St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-25
Some Of the Treasures That
Have Been Added the
Past Year.
Wonders Of Canvas to Be
Seen in Hills Wonderful
Gallery.
New, Gems of Late Added to
Walkers Minneapolis
Collection.
Artists Who Have Come and
Gone and Left Their I'M
press.

Come, sit With me aWnlle, anu Denu
your ear to chat of sables, old, musty
tapestries, pictured effects of Venetian
color, old and nOisOme garretS, Whefe
long-haired, limp-eyed, wan and
wasted young men commune within the
sOlitudes of embittered genius. Frank
ly. come with me abroad; to the hooks
and tiles and enameled halls of our
state, and CLEAN fragrant retrospectlon
of the ateliers crowded with ambitious
youth. You will see, maybe, what
Minnesota has this year done to adorn
herself from the panels OF art. Ii, as
QuintiIian once declared, 1.-The perfec-
ton of art is to conceal art" then, in
deed, have some of US approached that
figurative perfection. There has oeeh
aught suggested the past year OF any
great pulse beat in the realms OF art
within our domain. There have been
art leagues and leagues of art fervor-
fathoms deep-but aye. far much more
substantial, for all the people know.
But let us make the rounds, this Xmas
morning. when all mankind, even unto
the rich and powerful, may be tempered
in a sWeetened sense OF charity.
Leading as well in other features or
life, j. j. Hill has probably done most
during the tWelve-month to express ZOE
himself what we people hereabOut have
never expressed cordially for ourselves;
Just, considerable. intelligent apprecla-
ton of the arts. Mr.. Hill is a gracious
man indeed Detimes.< A cGnnoisSeur, OF
his great powers OF acquisition, who Will
lend himself 10 half-day'S discussion
of his art gallery, in the very mldSt OF
harsher duties, is not the boast OF every
hillside. Nothing escapes the cultlVa-
tien of the GLOBE. During the year
there nave been no notable picture dis
plays of our local talent, nor mas thefe
been any particular event which III
dnced a revival Of considerations for
the creations. OF masters. Yet for all
this apathy and bloodless interest in
= 1.-The Finer Cultures
Of our firesideS and our drawing rooms.
one ennobllng chime has sounded, but
perchance in muffled intonatlon, and
one recalls again the meditation or
Ruskin, THAT the names of great paint
erS are like passing bells-ln Velasquez
you hear sounded the fall OF Spain; III
Titan, that of Venice: i'll Leonardo,
that of Milan; in Raphael, that OF
Rome"
world, and has seen much which IS
gratifying, but the regret of it all must
be that our citizen public cannot in the
nature of things partake of that gratlflca-
ton. We have no gallery where the
public eye may intrude its untutored
gaze: we are even without the spirit to
nurse such a possible privilege to some
substantial structure. And, perhaps.
some wise and generous hOarder OF
Wealth:and SeltshneSS, whose greatness,
| in financial sense, has sprung and BIOS
somed in the fertility of our city's own
being can excuse this shortening in a
city which constantly wags its tail i'll a
majestic attitude Of pride!
There having been no worthy public
exposition during the year, let us pay a
peep into the private galleries or our
| own aristocratic gentry. Inc neon
sistency Of our public concern in art
and the private custody OF the greatest
Corot landscape the world contains
will be readily apparent. Right IN our
midst, in the colossal mansion OF Mr..
Hill, we view Corot's greatest and
grandest work, "The Biblis." CorOt is
pre-eminently the master of his school
and the ideal creator of his class. and
France is so justly proud of him as to
be still lighting the expectation of his
conceptions. Yet in "Ihe BibIis" Mr..
Hill has more than France or French
men, and we Minnesotans may sit back
in veil of consolation that crude
public taste is thus sometimes atoned
by so generous a man as the railroad
magnate. =,
The Hill-gallery is the treasure vault
of critical collection Of some OF the
best works extant. From the transpar-
ent touch of Troyon Mr.. Hill has a
masters happiest expression. Dupre.
Henner, Delacroix, Breton, Ribot and
many others are here repreSented-not
by the ordinary, but by the most brill
liant achievements of these respective
! masters. And Millet! You may dis
cuss and admire, revere. applaud. wor-
ship or sit IN silent awe before the An
gelus." But Millet's soul is not alone
in "Angelus." His was shifting mood
of the intensest study i'll