New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-03-06
ART EXHIBITIONS.
THE FIsCHHoF AND BLAKEsLEE OH
MASTERS BY Mr..
DEwING+MR SARGENT
AND MR.. BRUSH


| ings mostly Of the early English and Contfne,t,
schools. belonging to Mr. Eugene Fischhof OF PART.
| and Mr. t. J. Biakeslee. of New-York- These wei
known dealers have drawn upon some private col.
lectons their enterprise. and have also secured
a number of works from houses conspicuous IN IN.
picture market abroad such those of seds,
| meyer. Colnaghi. Agnew and Lawre- They hav,
formed assernbIage of great names and OF pict
not great. II Is the familiar and in fact
inevitable situation Old masters of the highss,
quality come under the hammer with comparat,vs
infrequeney and when they do appear In London
Paris Berlin the competition among Europea,
collectors and museum directors Is fierce. Now ard
then single painting of great value reaches
America but collections like the present one ara
limited in their scope. Thus the star canvas IN
the American Art Galleries, the full length OF
"wolfgang Duke de Nieubourg. Grand EIector
Palatine." is of those portraits which would
like to accept without question a thoroughly
characteristic Van Dyek. but the ensemble is not
quite authoritative enough. and there are details
like the painting of the dog in the left OF the
position which speak far less OF the great Flen-
ing than of some pupil or modern "restorer" II
is stately and interesting portrait. But the Van
Dycks we would like TO in this country Van
Dycks infinitely beautiful. infinitely eo-
quent OF the personal force of the artist
However the scarcity of old masters to which We
have alluded. in Europe, must not be forgot
ten The best way In which 10 enjoy collection
like this is inquire too curiously. except
in a few cases We may find that the Van DycA
leaves cold, that the Portrait OF MademoiseIs
lie Main is only mildly satisfying Gsnsborough,
that there very striking qualities in the sin.
gle Reynolds. Portrait OF Mrs Brudensii.' that
the portraits given to Nignard and Natter be-
meath the standards of those engaging old French
men, and that the Forest Scene" attributed 70
Jacob Ruysdaei is only half what fine Jacob
Ruysdael ought to be- We may protest against
the importation of works like the Lord Campb-l''
of Sir Martin Archer Shee and the Mr.. Brown"
of Sir Henry Raeburn. these portraits beng SIM
ply duh and mediocre. 1t is futile to offer
vases which have absolutely nothing but the names
OF the painters 20 recommend them But then there
are left the many examples which have some ar
tistc value quite independent Of their authorship.
This is. indeed the direction IN which Mr.. Fischhof
and Mr.. Blakeslee do most TO win the SURFACES
of the collector Take the Spanish Nobleman' BY
Claudio Coeo. the Flute Player by BOschaerts.
the three four portraits by 1Iierevelt the 'Por
trait of Gentleman given to Lucas Cranach The
younger the delightful full length of Sir William
CrOfts' by Daniel Myteus. the Mari ManOni' OF
Moreelse and the Portrait of Spanish Nobleman"
by Juan Carreno Miranda. Over none Of these
is 1t necessary to argue about authorship They
not great paintings. They simply excellent
specimens of the middle levels OF the old schools.
typical in style, agreeable in their archaic pict-
uresque presentation OF bygone personalities There
many paintings in this collection which IL IS
pleasant 10 accept these reasonable terms, and
there which command admiration
while they leave the observer in doubt concerning
their origin. In THE jolly TOPPER for example.
attributed Frans Halls get a rather dubious
equivalent for the rich. unctuoUs impastO OF the
Dutchman. for his imperious energy and brilliant
style but IL is in its way capital production. ef
fective matter who painted IL. 1t is inter
esting to note that the average among the Dutch
and Flemish pictures is much higher than among
the Italian and French. The twl Bronzinos ara
toerable, but there is nothing admire in the big
religious composition ascribeG Lorenzo Lotto.
and in the French group Mignard Rigaud and Nat
tier are, as we have indicated above, most made
quately represented Where much that is Cd
Is also unsatisfactory merely respectable II Is
pleasure to pause upon several modern works OF
rare excellence La Femme Chat" by Cou-
ture. is charming painting. and there is a power
fully executed little panel. The Schoolboy,' by
the Italian Manchini. which is as artistic as any,
thing in the collection. Considering that colIec-
tion a whole. confess TO a feeens OF
disappointment In the absence OF any such touch
stones as are provided by the great European gall
leries. with only few old masters of the first
class scattered among museums IL is peculiar
ly important that all appeals TO public taste in
matters of early painting should be made with the
utmost care. The Fischhof- BIakeslee collection
has certain value. but regret that the pictures
In IT should fail to Illustrate higher plane the
important names included in the catalogue
In the uppermost of the American Art Galleries
there is collection Of porceIans rings art OBJ
jeets and books formed by the late Carl Edelheiu
of Philadelphia The most important item in this
Is the group of books printed at the KeInscott
Press. This collection will sold AT auction be-
ginning tomorrow afternoon. and continuing over
the three following days. at go and o'clock D. m
Twenty-one paintings by Mr.. Thomas w Dewins
have been lent by their various owners for an ex-
hioition at the gallery of n. E. Montross Ths
collection includes one portrait painted as far back
as 1885, and there Is one Decoration" dated 1879.
An opportunity is afforded to study the Develop
meht OF MI Dewinss technique IN the last thir-
teen years But such study is really not as SIM
pie an affair it seems because the essential
thing with this artist Is the consunnaate manner
IN winch ne blends technique with ina gination and
produces work that is merely beautiful Method
with him, is important OF course and II is sug-
gestive TO see how he has adapted il TO the subject
IN hand The panels showing single figures Iks
The Yellow Dress of 1855 The Blue Dress a.
1892 and The CommeGia' OF 1884 are all distin-
gushed In spite OF slight variations In the brush
work. py a polish which makes think OF CIoust
until II Is realized that Mr.. Dewtng avoids tho
ehaniei'eo enects or the old master and seeks
more suave more elastic quality. But The Her
NIT Thrush was painted before The RIua Dress
and The COmmedia"; also was the summer"
ana these disclose a very different mode OF hand
lins The textures are looser the style is far more
iree the whole treatment fits in breadth and va
riety the outdoor themes attacked. The compari-
son is useful as indicating the special charm Of
MT Dewing's art be never strikes the spectator
as painter who cultivated certain technical
methods. and then used them with pedantic CON
sistency IN the exploitation OF one subject after
the other He seems rather TO have kept technI1us
always in the background a means to an end
and. waiting for inspiration to have treated Il
with forgefulness of everything that had gone be-
fore concerned only TO render the nostr and love-
hness with which IL filled His pictures some
times seem 10 be nothing nor less than studies
't peau'iiulis eostumed figures, yet ne Is really
VI .ne most spiritual artists We have-a man who
oouau no, exclude from his work. If he wished.
Ia