New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-06

be tas not received AZ vic 0a~~"Sse'' !.
pictures By az, means are cstslosued The sstinAss
TO- 600 is probably many hundreds under rasner .asn
single daub over, the truth. was iofnisnoo WI"
toersbly accurate calculation Of the pscunay amount
they came to, but have mslad or lost it. II ended
with 900 600, preceded by what figure 1 cannot
recollsct am sorry; taken in this connection IL
was impressive, as large round numbers always are
The prices varied from 100 900 francs down TO vulgar
fractions ola Franc according TO various circumstances
A few notes taken on the spot will sufficiently ex
emplfy these circumstances and be in place here II
anywhere.
At the sale of the collection of the mainly anonymous
Mr. X con account of his DEATH" or "a cause de de-
part lone or the other Of which leavetakngs Of Mess.
K. D. le Comte de c., and the rest Of the alphabet,
the auctioneers constantly announcing throughout
the season by large posters discoored canvases
often sold in lots of two three, and five for many,
sometimes for lees than as many, francs. Such are
generally set up and knocked down at the beginning,
in accordance with metaphysical auction laws, by
which, and not by the cataogued arrangement Of the
pictures the commissaire iseur and expert rule the
order of their going. Gradually, as the cool, indie
pendent individuals get warmed and sympatheucaly
fused into homogeneous audience, and as the mag
netic relations between the audience and the selling
operators get established better things are offered,
and Correggios rise like bewched tables, without any
visible cause. Not all things are cheap at the Hotel
Drouot.
Picture sales there may be divided into as many
classes az you chooses as into two l. Good q Bad; or
into four: /, Very good 2, very bad good and bad
Mixed 4, neither good nor bad, or goodish and bad
dish-the worst of ALL or, say again, into Modern An
-:nx.. oxon rolla md IA.
tours Collections Or etc. etc., etc. Ofthose Of modern
living masters which are frequent, and properly re-
quire three OF four chapters, and three or four very
clever fellows to write them, will not now venture
to send my notes to print There are sales OF what are
called furnishing or furniture, pctures-strcty orr
gina and utterly impossible landscapes and sentimental
genre pieces or copies about whose origin there can DO
no doubt They are spick and span new very bright,
put up in lots of two and four pendants and bought by
small retired bourgeois at rates that would not seem
to pay for the frames. They do pay though as hand
some a profit 10 the master manufacturer az other
cheap fabrics. They are made by young apprentices
and simple mechanical journeymen of the fine arts,
whose wages less than those of the nicer workmen
in purely mechanical trades. They offer sometimes
passing resource TO hopeful young aspants and hard
earned bread to broken down men, who are at last
forced by hunger CT late awakened judgment to reln-
quish the long attempt Of persuadg obstinate pub
Lie that their creative genius was on level with their
liking for art Hence, occasionally these furniture pic
lures bear marks of certain cleverness and real merit
my friend, Mr.. L. received year or 80 ago from
relative of his one of our American Western Catholic
Bishops, request to this effect: "Have painted for
our new church in K, by some French artist, the
series Of the Chemn de Cror the figures of such size
as to properly fill with their accessories canvas Of ten
by twelve feet" The sum offered for the whole series
made the price of each one something less than $50
Well painter whose pieces have been received at the
salon, was found who undertook the commission.
have seen several of the paintings deduced and brought
up to life size from series of engraviDgs, and can
assure you that they have considerable worth OF NJ.
Sgnols own Independent of the merit Of compositOn,
DUE of course the original German designer Let the
faithful Of that Western church settle it with their
Sciences to make inexpensive devotional profits out Of
them. ANY soul-savings made from them seem TO me
wickedy usurious percentage on their cost. met
here in Paris, in 1852, shortly before his death,
painter, whose family name has been raised BY their
works in another department to a deservedly high
place in the ranks of American artists He told mo
that he had been at time employed by dealer in
furnishing pictures "to do the fnshng; his specially
was the foliage in landscapes; in the of three
years he had finished more than one thousand Of
them go that finally my hand" he said, "was con-
/" irmed in habit Of muscular action to that degree
I" that, if would scratch my knee whisk fly from
Z" my nose, it Involuntary made the short chopped
"movemept TO which the everlasting stippng of tree
stops had wonted it,
It is hardly necessary to say that copies Of the an
cent and elderly masters abound even in private col
lections, and do much abound in dealers colec-
TONS Il would be great divarcaton from truth, how.
ever to state that they all poor things. Sometimes
they are very good, some rare times even they may
dating the bul be orginas-at least ordinary con-
nosseur can detect internal proofs to the contrary
Hence the importance of signatures and genealogy;
and hence the grave doubt and faith of amateurs and
sol dsant connofseurs. Excepting the talk Of the diff
feIent members Of queerly compcate, uncassifed
New.York societies, know none more amusing TO an
manipulated listening bystander. Here is a bit of
painted board-there is unnedged biped: offer salts
factory proofs that the board painted by Teniers
that the unfedged bped did have a wholesale grand
father and not retail father and daub and BOBBY
high priced by Monsieur dletanting and Mister Jen
kins respectively quite irrespective of their intrinsic
aualities-not that intrinsic merit when it really is
merit is overlooked at the Hotel Drouot. If poor
things are often bid off at prices quite of
with their intrinsic worth really good things rarely
sacrificed On the whole the range of prices there is
considerably below what it Is in the shops for half the
final bids are made by keepers Of picture shops but
the innocent who go there in expectation of falling
upon rare chances will find them Unexpectedly rare
The cabinet Of M. Pierard of yalenciernes was one
Of the finest that has been disposed of this year. 1t was
rich In Dutch and Flemish Beauties which are just
now more in favor than the productions of the Italian