The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-03-28

Iney MADE Tne1r FamonS IaiutiHSs-
Some of the Interesting Pictures in
Professor Johnson's Collection-Work of
Much Interest to Art Students.
The collection OF pictures belonging to
Professor johnson of Bowdoin College,
and now on exhibition in the studio late
ly occupied by Mr.. Harry Brown, over
the store of Owen & Moore, is attract
ing considerable attention among those
Interested in art, especially art students.
These pictures are not paintings, nor are
they generally finished productions.
They are principally the first sketches,
done in sepia, pen and ink or
pen and ink combined with sepiasand bis
tire in which the painters emb odied their
first ideals, or laid out the work which
they intended to do with the brush. 1t
must not be inferred from this that these
figures are not works of art. Most Of
them are by famous artists, and many by
the famous old masters. Some of them
are nearly four hundred years old, and
are the first draughts of frescoes that
have enjoyed centuries of fame.
Prof. johnson bought these pictures,
which number about a hundred, at an
auction sale in London. The pictures are
from the library of DR.. J. Barnard Dav-
is, and were kept by him in large
eighteenth century portfolio, with red
binding and the gilt label Drawings by
the old Masters" DR.. Davis was the
last possessor, but the collection has
been accommodating for 200 years, various
connoisseurs having had hand in it.
Sir Joshua Reynolds collected some of
them, R. Cosway others and R. Udney
others still. Some of the paintings
were in Horace Walpole's collection at
Strawberry Hill.
There is probably no doubt that this
portfolio of pictures is one of the largest
collections of this kind in this country.
Professor johnson is understood to have
paid large price for it, and it is a de-
cided acquisition to the art treasures of
New England.
OF course these pictures, being the
originals as they came from the hands
Of the masters, possess therefore pecu
liar interest and charm. That small,
oblong piece of brown paper, which
looks much like the paper used for fly
poison nowadays, and which has few
faint lines upon it, as if done with a
crayon, came from the hand of Titan, of
the Venetian school, (1477-1516) and the
great master of the use of color. Few
though the lines are, they embody in
their strong and sweeping outlines the
graceful original of the Virgin and the
Child"
The small but spirited pen sketch on
the opposite wall, representing a woman
falling on sword, is from the hand of
Rubens, the great Flemish painter. This
little sketch was at one time in the col
lection of Sir j eshua Reynolds. 4. By Ru-
bens also is the larger sketch Of the bust
of Roman Emperor. With this sketch
done in water color, the artist has taken
the license to make the eyes open and
full of expression, such as he imagined
them to have conveyed when the Roman
was in the flesh.
A larger picture, evidently first rude
draft, is by Giovanni Antonio Licinio,
more commonly called II Pordenone, an
artist of note who was born in 1853. The
picture is pen and ink sketch of de-
sign or fresco of the Conversion of
st. Paul." This picture is in the cloister
of Stephano at Vienna, and there is also
picture on the same subject at the
Ufizzi at Florence. This sketch Illus
trates very we'll the relations which
these pictures bare to the finished paint
ings. The artists object in this sketch
was evidently the disposition of the fig
ures and the creation Of the broad, gen.
eral spirit of the fresco. Therefore
there is little attention to details, al
though tine observer does not notice this
at first, so well has the artist conveyed
the general spirit of the picture in the
comparatively few general dashes of his
pen. There are men and horses in ac-
ton, and these are drawn in such bold
frank lines that only on close inspection
does one notice that the heads of the
men are drawn square, the forming of
them being work of detail which the
artist left for the future.
Of Caravaggio (15e9-16og there is a
paper containing several sketches, done
in sepia, reinforced by lines of the pen.
A spirited war scene in pen and ink is
of the more modern Dutch school, done
by Cammas, TIT.
By Polodoro (1495-1543) is sepia
sketch, much corroded but showing with
undiminished force the strength of the
artist, representing two Roman soldiers.
A striking sketch of the head of an
aged man is by the master of the Eclectic
school, of Bologna, Ludovico Cavvaci
(1555-1619).
Tho e+1,dv of q fountain done in men