The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-01-08
EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION CT
OIL PAINTINGS.
KccentFicities OF . Wealthy B0s-
t0nlan.

Messrs. III. FL. Leeds &C. Miner, of
New York, advertise in our columns
to-day an extraordinary Executr1x
Sale Of Oil Paintings, the most ex-
tensive and undoubtedly most valu-
able collection 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
Gallery of the Auctioneers, Nos. ST
and 80 Broadway, on the It'll Of Feb
ruary, and will be continued day
and evening, from day TO day, and
week to week, until the entire %collec-
ton is disposed of. Catalogues of the
sale can be obtained by inclosiDg
twenty-five cents to the auctioners.
The New York Herald of December
10Th says: 1t will be remembered that
Mr.. Thompson died in New York in
the Spring of the present year, and
the singular requests made In his will
were but another instance of the Pc
culiarities which marked the man
through life.
He was a lover of the hne arts from
his youth, and at the time of the
burning of the fremont Temple, in
Boston, in March, 1852, he lost by the
conf1agration a fine art collection
which had cost him upwards of
$92, 900, and this, be it remembered,
was a time whom money was gold and
everything was cheap.
This misfortune for a time dis
couraged him, but he could not over
come his tastes and habits. In half a
dozen years his new collection was
greater than the one he had lost.
Occupying an entire building, con-
sisting 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 10 ono except the
owner ever saw the entire collection,
or anything approaching the whole
of it.
Some old citizens of Boston, presi-
dents of banks and insurance CON-
panies where Mr.. Thompson did
business, and some artists and literary
men who were occasionally invited to
pass an afternoon or an entire day
among these treasures, and were
unanimous IN the expression that they
could not begin to look at them all.
Portraits Of citizens and friends, nota-
bic persOnages, copies of the old
masters, and many undoubted origin
ais, the best specimens of English,
French, Italian, Dutch, and In fact
every school, have a place in this
remarkable collection. There was
no artist or picture. dealer who did
not at times have transactions with
this man. The poor artist found him
an a~ppreciative and kindly critic,
and received a liberal price; his
object then was to aid the artist and
advance the cause Of art. The pro-
| fessional dealer found him a different
man entirely. No one quicker de-
tected a cheat or demanded more for
his money, but as 1t was always known
that with him a market could be
found at some price, and the pay was
cash in hand, he was a customer not
to be neglected. This vast collection
contains many paintings bought for a
few hundred dollars which had been
previously sold for as many thou
sands; there are also many for which
Mr.. Thompson paid several thousand
dollars each, and that are perhaps to-
day worth greatly more. No collec-
ton known is so rich in rare and
original pictures.
AS some men are misers of money,
this eccentric person was q miser
with his pictures; he loved chem as
his life, and he kept them jealousy
to himself. Probably not a 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 a com
pliance with the request.
Nearly ten years ago Mr. Thompson
had a misunderstanding with the
assessors of Boston, and ~conceiViDg