Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-08
A R T N @ TIES.

A h L IN U L Il s.
| Three portraits of great value and inter-
! est have be- en- placed exhibition in the
| upper atrium of the Corcoran Gallery this
week. One is by Titan, is by Nicholas
Macs and the other is by Sir Henry Rae
burn. Thus they represent the Italian
Dutch and English schools and the best
| work produced during the sixteenth
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Indeed, were the great galleries of
the world to be searched through it
is doubtful if three better painted por
traits could be found. Certainly there is
none in this country (unless it be the
Metropolitan Museums RembrandD, which
exces them. The Titan. which is the larg-
est canvas, pictures a cardinal seated at
table with well-worn volume before him;
the Macs is the portrait of a stout, hearty
Dutchman of middle age, wearing the black
gown, white square collar and round cuffs
of Puritan; whereas the Raeburn is the
likeness of an old English gentleman of
benignant disposition, strong character,
clear intellect and fine features. Each is
distinctly individual, yet all three arrive
finally at the same result. 1t is compare
lively easy to point to the wonderful tonal
qualities the exquisite values in the IL
tan, to the marvellous representation of
flesh and blood in the Macs, and to the
deXterous brushwork in the Raeburn, but
to explain their greatness is as impossible
as to define genius or to analyZe sun
beam. To get some notion of their meas
ure. however, compare them with the best
modern work; turn from them to the Char
tran portraits, or even the Brush picture,
which approaches them more nearly. 1t
will be found that these paintings put be-
fore us living, VITAL thoughtful men, whose
personality is as impressively real as their
appearance, yet there is in their execution
no evidence of labor, no clever short cuts,
no careless haste. To such work the paint
er doffs his hat, and from it he gets in
spiration for truer, better accomplishment;
whereas the layman, misled by the appar-
ent simplicity and realism, accepts it rather
as a fact than a work of art and forgets
to praise. These paintings have been loaned
the gallery by a private collector, and the
opportunity of seeing them comes to the
public as rare treat.
Mr.. Lucien Powell has returned from a
quiet restful summer, spent at his old
home in Virginia, much improved in health,
and is again at work in his studio at Hen
derson castle At present he is painting
a large Venetian picture for Colonel Hen
derson's new home at Bar Harbor. which
equals, if it does not surpaSs, the best
that he has previously executed 1t is a
six by eight canvas, picturing entrance
to the Grand canal, with st. Georges and
the Salute to the left aud the Campanile of
ST. Marks in the distance to the right y
glorious glowing sunset illumines the sky.
and is reflected in the water, the splendid
colors of which are reproduced, as it were,
in the bright hued sails Of the water craft
in the foreground. 1t is a dramatic scene
suggestive of the splendor of pyrotechnics,
but it is not overdone. The gray mist
which shrouds the land and buildings is very
vaporous, and the sky is atmospheric and
luminous. 1t is a picture which will doubt
less give pleasure to many, and, possessing
genuine artistic qualities, does not depend
! upon lneal feet for its bigness. Mr. Powell
has also painted three other smaller can
vases recently, from his last years yene-
tian sketches, which, though quieter, more
poetic and less colorful, are equally as
charming. He is looking forward to
busy winter.
Two Washingtonians have received honors
at the exhibition of the American Art So
ciety, which was held in the Earle gall
leries in Philadelphia last month-Mrs.
Caroline Thurber and Mr.. Carl F. Smith.
Mrs. Thurber was awarded a silver medal
for her work in oils, and Mr.. Smith an
honorable mention for his water co.ors.
The American Art Society is new or
ganization, semi-commercial but the sue
cess of this, its first exhibition, speaks well
for its future The catalogue, which was
quite lavishly Illustrated and nicely gotten
up contained the names of some of the
best known American artists and during
the exhibition twenty-six pictures We're
sold.
Mr. Carl Smith and his wife, who is also
a painter of considerable ability spent the
greater part of the past summer in the Adj
rondacks, where he made number of con-
scientious studies of the ever changing
mountains. He also brought back with him |
some interesting genre sketches, among
which typical farmer at work In cab |
bage patch is by means the least inter-
esting OF all these, however, none is as |
picturesque, fresh and attractive as little |
water color. which he did quite lately, with !
in short distance of his Kenesaw avenue |
home, showing clump of trees in all the |
beauty of their autumn foliage, and a tiny |
stream wandering around some gray rocks |
and through q meadow. That there is no |
more paintable country anywhere Than |
that around Washington seems to be the |
verdict this fab Of all the homecoming arr
lists
= X
Mrs. Child has just, finished a portrait of !
her brother Mr. William Fuller Curtis In |