Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-17
ART NOTES.

| AHo W washington ATC SIuO Is 10 nOlu iucctiiiS
next Monday evening, at which, It is to be hoped,
| all the members will be present.
Mr.. Brooke has recently sold to Mr.. T. E..
Waggaman his fine Oil painting representing .
young colored lad engaged In the congenial
| occupation Of cleaning out preserving kettle.
This picture is regarded as one Of Mr.. Brooke's
! most successful efforts, and it will make nota-
BILE addition to Mr.. Waggaman's collection.
SO far as we hear, Mr.. Weyl is the only
Washington artist who has concluded to send
| anything to the spring exhibition Of the New
York Academy of Design this year. By the
way, Mr. Weyl has lately sold number Of his
| paintings in New York. where there appears to
| be prospect for steady demand for his work.
! The Brooklyn Art Association opened It's
spring water color exhibition on Wednesday,
| with nearly six hundred drawings on its walls.
| Most OF the New York artists working In
water cOlOrs are represented, and good many
examples exhibited at the late exhibition in
Academy OF Design are now shown in the Brook
| Ign display.
We learn from New York that nearly fifteen
hundred canvases have already been sent in for
the spring exhibition at the Academy Of Design
In that city. As its walls have only space for
| about half that number, Of ordinary size. there
! Is bound to be good deal of wedding out be-
4
| of disappointment and grumbling afterward at
the action Of the committees on selection and
| hanging
AS has already been stated In this column
| the Italian government desires to invite artists
| of all nations to compete for national monu-
| ment to be erected at Rome in honor of her late
! king, Victor Emmanuel. A royal commission
will decide upon the designs, and the successful
artist will be entitled to receive coo francs as
| prize. Fifty thousand francs additional will
| De DIVIDED among the most mertOrOus compe-
| titors. Ground plans may be seen and further
| information obtained at the Department Of
State.
- The Madonna belonging to the Academy Of
| Visitation here, which attracted 80 much atten-
tfon before it was removed, is now on exhibition
| in private residence in New York, where it is
! very highly regarded. Authorities there differ
we are told as to whether it should be attributed
| to Murillo or Vandyke,-a doubt which will
probablybe set at rest when the experts at Seville
to whom photograph of it has been sent,
reach conclusion on the subject. Their deci-
sion will Of course have great weight with the
public in case like this.
We hear from Columbus that the model Of
the proposed statue Of Garfield intended for
Ohio's contribution to the National Capitol, az
| sent in by Niehaus, the Cincinnati sculptor, to
whom the commission was lately awarded, does
not give satisfaction, either to the authorities
with whom the selection rests or the general
public who have seen 1t. 1t is considered doubt
full whether it will finally be accepted. In the
event of the rejection Of this design Mr.. Me
haus will be required to send in another or the
work will be given to one of the competing
artists.
Mr.. Matthew Wilson, who has studio In
Corcoran Building. has been engaged for some
time past on portrait of Mr. Corcoran, which,
80 far as it has progressed, gives great salts
faction to that gentleman and his friends. Mr..
Wilson has recently completed portrait Of DR..
Macleod. Curator Of the Corcoran Gallery,
which is one of the most faithful examples in
p0rtraiture shown here for long time, and
enables those who see it to understand the pop
ularlty MIR. Wilson has 80 long enjoyed in the
northern cities as portrait painter. He has
also many other fine specimens OF his work on
view in his studio.
TO the late Mr.. Sanford R. Clifford the Lon
don academy awards the high praise OF say
Ing that he "was much greater master of at
mospheric effect than J. N. W. Turner" To an
Englishman this will sound very much like high
treason; but there can be no question that the
expression is in the main true and Just. In
snowy cOlOring and In reproducing certain ex-
traordinary phases Mr. Turner was undoubtedly
the superior Of Mr.. Clifford but In the particular
quality referred to by the ACADEMY the artist
last named had few equals in any age His
Corcoran Gallery illustrates it admirably, al
though that example probably does not repre-
sent him at his best In that respect.
An oil painting Of more than ordinary in
terest at the present time may be seen in the
window OF Mr. H. D. Barr, on Pennsylvania
avenue 1t represents an interior Of the house
on Long Island in which John Howard Paine
was born, painted from studies made on the
spot by the artist, Mr.. George n. Clark, year
| or two ago. OF course the establishment was
not an imposing one, in itself, and its delnea-
ton does not afford to an artist much oppor-
tunity Tor the display of his powers but the pic
| ture is doubtless faithful transcript Of the
scene 1t represents, and is therefore meritorious
In that sense, and, on account OF the fresh and
general interest just now taken In regard to
! everything relating to the author of "Home,
Sweet Home" it attracts, as it deserves good
deal Of atte4ion.
- The most important sale Of pictures In this
country this season was that Of the RunkIe COL
| lection, which took place In New York last week
The catalogue, which by the way did not in
| clude the name of single American artist
comprised sixty-siX works, and the amount real
| lied was $64 80 or an average of nearly 81 900
apiece for each picture sold. The highest flgure
| reached was $3.50, which was paid for "A
Water Carrier" by Millet 1Ox14 inches in size;
the lowest sos. which secured "A Shepherd
and Flock" by Pittara There is wide differ
ence between these two sums, but the prices
| nevertheless ran pretty even, thus Indicating,
| with the nigh average above noted, the excel
lent character of the collection, which was in
deed one Of the best selected, if not one of the
| largest in New York.
Those who closely watch the movements Of
art cannot fail to see that while the artists of
Europe, and notably those of France, are nearly
at stand still. those of America are rapidly ad-
! vancing every year. Most of the leading French
painters, II not actually going backward. are at
the best only repeating themselves and few
new men are coming forward to take their
places. On the other hand, many young Ameri-
cans are pushing to the front, even at the Salon,
and every year their work there is attracting
| more and more attention, and winning higher
praise. It is easy and common to sheer at
American art; and the remark will probabypro-
| woke smile Of incredulity, but the prospect
now is that the time is not far distant when
| the United States will be the modern art center
of the world. not alone in what it will have col
| iected by purchase, but in what 1t will be able
| to produce for itself and other countries.