The age-herald., 1901-12-08
THE coLoNNA MADONNA.
Price Paid for This and Other Treas-
 ures Said to be S7oo,ooo.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
 Private letters from a noted Paris expert in paintings give trustworthy information that J. Pierpont Morgan has bought the celebrated Holy Fam fly" by Raphael, called the Colonna Madonna because it was long in the possession of the noble Roman house of that name. The painting made a great sensation in Paris this year when it appeared among the old mas ters in M. Sedelmeyers gallery, for although it's existence was known up to 1870, and there was no evidence that it had been destroyed or incorpor ated with any public or private collec- tion, yet all trace of it was lost to the general public or art lovers at one of the most critical moments of modern French history. For many reasons the Colonna Madonna should have formed a distinguished example of Raphaels work at the Louvre. But it was not to be. An American is it's owner. Will he bring it to this side of the Atlantic? That is the question connoisseurs in Europe are asking with pardonable anxiety.
 The Madonna in question is finer than anything in the Louvre or the Ma tional Gallery by the same painter Its history is known from the time it was painted until it vanished during the turmoil while Napoleon III was cap tured and Eugenie fled from Paris. Raphael received the order for it's painting from a convent of nuns, but iH the following century the convent became poor and resolved to sell it. So 1t fell into the hands of the Colon mas, who, in their turn, sold it to one of the branches of the Bourbons. In the course of the wars of Napoleon it shared the flight and exile of it's royal owner, whose heirs held it at Madrid. In 1870 it became known almost at the same time in London and Paris that this famous Raphael might be bought; then diplomacy on an international scale set it's wits to work to secure it for one nation or the other. As it happened to be in Spain, the influence of Eugenie de Montijo was more pow erful than that of the British ambassa- dor at Madrid.
 special envoy was sent from Paris, and the picture was brought on, ex- hibited at the Louvre, and was about to be bought by the State, when the German war broke out Since then no one knew exactly where it was until it suddenly appeared in Sedelmeyer's hands.
 The price paid for this Raphael, which belongs to his best period, can only be conjectured, since MT. Morgan at the same time bought from Sedel- meyer number of other old masters, notably portrait of Grand Duke by Rubens, a large and fine specimen of the British painter George Morland, and two or three pictures by Dutch masters. The price for all these, as stated in the letter from Paris, was S700,000, which is probably more a guess by the expert than a sure fig ure, since neither the dealer nor the buyer is likely to have named the sum. What is more important is the statement from the same trustworthy source that MT. Morgan does not in- tend to bring the Madonna over for stood that the Mannheim collection bought by him remains abroad, be- cause our tariff lays a heavy duty on old masters as well as modern paint ings. MT. Morgan, so it is understood, sees neither wisdom nor justice in this unnecessary severity of our customs because it affects unfavorably art ed ucation and keeps out objects which by their nature, cannot rival American products. Of course, he might present these pictures to an art museum, a university, or other educational foun- dation, which could then import them free of duty. But there is noth- ing to show that he intends to do so; on the contrary, it is believed in Paris that he has bought them for his own pleasure and will keep them in Flu rope to enjoy whenever he is abroad.