New-York tribune., 1909-09-19
ART EXHIBITIONS
Old Dutch Masters at the MetropoI-
itan Museum.

not only Amsterdam and The Hague. but than
score OF collections elsewhere on the Continent
IL IS commonplace of art criticism that IIals to
/ De seen at full length, must be seen at HARLEM.
Nevertheless, if anything could be substituted for
the experience thus to be secured it would be such
/ an acquaintance with the subject as may now be
nede AT the Metropolitan Museum. The collection
! CT about hundred and fifty old Dutch pictures
which has been brought together there By the Hud-
/ son-tulten Celebration Commission Is one of ex-
| traordinary significance It is formed, to a great
extent, OF masterpieces. Fate has been kind to
eonnoisseurs where this school has been concerned
Works Of the italian Renaissance come infreauently
INTO the market old Spanish and German paintings
OF the highest rank are also rarely available for
purchase. and while Illustrations OF eighteenth
trry French and English art are numerous enough
IN the auction room. in the hands Of the dealers,
they are not by any means invariably authentic.
But with the Dutch we have been lucky fact
long familiar to specialists, and publicly de-
monstrated with impressive fulness
The exhibition which opens at the museum to-
morrow contains thiTty-four Rerabrandts. twenty
examples Of Halls. five Yer Meers seven Hobbemas,
four landscapes by Solomon Ruisdael, eleven by
Jacob Of that name and representative groups of
paintings by Cuyp, Steen, Pieter de Hoogh, Ter
porch and SO on. No such resplendent show has
hitherto been made in this country, and in all prob
ability II will be many year before anything like
II IS organized again. It was rendered possible OF
course only by the generous spirit OF a number of
private owners From the museums rich store
number OF invaluable works have been drawn, but
lion OF Mr. J. P Morgan. Mr.. J. G. Johnson, Mr..
H 9. Frick. Mrs c. P Huntington, Mrs. H. o,
Havemeyer Mr.. NJ. c. .. Borden and divers others.
Il Is also stated by the way that two or three
paintings recently purchased abroad by Mr.. B. Alt
man VIII presently be added 20 the collection, and
that he will likewise lend his beautiful Yer Meer.
the Girl Sleeping" which formerly IN the pos
session of Rodolphe Kann
The immediate appeal Of exhibition Of this
SORT IS made to the spectators curiosity and his
sensuous instinct Il is. by itself. little exciting
70 see so many famous works gathered together in
one place. and after the first moment Of surprise
there follows a kind Of glut OF the eye. a reck-
less gormandizing of massive craftsmanship and
sumptuous though sombre tone. Later impressions
take account Of more complex elements Of charm
and provoke reflection on the remarkable educa-
uonal value Of the collection framed as Il Is with
special reference 10 that Dutch period IN the his
tory Of New York which IS Just now uppermost in
our minds These pictures throw. 70 begin with.
food OF light on Dutch types Dutch manners and
dress, boldly relieved against background OF
Dutch landscape and architecture In the portraits
OF Rembrandt and Hals you are brought face 10
face with The seventeenth century burgher and his
wife Yer AleeT and De Hoogh will show you how
they lived al home. and while the Ruisdaes expose
the character Of the countryside and waterways
IN Holland The broadly humorous compositions OF
Jan steen will people the scene for you with Hob
binol ana hts GoTy The light thar suffuseS this
land OF our ancestors is gray and cool For all the
moisture ~ that northern atmosphere ta!rgs are
fac"- steady goinS Tealists we dub the painters
ct the place and the period. For one explanation
of the course they followed look their fiat land
scape their comfortable faEmsteads ard their COM
parot'vely sunless sky- Look also AZ The society
reflected IN their paintings a. the heavy frames
and honest but quite International physiogncuaes o.
The men and women, ara al the Who'll some. earthly
lves they lead indoors and out What more natural
than that the artists dwelling IN such an age os
sturdy materialisrn should develop the gist. which
r. q a reGl r4f~F Tnrr
Cnce upon the visible fact. simplicity truth were -
the very air they breathed
IL Is through Is Adsllty 70 nature that Dutch art
renders is greatest service 70 the historian through
these vivid qualities IN the light or which we can
reconstruct bygcne civilization while the I'M
portRnce of the pictures IN this exhibition as so
many social documents is duly 20 be ernphaEired Il
IS soon subordinated 10 purely aesthetic questions
These masters are 20 be priced because thew pro-
duced monuments 70 the life of their time They
are 70 be horored far more because they were men
of rare accomplishment This IS where the Rem
bTandts for example detach the observer from all
thought q the Dutch and set him TO thinking only
oi one great mana conSumrnate povSaTs- Allusion
has been made 70 the cool gray Light OF Holland
II formed the Of the school in some 81 its
poets but Il could beat down the originality Of
the master of them all. lie was too mueh OF a col
oTist for that. and by the token TOO tnagna-
i've too much a man ot brains Il IS worth while
IS an illustration Of the in which art IS
Influenced In the making BY than the -nanua!
QcXteTlty oT which We are always hearing much,
20 compare the essential stun OF Renabrandts work
with that 70 be found IN the work Of Hals The
latter IS supreme far as he goes The portraits
by him in this collection sheer miracles OF tech
nique. Consider the free. direct and almost uncan-
rily mastCrful brush work IN the portraits Of Herr
Bodolphe and his wife. lent by Mr.. Morgan, and
especially look the modelling Of the woulans
face. Here you have virtuosity kept superbly IN
hand Again. in mr. Libbeys boy Playing a
Flute" you have II fairly swaggering: the artist
seems 10 exploit his marvellous resources with a
shout OF jsbilant authority. Loosely though he
may handle his motive in the portrait just men
toned. firmly and crspy. in Mr.. Borden
charmingv blonde "Caspar S!belus or Mrs. Hunt
ington's Portrait of Man." he is always the man
OF incomparably elastic and sure brush He
goes 70 the heart OF his sitter too painting his
prosperous bourgeois or his dashing young blood
with all the Straightforward human sympathy in
the world. But while his feet stoutly planted
the earth that ne paints you truth itself while
he is such magician of the brush that he deeply
satisfies your of style it is 10 Rembrandt that
YOU turn 70 truth. and style raised 10 the nth
power
He Rembrandt Is the great psychoogue. the !
punger into depths OF which Halls knew nothing the
interpreter OF emotions which have at once
stirred his soul and prodigiousy heightened his |
technical powerss How wide his range There |
Is bit Of still life here, Mr. Johnsons Slaughtered
Ok" to show how he could amuse himself just with |
the values TO be played with in a curious mass OF |
tone. There is nothing TO disclose the religious in
tensity which he could put into the Supper at |
Emmaus." in the Louvre the "Aianoahs Prayer"
ri Dresden and nothing Illustrative of the dramatic
passion which electrines the great Samson and /
DeIah." but there CLEANS OF his poetic fervor |
in Mr.. Johnson's exquisite Finding OF Moses" and /
his pathos comes poignantly in Mr.. Borden's |
noble "Lucretia." For another strain in Rem
brandts opulent nature, observe too the graceful !
"Siby" owned by Mr.. Davis. 1t is a souvenir. one |
dfvines of light and haDDV Inorent The fa,Ire