Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-07

| last room of this series the visitor finds
Greek and Roman bronzes dating from
the seventh century, b G., to the SECOND
| century. AID. But. as a courtly gentle
man said on Wednesday when asked by
a lady If this was all. All, dear madam.
| why, this is but the beginning. All is UP
stairs"
Three Long Galleries.
| And so ascending the stairs the canny
visitor discovers Here, in three long gal
leries, probably seventy-five feet in length.
paintings, nine hundred and ninety in
| number.
/ The first gallery at the head of the
| stairs contains the Italian and German
| primitives and twelve large pictures by
! celebrated painters of the Italian renais-
! sance as well as four large cases OF
| Chinese porcelains. The next. to the
right. contains the modern pictures
! Chiefly those collected by Mr.. w. T. VAL
| tiers, rehung precisely as they were In the
| old gallery familiar to so many. In this
gallery are some of the best pictures Sir
| a Ina Tadema has ever painted-several
beautiful Corots-a mastery Rousseau,
works BIZ Detaille. De Meanwhile, Mels-
sonier, Fortuny, Miliet. Gerome, turner.
Alfred. Stevens Fritz Thaulow, Puvis de
Chavannes and many others-really great
examples. And here, too, Is to be found
a case of beautiful miniatures by Eng
Esh French and American painters. ex-
uusite and lovely; watches of the seven
TENN. eighteenth and nineteenth centu-
ries and many specimens Of fine japanese
lacquers.
In the next gallery are pictures by Ger
man Spanish. Dutch French and EnSlish
painters-masters of an earlier day-While
in the third are Italian paintings only.
the majority Of which belong to the Mas
sarenti collection. There are over four
hundred pictures in these two rooms
aone--a vast display from which one
must choose for himself those most
worthy OF notice
Not Classified by Merit.
4 certain chronological order has been
observed In the hanging, but there has
been no classification according to merit
that Is. the pictures on the top row are
no less worthy than those ION the line"
| This is not. and does not pretend to be.
gallery of masterpieces. but 1t is the
most comprehensive collection OF it's kind
in this country and does afford material
! for historical study-data bearing upon
| the history Of art not to be found else
where outside OF Italy or France. Among
these foreign pictures are not many. 1t
must he confessed which would naturally
be supposed to appeal. which through
sheer beauty or strength force admra-
ton: but there are very. very many In
the collection which cannot fail to be
REGARDED with very genuine interest.
Whether or not all the pictures are the
works of the masters to whom they are
attributed it would be difficult for even
an expert to say; but that they represent
the schools Of the great periods there IS
no doubt, and for the student or art this
is of utmost importance
Sufficient for Days of Study.
On his way to the first floor the visitor
passes around the lCggia and feasts final
" upon the ceramics. crystals, bronzes
and jades, the color OF which en- masse
was noted from the lower floor upon en-
terinG These in themselves are sufficient
tor a day s-yes, many days study.
Passing down the stairs and through
the court one notes among the ancient
sculptura one modern work-Rodins mar
VeIous figure THE Thinker which Is
placed before the Pantheon in Paris
! and finds II not out of keeping with the
masterpieces of ancient Greece and Rome
equally powerful and no less sculptur-
esque.
| Catalogue Being Compiled.
serves a guide. though not a hand
book has been printed. and more
| elaborate one will be issued later-prob-
! ably next fall This, Mr.. Walters himself
| is compiling.
| Wednesday. the opening day. the gal
| lery was crowded with visitors from both
! Baltimore and Washington. and many ex-