Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-05-14
COPYING THE cOPi-c
Extensive Couaterfeitin- Of OH
s'aintiags 80. Revelations by o
lDAnlAr.

"The statement has recently been
made" said u reporter of The Sun TO
an old picture dealer. that there are
|. now in existence more than 1000
paintings purporting to have been exc
cuted by Daubigny. Do you think
there is any truth IN it?
81 would like to know how the
figures were obtained, " said the dealer,
thoughtfully.
at is an estimate based upon the
number annually sold at the Hotel
Drouot, Paris"
"The figure appears TO me somewhat
large" said the old gentleman, glancing
by some irresistible impulse at pair
of prime Daubignys which adorned the
walls Of his establishment; "yet in the
light Of my recent experiences in buy
ing and selling the works Of dis
tinguished modern artists of the French
school, / do not dare to say that the fact
is impossible or even improbable. A man
"A perfect stranger to me-drove Q
wagon up TO my door month or two
ago and wanted to sell me seven pic.
tures-two Corots, q Rousseau,
couple of Troyons, and pair Of Girar-
diets. The price ut which the man
offered them told the story of their lille.
ultimate origin much better than any
evidence presented by the pictures
themselves. The fact is that the copy.
lists are exceedingly skillful. Many
excellent artists are among them, but il
SO happens that the copies Of o Diaz orr
Delacroix are worth more than the origi-
nal pictures of many good artists. The
skill of the modern copyist is wonder
full. ! have known several cases here
and abroad where IN artist could not
decide positively that a picture was
painted by himself. One result Of the
very fine counterieiting is TO make
artists distrust their confidence in their
own work, particularly in work done
some years before. An artist came
here only few days since to authenti-
cate picture to a would-be purchaser.
He would not say positively that
he painted it, though he believed
he had painted o similar one. As I
happened to turn the picture to-
ward him while setting il against the
wall, he noticed the back of it. All!
said he, 4 fear you have bought
counterfeit. Do you see that brand on
the back Of the canvas? Well, I never
purchased Q dollars worth of artists
materials from that firm. In this case
| do not hesitate to own that sold the
picture as genuine, on the ground that
If the artists memory ss to painting it
was poor, the chances were even that it
would he equally unreliable as to whose
canvas he used for it. I deferred to
his opinion, however, in the matter of
the brand, and washed il off with tur-
pentine
Il once had on sale picture Of some
Importance, painted by Q New York
artist, and worth about $500.
easily found Q gentleman who was will
ing to purchase it, but he insisted
upon having the artist pronounce il
genuine. He brought the artist, and
that parsonage repudiated the work.
do not say that il is not o good picture
said he but il is not mine, though
certain parts of il resemble my
style somewhat took my
customers address, and went 10 an
expert whom / often employ in
such cases. What wanted him to do
was to examine the painting thoroughly,
aud see il he could discover anything
peculiar about il, some fact that would
be certain to remind the artist that he
had painted Il. The expert took up his
magnifer and went over the picture
inch by inch; he was looking for over
psinting-trying to discover some spot
where the artist had painted something
and afterward painted Il out. The
idea was to find . sort of reminder
for the artist. After some hours of
patient examination the expert had
the picture placed between him and
the light when he discovered under
he painted surface the outline Of an
old tree, upon whose bark was cut the
legend Cara NJ. or Dear M The
artist was brought down once more.
You were right he said with o flush;
the picture Is one of my early attempts.
had forgotten it, He had painted II
while on o summer tour, and, after
putting in the initial Of his sweetheart,
had brushed il over and turned the tree
into rock. OF course, my customer
now wanted the picture more than ever,
and let him have il for $1,000 instead
of 81 500. The expert pocketed 800.
ut is Q mistake to suppose that all
the first-class copies come from abroad
There are many artists of good stand.
ing in New York who do just enough
original work to keep their reputation
as artists, but whose chief support is
drawn from copies. Their copies bring
more than their originals, yet the latter
are always better painted. II il rather
hard on American art, but !, for in.
stance, as dealer, must give o pur-
chaser what he wants or go out of the
business We do not often sell copies,
~ such, unless they are after the old
masters. When we sell to dealers IL is
different, of course. A copy Of Rous-
seau, Delacroix or Corot is worth 5000
10 800, il IL is Q really first-class hit.
l saw dealer give al 900 few days
ago for Bonnat, and he will easily
disposed Of IL for $50 Yet I learned
on the day Of It's sale that il was what
Ii called, both here and abroad, an
American copy'-that is, o copy Of .
copy-for our copyists not having
originals TO 60 TO. must needs copy
from any copy dealer may give him.
10 ! do not hesitate 10 say that many
supposed original psintings In city draw.
ing.rooms are copies Of copies