New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-17
MR.. WHISTLER.
HIS ENTRANCE INTO THE LCAEMBoURG-
HIS PLACE IN ENGLAND-lIIS PLACE
IN THE WORLD OF ART.

only nlTn nOnOT. III Is III many Po'"'O "-
IL it, with perhaps one exception, the first time
that the work of any American painter has been
hung in the Luxembourg: which is the goal OF
every French artists ambition. | said the other
day that thought no living English artist was
there. TO make sure, ! asked competent
authority His answer was not only positive ont
prophetic ANY living English artist IN the
Luxembourg? No. nor ever will be.
What occurred in Mr. Whistlers case Is in
some respects without precedent. The French
Government took the initiative step The Min
lister of Public Instruction and of the Fine Arts
when shall we have a similar functiOnary In the
United States ?-hmself wrote direct to MI
Whistler personally, asking him if he would as
Dose of the Portrait of Ny Mother 10 the HOV-
ernment He expressed. at the same time, nope
that in such case Mr. Whsll"rs conditions 'hlEh'
not prove an obstacle 60 the purchase OF the
picture Mr. Whistler made answer to the MIN
lister that the obstacle forcseen in his letter coud
not exist. since be begged 10 place III the Mil
ister's own hands the framing OF the conditions
which he would fix according to the resources
placed at his disposal by the State in similar
cases Mr. Whistler who knows French and the
French as well as he does his native language ana
his own countrymen and his English COUSINS,
added:
This high testimony of sympathy. browning as
It does the graceful honors that have come TO me
from France is to me too precious to permit me
OIL such an occasion to be willing to examine any
other consideration
A Frenchman would not have expressed him.
self otherwise or with a more elaborate courtesy
The meaning of it all is that the State, In buying
a picture for the Luxembourg never expects 10
nav in cash the market price Part Of it is paid
in honor The funds available are limited. Inc
Minister accordingly fixed the amount at @ooV'
which only shows the extremely high Market
value of honor in France. The proportion oil
honor to cash il about six to one. In other worus'
Mfr Wbistler's picture was worth not less than
$4,000. and France gets it for less than one-slx.h
of that sum in money. The portrait OF Cariyle
by Mr.. Whistler was sold by him TO Glasgow this
xear for So 600, and the present Portrait Is con-
sidered still finer work
Such an application on the part of the French
Government is freely acknowledged in Paris TO DC
auite unheard of, and is deemed equivalent to an
official engagement that Mr. Whisters picture
shall go ultimately TO the Louvre. That is the
vreatest distinction which can he conferred upon
an artist: there is no other which ranks with IL
I'm Europe. Perhaps not even Chicago mas an
.onivalent 10 offer. The French press never too
we'll disposed to the foreigner, has on this occasion
stihed its preiudices, or Its natural ulS
like to seeing any part of the coveted space OH
the walls Of the Luxembourg occupied by any
other than o French work The story has been
told fairly, the picture judged certainly it has
seldom or never been judged in England, where
Mr. Whistler has long been caviare to the general
and long an object of jealous dislike TO the Royal
Academy has been a target, also, for Mr. RuSklns
sharpest arrows of the chace,' to use his own
I how
Portrait that / am glad TO be able to quote de-
scription of it by competent French critic. NJ
Edmond RenOir says:
The Portrait of my Mother is in size as in
other respects a picture for museum; measur
ing five feet three inches in length by four feet
eight inches in height: and so exceeding the usual
dimensions of portrait. The artist is fond
of arrangements in subtle shades that he might
we'll enough have called this the Lady in Black
Bs contrast 10 the Woman in White which
made him famous in the earlier part Of his career
1t is a study in black and gray, extremely rich
and varied in color, quiet ii all seems. The
figure is seated, in profile. looking TO the left
The head stands out from background Of gray
wall. The touch reminds you Of eighteenth CEN
fury painters; does the pink in the cheeks, and
fhe delicate embroidery of the white cap. The
excellent old lady all in black with her hands
crossed her knees holds lace handkerchief.
The feet rest on a stool The figure, which is far
u the right, is balanced the left by pOrtiere,
uncertain in tint, of some staff almost black, en-
brodered in flowers almost white The effect is
soft and delicate, and adds to the harmony of the
whole. and to it's power. The opponents Of this
MASTER even if they vainly attempt to contest the
truth of the sentiment, which is all his own, or
his distinction, the elevation of his style, adj
nit his prodigious cleverness. Whatever they
say, we have only TO congratulate ourselves on the
possession of this picture
There he is, at any rate, this American artist,
in this French Valhalla of the painting world
There hangs this admirable Portrait among the
Of the masters in modern art. IL is
aOt necessary to say in modern french art the
objective is understood; the French are the mas
tiers in modern art. Mr.. Whistler is in the com
pany Of COurbet, whom he almost discovered, of
such rivals in the art OF portrait painting as
Carous Duran and Bonnat Of such widely I'M
like artists as Meissoncr and Geromc Jules Breton
and De Melville and Deiaillc, Cabanel and
Baudry, lIenner and Laurens and a score Of
others whose are known where art is
known.
This French tribute to Mr. Whistler would not
lie quite complete without an English contrast
few weeks before the Portrait of NY Mother"
went 10 the Luxembourg the well-meanng man
ayers OF the New Gallery in London were arrang-
ing their Victorian Exhibition. They had no
doubt hard task, for they had TO measure the
claims Of royalty with the claims of art They
have opened their gallery 10 many bad pictures
superlatvely bad, most of them-of the Queen and
OF her family. 1t would not | suppose be
thought scemly to relegate Her Majesty 10 the
skies merely because the artist Of her choice was
a bad artist and had painted bad picture.
There are. however, in this collection men of
letters as well of rank. and for some of
them an honorable place has been found. There
is among portraits of great writer's, Mr. Whistlcr's
portrait Of Carlyle. 1t is picture whose story
Is complete, whose honors have been gathered
n broad-in Paris in Brussels, in Munich It's