New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-06
PAINSTAklNG PAINTERS.
THEY AIM To SECURE ABSOLUTE &C
CURACY IN HISTORICAL PICTURES

CTRACY IN HISTORICAL PICTURES
There seems 70 he no end to the trouble which
PAINTERS of historical pictures Will take to secure
absolute accuracy even in the smaller details.
ore hears of writer's of modern fiction who turn
out record breaking historical novels without
leaving their metropolitan homes, and write
scores of word pictures of European lands with
ou5 having crossed the Atlantic. The great
paintings are not done that way. In fact many
painters go to the other extreme spending so
much time and money in their efforts to secure
detail and historical exactness that their can
vases often cost more than the for which
they are sold
Al instance of this is Meissonter, who fire.
quently lost money on his masterpieces 10y his
expensive efforts be true to his subjects. Take
the picture Of 1891" which shows Napoleon re-
viewing troops. and which is now hanging in the
Metro olitan Museum of Art, in this city for in
stance. He hired a regiment of men and fitted
them out in the uniform of the times. He took
them to a bit of open country near Paris and
marched them up and down until he had made
a series of drawings.
Munkacsy, famous Polish painter,
stickIer for accuracy. and inclined to be hard on
his models. When painting his Christ Before
Plate he had full sized cross erected in the
open. OF course, it was out Of the question to
actually cruelty model. but he got the
real thing possible. a found who
willing to be tied on the cross, and there he
hung for hours while the painter reproduced
the agony which showed in his face The pose
was so painful that the model tainted man.
times
New-York painters of to-day not behind
their predece ssors in painstakng effort Henry
Reuterdah whose forte is marine paintings.
has srent less time the ships of all
b. llrU He has had ma nj x 10
experiences and has formed some opinion of the
hospitality Of naval officers of different national
i.ies on French ships he never asked to
spend a night ION board and received not a
single invitation to drink or smoke. on English
neL-of-war it just the other way. He had
trouble to find time to work from the insistent
hospitality Of the Wardroom. He once made
trip under the surface in the Holland submarine
boat and again spent week in fishing smack
the Grand Banks. This fishing experience
:ame being his last. The vessel the
Virginia Fair. and she had auxiliary engine
., help out her sails. At the end Of the cruise
they landed at Gloucester and the artist had
hardly left the wharf when the boiler exploded,
blowing the Virginia to bits
Alfred {. Rowland. n A. is al work a
lecture in his studio in this city for which he
RS taken infinite preliminary pains. 1t is to be
representation Of the famous fight between the
--earsarge and the Alabama, which took place
July, 1863. off the coast Of France. 1t was
Witnessed by the natives of the bleak little coast
Village Of Querqueville, five miles from Cher
hourg They heard the crash of big guns when
IN church, and rushed the cliff to watch
TIE fight.
on deciding to paint this historic scene. Mr.
Rowland went To Querqueville and for three
months lived among the peasants. They ate no
at. SO he became vegetarian for the time
being. At first he could do little with them
Tn thought him crazy whe he asked them to
pose for him. AS he sketched away at the his