The record-union., 1899-09-03

An effort is making to raise a fund
to provide a memorial of Simon de
Montfort, at Evesham, England. 1t is
to take the form of an equestrian figure
in aluminium, on a suitable base ana
under a canopy, on the spot where the
great Earl was buried. The cost is
estimated at E2,500.
At the annual exhibition at the Roy
al Academy in London, this year, pic
lures were sold more freely than usual,
and the total price paid for new works
was no less than $105,000. This sum
does not include the many costly por-
traits painted on commission, or any
other works done to order. At the rate
artists are supposed to live, these sales
would care for at least a hundred or
them for an entire year, but the money
was not distributed in that way, or
| course. One picture sold for Si,3uo,
| and another fortunate artist received
| $4,000 for one of his paintings. Inc
number of exhibitors who did not get
cent for their pains and trouble was
depressingly large, as usual. But their
i'll fortune will not stop the eager pur-
suit of the great prizes of art by null
titude of it's votaries.
| Magazine of Art: Since the Dudley
sale of 1892 no really choice collection
| of old masters has come under the
| hammer in this country, and the prices
paid for the isolated examples which
| have been offered for sale would seem
| to indicate that the taste for this class
| of composition is not what it once was.
| This is, perhaps, inconclusive evidence
| as to a decline in taste, for an lndlTer-
| ent specimen gains as largely by being
sold in such a collection as the Dudley
| as it loses by being sandWiched between
a medley of the old and the new. Very
| few of the old masters have during
| 1898 reached four figures. The most i'm
| portant Of all was the splendid REM
brandt portrait of Nicholas Ruts, which
| in the RustOn sale brought 0,0U0
guineas, or 800 guineas more than We're
realized at the Adrian Hope sale four
years before. A Rubens, 'Repose OF
the Holy Family" on June 25th, sold
| for 1,300 guineas. Sir John Millais'
| poeticaA example of Vandyck, Time
Clipping the Wings of Love-" sold for
$40 guineas, or nearly four times the
| W
| Blenheim sale in 1885; but the fact that
| it was a great favOrite of the late P. r.
A, and that it was accompanied by a
sort Of written guarantee from his hand,
gave it an interest and Importance
which it might not otherwise have had.
The Ruston sale included an example
of Vandycks in the highly interesting
series of family portraits from Billion
| JJo1
| idence of Joseph Addison and his wife,
the Countess of Warwick-these por-
traits are said to have been brought to
Billion Hall from Holland House-and
these were whole lengths of Prince
Rupert and Prince Maurice, his younger
| brother and they realized 720 guineas
and $50 guineas respectively.
+
There has been in the minds of some.
in the past if not in recent years, a
romantic notion that the artist who set,
about his task lured by visions of the
dollar was not worthy to sit even in the
| shadows of Parnassus Such a notion
sifted to it's finest is based upon a truth
that all will recognize, that the joy of
all honest work lies in the doing; but
in general terms it is misleading, and
puts a false light upon the profession
or business of writing or painting
Art, like all other occupations that
are pursued with enthusiasm and a
conscientious regard for good work, has
| for its end both the expression and the
| satisfying of the Individual genius and
| the winning of fame, and the apprecia-
tion that is, all things considered, most
| satisfactorily expressed in cash terms.
| All artists worthy of the name, once
| they feel they have something worth
| the doing, are first of all interested in
doing it Well. The creative impulse
raises them for the time being beyond
any merely sordid considerations and
absorbs them in the idea they have IN
mind. In moments of relaxation how
ever, they find time-some of them
easily find too much-to dwell upon the
hope of the reward that a waiting
world fails to accord to real merit.
| The fact is the dollar motive under
| lies about everything that is done in
this world, and it is not without conso-
lation to too tender spirits to be as
sured that genius itself has been known
| to contemplate, not uncheerfully the
acquisition of large revenues. Some of
the greatest prose and poetry in our
| language has been written with the
evident intention of acquiring money.
Shakespeare did not go up to London
for the mere fun of writing plays, and
Samuel Johnson's Grub street drudgery
was not altogether born for the mere
joy of gratifying an irresistible impulse
to write. james B. Darlington, in the
Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post
The house in the Rue d Assas which
Rosa Bonheur owned for forty years, is
to be bought and torn down by the
municipality of Paris. After the artist
moved to By near Fountainbleau, the
house in the Rue d AsSas was converted
into a temporary home for poor artists.
Men and girls were received, but no
one could stay longer than two weeks
just time enough to enable them to find
cheap and suitable accommodations.
The house was surrounded with flowers,
an oasis in dull dirty street, and at
one time Nine Rosa's menagerie added
to the din of the neighborhood. A
monkey, dogs, cats, a sheep a goat and
a pet lamb were among the smaller
models who were introduced to the
visitor by their mistress.
Michael Angeles Marble Relief OF
Leda in the Bargello palace at .Florence.
while being taken down for some light
repairs, slipped and was broken to
pieces 1t is hoped that it may be put
together again.