National Republican., 1888-02-19

and cultivation, Washington has very lltllt
regard for art 10 be sure. il has one of the
best public gulcric. in the country, but in
the matter of private collections it has unlS
one or two beyond the prctcnsiOns ufa coun-
try village. Not one of the Senators or Mem
bcrs has more than one or two pictures in
which hc ran claim either originality or
great value and the majority of them have
not even iir,,.clH,, ongrlving- or ctrhing>.
\ rpw are supposed to have collections ut
home. and some like Leland stanford, divide
their pictures hCtwCuu their residences; hut
the general conclusion. after trip through
the houses of public men must he that art
and politics won't miN. Cash and poi ulitics
may occasionally. for many of them have
uXururls houses hnnl,umrly decorated. hut
the decorators don't buy good pictures, and
the art center in Washington is consequently
II thing of the future.
Of the smaIl collections in the city Senator
Leland Stnntorls cost the most, and j. one
of the most interesting. II is chiefly family
portraits, however and is most worthy of at
trntiun from the artists names. since the
death of Mr. SiHniurl- only son his princt-
pal thought and hi. uClUr-iurgUltCn ,urruW
are clustered around his life. aud take slHp'
in Il hundred different "reminiscences. The
pictures like everything else. play part IN
this sorrow. and the best of them are his
portraits.
Possibly the most satisfactory of them, and
by far the best known among artists, H. the
,uStun "tuuriuisc. in which the artist ha,
ccrtninly produced II very landspme and
striking portrait. II seems natural inTtCa'
of idrnliIpd aud If II j. amy wise fathul,
young stanford was Il boy of whom his father
had right ~ he proud. lie j. represented
ns Il student seated 1T Il table, with book be-
fore him and his forehead resting on h"
hand. He was II rat icr slender boy, dark rs
an Italian, with an almost classic profile, and
large. dark eyes. There is AN almost cl'vm-
nate >oilnr>s about the features. which is
heightened 10y the study and the attitude, lmt
it is more indicative of II kindly character
than amy feminine weakness.
senator Stamiurl> own portrait, the cclc-
hraicd NicSsuuiur j. in san Francisco ~ !,
another tine full length portrait of hiS son.
\ bust of the Senator u lac was five wears
ago, when Governor of the State is in the
library. and in the parIor, very prominent.
is II culorcd Photograph of Mrs. ,Stanlurds
portrait hy Bonnet. The original Is in san
Francisco. aud i evidently very highly APP
prccatcd bv Mrs, Stanford, but the photo
graph j. not CEactly II work ni art. and j.
pretty severely criticised.
The total value of these stanford pictures,
for Pacific coast milliOnuirC~, j. not very
high, and some Of them have the disadvan-
tagc when price Is taken ~ the standard of
value Of having been rated To suit the stan
ford pocket.
In Paris. where they bought most of their
picture. the tariff was fixed H. high H. the
Senator would stand. And it Is not saying
too much to add that amy ordinary person
could have bought just a> good if not better
work for half the money.
Mrs. Whitney. who has also had plenty of
money has bought few pictures ~ She buy,
everything else, and managed to stumble on
few good nuos, Her best known one is j.
. y. Milrt's "SuWcr,' which has been repro
Il. 1 l. it,,
familiar tu every ulmircru of pictures II rep
roscnts Il French peasant walking along the
burrows with the seed bag over his shoulder
and his hand swinging the seed before him,
The beauty of the picture is i'll its light "i-
ircS but it Is hung in comparatively y dark
corner of her bah room and gets only half
the attention ii deserves.
In another corner is Il landscape by IurOt
and on the mantlcpiccc, usually pushed back
under some ctrhiugS or other pictures Is AN
unframed gem of Bruncr. II is Il mud" fig
urc, highly appreciated 10y. artists, h'lt not
studied very long by the society people who
frequent the house. In the ball room also
is Il study of female head 10y Lehman of
Paris, which attracted II great deal Oi dti"n-
ton in the salon Of 81. 1t j. in brown, and
it, chief beauty is that the features are seen
through Il brown veil which shades the face.
This artist Lehman, by the way painted y
portrait of Mrs senator Mcpherson, which
i in her rcsidcuc" here, and is very much
admired 10y her friends. Mrs. Whitney is
not great picture buyer and in amy event
is not recognized rs Il patron by amy OF the
artists. She buys what plcns"s her and APP
purcntly hangs il us she picaSCS and she has
had either good taste or luck enough to max,
some very good purchases.
Mr.. COrcOIgtn, the art patron of Washing
ton. who lives in II fine old house on LaI;ty'
cttc square and makes hobby OF cntcrtaln
ing people Of taste, has hardly Il picture u
q, INF all finn.
are maT Of Them rare AND valuable, hll
every ul( Of his llr,t-cnsS pictures seem I,
have b/n transferred to the gallery. lii
/, most 1tcrc.ting home pictures are portraits
!. of hiSSIlughtcr Mrs. Eu>tiS and her hus
band, WIZ, il will be remembered, were cap
turcd with Mason and Slidcl by Commander
Wilkes.
Mr.. Curcomn had great deal of trouhl,
with the Government about that time, WhirI
the picture must call Ia mind, and n the
lady soon attrrWurd died in France, the a~
SuCiutiOns surrounding II are nearly n
muurmlul us those of senator STAFFORD are
Ills only other picture iS II copy of the allal
piece of the Holy Family which old conn
Try traveller, will remember H. over the grave
of Rubcms. II is II good copy, but not h\
any means Il rare or valuable picture.
For his gallery Mr.. tOwOran has beer
much more liberal and this season il Il
showing Two new pictures, bought at Il very
heavy cost hy Prof WcIling IN Europe las
summer. one is the AndrcaS \chcnhacl
landscape, and the other the new but already
famous picture 10y Carl Becker, the director
of the Royal Gallery at Berlin, which repre-
sentS Pope Julius H., with Raphael, lira
monte, and Michael Angelo, looking at til,
newly cNcayutcd statue Of apollo lclvi
dCrc.
The White House paintings are principally
the pictures of the Presidents, the latest 4"
which is the full length one Oi Garfield hl
Andrews liurcd'S friends do not rcgnr
the expression H. natural, but thc critic, 81,
it is great piece of ART work. All of whlrl
goes tu show that Il painting may have ulhc
virtues than that If iailhinncSS. II is hum
very runspicuuuSly and attracts great dcl
of attention,
All the other painting, in the White iIuu>
are old and familiar tu visitors To Washing
ton, and tlu~" who get tU see more than th
public rooms l.Ii to find anything new tia
President and Mrs. Cleveland have intro
duocd. This Is not their fault l"w"Nc,
though neither Of them were ever uhurgcI
with having high artistic taste, but hrrauS
Congress prw-rrjhc~ the contents of the Whit
House, and permits Presidents neither Il
take anything IN with them nor to rcmuy
anything when they 90 away.
Mrs Cleveland mas found some truuhl
with the ,ilyrrWurr, aud occasionally wt,hc
for something else Uu the walls than pur
traits of uld-limr Presidents IN high harkr
collars and expressions Of awful Slrrnuc,'
but she has not been able tu make an
changes Whatever
MIR. Arthur, who was essentially Il man q
guld taste, rvNultcd against some of the im
miShiug> also, but without ANY cllcci, am
Mrs Hayes, with hrr White House sci &
IiNiuud china, stands yet ~ the last virlu
over ull-timu priudirr>. Her husband
picture i, In the background, hat hrr ow
portrait stands ont prominent among lh
ladies Of the White House, Just ms her rrrl