The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-05-04

selves in those tapestries. However, they
represent S60,000 of good American money.
.',The large marble mantel, cunningly
carved with Satyrs heads, came from
France and here amid blazing fire stand
the tall andirons wrought into snakes
which seem ready to dart out of the
flames. Before the fireplace stand three
couches covered in red and gold. Like all
the chairs, these couches are odd in shape
and belong to the Renaissance period.
Two other curious antiques are an ivory
inlaid cabinet filed with numerous secret
drawers, just the kind that the crafty
Richelieu might have used, and a stone
sarcophagus, once the resting place of an
Egyptian monarch, now filled with pro-
fusion of beautiful plants, certainly a
most unique flower box
Miss Ince came next with a paper on
the paintings to be found in the Metro
politan Museum of Art, New York She
described trip, taken with friends, in
which she said:-
I'VE cannot say that we liked the old
masters collectively, and that is very near
to saying that we liked none of them in
dividually, for to look at one specimen of
certain period is to look at all of them.
1t is like looking at one Lewis XIV. gem
tleman and then at another. For an ex-
ample of this when we entered the Mar
quand gallery, the first picture we exam
ined was denominated Portrait of Cen
tleman,' and the second Portrait of a
Man" Yet the second appeared to be as
much of gentleman as the first, and the
first was certainly no more a man than
the second"
Miss Ince turned her attention to Leon
ardo Da Vinci, saying:-
But whatever airy banter may be
turned upon him. the painter had the ex-
cellent taste to send a lady to the New
Workers, young. Italian lady with a
wreath of foliage around her head and a
salver of fruit in her hands. The cata-
logue, probably to preserve the poetic IL
lusion, describes her hair as long flowing
and golden, but assure you it was un-
mistakably red. Perhaps the cataloguer
meant to say that the original ladyS hair
was golden, but in that event we must
conclude that Da Vinci was color bind
or that he possibly had no gold in his
color box when he painted her. The face
is absolutely devoid of animation. The
eyes are without that intellectual life
that characterizes the typical old mas
ter There is no warmth of color in the
skin, no cudftn OIL COHlOuT III luSs lOili
ton of the face, no beauty in the image
as a woman, no attractiveness in the rep
resentation as a work of art.
''Our charity for Da Vinci, however,
constrains us to assume that this 'Por-
trait of a Lady, was one of his first
ventures in the realm of art, and if you
take it in that light and know the vast
difference between the meaning of those
stereotyped phrases, early productions
and later works. you will readily see
that this artist might nevertheless have
been highly talented and capable of pro-
ducing In after life the renowned Last
Supper"
Thus the speaker continued criticising
the various pictures in the Metropolitan
Museum, Rembrandt's Portrait of
Man. coming in for more favoritism than
any other.
Mrs Charles BROWNIE concluded the
programme with an account of the ker-
annie Art Club of this city. She spoke OF
its having been started in Hasbrouck m
stitute six years ago by six or eight en-
thusiastic ladies, and marked its progress
from that time to the present, when II mas
membership roll of thirty. 1t is the
only art club in the city doing active
practical work in painting. Mrs. Browne
is President.
The programme was interspersed with
selections from the Glee Club, which sang
unusually well. The matter of revising
the constitution was not taken up, but the
club adjourned to Wednesday, May for
that purpose.