The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-08-13
PYCTURE PRICES.
From he National Review.

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Perhaps no path In moro likely TO lead
to disaster than that Of the man who rushes
into picture collecting with the avowed In
tention of making money out OF 1t. The
chances are ali against him. The probes
sional dealer sometimes makes mistakes
but he more than averages his bad pur-
ohases by the profit which he realizes on
the others, and the margin In his favor Ii
usually "a very substantial one
During the season just closed there
have been many illustrations Of wise in
yestments made In pictures by men VINO
never regarded themselves az collectors
Two Of these illustrations are quite re-
markable. The late Mr.. Woods, Tor over
half a century associated with the great
firm Of Christie's, always insisted that he
was not a collector; he had unique oppor-
tunities during the last fifty years Of buying
fine things at low prices, and he not only
had the opportunities but he also had an
intimate and far seeing knowledge With
which few men have been endowed. And
yet he simply bought q picture now and
then because he liked II, or because he
happened to have a blank space on one OF
his walls. The result Ia that he scarcely
ever made O mistake. ] have been per-
mitted 10 look over a note book In which
the prices are entered for most Of his pur-
ohases, and the comparison Of figures Ia
truly enough to make one turn green With
envy.
He began collecting In 1852, his first pur-
chase being a pair Of pastels by Hubert OF
a young pierrot and q young girl. for which
he gave SO shillings; this pair realized 8
guineas at his sale In May. In 1850 he
bought a Romney Head Of Lady Hamilton
for s1O, which now realized 800 guineas;
In the eos he gave 60 is shillings for q Drou-
ais portrait OF Nine. do Pompadour and
this now sold for ITO g~uineas; "a shilllngs
for q T. do Keyser portrait Of a lady which
now sold for 100 ~guineas; and 7 shiuings
for a pair of vases Of flowers by Baptiste
which sold for "a guineas. In the '7os he
gave 20 guineas for Beechey's portrait OF
Lady Whitbread, which now realized $40
guineas; so guineas for Reynolds's portrait
Of Mrs. Robinson-a version Of the picture
in the Wallace collection-and IL has now
realized $50 guineas, and so forth. But his
greatest triumphs we're Hoppner's portrait
Of Lady Waldegrave, which he acquired In
1881 for e23 as against 8 900 guineas It brought
at his sale, and Lawrenoe's Miss Emily
G. Ogilvie, which cost about 200 guineas
and now sold for 5000 guineas.
Such examples as these are, 1t may be
urged, extreme, but similar n q occur
every season. The gentleman whose five
pictures were sold at Christie's on june 80
and included Turner's Rape of Europa,
WIS also not a picture collector In the
usual sense of the word. He bought q
picture Just now and then, at unextrava.
CANT prices, but with exceedingly good taste
and apart from any consideration OF future
profit; the Ave pictures which cost him
al, es5 brought 9s, SAT, to say nothing OF the
intellectual enjoyment of possessing them
for about thirty y~ears-truly q brilliant
illustration OF wise buying and wise selling.
There can be no doubt about the fact thai
the ups and downs Of picture prices
form a very interesting and important
factor in collecting. One might I'LL page
after page with both the ups and the
downs beginning with the most famous
of all examples in the former class, the
stolen and recovered Gajnsborough Duchess
of Deyonshire, for which Wynn Ellis gave
about esS, and which at his sale realised
10, 100 guineas. The enhanced value OF
piotures by the artists Of the early English
school and Of the old masters generally
has been a progressive one for the last
quarter OF a century, and affords such Q
volume of material hat 1t is necessary to
oonine myself in this paper to facts and
Incidents Of the last two seasons, Within
about this period the supply Of Romnsys
Reynoldses and Gainsboroughs has to some
extent fallen off and other phases have
supervened. The idealized portraits by
the three great artists OF the early English
school nave been succeeded by the some
what hard and realistic examples OF BIZ
r.. Raeburn, whose work has made suof
gigantic strides in price and favor during
the last few seasons. At the sale Of his 70
naming works on May Z. 1877. forty-nint
portraits realized co. 900, but only one ap
preached four figures.
We have here the amazing spectacle O
thirteen pictures by Raeburn producing
|, within two seasons a total OF 942'9oO, proba
. bly more than the artist made out OF hi
sitters during the twenty best years OF nj
ifel This total gives an average OF ESQ
Der picture In 10000 as against an averag'
3 Of less than fl2O realized at the sale II
1877. Raeburn apparently left no pocket
I books such as those Of Sir Joshua Reynolds
George Romney and Sir William Beechey
. from which We may gather the prices whiol
he received for his portraits.
Romney's prices. for instance; In tn
0 early zoos Of the eighteenth century were
Head and shoulders, sOx25. 30 guineas
kitcat, s5x2o, 40 guineas; half length, sG
40. 60 guineas, and whole length, esx67
$50 auineas. 1t may be questioned whethe
Raeburn obtained anything like these price
> until the latter part Of his career.
The Aquarium's seaoow.