The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-28
AN OLD TRICK REVIVED.
pov Some Enterprising Picture Deal
ers Do Business
Fron the Nelo York SD.

From the Nel0 York Star.
Anew phase of the picture business re-
,.nrly has been developed ia New York
~L;cb amateurs Of other cities will do well
20 lock out for 1t is based upon fine old
It.lian method, which has been adopted In
~ country by various furniture and
I l dealers hitherto. but only lately has
I'm successfully applied by the picture
5ealer. Here it is:
A gentleman calls upon dealer ana
Ills at pic ures OF a certain class-may be
corou1es or MAYER Won Bremens; may be
CSrots or Daubignys. If he admlres, say q
Corot. particularly, but is not satisfied with
tIe nrice at which it can be purchased, aud
Ieayes without buying, he shortly after
,Sard becomes acquainted with bright
ing man who turns the conversatio into
discussion of art collecting. Pretty soon
49,. work of Corot is referred to, and the
amateur Is apt to mention the picture ne
has seen st-let us say 1.-THE Grosvenors'
salesrooms."
tsYes have seen that picture, and very
fine example it is" says The bright young
man. 'but know OF one which IS much
finer aud which / think perhaps might be
bought 1t belongs to private collector,
~ am told. IS in financial straits and
MIGHT be GLAD to dispose of some of his
things at coEsdera ly less than they are
worth Possibly / may be able to arrange
90 that we may see this collection, and moth
inc will be said about purchasing unless
And nv surmises are CORRECT.
The unsuspecting amateur is delighted,
and the next day the collection Is visited.
The Corot is indeed treasure!
st is certainly genuine"
sob undoubtedly. 1t is a well-known
nicture. 1t was bought from the Grosven-
ors-their card probably appears on the
hack And l seii Y 2u, this picture probably
can be bought for $4,000 mere bagatelle
for such wo. k!'
The "ownern of the collection makes his
appearance. Yes, he is obliged to rart
with some of his treasure-"the rascally
stock market, you know" He had thought
Of an auction sale, but had been warned
AGAINST 1t. Besides the publicity of an auc-
ton sale is repugnant t. him.
When his "Corot" is mentioned, he hangs
back. That Is his pet. He hoped TO retain
that picture His wife dotes upon it, His
children never will forgive him if he let's it
20. However, for $1,000 he might be
tempted to part with 1T.
This is too much, but as the unfortunate
collector desires to raiss $4,000, he finally
agrees to let the tCorot" go in at So, 500,
provided other pictures are taken at almost
equally sacrifcial rates to make up the total
sum. The good amateur thereupon becomes
the pur chaser of tie "CoroL" and sundry
other masterpieces, and when he sends his
trophies to the GroSvenors to be packed and
shipped they are surprised that he has been
able TO buy such pictures, and congratulate
HIM upon the acquisition. The good anna
teur then goes home in a happy frame of
mind, the unfortunate "brokern despoiled of
"hls pet Corot," ETC., gets pretty commits
son. tie ighJ young man pays up his de-
hnquent ard bill aud has bottle Of wine
for dlnner-with g guaranteed prospect of
future bottles-and the Grosvenors, we'll,
haven't they unloaded $4,000 worth of
pictures ana cleared cJol 81, 800?
And, as the finale leaves everybody happy,
what have We to say about its
This 81 stem was invented in Italy many
years ago, when works 10y the 'old mas
ters" were in vogue. When the visitor to
the Vatican or the PalaZzo Barberil j, R0s-
piglioso, or Borghese admired the paintings
enthusiastically, if he seemed a possible
buyer the guide minated his kno Wedge
of some particularly CHOICE works belong
ing to impscunious nobleman who per-
haps might be induced to part with them.
Tie was always considerable difficulty in
getting into the palace where these master
works hung, but tine guide was indefatiga-
BILE, and by the use of liberal drink-money
invariab. y secured admission. There was
some fine acting in the subsequent presen-
talon to the noble owner Of palace and
pictures, and exceedingly delicate were the
means TAKEN TO draw out" the proud de
scendaut Of the Caesars. When price was
offered, through the guide, the noble r.
man would go into perfect paroxysm of
indignation, but he would usually recover
and subside into state of gloomy resigna-
ton, if he found the price uld not be in
creased. Of course nearly all these pictures
were copies, aged" by artificial means.
Sometimes the game Was varied by the dis
covery of number of choice old canvases
hidden away in an old convent or monas-
terry. OF course the people in charge OF
them had no idea of their value, and gen.
orally the collector of ''old masters felt
few ccmpunctionS in taking advantage las
ne supposed OF the ignorance of the pious
Sisters or Fathers. There are hundreds
perhaps thousands-of cherished ''old
master" . in America which were pur-
chased in one of these ways.
The seles of furniture and pictures ''iu
private residences is the best known ex-
emplification of this peculiar method here
The residence" is hired for the sale only
and the furniture usually is made ''for sale
it is not expected to survive even tenn
porary usage. The pictures generally are
of the buckeye" palnted-by-th e-yard va
riety. This phase OF the business is moi
really so dangerous, however, as that first
described, especially if the aristocratiC
is liable to work off fictitious pictures il
this way, for which the method offers strong
temptation
This system of picture business fourishes
particularly in Paris just now.