The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-11-18
IN A LONDON GALLERY
WHERE AMBITIOUS ART STUDENTS
THRoNG FOR STUDY.

Copying The works of Recognized Mas
ters--rce Days In the National Gallery
of London aud the Crowd Attending.
On two days in the week, Thursdays and
Fridays, u fee is charged for admission to
the National gallery, Trafalgar square Lon.
don. This does not diminish the attend. |
Rnce hat changes its character Iusteal |
Of the usual throng of tourists and home /,
visitors, most of whom stroll in a bewider .
ed manner from chamber to chamber in the ,
great building, there is an attendance of |
men and women who gather in groups be- |
fore the most famous masterpieces Most |
of the women chatter volubly and not Il |
few of the men will join in conversation. |
The visitors for the most part are painters,
students, dealers or connoisseuIs.
OF course these painters are ut the gallery .
to make copies of pictures, but what con |
nOisseur or amateur would care to invest |
In copiesy Well, copying paintings is bread
and butter to small army of London /.
painters but it must not be supposed that .
such metsS of earning a living meets .
with the approval or even knowledge of |
those in authority at the museum and gal
leries. On the contrary, every possible eff
fort is made to discountenance the practice
using the privileges of the galleries AS
. immediate and direct source of pecu-
MARY benefit. a painter who was known to
sell his copies rs originals would not be
permitted to enter the galleries on student
days.
On the other hand, encouragement is
shown to students who desire to copy. Any
one can get immediate permission by pro
ducing a specimen of work which will
serve as "a pass even if it show but little
merit, or by letter of recommendation
l. let ri
der such circumstances it is no wonder that
clever painters, who are willing to stoop to
fraud are able to pursue their business I'M
disturbed in the great galleries. A painter
of this class usually is a specialist-that is,
he devotes himself to acquiring the style of
some one master, copying his pictures eX-
clusively, and cases are not altogether rare
wherein famous paintings have been so
cleyerly reproduced as to deceive connois-
seirs.
The writer knows of one instance in re-
cent years in which the INSCRIPTIONS
painter spent the greater part of his life in
copying the water colors of Il recognized
master and had no difficulty in dispOsing
Of every copy rs an original. The copies
were generally disposed Of through dishon-
est dealers but though purchasers paid
literally for the fakes the painter him.
selt profted little by His skill, for he was
always misarably poor and died at last Of
starvation and Drink. An especially re
markable feature of this mans work was
the fact that he copied from memory. Dur
ing the last years of his life, at least, he
never brought his easel and palette TO the
National gallery, but he often went there
and stood tor hours at n time before the
picture he had selected, committing to
memory every detail of outline and color
effect Whether it was his method to re
turn after having completed his copy to re-
view his work by a second or third study of
the original the writer does not know.
The number of copies made in the great
galleries to be sold under false representa-
tions is small compared to the immense
amount of work done there every year.
Most of the work. if sold, is sold for what it
purports to be, and therein lies the oppor-
tunity for purchasers who want good paint
ings Not few painters of unmistakable
talent give themselves up to copying be-
cause it assures them living less precari-
Gus than might be earned by creative work
alone. Moreover, to copy on fee days in the
National gallery is in itself an advertise
ment of no mean value, for dealers are
lowering about all the time ready to pick
up an excellent copy at a bargain, or, as is
frequently the case, to give a commission
t'r a new work, IA real original, from the
ush of any painter whose work strikes
them as having the requisite style and
power,
Besides the dealers there are always pri-
vate buyers Oh hand, some of them Ameri-
cans, who happen to know the possibilities
Of obtaining good pictures at low prices
and are not slow to take advantage of the
opportunity. That the opportunities may
be excellent, 50 far rs prices go, may be in
ferred from the plight of an Italian who
was patiently copying an old Dutch pic
ture. He frankly admitted that he had no
commission; that he was copying solely in
the hope that he might sell his copy for
little food He came from Naples, where
he had run through fortune, and had been
fouI months in London. During that time
he had sold one small picture of his own,
and that for "A mere trhe 80 | have taken
to copying" he said simply.
Some of the copyists make good incomes
One man who came under the writer's OBJ
seryaton had lived for several years on one
picture in the Bethnel Green museum. He
had copied it more than 30 times A ia,
vorite among the copyists il Murillo's st
John the Baptist" One painter alone has
made and sold IA dozen copies of it,
There are more women than men among
the copysts, and critical observers of long
standing say that in recent years the work
of women has undergone remarkable i'm
pfONtmtnU Ill breadth ana strength OF treat
ment. Perhaps this has not been unatfect-
ed by the better accommodations afforded
to women than men in the National gal
lery. 1t becomes veritable club for WON
EN- painters and their friends on fee days
The friends trot along and take their sew
ing and ply their needle industriously while
the artists stick colors on canvas and take
part in conversation Whenever they are
hungry or thirsty, they repair for refresh
ments to room in the basementespecially
prepared for them, where ordinary lunch
cons may be purchased. The men do not
come in for this. Ample room is provided
for the storage of easels and unfinished can
vases forall artists. but those OF the male
persuasion must go to the nearest pub"
for their mug of ale nd veal pie-New
York Sun.
She Was Docked.
IA see by the paper that the secretary
OF the navy has ordered one Of the war
ships to be locked said the foreman to
Mike Deany.
An phat can that be for, dunno"
replied Mike. Maybe she was wan