sheets; but can in no case be of service to subscribers.

It is likewise necessary to announce that each tempdrary volume will consist of twelve parts and an appendix, which, to complete the volume, will contain three portraits of painters with an historical and critical notice upon each of them; and moreover two tables, the one in the order of the parts, and the other in alphabetical order, in which will be given the designation of the subjects, the NAMES OF ARTISTS and those of the galleries or collections. Similar appendixes will be published after the twentyfourth part, the thirty-sixth, and so on, after each mul

These appended parts will bear the numbers 12 bis, 24 bis, 36 bis, etc., and will be the same price as the others, the surplus of the text occasioning the same expense as that of an ordinary part consisting of six plates. It is also in these parts that the notices will be given upon the schools and collections which were promised in the prospectus.

The editors of the Museum eagerly embrace this opportunity to return their thansks to the public for the favorable reception given to their work, and to assure them of their unremitting efforts to continue it with the same care as they have hitherto done. They are desirous also of acknowledging the obligations they are under to several persons who have readily afforded them the aid of their intelligence and counsel. On some occasions they have made use of the notes collected by the late M. Joseph Lavallée, formerly secretary of the administration of the Paris Museum.

The designs of several compositions that have never been engraved, have arrived from different foreign countries, and if the parts already published have presented pictures of the first merit, those to come will possess equal interest by offering to the view subjects unknown to most of the subscribers.

Some persons have imagined that our work might be considered a continuation of the Annales du Musée et de l'École moderne des Beaux-Arts, published by the late M. Landon; and others have regarded it as a mere copy of that publication. Both these opinions are erroneous. Our Museum is formed upon a plan altogether different;