The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-23 00:00:00

ART EXHIBITIOS AT HLLE3OWEN.

An exhibition of works of art tied ';urio ities was
on Tuesday actereoon opened in the National
Salo°le, Hal Isowen. The objet of the promoe-rs
s to bniel the fonds of th, Halesowen Inst Auto,
whic was opened a little more ban a year ago,
.ad upon woe h (kbt of atout £lOO till remains
rid thernsPives of this the commttee hit ueon
the ieea of an art exeibition which sh iuld be
sie plied with the pictures of g-eatlemen re ident if,
the 1 ee,,iey, mid interested in the successes of the
institute. Th,ir idea seems to have ' een crowned
with success, as on Tuesday the walls of the thr e
schoolrooms were almost compleelY hidden by a
collection of up waris of 50) really splendid
p. :ures, estimated t be worth about £lOO,OOO,
whilst on tables and statels animate d areund two
of the rooms were curiosities so nutnerous and rare
th it he 11,1 t, s, after first admirine the pictur. s,
which we e, of course, the chief attriveions, turned
their a Untiel to and seemed never tired of inspect-
i.jg The exhibition was opened by the Right Hon.
Lord Letteltoe (pre ident of tee institute), wh ;
was accempenied by Lady Lyttelton. Among
those also present were Mr, B. klingl-iy and Miss
H egley, Mr. J. P. Hunt and family, Mr. and Mr-
ll'. D. L. Smith, Mr. Jeston Homfray and family.
the Rev. a Ilene and the Miss s line, Mr. G. B.
Ileigley, Mrs. Hingley, and the Mist, s Hinglsy,
the Rev. F. Keatch, Mr. E. B Ph linps, Lieutenen
Lyne-einart, Mr. 11. It. lier and Miss Ker, Mr. J.
H. Turnbull and family, Mr. T. WiticcB Vbr,,no, Mr.
A. G. Hayes, Mr. aid Mrs. D. Griffiths, Mr. Good-
man, Mr. H. Kemp, Mr. R. Trewella, Mr, W
Somers, Mr. W. Hinton (hon. SO.:), &e.
Lord Lyttetton, who was received with appleuee,
sail he vhould be wanting in his duty if be dl sot
xplain the ted-f object for which the exhibition
was being held. When he mad the honour of
opening their institute about a ye ir ago it was don
ued r inost auspicious eircumatueicee. The land
been given and the building erected, and
.verythine seemt.d o a‘r or the pros.,erity of
the new undertaking. Nothing h o.eurred since
ten to cloud that prosp bat the institu e
opened with a debt of about £lOO. This debt was
ttil: upon the sbOuldera th., mien) ttee, lilt: it
was niten el, i posnbie, to cl. ar ii. tie ay with this
exhibition, He believed t.e institu,e site idy
numbered nearly 150 members, and that it had
enr eled many of the working ciass and ~.hopkeepere
of the tewn. There we, howev; r, still room tor
eonside:able accession to .he numbers, and he most
earntstiy trustea teat tee time would come when
there would be at 1. set 350 or 400 members gatht.red
within tile wills of the Wet: u.e—(applause). He
was told there was no prospect of the institute
running into fieancial difficulties as it paid its way
with the members it ha i but there was no more
s tthlaelory way of gaieing financial success than
by havine a large number oi members, and teat,
instate e would not he doing its full work in that
town—whill he beleeved it eventually would do—
unlosta it doubled its membership. As for the debt,
0 a £lOO in a p ace like Halesoweu should be but a
mere trifle Tnere was a good deal to be said fer a
debt a tmetimes—(hear, hear), as it gave a sort of
stimul.us to those up;:n whom it lay, prevented
extravazence. and eucouraged them in launo iin
out in benflcial works such as that exhibition.
He, however, asked those present to do what they
could to lighten the debt Upon the institute, as to
have no debt at all was better than having a small
debt--(applauso). ills Lordship went on to con-
giatu ae the inhabitants oi Halesowen on having
eon able to bring together such a valuelee cel-
-1 ctien of pictures and objects of ihtereet as he 8w
that day--(applause), It reflected the very highest
credit on all concerned, and he should be doing
,vrong if e omitted to mention, in connection wirb
the exhibi ion, ;he name of Mr. W. Hinton, the
energetic eeretary of the institute. Having
alluded in feeling terms to the abs-nee of the Von.
Archdeacon Hone, the rector, through il ness, his
Lordsh:p declared the exhibition open, wished it
every -tezcese and expressed the hope th.,t every
o e who visited it would derive a permanent ad-
vantage, and ,hat at all events it would carry eut
its immediate object—(applause).
Amone the pi three flung upon the walls were a
number lent by .1... rd Lyttelton. These included
one by Vandyck of the Duchess of Buckingham, an
_ _ _ _ _ . _

excellent portrait of Lord Lyttelton by W. B. Rich-
woad, cm of the late Lord Lyttelton by G
Rih-
ruDni, R.A., " Venus Phyche " (Tit 'a ,), Jacob's
Family.(Pat'saoo), a very tine specimen of artistic:
_

; -"TN.ta,lonna and Chitd, (-School of Ruhens
" 1-Toy Family in Egypt" (Polls tin), .1 Creator
Mundi " (Le Lune), and others. There was also
ye y fin'.! collec ion col,tribnt'd by Mr J. S. Gii.,-
bous, among them being one, "Taking the Veil "
(T. Unwind, R. A.), " Sunset in Autumn," and
" The :Sculptor's Triumph " (Denby), a view of
Rome and a lands,a,pe, both by Claude, and almost
invaluable as speeitu-ns ef h.s works, another large

and perfect pic; ure, he ti.l)ject being " Maternal
Affection" by 11. Howard, who achieved the
distinction of " R.A.''t an earlier age than .ny
other artnist ; a splendid kicture of a "View on the
Avon near Bristol,' by W J anoth r,
The Adorwion of the Magi," by &thew and
other large and valuable worm; of art, by Loeutelli,
Csyp, Can3letto L. J Wood, &c. Mr. W. Rose
of the Mount, IliVesowen, lent a c,,llection of 50
pictures, whh.h included Line valuable paintings t)
furnyr ; cne "The Setting of the Guard "
(Rembrandt) ; "'rho Eva of Deluge" (Rubens)
"The Woodman Smov lug " (Gainsborough), and
others by Caracel. Brooinhead, &c. Mr. James
Grove contribu- el about 25 pictures, many of them
being local subj cts by Pope and W. 0. •Nliddington
and rural scents by Knox Grosley Taylor, and
other artists. Mr. Howard Simcoy, of Harborne‘
sent about 20 pictures, prominent amongst which
was a portrait of David Cox, surrounded by seve:al
of his works, which ineluded "A View of Dudley
Castle," a capital view of Liverpool, a scene on the
Wye, where the celebrated painter lived in his
younger days, and also a scene at Harborne Grove,
where he dit d. In this collection there was abso
s-veral Continental scenes by Maginnis, also
pictures and water-colours by H. Dawson, Turner,
J. Webb and Gainsborough. Among the other
coniributors were Mr. Joseph Pearrnan, Mrs. jive%
Mr. J. Homfray, Mr. Alfred Burr, Mr. E. Gum,
Mr C. Hingley, Mr. IL R. Ker, Mr. J. G. Grove,
Mr. Keen, Mr. J. P. Hunt, Mr. J. Grove, (a very
1 trge ollection), Mr. Ward, and others. The col-
lection of curiosities was varied and rare. The
'pictures were hung under thu superintendence of
Mr. G. F. Rennett, Bristol Street, Birmingham,
who hinkoolf exhibited moral picture., mi to whoa