New-York tribune., 1900-05-27
PART Ii.
TWELVE PAGES.
LONDON NOTES.
Tfr PEEL S-ANGLO-AMERI-
CAN INTRODUCTIONS.

.hor an unusual assemblage of art collectors
- UiIIis's rooms, in St James's Square. Messrs.
.g,ew and all the dealers have laid in stock
cor future transactions with American million
aires and eminent public men-Lord Rosebery,
Cir Henry Campbell -Rannerman, Mr.. Lecky and
many more-have watched the dispersion Of
the famous coll. ction Of Sir Robert Peel. The
first sale. which was conducted some time ago
was restricted mainly plate. and about S26, 800
was secured: but there so many legal ex-
penses that the income available for Lady Peel
was hardly more than $500 although she had
expec1ed an annuity of S1750 which was due
to her from the estate as her marriage settle
naent Having a child 10 educate. she appealed
for another sale of the heirlooms in order to
make good the deficiency. and the lawyers have
been arguing the points in one court after an
other and running up heavy bills of costs In
the end the family portraits at Drayton Manor
were excluded from the sale but the paintings
statuary. engravings and other art treasures
and curios were brought under the hammer
The two days sale has yielded over 100000
and. although the legal expenses are enormous,
il is safe 10 infer that Lady PeeTs marriage
settlement is now secure
The chief treasure among the statuary was
the marble bust Of Sir Walter Scott. by Chan
trey, which ran up by leaps and bounds to 1850
eUineas. a remarkable price for a work by a
Within five minutes walk of williss. where
this belated tribute was paid to his talent was
The modest garret which Chantrey occupied
while, art student, he was working upon
an equestrian statue of George III not many
years after he had amused himself by carving
a head a walking stick while he was driving
a donkey with load Of sand into Sheffield The
bust OF Sir Walter Scott was modelled during
his years of prosperity. when he was living in
the Chantrey House, buckingham Palace
Road. working upon the statue of James Watt
and the group of Sleeping Children in Lich-
field Cathedral. and laying up money for the
bequest to the nation which now enables the
academicians to purchase several works every
year from the Summer Exhibition, and to ad-
vertise one another. even If they do not in
variably succeed in promoting the interests of
art. Chantrey's uncle and aunt, a butler and
a housemaid in service, who were lending him
shillings and looking after him when he
tong in his Mayfair garret, would have opened
their eyes very wide if they could have had a
glimpse Of smart society and art connoisseurs
cheering the bidding of one Of his works up to
225o guineas, while Thorwaldsen's Apollo as
a shepherd stopped at 600 guineas, and Rou-
biliac's busts of Prior and Pope dropped even
lower.
A GIFT FROM DIR. JOHNSON.
There was another incident of the sale which
would have brought a grim smile TO the stern
visage Of DR. Johnson's ghost If that perturbed
spirit had taken glimpse of the moon in the
dingy triangle in Cough Square out of Fleet
st. The philosopher once honored Garrick's wife
with modest present Of a small tortoise shell
and silver box Il not costly gift, for his
earnings in those days from THE Rambler"
The ldler' and the Dictionary were not
princely; but it had been numbered among the
treasures of the Peel collection and when il
came under the hammer there was lively COM
petition for it until II was knocked down for s..
guineas. How cynical would have been the look
OF irony underneath the shrivelled, unpowdered
wig, which was always too small for the mas
sive head, if he could have had a premonition Of
the value which that modest little gift Maoud
acquire in consequence OF the inscription. Pre-
sented TO Mrs. David Garrck by her esteemed
friend Samuel Johnson, There might have been
something like a fash Of triumph in the short
sighted blearing eyes if he could have foreseen
that a crude portrait Of him by Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds was destined TO fetch 450 guineas, where
as a more carefully finished one Of Edmund
Burke by the same hand would be considered
dear at 200 guineas.
Hayden used TO tease Sir Robert Peel for COM
missions for pictures and he most i'm
Fortunate in demanding the privilege Of painting
Napoleon in exile The work was finally or
dered, at what the painter and his son subse-
quently explained - shiIlings for days
work The painter received for the large canvas
about Sl3o remuneration for actual labor
Wordsworth wrote his famous sonnet after
seeing the solitary figure iii Napoleon at St
Helena" and that helped to readjust matters.
The value OF the picture has gradually increased
with age for il has been auctioned off for 400
guineas; and by singular coincidence the well
known portrait OF Lord Nelson by Lucy brought
the same Queen Marie Antoinette at
seventeen introduced TO the auction room
as Greuze's subject. but the claim was dis
puted by critics and the identity of both the
sitter and the painter questioned The
pretty but indiferentiy painted portrait in spite
Of cavilling criticism, was ratified off for $50
guineas When Sir Peter Lely's works
reached Nell Gwynne had her brief moment Of
triumph in the auction room. for the spectators
applauded her briskly when the portrait was
produced over the red baize, just the audience
used to do when she came to the front of the
stage Up shot the bids to $50 guineas and
poor Nell, after her brief temperance upon the
stage was relegated 10 a dark corner Of eoroa
country house among the dusty family portraits.
The Countess Of Kildare by Sir Peter LeIv also
brought 60 guineas, but Wycherlev the poet
OF the Restoration, could command only 400
guineas, and the poet Cowley even fewer
THE VAN DYCKs
The Van Dycks vinGicated Sir Robert Pae1,s
judgment both art connoisseur and an
economist These We're the pair Of full Ienq,bs
The Genoese Senator and Portrait of a Lady
which Sir David Wlkie purchased at the SntnoIa
Palace Genoa. These pictures are inferior IN
beauty and technique he prritar