St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-09-20
CHEAP PICTURES IN LONDON.
English Artists Sometimes Offer
Their Productions at Ridicu-
Ously Low Figures. =

There are men in London to-day
who, in preference to starving, are glad
enough to turn out oil paintings at
the ridiculous remuneration OF four
pence each, for which work they find q
steady demand, says London Tit-Bits.
The work, of course, has to be exc
cuted with extreme ,deXterity or the
artist would realize but a poor living,
but some smart men, aided by one or
two deft assistants, can complete 200
or 300 of these pictures" in a week,
though they have to toll early and late
to accomplish their arduous task.
When big order comes in for q
gross of oil paintings, to be finished
within a specified period for a whole
sale firm, the method of work is usu-
ally as follows: Along the walls of the
apartment wherein the artists work
is stretched so many yards of canvas,
which is marked into lengths, accord
ing to the size Of the pictures ordered.
Then the work is equally divided
among the artist and his colleagues,
each man being responsible for one
part of every picture. One will paint
the trees, another the sky, and a
fourth will add few figures to inn
part animation to the scene. Each
man selects the particular line in which
he can do his best and quickest work,
and all labor with a strict eye to time
and business.
In one studio devoted to the four
penny oil painting there are half a
dozen girls who work 80 hours a week,
and these only earn from IL to Is shil
lings each. They work for big whole
sale house on the continent, and their
speciality is the shcwy little land
scape or marine paintings so familiar
to those who patronize the itinerant
auctioneer or the cheap house fur
nisher. Incredible though it may
seem there are some sweating firms
who expect the artist to find, his or
her own canvas and colors, and then
turn out oil paintings at fourpence
apiece! But the better class of deal
ers provide the materials or make an
allowance for the extra cost.
When the pictures are completed
they are sent in to the dealers, and
monthly check is forwarded in pay
ment to the artist who has undertaken
the order. The paintings are next
glued into cheap but gaudy gilt
frame, and sold to travelling dealers,
who dispose of large numbers of them
in the provinces at good profit.
So amazing is the credulity of some
provincial purchasers that garrulous
auctioneer at country town fair can
easily persuade them that they are
buying the works of prominent paint
ers at reduced rates. Rural folk are
readily imposed upon by such state
ments. AS "fourpenny oil,'' cheaply
framed, will sell for from three shil-
lings to five shillings, it will be seen
that the middleman makes an accept
able profit by the transaction.
We were informed by one artist that
the fourpenny rate of payment ap-
piled only to pictures measuring 12xs
inches, higher payment being made,
for canvases of larger dimensions. For
example, painting which measured
20x15 inches would be paid for at TIE
hardly munifcent rate of eighteen
pence, but the time involved would, of
course be longer, SO that the extra
amount earned is comparatively
trifing when the additional material
is also reckoned.