New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-05-04
ART EXHIBITIONS.
THE VANDERBILT PICTURES AT THE
METROPOLITAN.

HE VANDERBILT PICTURES AT THE
METROPOLITAN.
One Of the most important factors in the develop
ment o. the influence of the Metropolitan Museum
has been the exhibition in its galleries of paintings
and other works Of art lent for considerable periods
Of time by their owners. These loans have some
times been OF memorable significance. Our readers
Will recall. for example. the extraordinary display
made in 1854 of the portraits and other paintings
OF the English artist. George Frederick Watts. A
collection equally distinguished in it's very different
way is that which will form the chief Of
interest AT the spring reception, to be held at the
museum tomorrow afternoon II is loaned by Mr..
George ". Vanderbilt. and consists Of l25 paint
ings from the famous gallery formed by the late
William II. Vanderbilt At time the public
was permitted, on occasion, TO see the collection
but II Is long since II has been convenient TO grant
this privilege and thousands the gallery at the
museum in which the present exhibition is made
will afford an experience as as it will be de-
hghtful- The pictures have been well selected and
most judcioUsy hung.
Among them there works by modern Eng
hsh' Belgian, Spanish and Italian artists, but the
sehoc' chiefly illustrated IS that Of France. In
TACT several Of the Of other ma tionaties rep
resented, Ike Boldini or Fortuny, sufficiently
iaentihed with the traditions of Paris 10 make their
participation in the show peculiarly happy My
vanderbilt was fortunate in the time OF his nego-
uat'ons with dealers and with painters in their
studios. H began to collect in the sixties and
continued his purchases through a period rich in
fine opportunities. The best work Of the Barbizon
men was then procurable. with far less difficulty
than is suffered by the collector at the present
time. and he was able TO obtain. also, pictures by
other men who in later years lost most OF their
skill. His taste eclectic. II he was glad 20
possess some Of the noblest landscapes OF the ro-
mantle era, he was also interested in the CON
summately polished anecdotlc subjects OF MeIs-
sonier or Bargue side by side in this collection with
Inc So"er Of Millet We ind costume study by
Roybet, piece Of realistic illustration like lie
fha Cd
Melville. The contrasts resulting from the iuxta-
position Of such men are sometimes little start
ling Yet. If the advocate of art for the sake OF
the subject could anywhere find arguments to his
hand, it would be IN this collection, for the
painted anecdote'' as It is exemplihed here IS
nearly always remarkably well painted. Take for
example, the famous canvas painted for Mr.. Van
derbilt by Gcrome. Louis XIV and the Grand
Conde" The partisan Of art for arts sake" would
DO well pause before he lightly dlsnisses this
wanting in beauty and execution. and therefore
OF small account. II IS. a matter Of fact
wonderfully interesting picture, interesting as a
piece Of artistic construction II nothing else
1t IS true that deplores the absence Of dis
tingushed color and brush work; il is true that
work wants breadth and charm. But an artist
more than layman. should find matter for
admiration in the marVellously balanced design in
the placing Of scores Of figures with such unerr-
ing judgment that the work has a truly artistic
unity, and only needs the more personal qualities
TO which we have alluded in order to be a master
piece.
The Sewers" is OF the great pictures Of the
world great by virtue of its imaginative interpre-
tauon Of an intensely human figure and by virtue
of its style. The subject is well known that it
needs no elaborate description here The compost
ton is simplicity itself; It shows merely the figure
OF strding across the fields. Yet. like every
great work Of art, its significance is profound.
THE Sewer" is full of the dignity. the power and
the pathos of mankind In the large gesture of
this peasant there is something Of the weight
something of the spiritual mystery, which we OBJ
in the Ianguidy outstretched of Adam
in that most imposing Of all the panels with which
Michael Angelo decorated the ceiling of the Sixtine
Chapel. The modern Frenchman has in this canvas
something of the grandeur OF his Italian prede-
cessor. II he is not quite monumental and he
roic, he is. the other hand Infinitely more ten
der. The ideal Of primitive force expressed by
Michael Angelo is antique in its impersonal and
naked austerity; with Millet the crude potential
ties of a figure identified with Mother Earth as
closely was Adam are blended with the subtlest
emotions of purely human sympathy. In this
grave design one perceives the same compassion
and tender spirit which informs those studies
in a less dramatic vein that also included in
this exhibition, the idyllic "Shepherdess," The
Knitting Lesson" AT the Well and The Water
Carrier"
The landscapes by Milets contemporaries here
shown almost uniformly of great value There
is a magnificent Forest of FontainebIeau," by
Daz. picture so glorious in color, mastery in
composition and in the synthetic handling of form
as a touchstOne for the student in all his investi
cations OF modern landscape art There
less than examples of Rousseau, all Of the
highest quality, and of them. the spacious and
solemn composition entitled Georges d Apremont."
is a painting, like the DaZ. in the grand style
deeply poetic ard brimming over with the strength
Of genius. Corot is in far bthely lyrical a
mood in the two pictures representing him. "Clas-
steal Landscape and Road Near Paris" We
have seen more brilliant works of his than these
but never any more characteristic more charm
ing So. likewise, Of Troyon it may he said that
paintings Of his are known powerful than !
anything by him in this collection; but
he more bcwitching in his exploitation of the play
Of light and shade than in the Autumn Woods /,
with Cattle with its intimate Interpretation of |
sylvan loveliness; never he delcatey !
emotional in his rendering of landscape sentiment
than in this picture, or in the entitled "On the /
Road" There is only one Daubigny Landscape. /
Evening" but that is of his finest productions.
as exquisite in feeling and in color it is broad
and individualized in style The five paintings by
Dqlpre are not all OF equal merit but of them
is without interest, and one the Autumn Sunset !
someW hat in the manner of Rousseau, is his I
highest level. Decamps. Deiacroix and Fromentin |
are well though not brilliantly represented.
When we turn from tho landscapes and other
omen air studies OF the romantic school. find
ourselves among pictures that mostly in the