Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-28

lection OF paintings will come to Pittsburg for
exhibition in the Carnegie gallery in Allegheny.
With much interest the people of Pittsburg
and Allegheny have been awaiting this author
itative announcement It has been known that
our cities have grown wonderfully in wealth
and population during the past ten years, and
with this growth has been developed a remark
able interest in the fine arts. One evidence Of
this interest was afforded by the recent loan
exhibition upon the occasion Of the opening OF
the Carnegie gallery. Another and important
evidence is the decision of the American Art
Association, of New York, to exhibit this cele-
brated collection here. 1t must be remembered
that this collection, because of its i'm
portance and magnitude, has only been
exhibited in few Of the most
important American cities, such as New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, to u1der-
stand that the very fact of its coming here is a
marked tribute to the intelligence and culture
OF our people, and one which will meet with
hearty response.
The collection is a remarkable one. It
Is OF absorbing interest from almost
any point of view. To all classes of men, the
soldier and the civilian, the great war pictures
representing the excitement and the desolation
OF the battle field, the heaps of dead and
wounded, and depicting as only painters by a
soldier-artist could depict the horror of battle
are intensely interesting. These battle pictures
were painted, as the artist indicates in his auto
biography in spirit far from that of senti-
mentality for, he says:
Having killed many poor fellow crea-
ture in different wars, had no right
to be sentimental" In the war extend
ing from the frontier of China to Bulgaria,
there was deeply impressed upon his mind
the horror of human beings being slaughtered,
shot, beheaded and hanged, and it has been
his purpose to transmit these scenes faithfully,
without adding thereto or detracting there
from. Facts laid upon canvas without en-
bellishment." he says, must speak eloquently
for themselves" The pictures of Palestine
will also appeal to people of all classes-to the
one who studies them because of their histori-
cal interest only as well as to those who hold
In veneration the many places in and about
by Verestchagin. So forceful and realistic are
these Palestine pictures that it is said the
study of them Is the very next thing to
journey to the Holy Land itself. Indeed, the
strong characteristic of the entire collection
is its wonderful realism.
Pictures possessing this quality to such
marked mi degree could only be painted
extent it is the fact that Yer
>estchagin was himself a soldier which
gives especial value to his war pictures. Dur
ing the seige of Samarcand, the holy city of
Centran Asia. taken possession of by the Rus
slams under General Kaufman in 1863 the Rus
sian army was shut up IN the citadel and only
rescued by the detachment of the army which
arrived from Tashkend. At one time. 1t is said,
the attacking army made desperate effort to
force the wall ard burn the gates to the city
under protection of the very wall which offered
protection to the army within. It became abb
solutely necessary to look over the ramparts to
discover where the enemy were ard what they
were doing in order that the hand-grenades
might be directed to disperse the attacking
In vain General Nazerof ordered SOL
diers to scale the wall and locate the
moment, Verestchagin himself mounted
the wall, and, standing bolt upright, he secured
at glance the information desired, and before
the soldiers without had time to recover from
lc1,o I,ol
disappeared, while the bullets began to rain on
the ramparts and imbed themselves in the wall.
The place where the crowd was thickest was
quickly pointed out, and the hand grenades
soon played terrific havoc. This kind of ex-
perience, in the very heat Of the fight, is what
gave Verestchagin his great power in depicting
scenes of carnage and battle. Art and society
people and business men have taken deep in
terest in the effort to secure for our cities this
collection, and 1t Is beyond doubt that it will
make a deep and lasting impression upon the
exhibitions here, which will place our cities on
a higher plano artistically than they have ever
occupied.
A rather important picture by Villegas was
exhibited during the week in the Gross and
Lane collection at Gillespie's. 1t is a large
canvas measuring probably 86x50 inches, and
represents a marriage ceremony. In color 1t is
remarkably bright, reaching, in the higher
notes. pure red and carmine. There are many
figures well drawn, and the treatment of
drapery and other details is excellent Vile
gas is painter of note, pupil of Fortuny,and
two of his important works. THE Christening"
painted in 1880, and "a Dream of Arabian
Nights" painted in 1879, are in the Vanderbilt
collection.
A Bryan Wall has been engaged for some
weeks on portrait work, as have also Mr.. Stew
enson, Mr.. Daily and other artists who devote
time to this branch of art.
The Pittsburg Art School and the School of
Design closed Wednesday for the holiday vaca-
ton. 1t will resume after the first of January,
and doubtless the pupils will enter upon their
work with a keener Zest for having enjoyed o
season of rest and social enjoyment.
The usual after Christmas quietness pervaded
the studios and the artists after season of
hard work, feel like devoting the holiday season
to pleasure, mingled with a reasonable proper
ton of work only.
The exhibition of Mr.. c. s. Reinhart's work
in New York has called forth the most Justly
complimentary remarks from the critics of the
press. That he is one of the very foremost, if
not the first, illustrator of America is conceded
on all hands. His work certainly has great
strength and variety. and Pittsburg has reason
to feel proud OF him as one of her sons.
The Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston has re-
ceived three paintings. being the gift of Mrs.
G. D. Warren-"The Forest of Fontainebleau,
by ]. B. c. Corot; after the Storm" by c. F.
Daubigny; and an "Entombment" attributed
to Gina da Corregliano; and her son, E. P.
Warren, has given to the museum madonna
and Child" ascribed to Bronzino. 1.-THE Forest
of Fontainebleau." by Co1ot. received the
Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1847. A. Oud-
mot has stated this picture hung In COrot's
studio and he would not sell it, but that when
Mr.. Anastasi became blind, Corot made gift
of it to the fund raised for his support. 1t was
bought by an amateur named Latouche who
in turn sold it to the picture dealer Barbe-
dienne in the rue Chateaudun. Mr.. Warren
bought it from the Berlah Wall collection for
SIS, 500. "After the Storm" by Daubigny. was
also in the collection and was sold for So S25.
1.-THE Entombment" of Gina da CorreglIano
is fine example and in good state of preser-
walton. The Bronzina bears the date of 1861.
Cromwell" painting by Paul Delaroche in
the museum at MINES, was lent to the Univer-
sal at Paris last year. In transit 1t sustained
certain damages for which suit has been en-.
tered by the Town Council of Mines against
the Paris-Lyons Railway Company. Damages
Of s. 900 are claimed.
A portrait bust in bronze for erection at Al
bany, N. Y, has been modelled by Charles CAL
yerley N. A. 1t is now on exhibition at the
Avery Art Galleries, 1858 Fifth avenue, New
York.
A new art journal is to be started simultane-
ously in Paris and New York to be called
L'Art dams les Deur Mondes The editors are
Yveling Rambaud and Camille de Roddaz
The Detroit Club has an exhibition of work
by American artists, and the Water Color So
ciety shows work at one of the galleries belong
ing to firm Of dealers of art in Detroit.