New-York tribune., 1886-05-02
ART IN LONDON.
WATER col. I.ORs-THE GRAHAM SALE-ROS-
SETrI-BURNE JONES.

Were ~ not Tor tnr acU'cneS5 vi cloih"' ''''"
crisis which spos conversation people would at
this season be talking n good deal about pictures
sit is. the pictures don't pass quite unnotlccd.
We have had two Show Sundays; not to mention
the Saturdays and Mondays devoted to the same
industry. There have bcen in addition to these,
four private views of picture dealers galleries.
And there has been sacat Christics of surprising
in crest account both OF the works offered to
competition and the prices they fetched.
Besides all this great lumnarlcs have
been dscu sslng IL print the rather importan
question whether watcr-coor drawings do or do
not lose their color and value with the lapse OF
years. Mr. j. &. Robinson, one of the highest au-
thortics on art now living in England insists that
the drawings in the South Kensington Museum, ex-
hbcd in full daylight they have been for
twenty or thirty years have been "irrevOcaby'
injured, and hut the pale ghosts of their former
selves. He is coniradlctcd by Sir James d. Linton,
president of the Institute of Painters
in Water Color'. The dispute between
these two experts Is one both of opinion
and fact. Mr. Robinson says that certain specified
drawings have been damaged by exposure. Sir
j. D. Linton replies that most Of them have not
been damaged AT all but are as brilliant as when
first shown Mr.. Robinson asserts as gem
erai rule that every fully colorcd watcrcolor draw
ing framed and exposed to the light, begins to
fade and change-t0 die in fact-from the moment
il is so exposed Sir J. -. Linton Mr. Caycndish-
Bantnck, Mr. Walter severn. and other competent
persons deny this. That changes occur III many
they admit. but they trace them to the action
of direct sunight,t0 DAMP, to smoke and TO the use
of Indian red. They will not for a moment admit
that water-colors must. rs Mr. Robinson insists. be
shut m in portfolios. WIter-color drawings must
be glaz ID If exposed. and must be property hung
bmi So glazed and huag will last according to the
watcr-coloI9is as long as pictures ia OIL II would
not be easy 10 say who i comyetc1t sum mp this
case and pronounce Judicial decision. ny Rus
kim But Mr. Ruskin's dicta ave not, a rule,
been accepted by artists. ana Mr. Ruskin's cyesght
IL not what 1t once was.
If this speculative controversy fail to interest
yOu-thourh it has very practical side TO It-yon
may turn t, the sale Of Friday AID Saurday, which
was, perhaps speculative in n different scnSc.
No such prices w'rc prid As the rail-
way magna.es of Amouca chccrlully offered
the other day for the Morgan licturcs, 5ui in this
part OF the world the Christie bddines are thought
large Mr. Grahams pictures. 1t may he observed,
were collected in spirit very unlike that which
presided over Mrs. Moreln's accunulations. He
was man who had definite views and no mean
knowiedgc III art He bought l1rgcy-most largely
of ALL fer rs living English artists were con-
cerrcd-from the casols of those whose fame
vet to mako Mr. Graham went on giving compis-
sions 70 Dante Ros8ctt and to Mr. BIrne Jones
when neither If them thought by the world in
general NOR than the leader ot clique. Whether
Rossetti viii ever attain to Il position much
beyond that Is disputable Nr. Bnrnc Jones,
however, while in the prime Of life and his paint
ing faculties has been recognized by experts and by
the public rs one Of the very foremost painters OF
is time i'm some iDrr.S. any time. This
the first sale ia which any considerable number of
the work OF either artist had come under the ham
mcr. The ordeal is a trying one. II was thought
to be more than usually trying now because OF
the depression which ha- fallen upon the trade IN
pictures or the fewncss OF the commissions now
gwen. But it appears that there IS always money
enough to insure a good price for the best things.
Mr.. Graham did not by any means contne
himself to the works of these two artists He Lad
fine cxnmplcs Of Watts, ofAlilais and Of Frederick
Walker; not to mention Il gallery of old masters
which is to be sold this week. Frederick Walker
Is one of those men long dsdained aud lll-treated
by the Royal Academy, whose genius in the end
trumphed over tho iron prejndces of narrow
school. Tho end in his case came but too quickly.
He died young The Academy had slowly swung
open its doors and he was ut the time Of his death
an L. l.. 4. Few Of his works ever brought over
900 guincas 5000 each The Migrants was
bought by the National Gallery for-l may as
we'll give round numbers in dollars -
81. $50. Tho Bathers fetched $1,000;
tolerably sharp commentary on the Judgment of
the Hanging Committee of tho Royal Academy,
who skicd it in 1sG4 For the Sunny Thames
SO 600 were gwen. More astonishing than any of
these figures is that paid for little water-color
drawing by Walker, called The Lilies, twelve by
SIXTEEN inches and bought by a dealer for $500
short lst included the celebrated Vale of Rest,
winch justified It's fame by fetching $4,000. Mr.
Watts's pictures were not among his most nnp'r-
tant but the little Diana and Endymlon, twenty by
twenty FIVE inches, exhibited AT Philadclplla III
1876 WAS bought by Il dealer for Sl,3Oo.
The success of the Rossctts at tho Graham sale
hardly edualled the expectations OF the more eIl-
thusiastlc admirers of that artist 'osSetti, how
ever was a man who. with ali his feeling Ior arr,
had no very great knowledge of painting. Ills
form of expressing his conceptions was inferior to
the conceptions, and his ideals again were not
aIwacs such a. could stu the enthusiasm OF any
but very devoted worshpperS He holds never
thcIcss such a place III the history OF British art
that the National Gallery thought II worth
while to give : 900 for his Eccc Amelia
Damn. an early work. which competent
cntic describes as an admirable example OF the
Prc-Raphaclie school at It's earliest and best me
picture Is - by Il inches. and represents the An
nunciation, and the date is ls3o the year IN whIch
Millais painted he Carpenters shop the original
Of which was in the t'rosyenor Exhibition th3t
belongs RosScttIs later period, perhaps the mas
tcrpIccc of the artist. SAYS he critic aboye quoted.
was sold for 5000. but was surpassed hy the
l}cata Bcatux. which reached nearly $1,000: La
ibirlandata sold for exactly the price of the
Dante. and none other by this arti,t at
famed t. the coveted four lgureS
Mr. Graham believe, owned pretty
mucb nil the best of Rossetls work. There
were IN all thirty of Rossctti's drawings laclnded
and the whole sold for thc,vory respectable sum of
$4,000.
The Rurnc .JoncSes were thirty-threc in number;
most of them drawings in pencil and watcr-coior
and sketches There were but eight or ten m |
nortant works in oil. They brought altogether
Ssj 900 Three of his bcst-known pictures were |
among them Visitors to the Grosycnor Gallery IN
1877 will remember the six decorative panels, each
70 hy l3 inches filled with angels holding crystal
spheres tho whole representing the six days Of
creation The six were III one frame and now sold
for 81, 500. 4 cartoon of tho magnificent king
Gnrketua and the Bcggar Maid fetched $1,000 !
~ nri,r.,..l h1nra in a rnnnl LII ord Mhnrncf frS