Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-12-24
Fine Art COlIcctiOn-Ec-
ccntrlcities OF a Wealthy BoStonian.

his great wealth and many ecccntricities.
1t will be remembered that Mr.. Thomp- |
son died in New York In the spring of |
the present year, and the singular bequests |
made in his will were but another instance |
of the peculiarities which marked the man
through life.
He was lover of the fine arts from his
youth, and at the time of the burning OF
the fremont Temple, in Boston, in March,
1859, he lost by the contlagFation fine
art collection which had cost him upwards
of SOC 900, and this, be it remembered,
was at a time when money was gold and
everything was cheap.
This misfortune for time discouraged
him, but he could not overcome his tastes
and habits. In half dozen years his
new collection was greater than the one
he had lost, occupying an entire build
ing, consisting of more than dozen large
rooms, and the pictures not only covered
the walls, but were positively kept in
piles, so that 1t may probably be truthful
ly said that no one except the owner ever
saw the entire collection, or anything APP
prOaching the whole of II.
Some old citizens of Boston, presidents
of the banks and insurance companies
where Mr.. Thompson did business, artists
audliterary men, were occasionally invited
to pass an afternoon or often an entire day
among these treasures, but they are unan-
imous in the expression that they could
not begin to look at them all. Portraits
of citizens and friends, notable personages,
copies of the old masters, and many un-
doubted originals, best specimens of the
English, French, Italian, Dutch, and in
tact every school, have place in this re-
markabe collection. No artist nor picture
dealer who did not at times have transac-
tions with this man. The poor artist
found him an appreoiative and kindly
critic and received liberal price his OBJ
iect then was to aid the artist and advance
the cause of art. The professional dealer
found him different man entirely. No
one quicker detected a cheat or demanded
more for his money, but as IL was always
known that with him market could be
found at some price, and the pay was cash
in hand, he was a customer not to be neg
lected This vast collection contains
many paintings bou hit for few hundred
dollars which had been previously sold for
as many thousands; there are also many
for which Mr.. Thompson paid several
thousand dollars each, and that are per-
haps to-day worth greatly more. No col
lection known is so rich in rare and origi-
nal pictures.
AS some men are misers of money, this
eccentric person was miser with his pic.
lures; he loved them as his life, and he
kept them jealously to himself Probably
not hundred persons have ever seen
them, and an application to him for that
purpose was almost invariably met with a
| polite but studied evasion OF compliance
with the request.
Nearly ten years ago, Mr.. Thompson
had a misunderstanding with the assess
sors of Boston, and conceiving himself t.
have been injured by their action, resolved
to leave the city of his birth, never agaiI
to return to it. This resolve he studiousll
kept, and although residing for severa
years in the immediate vicinity, and being
a large real estate owner in the city, h,
never revisited it, ceased to communicate
with his former friends who resided there
and apparently banished from his though'
the fact of its existence. From the day
he left the city he ceased to buy pictures
The artist lost good friend, and picture
venders missed their best customer. The
entire collection was slowed away, anC
from that day to this he has been securely
guarded from every eye until within thu
past month. Mr. J. Harvey Young, the
well known portrait painter, and director
of the Fine Arts Exhibition of BostoI
Atheneum, was employed by order Of tb,
EXecutrix TO examine and catalogue th'
collection.
Mr.. Young is probably the only living
man who has seen all these pictures
They are stored in most unpromisine
street, and in building which no one
would suspect of being such repository
Mr.. Young asserts that although he hat
in his youth some knowledge of them
| l. Ill knI
efforts, yet when he entered the building
and found such immense piles closel,
packed one against another, tier after tieI
and floor above floor, he was aghast, anC
although devoting to the work all tn,
spare time which the demands of his pro
fession allowed, and having all the assist
ance he required, yet weeks were needed
before anything like list could be pre-
pared.
Bierstadt the artist, who knew Mr.
Thompson well, and of whose own paint
ings there are some dozen or more, eX
presses an opinion that similar collection
cannot now be put together for half
million dollars. No single hall in tn
country is sufficiently large TO exhibi
them Some idea may be conveyed b.
the fact that when they were removed
their present resting place the actual COS
of carriage was about $500, and in maxim
arrangements to remove the collection
New York, where it will shortly be takel
not less than ten freight cars will be II
quired, even If packed close without boz
ing or the waste of any superlluous room
Upon the catalogue made by Mr.. Youn
are found signed pictures of all school
many unquestioned originals lby such al
tbs as Sir Charles Eastlake, Thomas Law
renee, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Pete
Lely, Godfrey Kneller, Allan Ramsay
George Morland, Gainsborough, Phillip
Hogarth, Meadows, Etty, Turner, Ma
myth, Rumney, Opie, Copley, stewar
Newton, and Stoddard of the Englis
school, and Boucher, Lambinet, De Buf
Mignard, Baron, Burnet, Isabey, i
DIeux, of the French. Italian, Dutch an
German, are represented by Schidon
. GuercinO, Teniers, Seebach, Paul Zuccare
, Ii, Vandyke, Van Ostade, Diaz, Bouche
Van Mas, and many others equally we
; known, whose names have been made {
nous, and original pictures from who:
: hands have become rare. There are lars
number of copies and originals by the mo
, celebrated artists of the fifteenth, sixteent
l and seventeenth centuries, such as Titia
Rembrandt, Rubens. and others. Mar
3 portraits of the beauties of American 8
ciety are buried beneath the weight
superintendent pictures, and will
1 brought to the air and sunshine ont
: more.
= American artists are largely represente
3 and many of the early works Of men no
! famous may be found here, some OF the
1 giving the early promise of genius now
n It's zenith. The names Of Sully, lnma
i Bierstadt, Durand, Brown, Peale, Han
!, Birch, Doughty, and nearly every OF
S who was known ten years ago may
l. found largely represented on the catalogu
d The yery last picture added TO the cole
ton was the "Sleeping Beauty" |
/. Wright, of Boston. II was purchased
!. Mr.. Thompson before II was finished,
g the sum of $1,000, the artist retaining h
:, right of exhibition for a certain tim
o Alter being on view at the rooms
!, Messrs. Williams & Everett, the We
+ known art dealers, it was finally pass
Q over to the business agent of the abse
J, purchaser, who never saw Il in its iinisbl
o state, and since which time the beautii