New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-28

man
w , onality Of his work than Of his SUBJECT Is |
h0 20 his lights a follower Of Frans HAS. |
~ .. ,aver would have occurred to HAS tlae |
o' ,,ac. could be subordinated to his teen
-, and in fact be treated as nothing hnofe
rep on which to hang an artlsuc eject
baen left to the modern painter TO not
-,.r-,v exalt pigment above idea, Duh 10 peii"'e
:. Enough II were kind OF Insult 10 ILLS d. ~
-, him TO preserve the human interest," iii
-Io.,ra For Halls the human interest Was u
- ;r,,,or.anee Indeed, one cannot hllaS-
a. him as having looked with lnoiilefehoe upon
-, -4++ars He SEXES character anyways anu e
--esees II. in many instances Win posius
r,c,o Where he remains q painter phii'ei
IN taking equal delight ID the hiiiip VIC 'o- -
his instruments, and in coil'liluli ~ - |
,orfraits the charm OF technique VI '''-O
% embassies his point that Halls was al
IS himself spontaneous. natural uhcoh-
g. or5 talks as if those held an opposite |
,,o see in him one ever ready to display |
9Th technique and to flourish it before
-, o,-as of the onlooker to his amazement and
,;-ation" Critics and artists who hold tins
low would express il a little differently They
40 not think that il was the practice OF HAS 10
~attitudinize before an audience" If they think
NJ him as playing with his brushes in manner
somewhat spectacular. il is only as they think
nj an accomplished musician indulglng in GER
tain "brayura' passages because he likes that
sort Of thing, and not because he seeks to tickle
the ears Of the groundlings. Halls must have
reyelled IN the exercise Of his gifts No one
could possess such gifts and not exercise them
for the sheer delight Of the occupation The ex-
PLANTATION is simple Gifts like his are in them
selves interesting. We can imagine a canvas
covered with strokes of paint by Halls, strokes
r,irr al Mha
would nevertheless charm by the force and dex-
terity disclosed
Painters delight in him because he paints so
We'll, because his touch is so swift and sure,
because the intrinsic quality Of paint is eN-
plotted in his work as only one painter in ten
thousand exploit it He was not great
colorist- His range was never wide, and il Is
doubtful if he would ever have approved HIM
self master of harmony, even if he had not
been compelled, III his huge corporation pieces,
to make the best of cost unes and draperies i'm
possible TO reconcile Some OF his portraits
would look as We'll in monotone as in color. But
there are passages OF color in his paintings
which, taken by themselves. superb; and
though may miss in him the golden glow OF
Rembrandt his contemporary, his color and
tone are still extraordinarily fine. After all,
there is reason why should ask Halls TO be
some one other than himself, to paint with the
palette Of Titan when there was nothing in his
temperament even remotely akin TO that Of the
sumptuous Venetian We go TO Halls for mag
nifcent brushWork, for powerful modelling;
these things he gives US in Astounding measure;
and the vitality, the human truth, which we
also expect Of him, he supplies with the same
lavish hand There is nothing esoteric about
him There is nothing that demands sublime
powers Of Interpretation in his biographer. Mr..
volume. But he is not wanting in enthusiasm.
He writes with the warmest sympathy for ms
great Dutchman. and his book is OF the most
interesting publications We have read in a
long time. II Is beautifully printed and Illus
trated, and is provided with an excellent cata-
logue and other useful appendices. Among the
latter there is a list Of prices obtained for GER
tain pictures by HAS, which contains some sug-
gestire details When he came out Of the OBJ
Irion In which, all through the eighteenth
century, he had unaccountably rested, his pict-
ures were sold for ludicrous sums In 1900 the
mastery fun length of -+Willem Van Heythuy-
SEN now one of the glories of the Liechtenstein
Gallery at Vienna, sold for less than SO What
it would fetch now may be judged from some Of
the other figures in Mr.. Daviess list. The
Laughing Cavalier" which once sold for
$500. cost over $4,000 when it passed into the
Wallace collection where it now remains The
portrait Of man in the Boston Museum
was sold at Christies, years ago, for $40 The
American purchaser who secured it in 1899 paid
OYER $1,000 for il and Just over $4,000 for the