The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-12
CURlosI1IEs OF PRlST COLLECTIONS

february last, adds some curious particulars Oh /
remarkable collections
A STORY OF RBMBRANDT.
About one of Rem mbrandts etchings we have |
on amusing story. He had gone to spend day |
9TH his gfeat friend, Jan Six, burgomaster oil |
nrostordam AS they we're sitting down TO |
dinner IL was found the servant had Iorg0ten
10 provide any mustard he was , sem on a. a.
once to the village close 0y, OuI hSn oTpanus'
Snowing that the favorite maxim oil tne putch
servants was much haste, little speed ialI =
wager with the burgomsster that ne Woulu etcn
az sview from tbe dining-room window before |
4ho sarvant returned He took up plate, tried |
his etching point upon it, sketched the view,
and won his bet. The engraving is very rare
one Baron VerstOlkes Impression sold for fll
los: but he would be fortunate who could
secure good impression at that price now.
DURER.
OF Albert Durer's etchings the most beautiful
is his "Adam and Eve" Some time ago the
finest known impression of this engraving came
into the possession OF Mr.. Smith, the eminent
printselleT. He showed the PRINT to Mr.. Ma
berly, who eagerly inquired the price-which,
as far as l reeollect, was about sixty pounds
sterling. Possessing another impression already,
Mr.. Maberly was at first not inclined to pay this
large sum even for such superior excellence.
Charming impression, and at last said, "Well,
we'll, / must have II. But you Will take back
my other impression; won't you, and alloy me me
Smith. II don't think that can do that.
won't offer you 915, but il you like will give
you ESQ.," The value of Durer's engraving had
been doubled since Mr.. Maberly's former pur-
chase. At Mr.. Maberly's death his prize sold
for f65. Mr.. Johpson's impression, which was
no doubt, a fine one, brought f46. What
change from the price Durer himself tells us he
got for his engraving in l520-four stivers (four-
pence,l Even taking into account the differ
eDce in the value of money in his time and our
own, what he received cannot have amounted
to couple OF shillings.
MULLER.
F. Muller's engraving of 'Madonna di San
Sisto'' proved his death. On taking proof of
his plate to the publisher by whom he was en-
ploYed, he was told he must go over the whole
work again, as it was far too delicate for COM
mercial purposes. With heavy heart he set
about his work, but it was too much for him,
and on the very day the proofs were taken off
from the retOuched plate, he died. 1t tetches
large prices now. Az MT. Johuson's sale, fine
proof before any letters" brought one hundred
and twenty pounds. The same sum was obtained
for Count Archmto's copy in 1862
CONTRAST OF PRICES.
In comparing the ancient prices of prints on
their first publication with the modern ones-I
nave already mentioned Durer's adam and
Eve;' and MIR. MabeTly tells us that Ourer pur-
chased Lucas Van Leydens "Eulehspeigel" I" now
worth, when in good state, ESQ., for a stiver)-we
must not forget the INN ensely larger sums that
engravers are paid nowadays than what were
usual in former times. The artist then was
often his own publisher; but even when he was
engaged by some other person, he received what
would be considered at present most inadequate
remuneration. Woollett, for instance, hun
ureu ears ago, asked only 0ttY gulneaS Tor
craving his "Niobe," though Alderman Boydell
generously gave him one hundred. The price
at which IT was published was five shillings, no
difference being made between proofs and
- prlnts-the subscribers being allowed to take
which they pleased, Contrast these prices
XIV commenced "ChaIcographe du Musee
Royale," q series OF engravings from pic
tures in the Louvre. The series is still con-
tinued, and in 1854 the sum voted for this pur-
pose was nearly f90C0. OF this II. Dupont was
to receive 4l666 for engraving Paul Veronese's
"PilGrims OF Emmaus;" and DE FRANCOIS lthe
artist enc aged for Frith's Derby Day'), 9l250
for Fra Angelic"'s Coronation oil the Virgin"
When in 1S47 there was similar commission
contemplated by the English r. government, 1t
10 receive for engraving The Raising of Laza-
rusn was $4,000. publisher will often spend
several thousand pounds in bringing out first
most serious item. Landseer got for the "Peace
and War;" now in the Vernon Gallery, 92650.
The prices charged for the Impressions must OF
course be in proportion. For instance, when
Colnagh published DoOs engraving OF the
i'Raising Of Lazarus" there were 100 artists
proofs at 2OEguineas, 100 proofs on India paper
at Is guineas, 100 proofs on plain paper at II
guineas, 200 prints on India paper at guineas
whilst the prints themselves were charged ,
gutneas each.
The same writer says:-
The subject of engraving leads US naturally
to the sister subject of painting. No collecting
mania is anything like so popular or so exten-
sTvely practlsed as that for pictures. They have
come TO be considered as indispensable articles
of furniture in every Well-appointed house; and
it is no uncommon thing in consequence, to
meet with q collector who talks and evidently
thinks much less of the gems that ornament
his gallery than OF the checks by which
they were secured. And how grossly the
"Od mastersn are belied In many of these
collections! They had no more to do with
the productions 10 which their names are
appended in all the splendOr that gilt letters
can give them than the purchaser himself. bu
if man will order Claude five feet by three
and half, because he has a spare corner o
those dimensions, he had better not inquire too
closely, any more than in the case OF a st
Anthony's tooth, as to what animal it originally
belonged. In London alone there are, suppose
sold every year more pictures by the ''OlC
masters" than are left to us OF their painting
altogether. Let me mention two facts. In thu
year lS45 the number Of pictures imported int
England amounted, according to the returns o
the Custom House, to l4,09l. In one month o
the same year there were sold by auction il
London alone, with out reckoning those included
in furniture sales, though the number Of thes
must have been considerable, 4Gl7.
Inc dlherence between the prices at which
such pictures are acquired and those they fetcl
%hen brought TO the hammer, Is amusing.
hapnae', declared in the auc ion room to hay
cost us late owner 1000 gAiBeas, sells at 937
1orKshre gentleman bequeaths twelve of hi
pictures 10 the National Gallery; thew are no
jected, every one. The whole colIecton !
brought to the hammers it had cost f3OO0.
produces 9l6O-abOut the value of the frames
Nor is 1T only in ENGLAND that a man sells
horse for a gross green spectaCles, Frenc
collector lnsures his gallery for 339 90
francs, III Is s0ld some years after wards hume