Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-21
CELEBRATED PAINTINGS.
HANS HoLBEIH AND SOME ACCOUNT OF
Els KAsTERPIEcK.
The Dresden GallerY-Raphael and the
sistine na-correspozdencs
Of the 4" Record Union"
DRESDEN, December %, 1881.

DRESDEN, December %, 1881.
"We must needs love the highest when
we see it." Enviable Dresden Happy
agent of pleasurable emotions Void of
sensation must be the one who feels no re-
sponsive chord of sympathy as he wanders
among the abundant works of undying
masters of all schools and times. Well said
Goethe, the worshiped and worshipful
genius "Wer vieles bringt wird Manchem
etwas bringen !" This celebrated gallery,
this treasury of beautiful paintings, is said
to rank with the Louvre as one of the
finest collections in the world and to Au-
gustus III. is ascribed the honor of
waving the magic wand that called it into
existence. If the ultimatum of human
happiness is attained when the ability to do
is commensurate with the desire, then the
splendor. loving Augustus must have
mounted to the very pinnacle OF earthly
bliss. Here, in these enchanted halls, one
sees a priceless little altar. piece, by Jan
Van Eyck, of the old Flemish school Of the
fifteenth century numerous paintings by
Peter Paul Rubens, the great master of the
Flemish school of the seventeenth century |;
also many works of his famous pupil,
Anthony Van Dyck, some of which are
said to even surpass In picturesque treat
ment those of his master.
IN THE SPANISH SCHOOL
He notices the favorite, Murillo's Ma
donna and the Rembrandt school he finds
nowhere more faithfully or fully represent
ed. Among the most famous works in
the whole gallery he sees, The Nun,
The Monastery and The Jewish Cemetery,
executed by Jacob Van Ruysdael, one OF
the greatest Dutch landscape painters.
Here, also, the great masters of the golden
period of italian art claim his attention
and admiration in the works of the cele-
brated Correggio, Dresden is said to be even
richer than Parma itself. But the pearls,
the Jewels of the collection, are Holbein's
Mother of God, and Raphael's Sistine Ma.
donna. These, according to Hubner, are
the purest gloriications of German and
italian pecuharities and, he further adds /:
They may even be called the spiritual
eyes of the Dresden gallery. Remove
them and it loses its refulgent brightness
its mysterious signs of god-like beauty
vanish. True, the heaven remains, star
by star-but the sun is gone !"
HoLBEIN's MOTHER OF GOD,
Or Madonna and Child, stand sacredly in
a private room, with Albrecht Durers
priceless Cruci6xion and few other choice
and ancient paintings. 1t is well known
that this mastery work was originally
painted for the Burgermeister of Basel,
Jacob Meyer, in 1926, whose family are
represented under the protection of the
Virgin. Much strife and discussion en-
sued over this painting till the Holbein
Exhibition of 1871 at Berlin, where it was
compared with the Darmstadt painting, OF
which it was previously said to be copy,
also with the portraits of the Meyer fam.
lily, by Holbein, from the Basel Museum,
and proven beyond doubt to the minds
of many artists, that the Dresden Madonna
was only later work by the masters own
hand.
After the death of Meyer the painting
was sold by one of his descendants, in
dam, who later sold it again to an agent Of
the Queen of France-Maria Won Medicis-
but since she died about that time, he kept
it for himself. In 1890 he became bank
rupt, and the Holbein Madonna fell into
the hands of banker at Venice. Here 1t
seems to have lain for some time unknown
and unappreciated5 although it is said that
the Duke of Orleans made an effort in 1923
to purchase it. But Count Algarotti seems
to have been the Fairy Prince who again
rejuvenated the charms of the Sleeping
Beauty. Through his influence it was OBJ
tanned by his friend Augustus III. in
l743, and placed, where it still remains, in
its exalted position in the Dresden Gal
lery. Algarotti vividly describes in his
letters at that time, how the artists OF
Venice made pilgrimages to see
THIS SPLENDID PIECE OF WORK,
And cleverly tells how he first " showed
his Carlo Marattis and Bassanos in order
as one gives Tokay wine at the last to leave
the sweetest taste in the mouth-to dis
miss them with the last look at the beauti-
full and masterly Madonna" Great credit
is given Algarotti for finding out and prop
erly appreciating such a picture, since the
prevailing taste at that time was exactly
opposite, and the sweet creations of Carlo
Maratti were enrapturing the world.
In this famous Holbein Madonna the
Virgin appears in a bodily form and in the
capacity of a mother, not only of the holy
child, but of all who kDeel at her feet, and
1t is therefore, said Professor Waltman,
"that she seems so near akin to us in spite
of her golden crown shining on her long,
fair HAIR. The child presses himself closely
and affectionately to his mother, who on
her part caresses him with warmth and
absorption that makes her quite forgetful
of self. The family Of Meyer kneel at her
feet, the father and two sons at the right,
the mother, with her mother and sister, at
the left. all fully conscious of the grace
that has been vouchsafed to them"
Hans Holbein, who with the sc tenderest
human hands" painted this wonderful Ma
donna, was the most celebrated member OF
celebrated family of artists. He was born
| either in the year 1895 or l497. This is a
disputed point, as was the genuineness of
his great Madonna. He was most inde-
fatigable worker, and specimens of bis
drawings and paintings are found in the
museums at Basel, at Florence, Berlin,
Vienna, Munchen, Paris, London and other
cities but his popularity was mostly at
tanned through his celebrated Madonna of
the Dresden gallery. 1t is said that he
brought the northern realism to the high
est perfection, blending with it touches OF
ideal beauty that the tenderness and fin
ish in all the accessories Of his picture can
hardly be excelled. HIS manifold activity
endured till the year l543, when the busy
hands were folded forever.
MADONNA DI SAN SISTO,
The pearl of the Dresden gallery, the
world-renowned Sstine Madonna of Raph.
ael. occupies small, beautifully frescoed
room, wainscoted with crimson and fur.
nished with easy velvet sofas for the com.
fort of worshipers at the shrine Of this
gifted master of art. The picture is eight
feet high hTand six feet wide, and is set in a
magnificent frame adorned with different
symbols of art. This painting is regarded
as indisputably work of the great mas.