The New York herald., 1869-01-17

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The Artist ana His Patron-FrIncipal Cel-
Iectlons In the Cisy-Whero the Masterpieces
Are-Anerican Ars Production and ifs Sta
tistIcs.
The quaint author OF the memoirs OF vagabond"
has incidentally Afforded capital autobiography Of
the American artist during tle c@iier years OF
American nationality. the pf6lesson 1t that time hay
ing been capricously remuncrative a. to some ex
tent literature is now. west was compelled to take
up his residence abroad. and Peale, Trumbull,
Suliy, Fulton, Dunlap, Alston, Malbane. Morse,
Leslie and other early painters had to await
foreign recognition before their works became
saleable At home. American art was at
that time as dependent upon English
criticism American literature seems to be ct pres
ent, and as the American drama has been from It's
inception-though the last ten years have done .
great deal for the emancipation OF both and the
next ten are likely to effect great deal more In the
same direction. 1t has always been . law Of art
life that Its votaries have been supremcly depend
ant upon special patronage. An artist without
patron would even now ind himself In rather
anomalous condition, though at present ani artist
is permitted to make good bargain In the
way Of public exposure OF his work for salc-a
privilege scarcely extended as yet to the
votary Of letters, and the time seems to
be not far distant when artproduction will
be compelled to yield to the ordinary laws OF CON-
mercal value, with open market and rise and fall IN
in the price SCALE 1t is one OF the tendencies Of
ercial thought to reduce the ideal to standards Of
value, and there seems to be no doubt that this
tendency must be obeyed sooner Of later. Already,
In fact, class of middle men has sprung mp be-
tween the producer and the buyer, and thus far,
therefore, commercial laws seem TO have prevailed
already though for the deaty Of the thing the term
auctioneer in art matters Is exceedingly unfor-
tunate. Some advantage nom this system neccs-
sarily accrues TO the notary without patron, who
Is necessarily dependent upon open market;
but 1t must be owned that the greater
part Of the advantage is secured by the
middle men themselves, who are thus enabled to
dispose OF large amount Of imported trash, quito
unsaleable In Europe and manufactured especially
for the American market Protests on the part Of
young American artists have been useless in fact
youthful aspirants have been compelled to yield to
the general current and mix their own works in
open sale with artistic productions socaled) which
could have found buyer at any price In European
art centres. The lions Of the profession have on the
other hand, been able to breast the current, and
have. except in special cases, turned deaf ear to
the seductive insinuation Of cash advances. At
the initiation Of the art auction business some few
auctioneers were sanguine enoughrto suppose that
the old system would IN time, be altogether super
seded This suppOsition has. however, been proved
tobe fallacy by the logic OF events, and thelpros
pect s that the middemen will, In dine season. close
up for very Inferior products TO the
sale OF which they are even now mostly limited.
The system mas. nevertheless, been productive Of
some good results, though not Intentionally; for
while 1t Is very true that the productions exposed
for sale have been mere daubs, most OF them, that
exposure has, Notwithstanding, resulted In the for
| nation OF popular taste for art The philosophy
Of the matter has been very simple. Taste Is mat
ter Of culture ana though the culture Of the popular
eye has not been Of the best quality it has been cu
ture Of Sort The expression OF the aesthetic in
stnct in fact however rude it may be, results in
certain aesthetic culture; and In this respect, IL
| q demand be created at al, that demand
is sure to end In something like demand for excel
lence. The artistic sight, In other words cannot be
art however crude its first stlmulants may be. Taste
may be cultivated by the study Of Indifferent paint
ngs until y Demands better and refuses to g salts
an artistic longing or hunger with indinerent pro-
ductions but you cannot feed Il upon them for any
his cary srsisiic dsst ana whereas you may have
ever crudsy srsstic, with svidity You end With an
epicure IN the nne arts who values equally both the
70 Oe brief purity and CORRECTNESS Of taste
may be developed nom the study Of ex-
;suS ssss Sn seny . Ss
self-evolvfng, Many thanks, therefore, TO- art auc
tioneers for what they have been instrumental 10
compshing IN this direction; though. a. 1t has been
altogether unintentional on their part, no great
credit as public benefact0rs be awarded them.
arsist must nus have his patron least Tor reputaons
sake Who gave you your Ia last commission ,I . z, -
stu question mol o. and ma an q artist Without m
| the spanish sense) would hnd himself in . sorry
plight indeed as regards position unless he was able
css' course q his biography In New IVY York K this s
art 1se lie. ana czens wealth or r0nSSa socia
| position have almost invariably made the
nile merit and to reward IT, and TO their rss recos
nitlon OF this kind leading artists may invariably
trace the the blossomng or ct least the budding OF
| commission, and the latter soon became famous;
| Longworth was the nrst to extend the hand OF
Reed nrsi encouraged Cole and Durand; the ladies
OF Kentucky sent Hart to Italy to model their great
a. ss G s. n1 :nS $
orders OF three leading commercial men In this city
The extent to which this law has been carried out
trated BY reference to private COLLECTIONS leading
ones Of the less known OF which may be catalogued
IN alphabetical order, beginning with that Of ". T.
COLLECTION OF W. r. BLoDdE1T.
is rep representative most mostly Of American landscape
| The catalogue n a. follows:--
Bougnton-Passing INTO the shade.
Church-0riginal study Tor C0topaxt; Aurora;
Ecuador and Heart Of the Andes.
Cropsey-0lden Time.
Dariey-Foraging Scene In Virginia; Charge at
Ha~Grspes, White and Purple.
Hazctine-Narraganset Coast
Hcks-Booth as Iago.
Johnson, Eastman-FamIly Group; Corn Shelter.
Kensett-Autumn.
Leutze-Rummaging.
Rowse-Four CrayoD Heads
COLLECTION or CYRUS BUTLER.
This collection includes few works OF well known
American artists, and is mostly landscape. The
catalogue Is a. follows
Bristol-0h the H0usatonic.
Brown, r. G-waking Up the Wrong Passenger.
Durand-Lake George
Hal, Ceorge-Red, White and Blue.
McEntee-v Virginia tsent TO the Paris Exposition,
1901 November.
Mgnot-On the Passaic.
euydam-Thc salt Marshes, Long Island.
Weir, r. FAN Artists Studio.