"A residence in Italy gave a new bent to his pursuits. One of the first-fruits of these Transalpine studies was a deeply interesting paper on _The Stuarts in Italy_, published in the _Quarterly Review_ for December, 1846. But by far the most considerable result of Mr. Dennistoun's Italian sojourn was his _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_, published in three volumes in 1852. This work is of great value, as illustrating the state of Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the portion devoted to the Arts of the period being particularly interesting; and it is to be regretted that from a delicacy carried perhaps too far, he has curtailed this important section--the one he could best handle--from fear, as he states in the preface, of trenching on ground entered on by his friend, Lord Lindsay. "Mr. Dennistoun was the writer of the article on Mr. Barton's 'History of Scotland' in the _Edinburgh Review_ for October, 1854; and also of the analysis lately given in the same periodical of the Report by the Commission on the National Gallery, which is very masterly, and, indeed, the only successful attempt yet made to grapple with that huge accumulation of facts and opinions of all kinds. "He had just lived to complete another very interesting work, consisting of the _Memoirs of Sir Robert Strange_, the excellent engraver, and of his brother-in-law, Andrew Lumisden, secretary to the Stuart princes, and author of the _Antiquities of Rome_. Sir Robert Strange was the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Dennistoun. To that lady, Isabella-Katharina, eldest daughter of the Hon. James Wolfe Murray, Lord Cringletie, a Lord of Session, Mr. Dennistoun was married in 1835." In the Report from the Select Committee on the National Gallery, published by order of the House of Commons in December, 1853, we find Dennistoun as one of the witnesses. His evidence appears to have been of some value, and the articles which he wrote for the _Edinburgh Review_, both before and after the Report was published, are excellent both in tone and substance. "You are the possessor," he was asked, "of a small and, I may say, very choice collection of Italian pictures, are you not?" "A collection of early Italian pictures," he answered. And, indeed, in his day such a collection must have been very rare in England, or, in fact, anywhere else. These pictures were sold with other works of art that had been in his possession, on Thursday, June 14, 1855, and by the courtesy of Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, of King Street, St. James's, I am able to print the catalogue they prepared for the sale, and the prices the pictures fetched. E.H. CATALOGUE OF THE HIGHLY INTERESTING COLLECTION OF PICTURES, AND OTHER WORKS OF ART, Of that distinguished Amateur, JAMES DENNISTOUN, OF DENNISTOUN, ESQ., DECEASED.