The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1884-06-25

4" BOGUS - PICTURES.


Few persons aro aware of the extent Il
which the bogus picture business is car
ried on in New York There are Who'll,
stores where only such pictures are sold
and into which visitors TO the city ARE nj
tured by the continual cry Of the auctioneer
Entering, they see ranged about the wall'
pictures which attract the eye by their gaudy
brillancy, and, having but limited lnowl
edge of paintings, they become POSSESSED
with the idea that here they can buy some
thing of real merit for small part of its
value. "What am ] offered now for this
masterpiece ?p exclaimed an auctioneer in
one of these stores not long since to crowd
of persons who stood before him. The pic
ture in question was called "A Scene in
Venice, by Rnlazzi, whoever he may be, OF
have been. Five dollars !" shouted man,
whose large felt hat showed that he was a
stranger. Five dollars ~ repeated the
auetioneer in apparent surprise. "Why,
gentleman, Pm not selling the frame only
but the picture too" And then he contin-
ned repeating the bids until these had in
creased to $3.50, when the picture was
knocked down to young mai who wore
pomatum on his hair. Subsequent investi-
CATION showed that this picture, with the
Frame could be bought down town for
$3.50.
Up rickety fight Of stairs is the attic
and here are the rooms where the pieturei
are made. Do you remember the gaudJ
paintings you must have seen in restaurants
adjoining railway stations? the focks OF
haggy sheep and the obese COWS rambling
beneath incredible trees and over brooks
flowing above their sources They were
painted in this attic, or, if not, then in some
place of the same character. Here there is
40 romance. The artists sit about the three
smallroonis in the front Of the garret and
work like beavers. They have the knack Of
the brush and the mahl-stick, and they KEEP
the pot-boiling," 30 to speak. Here Is
marine picture on the easel by the nearest
man as you enter The ship in the back
ground seems to have partaken of the vim
and energy of the artist and skins the waves
with no laggard prov. But the pennant at
the fore is streaming one way and yet her
sails are doomed out in just tho other direc-
ton 1t is unfortunate that the artist in
bis haste to complete the picture has over
looked the fact that wind never blows from
opposite points of the compass at the same
lime. " Is that 30 2" he says when his at
tention is called to the fact "oh, they don't
mind little things like that out Westp On
the broad beach in the foreground are strewn
surprising kinds of seaweed, and climbing
over the rocks here and there arc red lob
sters But what of thatl If they don't
object ont West TO the wind being represent
ed as blowing from opposite directions in
the background, surely they will not object
to boiled Holsters crawling over the rocks in
the foreground. A notable thing about these
"cominernial" artists is their preference
for large brushes, such even .ss are used by
house painters. Their rapidity is not less
noteworthy. They literally +" sling" the
paint on. Stencil pictures are also now
made in great quantities and sent west,
where there is a large demand for them ON
account of their cheapness 1t is only by
careful examination that they can be dis
Iinguised from the ordinary cheap painted
pictures, and ii the parts where the several
different stencils join have been carefully
painted over with brush it is said 10 be
impossible to tell one kind from another
TTf Art Inufeur ~