The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-06-16
Old PLCTURE sALEs.
Hastcrpiecc. Sold for Chrome priccs--l;e-
mini~ccnccs Of Art Auctions

masterpieces sold Tor chrome Ificrs-isc-
mini~cenccs Of Art Auctions
Lon. before the duke of De:ears col
,r-uou oi paintings bad bcoa taken from
h, ancestral wall 10 DE brought across
thr Atlantic. Ncw York was noted as
picture huung town. and many Of The
auction sal,- OF ..rare and antique paint
ing of fifty years ago were quite as far
cical sos those of today. Excellent pie
tunes were brought from the other side
bv GLANCE frequently. but tine critical eye
of au lovers OF that time was too pract.
cll to allow amy undue Indulgence where
more tan q triding sum was asked for
,u.a even of unusual merit
It's nothing now in Now York that
,aa WORKS Of OH masters should go
bo.-mg for price even near Their
value" said an old artist. a- hc proceeded
to.toI % STORY of some peculiar auction
4I,s of years ago. several prominent
actor d. which may be familiar TO old
E,w Workers of today
Do thccarlyforiicsm mderized, dark
broucI. lccu eyed arc dealer Levy hA
namc. opened a small auction room ioi
thesls of paintings on Broadway, mean
Cortlandt street. There Dee sold at auc
tion every Saturday night old paintings
MANY Of which bore the names of world
renowned artists at past generations
PAINTINGS of all kinds. many merely old
scrolls of canvas and some framed, were
knocked down at prices chat would NOT
.iarlcr % dealer mchromos nowadays
one day traveller. whose funds had
ran short. called on Levy and offered
him twelve panel portraits of the Caesar.
form OH song As Levy never told
what Dee paid. nobody ever anew, but
certain 10 is that Doe bought them at a
low figure. and on the following Satm
day night placed them ia row ON the
wall and asked the assembled critics
consisting mostly Of uoighboring shop
Keepers. "What am offered for the
whole CAESAR family by Raphaclf
,lr Levy couldn't sell them very ca
sily but finally bid Of five shillings
apiece bought the collection.
4 year or two later Brett, London
picture dealer of some note, whose spe-
cially was collecting the lost works OF
great masters for private collections OF
the nobility. came 10 New York ON a
hunt for The CUsars. Aftera long search
hc found them m q small restaurant ON
Nassau street. He offered the proprie-
tors $50 for the lot. The offer was ac-
ccptcd promptly. bat two Of the por
traits were missing. Inquiry developed
thc fact that the thrifty restaurateur had
used them 20 kindlo a fire during "a
heavy snow storm when IL was difficult
Co get wood.
The ten portraits accompanied Brett
on his VOYAGE bacl, to London. and were.
handed over TO a delighted purchascrfof
$4,000. Pierre llaudin, the Old time
dry goods prince. was ~ that time an
ant dealer, as were also Paii ANA Beau
mont At sale in Che auction room OF
the latter a work by Durand was sold for
$3.50. and for days the sale was the talk
of the town.
One Of tho largest collectors Of pic. |
turcs az that time was Luman Reed, "a !
successful merchant who lived in Green
witch street. Nj Reeds gallery con |
sisted almost entirely Of works by Ameri- |
can artists. Many well known people at
that time were visitors az DTS gallery |
These pictures are now ia the possession
of the Historical society, al Second ave
nue and Tenth street.
About 1870 Ernslpusch, q German i'm
porter Of pictures. brought over the
greatest collection Of pictures ever inn
ported 40 ono time. In all there were
10000. mostly by German artists, but
among them the works of Spanish. ltal- /
ian anal French artists. Levy sold nearly |
,he entire collection az auction 1T prices
of from shilling TO 500.
The last really largo auction sale %
pictures was the sale of the Robert Smith /
collection about Twenty-Five or thirty |
wears ago. Tho Smith collection was
asailed on all sides and the
prices realized. with few exceptions,
were ridiculously low. One picture 10y
Van Dyke. however brought very /
..ool price New York Commercial ADJ
nj.