The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-05-04

and now that Sanford Clifford is dead, he prob
ably will be made responsible for works which
he would not care to acknowledge. The names
of prominent artists are also changed to those
having similar sound.
Among the painters of figure pieces Shryer
in the catalogues stands for Schreyer, 7. Ros-
seau for Theodore Rousseau, and A. Frere for
Edouard Frere.
The mistakes made by purchasers, and the
impositions practced upon them, are some
times amusing. A prominent physician told a
connoisseur not long since that he had bought
painting by Gerome which he wished to show
to him, but on examination the work, which
would have startled the French artist, proved
to be signed j. Jerome.
In the smaller cities, where such sales are
only occasionally held, the pictures are hung
upon the walls of a room which is lighted by
rows of gas jets so to show these artistic pro-
auctions to the best advantage As each pic
ture to be sold is reached on the catalogue it is
placed on brilliantly lighted easel in the CEN
ire of the room and the glib-tongued auctioneer
descents upon its value and points out its beau
ties. If visitor makes bid the price is art
fully run up by the two or three confederates
present for that purpose, SO long as it seems
safe to do SO, and handsome price is often
realized for worthless picture. If the attempt
is not successful, the picture is bid in by the
auctoneer and reserved for the next sale; and
another "pot-boiler" or ''buckeye" is brought
forward. Occasionally there will be an active
competition for picture, and the price will be
carried to high figure. 1t is not unusual for
pictures which cost at the manufacturers $40
to $50 doven to bring $25 to $40 each, and
occasionally purchaser at still more extrava-
CANT price is found
Another method of bringing these artpro-
ducts to the notice of those who may welcome
purchasers is provided by the picture peddler.
This enterprising and persistent individual
finds his way into dwelling houses and shops
in country and city, adapting his methods and
his merchandise to the requirements OF the
locality. In the region of Wall street or among
the better class of uptown residences in New
York he often appears in the disguise OF dis
tressed artist willing to- sacrifice the picture no
has just finished, on account OF his pressing
need He is anxious to get an offer; and for
picture which he values at $50 he will, with
apparent reluctance but secret joy, take $40.
Sometimes in favorable circumstances the ped
dler viii be holder in his devices, and by set
ting an ext-avagant valuation on a picture and
eloquently describing his distressing situation
will obtain a loan upon 1t OF many times its
value. Or, if he is young man, he will rep
resent himself as a son OF the distinguished
capacity will with flial affection set forth the
excellence of the work and the pecuniary diff
culties of his father. Whatever amount is OBJ
tanned in this way, the picture which is left as
security is never redeemed Another landscape
is brought out from the stock on hand, and a
HUSH tioohHi 10 oou6he w. 49, sAAc SooA4oAJ
towns the cheaper descriptions of pictures are
old; and the vendor, af ter expatiating upon
the superiority of genuine oil paintings" TO
chromos and Ethe like rubbish, waits eagerly
for bid from the farmer or his wife, who is
surprised to find so modest an offer as is mads
accepted,
The methods which have been described are
not the only ones by which the products OF the
picture manufactures are distributed over the
continent. These examples of American art
may be seen exposed for sale along the side
walk in Wall street and other places in this
city, and of late the dealers in job lots of
cheap goods and Yankee notions have added
them to their stock. The country merchant
will take home a dozen assorted land
scapes, to be sold at moderate
price; and so, in one way and another, these
canvases, some of which are, in reality, Carl
catures of pictorial art, make their way into
country and city homes from one end Of the
land to the other. The summer boarders at
Lake George or in the Adirondacks finds them
adjoining the parlors of the boarding houses in
these regions, and the traveller in the far west-
ern territories meets them at the hotels in
which he tarries. And as even the crudest Of
them gives sort of innocent pleasure to some
body, there is no harm done by their produc-
ton when they are sold for what they really
are, and not used as a means Of defrauding ig-
norant and credulous purchasers.