New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-16
HAD HOPE FOR ARTIST.
The Bureaucracy Made 1t Difficult
to 4rrange for Port Arthur Trip.

Before the dispatches confirming the OF
Verestchagin death came. H D. Macedonia ex-
pressed the hope that the report that the artist
was lost on the Petropavlovsk. was untrue Mr.
Macdona friend and counsel of the painter.
He said yesterday that he had letter from Mr..
Verestchagtn late March 10. from st. Peters
burg in which the artist said he might go to his
friend Admiral Makarof and have an opportunity
to see an historical fight, but that it diff
cult to arrange at such long range. the bureau
cracy slow.
1t is not generally known. Mr.. Macedonia says.
that Mr.. Verestchagfn was originally intended for
the navy. and actually apprenticed by his
father in shat service. where a boy he met
Makarof
When Mr.. verestcha gin here two years ago.
he said that he had warfare in all the phases
exhibited in his lifetime, except at sea- and while
he at Santiago. painting the picture of the
battlefield of San Juan Hill, and saw the wrecks
that strewed the beach outside the harbOr, he said
t. an American officer who was with him: II must
see such fight that was before go. but must
hurry for notice it is getting white" point
ing to his beard.
An exhibition of some hundred and thirty of VI.
Verestchagins paintings and sketches, well as
OF three-score artistic curiosities collected
the painters various journeys, took place at the
American Art Galleries. Madison Square South, in
1889. Among the many visitors who attended the
exhibition General Sherman" Thomas E
Kirby told a Tribune reporter yesterday. The
general came to the galleries nearly every day,
bringing with him various military friends and ac-
quaintances The general had intense admira-
ton for NJ. Verestchagin. / remember General
Sherman ono day remarking to me that NJ. Verest-
chagin the only painter he knew of who por-
trayed it actually is. General Sherman.
recoIlect. criticised the pictures minuely with
gard to detail and fidelity TO life The picture
entitled 'Skobelef Shpka' depicts the day after
the battle. SkobeleR reviewed his troops and
thanked them for his victory. The dead slain only
the day before. still litter the ground before the
sherman wa particularly struck
by the extraordinary naturalness and fidelity to
life of the attitudes in which the slain soldiers lay
The picture shows numbers of the dead soldiers ly-
ing their faces and not on their backs, as ha-
bitually portrayed. General Sherman seemed, TO
maintain that a stricken soldier falls generally
face forward and not backward. as habitually por-
trayed. a backward posture being caused by death
pains perhaps"
From November II November q. 1891. at the
same galleries. the pictures. rugs. curios. etc.
disposed of public auction. Mr.. Kirby
being the auctioneer. The four days aggregate
ss3.sO NJ Verestchagin observed to several
OF his friends aferward that many Of the pictures
had sold for a song. A number OF the bid
ders however complained Of the unwieldy size OF
OF the canvases The Boston Museum of
Fine Arts became the owner Of The Private
Mosque OF the Great NIoguis in the Palace OF
Delhi"
Regarding these mosques NJ. Verestchagin said:
Il like the Moslem mosques; their prayer IS simple
and less solemn than that Of the Christians;
but the Deity is not represented there in any
painted sculptured form You may feel that
God is present ut your prayer, but where is He7
Il is left TO your soul to discover IT."
vcrestchagn. his last appearance in New
York. exhibited and sold at the waldorf-Astoria
a collection OF his pictures Of war scenes IN Cen
trail Asia. in Russia 0he Napoeonc campaign. in
Cuba the Philippines and elsewhere. The Rus
sian government bought most of tho pictures de-
plotting Napoleon's fruitless expedition TO Moscow.