New-York tribune., 1903-02-15
THE TONY THIERY REQUEST
A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF PAINT
INGs ADDED TO THE LOUVRE.

| bequeathed by Tony Thiery to the National
| Museum Of the Louvre was opened yesterday by
| the Minister of Fine Arts and forms an addi-
| tionaI attraction for Americans who intend WIS.,
| iting Paris. The Tony Thiery bequest is far
| more important and valuable from the painters
| point of view than the legacy of the Dutuit col
t lection and can only be compared with the
superb gift made by Louis La Gaze to the
| Louvre in July. 1866 The new gallery occupies
| three large rooms somewhat badly lighted ana
situated unfortunately very the roof of the
palace The visitor is obliged to climb up hun
dreds of steps and wind his way through long
! obscure passages, only again to reInount more
stairways before reaching the little paradise OF
the romantic school of paintings which form the
latest feature of the National Museum
The Tony Thiery gallery consists of one hun
dred and twenty pictures selected by the testa-
tor during his lifelong devotion to the work
Corot is represented by twelve canvases, the
three finest of which La Route dArras.
La Danse des Bergers de Sorrento and lie
Soir" French art critics do not hesitate to de-
clare that the broad transparent atmospheric
painting of ION the Road to Arras'' is COrots
masterpiece Other works by him are The
Pond" and 'L'Eglogue" Corot is here. for the
first time, perhaps. set face to face with
| Troyon Millet Isabey Diaz and Decamps. and
the impression produced is that the great land
scape painters reputation has been somewhat
overrated. His pictures do not hold their own
with such works as The Heights of Suresne,"
by Troyon which Las the place of honor in the
new gallery or with the Bell Ringer. or with
the Valet de Chiens' of Decamp. The Heights
of Suresne' which formed part of the Gambart
collection was purchased by Tony Thiery for
$4,000 1t represents herd of cattle grazing
in a meadow under the sharply shaded slope of
the hill of Suresne. in The environs of Paris.
An interesting point of the new collection is
the reha bitation, it were. of the somewhat
neglected artist Decamps who is represented by
seventeen admirably chosen works in which lack
of poetic conception and idealism is atoned for
by inimitable perception of values and by re-
markable truthfuness of execution Decampss s
men and women his boys and monkeys, his
beggars and bulldogs his fox terriers and his
fishermen one and all present lfelike qualities
that appeal to the public taste Hitherto al
most unknown except to amateurs. he Is now
for the first time appreciated by the many A
quaint canvas in the collection is the Lions
Before Their Den by Barge, the famous
sculptor whose wild animals in bronze enjoy
worldwide repute. 1t is a brilliantly brushed
canvas and as might be readily expected. shows
superb strength in lines and draughtsmanship
There are eleven pictures by Delacroix in the
on the Cross is of the very lew religious
paintings ever undertaken by this master. His
''EIopenent of RebeCca," which once formed
part of the Secretan collection, and his ''Medea"
dagger in hand with her two children. convey
accurate ideas of the strength and brillianCy of
the French cOlOriSt-
There are ten pictures by Diaz among which
are graceful Venus and Adonis," delightful
wood Shade" and Girls Bathing" There are
twelve works by Jules Dupre, foremost among
them being Cattle Drinking Under Old
Oak" purchased by NJ. Rozieres ten years ago
for $4,000 which sold in 1S4S for S12o
There are a couple of characteristic works by
Fromentin, the Orientalst, and seven admirable
pictures by Isabey including The Wedding in
the Church at Delft and The Beach at Scheve-
ningen." But none of these works has the i'm
posing grandeur of 1.-The Embarkation Of Ruy-
ter and De Witt" that has been brought to the
Louvre from the Luxembourg Gallery and
placed in the room next to that occupied by the
Tony Thiery collection. Messonier is repre-
sented by five pictures-'Les Ordonnances,"
which fetched $4,000 at the William Stewart
sale in New-York: lie Petit Liseur." lie
Poete," lie Joueur de Flute Blanc" and LES
Fumeurs" The last is a diminutive canvas
measuring only four by five inches. and was
sold for $500 at the Secretan sale some years
ago. There half dozen delicate canvases
by Miet among them the La Lessiveuse," LA