The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-05-25
The Manufacture of Paintings by the
ssOld Masters"
By JAMES PARTON.

There is one class of picture-dealers and
picture. makers whom this beautiful pro-
cess of chromo-lithography will seriously
injure. mean those who make and sell
the landscapes which are offered at the
New York ferries for five dollars pair,
gilt frames and all also those who sell
at auction "splendid oil paintings collected
in Italy, by well-known connoisseur re-
Gently deceased" Some Of these fine
works, 1 am informed by one who has
done them "a German artist whom pow
erty and ignorance Of the English lam
guage compelled for few months to mis-
use his brush in this wayl are executed
dozen at time, and are paid for by the
dozen. Twelve canvases are set up in
large garret-room. The painter, with
palnt-pot in one hand and brush in the
other, goes his rounds first, putting in
all the skies; next, perhaps, all the grass;
then, his trees and, finally, dots in a
few cows, sheep, children, and ladies. A
good hand can execute a very superior
dozen in week, for which, in these dear
times, he may get as much as twenty dol
lars. Before the war, the established
price for a good article of an oil painting
was twelve dollars dozen, and find your
own paint
The principal mandatory in the Uni
ted States of this description of ware, is in
certain Broad and noisy street of city
that need not be named. 1t is styled by
its proprietor "The American Art Gal
lery for the Encouragement of Art and
Young Artists but, among the unhappy
young men who earn a sorry livelihood by
plying the brush therein, the establishment
is called "The Slaughter-House," and its
master "The Butcher" This man of
blood was once an auctioneer in street
that has little in common with the Illus
trious orator and statesman whose name
it bears, wherein persons in needy circum-
stances can either sell superfuous or buy
indispensable garments. 1t is now his
boast that he is the ''greatest patron Of
the fine arts IN America" and his ways
of patronizing art are various. He will
have pictures painted by young artist
whose necessities are urgent, which he
will keep as part of his stock in trade. In
a room parlitioned off from "The Ameri'
can Art Gallery" just before mentioned,
he has number Of "hands' multiplying
copies of these pictures as fast as the
brush can dab on the paint. These
"hands,' to whom he pays weekly wages
which average less than the wages of la
borers, acquire by iDcessant practice q
dexterity in making the copies that il
truly remarkable. Besides these, he has
outdoor hands, who, like journeymen tai
lors, take their work home and do it by
the piece. The pictures are offered fol
sale in the Gallery but as they accumu
late rapidly, the proprietor holds an auc
tion every few weeks, either of the Olt
Masters or of Great Living Artists -
These auctions take place by turns, il
New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Buffa
10, Cincinnati, Chicago, st, Louis, an,
San Francisco, The Californians, my
German artist says, are liberal patrons o
the "American Art Gallery for the En-
! CouTaBtIltut VI hTt anu louuS Arlists,
the sales in San Francisco being both fre
quent and profitable Even to Australia
on the other side of the globe, consign
ments of these precious works are sen
from the Gallery in the nameless city
The pictures offernd at the auction sale
are frequently advertised and declared t
be "original oil paintings by native artists
from the American Gallery for ike En
couragement of Arts and Young Artists
The frame is,of course, an item ofthe frs
importance in this kind Of picture. Th
butcher manufactures his own frames, an,
takes care that they shall be splendid
This is probably secret of his success
for what is there dearer to the heart @
man and woman than gorgeous parlor
This amiable passion burns in the breas
of every true American, and it is this whicl
creates the demand for splendid Gilt frame
with something in them that looks lttl
like picture, MONTHLY.