The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-01-14
AN EXTRAORDINARY COLLEC-
TION OF OIL PAINTINGS.
EccEvrR1cIr1Es OF A WEALTHY Bosrox1A,

1
Messrs II. II. Leeds & Miner of New York,
advertise in our columns to-day an extraordi-
nary Executrix sale of Oil Paintings, the most
extensive and undoubtedly most valuable col
lection ever owned in the United States 1t
| belongs to the estate of the late Thomas
| Thompson, Esq, q man noted for his great
wealth and many eccentricities.
The sale will commence at the Art Gale
ries of the Auctioneers, Nos. SI7 and Sl9
Broadway, ON the 7th of February, and will be
continued day and evening from day to day
and week to week, until the entire collection
| is disposed of. Catalogue of the sale can be
obtained by inclosing % cents to the Auctio-
neers.
The New York Herald of Dec. 10th saws:
It will be remembered that Mr. THOMPSON
died in New York in the spring of the present
year, and the singular bequests made In his
( will were put another instance of the peculia-
rites 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, 1852.
he lost by the eonfagration a fine-art collec-
ton which had cost him upwards of S92. 600.
and this, be it remmembered, was at time
when money was gold and everything was
| cheap. Htt
| This misfortune Tor a time discouraged him,
but he could not overcome his tastes and ha-
bits. In half dozen years his new eollec-
ton was greater then the one he had lost. Oc-
/ cupying an entire building consisting OF more
than a dozen large rooms, the pictures not only
covered the walls, but were positively kept in
piles, so that it may probably be truthfully
said that no one except the owner ever saw the
entire collection, or anything approaching the
whole of it.
Some old citizens of Boston, presidents of
the banks and insurance companies where Mr..
| Thompson did business, and some artists and
| literary men, were occasionally invited to pass
an afternoon or often an entire daY among
these treasures, and were unanimous in the ex-
preston that they could not begin TO look at
| them all. Portraits of citizens and friends,
notable personages+ copies of the old masters,
and many undoubted originals the best spe-
cimens of the English, French, Italian, Ouch,
| and in fact every school, have place in this re-
markable collection. There was no artist or
pictUre-dealer who did not at times have trans
actions with this man. The poor artist found
| him an appreciatiYe and kindly critic, and re-
| ceived a liberal price; his object then was to
aid the artist and advance the cause of art.
The professional dealer found him a different
man entirely. No one quicker detected cheat
OF demanded more for his money, but as it
was always known that with him market
could be found at some price, and the pay was
lected. This vast collection contains many
paintings bought 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 arc perhaps to-day worth greatly
more No collection known is so rich in rare
and original pictures. -~Il.
As some men are misers of money, this &C.
centric person was miser with his pictures;
| he loved them as his life, and he kept them
| jealously TO himself Probably not a hundred
| persons have ever seen them, and an appIica-
| ton to HIM for that purpose was almost lnva-
riably met with polite but studied evasion of
a compliance with the request,
Nearly ten years ago, Mr.. Thompson had q
| misunderstanding with the assessors ofBoston,
/ and conceiving himself TO have been injured bv
their action, resolved TO leave the city of his
| birth, never again to return to it This resolve
he studiously kept, and although residing for
several years IN the immediate vicinity and
being a large real estate owner IN the city, he
never revisited it, ceased to communicate with
his former friendsAyho resided there, and ap-
parently banished frem his thoughts the fact
of its existence. From the day he left the city
he ceased to buy pictures. The artist lost q
good friend, and picture-vendeTs missed their
best customer. The entire collection was
slowed away, and from that day to this has
been securely guarded from every eye until
within the past month. Mr. j. Harvey Y oung.
the well-EnOwll portait-painter, and director
of the Fine Arts Exhibition of the Boston A
theneum, was employed by order of the exc
cutTix to examine and catalogue the collection
Mr.. Young is probably the only living man
who has seen all these pictures They are
stored in a most unpromising street, and in u
building which no one would suspect of being
! such a repository. Mr.. Young asserts that
although he had in his yoth some knowledge
of them, and had himself contributed one or
two efforts, vet when he entered the building
and found such immense piles closely packed
one against another, tier after tier, and floor
above floor he was aghast, and although de-
voting TO the work all the spare time which
the demands of his profession allowed, and
having all the assistance he required, yet
weeks were needed before anything like a list
could be prepared.
Bierstadt the artist, who knew Mr.. Thomp-
son well, and of whose own paintings there are
some dozen or more, expresses an opinion that
q similar collection cannot now be put together
for half million dollars. No single hall in the
country is sufficiently large to exhibit them.
| Some idea may be conveyed by the fact that
when they were removed to their present res
| ting place the actual cost of carriage was about
| $500, and IN making arrangements to remove
| the collection TO New York, not less than ten
freight cars will be required, even if packed
close without boxing or the waste OF any SUI
| perfiuous room.
Upon the catalogue made by Mr.. Young are
found signed pictures of all schools, many un-