New-York tribune., 1874-06-26
ART IN EUROPE.
NOTES FROM LONDON.


sKyREs VASES. .- -..- r.UL
frRox A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE ThibuNh'I
LONDON june l3--An American af'ist "i'u q"
exhibition all to himself is the latest tmpe VIC na'0
to admire In London. With Gustave Dore aho po'.
mon pu,,, NJ, Whistler has thrown down sort OF
rhayergn 70 the Royal Academy He declined, l
h.ar 60 sepd any pictures this year to the Academy
from disgust with what he thought the un1ai1 way
in which his last contribution had been huhg
Whether Mr.. Whistler's position be strong enough
with the general public to insure to so daring
an experiment may be doubted. BY an influential
but not numerous section of the artwcrld he is re-
carded with unstinted admiration, and there are
critics-of the scho J. ] should say, once known as
Pre- -Raphaelite-who think Mr.. Whistlers manner
not merely good but the only good one. There are
others who denounce Ii as affectatIon Whatever IL
NAV be- il is not that, for Mr.. Whistlers behet III
himself is tinged with no shade OF DOUBT Ills
friends and opponents would agree ON one thlng,
that he possesses great taent-possibly genius would
he the proper word. they differ as to the use he
makes of it, | speak now of his work with the
brush about his surpassng power as an etcher there
are believe, no NO opinions great part OF the
walls Of the modest room in Pail Mall which MT.
Whistler has opened is covered with proofs Of his
etchings both published, like the well-known
Thames series and unpublished. among which the
ortraits of the young Misses Layland brilliant
examples of Mr.. WhisteI's power. Beside etchings,
the exhibition consists mainly Of full-le1gth por-
traits think eight in number. OF these the por-
trait of the artists mother is best known, having
once been hung in the Academy, and is, to my mind.
the best of them all that of Mr.. Carlyle is perhaps
the most characteristics, abouading in merits and
defects tits for sale but should hesitate long be-
fore advising Mr.. Carlyle's American admirers to
buy it. Mr. Sidney Colyin speaks of it as admirable
in the disposition Of the figure and in the luminous
quality maintained through all its somber tints but
thinks the head too much softeDed in form and ex-
tnct in FIRE. That is softened way of describing
what must confess seems to me an ignobe render
ing of very noble face.
As have mentioned Mr.. C0lvin, will quote q
sentence or two ont cf paper Whistler in this
weeks AcIdenN lfirst remarkDg that Mr.. COlvin
still young man, ranks next after Mr.. Ruskin as
critic of art; by which it need not be understood
that he is q disciple of Mr. Ruskin. He is writer
of too much thoughtful originality and knowledge
10 be rechOned a disciple of anybody. Mr.. Colvin
considers Whistler justified opening gallery OF
his by his consciousness of distinct vocation
fer certain kinds of artistic combinations which it
takes delicate organs TO appreciate, aud to which
official censors have given scanty welcome. To
produce peculiar order of delicate arrangements
and harmonious pattern of color in the representa-
ton whether of individual stters or fancy groups
OF landscape; TO carry out the pattern making part
of his intention TO as subtle and complete a point
possible and to stop very short with the repre-
sentng or 'realizing part; to do this at single
painting with the dstiacness and purity Of effect
which can be secured only by avoiding all repeti-
tons or complications of the brush; these may be
set down as the heads of the mission which Mr.
Whistler feels himself inspired to fulhlln
1t is III japanese art that Mr.. Whistler finds his
a
for expressive abstraction its incsive certainty of
selection its intense way of telling much in little.
Minus also its brilliant coloring as may be under
stood from Mr.. Whi'tler's labelling his works :" ar
ranCemont in gray and black" symphony in flesh
color and pink harmony in gray and green" and
the like. "What the art of Mr.. Whistler yields"
says Mr.. Colvin is terfiam qid, somewhat vague.
pale and incomplete rs | should say, beside really
frst-rate work done either the European or the
Oriental principle-a product both refined and ar
tistic but carrying refinement to a pitch almost SEN
sational and pushing single artistic principle to
the verge of aiieclahOn." ....
A great many people visited the exhibition by in-
yitation on the priyate-yiew day. The number of
Che paying public has not been, hear very large,
and the room was nearly empty when l looked in
THURSDAY But Mr. Whistler need not mind that if
he gets the prices reported to be paid for his pic
lures.
Mr. Story is said 70 have Just completed. in Rome,
q statue of Accstis Of which c0nnOsseurs speak in
enthusiastic terms. The sculptor chose the moment
Of her return to earth from lades for the representa-
ton Of his heroine and has expressed with great
success the mngling of the emotions she must have
felt in reaching ght once more putting into her
face air Of half consciousness aud into the ati
tude OF the whole figure most natural bewilder-
meDt from the strange memories of her visit. l do
Loo tha Iae afi of ia IN he
Lord Dudley's Sevres vases at 6,5O0 guneas can no
longer be quoted the highest example of the pre-
vaing rage for porcelain Lord Coventry's three
pieces a center paiSseas mat" 142 inches high,
aud two jardinieres 81 inches high sold yester
day at auction, by Messrs. Christie d Manson, for
the precise sum of 10000 guineas f105O0, say in
round numbers $4,000. Nor was that thought q
high price, Lord Coventry (who found these pieces
in an unused room AT his country house, having
fused Cl0OOO for them. and the set being finer and
more important than Lord Dudleys two vases. He
had beter have taken the price offered him. for the
auc.ioneers commission wall reduce his 10000 gum
cas- TO a less SUN. The buyer is said to be Baron
Rothsc Lld OF Paris-tle same whose brc-a-brac col
lection lent to the Asace Lorraine Exhibition, now
open in Paris was yalucd for insurance by an expert
at 100000 francs and insured for that call 1t a
collection but friend of the Baron says the objects
were taken from number of rooms and that you
may 60 through those to-day without suspect
ing that anything has been removed THE truth is, no
private collection in the world is comparable to that
Of the Rotbschids. They began long since and have
not merely money, but singular judgment and
knowledge in such matters. Mr.. Alexander Bakers
collection dispersed this week at Chiistic's, and
rcck0ued one Of The most remarkable in Enghnd,
fetched in all but So5oOOO or about one-Gfth the
valuation of the stray things Baron Rotschid could