The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-24
pR1cE1Fss ART TREASURES.
The Wallace Collection to He Open
to Public View.


Especial Cable Despatch. Copyrisht)
LONDON, June 23.-on Monday night
next there will be opened to the public
an artistic treasure house, which no visi-
tor to London should miss, namely. the
Wallace collection at Hartford House.
Manchester Square. The collection was
the work of the third and fourth mar
quises of Hartford and enlarged by Sir
Richard Wallace. who inherited 1t and
who bequeathed it to his widow. who in
turn bequeathed 1t to the nation.
a dozen columns would not suffice to
indicate adequately its countless beauties
of paintings, armor, furniture, porcelain,
medals, worries, tapestries. enamels, ETC.,
etc. The galleries are filled with count
less objects of French decorative art IN
the eighteenth century, cabinets and
chairs and tapestries. priceless tables. sup
porting priceless clocks, and gonthiere
candelabra, forming a collection which
cannot be matched even in France itself.
Even more splendid perhaps. is the por-
celain collection in which there is an
array OF matchless Sevres rivaled, only,
il even at all, by the royal collections in
Windsor and Buckingham palaces
In coming to the pictures it Is diff
cult where to award the palm. The
eighteenth century French school Of
Vatican, Fragonau, Greuze, and the like.
forming an unique collection. is considered
almost unrivaled. With twenty-one GGeuze5
and nine Watteaus, it is the most i'm
portant collection in the world. The
Louvre itself is less rich. Another feature
is the English pictures.
No gallery, public or private. shows such
groups as Joshua Reynolds Nellie
O'Brien,'' Mrs. Braddyl," and the Straw
berry Girl" OF which Sir Joshua said that
1t was one of those half dozen original
things which no man ever exceeded in bis
life work. With these are GainsborOughs
and Romneys, but it is impossible to indi-
cate the artistic and pecuniary value Of
the pictures. 1t is sufficient to mention
that there are eleven important Rem
brandts, Velasquez's Woman With a
FAM the only portrait OF his, the sub
ject Of which is not an aristocrat; the
famous Rainbow Landscape" and many
others by Rubens, Titan's "Persus and
Andromeda," and no less than sixteen
Meissoniers. Corot, Andreaelsardo, Mu-
rillo, and innumerable famous masters are
represented.
Splendid examples of nearly all the
great art collections dispersed during the
past century have been contributed.
series Of early swords starting with .he
eleventh century, was purchased en- bloc
from Splitter for G7300O, which is
mere trifie compared with the value OF
the suits of armor. helmets, CALVES, ETC.,
now practically priceless.
The total value of the collection can
not be assessed. 1t is beyond price. The
smallest guess of the pictures alone would
be 95,OOO,000. 1t would almost be the
work of lifetime TO examine and ap-
praise the countless articles. Meanwhile,
the Earl of Yarmouth, the eldest son OF
the Marquis of Hartford. TO whom. In the
ordinary way, the collection would have
descended, after a short career on the
American stage, is new in an English
bankruptcy court testifying that his
fathers G300 yearly allowance is INSULT
Gent for his wants.