Excerpt from Memoirs of Painting, Vol. 1: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters Into England Since the French Revolution Whatever can tend to throw light upon the history of our own times, whether as it regards the progress made in the Arts and Sciences, in Politics, or in Commerce, must prove in some degree entertaining for the present, and useful for the future. The introduction of the Fine Arts into every country, and their subsequent culti vation, have at all periods afforded materials for chronological history, highly interest ing to the lover of art and to the man of letters. Occurrences connected therewith spring up in succession, and though more or less important in themselves, they ioften pass unheeded, and from a want of proper notice sink into the general mass of oblivion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.