The Washington times., 1904-07-24

~ NE Of the uniquely charming
Washington homes is that of
~ Mrs. Albert Clifford Barney, on
Sheridan Circle. Mrs Barney
calls il her studio house" and in truth
the name is not misplaced. A bright
woman who knows says it looks from
the outside like a vault and from the
inside like a monarch's treasure cham
ber-and there. too. is a description
ready TO your hand.
Though, but for the manner in which
the entrances are arranged and the
windows inserted in the thick walls,
there is nothing deliberately vaUlt-lilZe
in the houses appearance. II looks ex-
ternally rather like the ordinary Wash
ington residence of the better class. but
inside 1t is a storehouse Of gems Of art
and beauty collected by Mrs. Barney in
every quarter of the globe.
One enters a hallway on the basement
floor. where the walls are covered with
polished brick, IN soft colors. and as
cends thence up a broad stairway to
the first floor of the house. There the
treasures begin to unfold themselves
Horne of Art Treasures.
. On this floor are the dining room and
drawing room-though it Is said Mrs
Barney will not tolerate the latter desig-
nation and refers to the great apart
ment, lined with pictures and draped
with tapestries Of countless values, as
her studio merely. If the designation
she adopts be the correct one, 1t is
studio TRANSPORTED and glorihed, for
though there IS on every hand the evil
dences Of work with brush and palette,
there is never anything Of the dis
order with which one IS wont TO asso-
ciate the artistic temperament and the
place where it builds it's shrine.
The room-the whole house. indeed
has been built around Mrs. Barney's
art treasures. and the light from the
: ceiling and from the high-placed win
doWs falls around the room in softest
+ radiance. Each canvas has oeen placed
30 that it will receive the light in ex-
actly the proper quantity and direction;
no beauty Is concealed in darkness or
marred by too much illumination; the
sun by day and the electric bulbs that
at night take its place are made to
serve effectively an exact purpose.
3 Mrs. Barney and her eldest daughter
Miss Natalie Barney. are artists OF
recognized ability and their own paint
ings are all about. They form. how
ever. but small portion OF the collec-
ton, for Mrs. Barney's search for art
. treasures has been prosecuted almost
I increasingly and for many years in the
3 recognized art centers and along the
! highways and byways Of strange coun-
! tries. The widow of the late Cincin-
natl millionaire. Albert Clifford Bafney.
she has had large means at her disposal
and it was never necessary TO curb a de
sire to buy a picture or a piece Of tap
estry or bric-a-brac by reason OF those
mean and sordid considerations that
come TO damp the zeal Of other col
leetors
Tapestries Chief Pride.
Her tapestries are her special pride
She has studied the subject closely. and
with the added insight Of a rare artistic
intelligence. so that she has become an
authority. Not for their beauty. merely.
are the great. woven pictures that line
her walls entitled 20 consideration, for
there are few in the collection about
which some interesting story could not
be told. Some are stories % war; there
are stories Of love and stories OF suf-