Henry Crabb Robinson, Bury St Edmunds, to Dawson Turner, Great Yarmouth, 12 July 1850. 

30 Russell Square

30 Nov: 1850./-

My dear Sir

       You obligingly said in your last note that you would remit me when I deferred it, your subscription to the Flaxman Gallery – I will thank you to do it now. The most convenient mode seems to be by sending first one half of the note – This for security.

       It will give you pleasure, the being assured on such high authority as that of the P.R.A. that the money has been well laid out Sir Charles attended the last meeting of the Committee to give directions for fixing the last tint on the figures & on the Wall. He declared to me his entire approbation of the selection & arrangement of the works – The Saloon under the dome, which constitutes the Gallery properly speaking, contains in the centre, St Michael & the Dragon – 9 bas reliefs in each of the 4 compartments of the octangular apartments ^room^ – And three over the doors – You know what the bringing together tastefully 40 of Flaxmans Masterpieces & constituting One Scene must be. Of the original Subscription (to put down round numbers only) £430 – £50 remain unpaid, but they are all like yours from known friends – Supposing the whole collected there will remain between 50-100£ when the liabilities are discharged; But I have obtained from the Council of the Un: Coll the grant of a small adjacent apartment into which the Committee mean to put the Shield of Achilles And a number of gems – And I have authorised this to be done, which means that I render myself responsible And we have also two grand works, the Pastoral Apollo And the Restoration of the Torso of Ach Hercules by completing the figure And adding [Hebe?] – I have no expectation that any additional subscriptions will defray the cost – But to this extent I am willing to be bound These will comprise all the greatest of Flaxman’s works – We have many others still of great beauty And ample space along the walls of the great stair case – But it will not be expected of me I hope that I should undertake for these also, tho’ I have no objection to engage even for these to the extent of X Many of those who frowned on me at first smile now And acknowledge that this gallery will be a service as well as an ornament to the college And many think that subscriptions will flow in to extend what in its first portion is so beautiful

       I hope you will soon be here to see this for yourself – Mr John Gunn left his card at the Coll: the other day but I am not sure that he saw the gallery    I wish to chat with you on other matters – About our good friend Amyot – A memoir with a portrait will appear in the January Number of the Gents Magazine – A portion of it by myself, but I hope the other part will be better than mine

       I am my dear Sir

             Faithfully yours

                          H. C. Robinson

Dawson Turner Esqr

[Attached is a printed statement by the Flaxman Gallery committee]

Address: Dawson Turner Esqr / banker / Great Yarmouth.  

Postmark: Bury St Edmunds JY 12 1850. 

No endorsement 

Text: Turner Papers, O.14.49/12 (1850), Trinity College, Cambridge University.