Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-11-09
Original Turner's at
FOgg Museum

Cambridge, Mass, Nov. IA very
important accession to the number #
drawings and paintings in this country
| by the English artist j., M. w. Turner,
has just been made through the gift
of Turner's Davenport to the Fogg
museum of art of Harvard university.
The drawing itself, which is one OF
those executed in water color during
the middle portion of Turner's career,
was among the 81 which were owned
by John Ruskin and exhibited in Lon
don in 1878, and again in 1900. 1t
comes to Harvard as a gift from
Charles Fairfax Murray. a well known
collector and dealer in London. Mr..
Murray was at one time a pupil or
Ruskin's.
This drawing is distinguished, fur
thcrmore, as one of those which Rus
kin held in highest esteem and Of
which he wrote:
mo more wonderful drawing, take
in all in all, exists by his hand than
this one, and the sky is the most ex-
quisite in my own entire collection
of drawings. II is quite cOnsummately
true, as all things are when they are
consummately lovely. 1t is, of course,
the heaping up of the warm rainclouis
of summer, thunder passing away N
the west. the golden light and melting
blue mingled with yet falling rain,
which troubles the waters surface,
making it misty altogether, in tae
shade to the left, but gradually leaving
the reflection clearer under the warm
opening light"
Another interesting fact about the
drawing is that Ruskin in speaking of
it attempted his often quoted ex-
PLANTATION of Turner's attitude toward
the vulgarity of English low life, as
sorting that while the master probably
despised it he had at the same time
/ a racial liking for it. The ships boats
in the foreground of the picture are
filled with the British tackles" who
are skylarking with the women of
the town-a scene, undoubtedly, in -Le
reality, of rather coarse reveling
/ which Turner has somehow transform
ed into one of beautiful pageantry.
One significance of this addition
to the already considerable gathering
of original works by Turner in ano
around Boston is that for students OF
the fine arts the best opportunity
| offered anywhere on this continent
| for study at first hand of this master
who is more and more becoming
recognized as one of the very great
est, is right here. Besides the Devon
port drawing just acquired, three other
admirable examples hang together
on a screen in the Fogg museum: a
study of the Simplon Pass, full OF
subtle gradations of light on ths
mountains, and two earlier arch
itectural drawings in water color
Here, too, is displayed one of the best
series of Turner's remarkable series
of prints, the Liber Studiorum; and
here are copies from Turner made by
| Mr.. Ruskin's assistant and excellent
water colorist, William Ward.
The growth of the Turner cOllec,
tion at Harvard illustrates strikingly
| the usefulness of a museum in a
great university as a depository for
I a selective, yet comprehensive exhibit
of the work of great masters and i'm
| portant periods in the history of the
fine arts. The Fogg museum is unique
among the worlds art museums in
that il receives art treasures solely at
their educational value Such in
situations as the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts, the Metropolitan museum
| in New York or the Art Institute in
Chicago necessarily accept works of
art that are interesting from various
points of view, whether historical or
decorative, or constructive or even
scientific. But the Fogg museum