Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-23

as the celebrated Venus" Beside Il hangs
a Portrait Of a Child" lent by j. Pier
pont Morgan. which is simply catalosued
as Spanish School" but has all the quail
ties OF a velasquez. BY the same master
are 'st. John Writing the Apocalypse
and The Steward" a painting OF sun
life, the contents OF a larder, in which the
figure OF the steward is merely an Incl
dent
Murillo's paintings are always disappoint-
ing when detached from the churches they
were originally intended to decorate. The
Paralytic," which shows Christ healing the
lame man at the Pooieof Bethesda was one
of a series Of eight pictures painted for the
Church OF La Carload. Seville. 1t was car
ried away by Marshal soult. from whom it
was bought by an Engllshman.
The st. Augustine CT Hippo" in which
the saint richly dressed In robes and cope
Is raising his hands In a theatrical atti-
Jude toward the vision of a flaming heart
appearing in the skies. looks merely
theatrical in an ordinary picture gallery.
But imagine that picture hung in the re-
cess Of a chapel Of a large Spanish church
dlmly lighted from outside by stained glass
windows and inside by candles and think
what would be its emotional appeal to a
crowd Of kneeling worshipers with the
ritual of the Roman Catholic service &C
%companied by swinging censers and the
rolling notes of q deep toned organ!
Most Of the Dutch pictures are hung
In the water color room. and among them
is to be found a delicate silver gray "Por-
trait Of a Girl" by Albert Cuyp. This ar
list is SO much better known by his land
scapes with cattle, winter snow or moon
light scenes, that this picture and the
spirited portrait Of William III Of Orange
when a boy, with a dog and gun. come as
a surprise. Cuyp's work is more eppre-
ciated In Engiand. than in his own country.
where little more than a century ago
his pictures could be bought for thirty
florins. Now they fetch at much as eS'OOO.
In this gallery. as with the Italian pic
lures, 1t is impossible to mention all that
is of-4nterest. One picture that will at
tract q good deal Of attention is Sir Peter
LeIy's fine portrait Of Jane Lane, who
helped Charles IL to escape after the battle
OF Worcester, he riding disguised as her
servant. Inserted in the frame is an au-
tograph letter from the king, addressed
to '.MistrIs Lane" and signed Your most
assured and constant friend, Charles r."
The picture of an Interior with a
Woman Pumping by Nicholas, is 2 splen-
did example of this masters work. 1t fig
ures In a picture in gallery V by an un-
known artist, where 1t is represented as
hanging on the wall of the picture gallery
OF the British institution, Pail Mall.
In gallery III one comes to the eiBh-
tesnth century and the rise of the British
school. Here are to be found two full
length male portraits by Gainsborough.
both very fine. One is Of Sir Charles
Morgan, lent by the Equitable Life Insur~
aEce company, OF which he was president,
and the other is OF John ED, Esq, Of
Seighford Hall. The latter 10 lent by the
governors Of the staffordshire General In
Urinary. which Mr.. ED was Instruments
In founding. There are a dozen portraits
by Reynolds, OF which the most attractive
Is the one of Lady William Gordon. She
was the mother of the child who sat for
the celebrated picture of Angels Heads"
in the National gallery, and she has the
same delicate beauty.
Romney's work always looks thin and
flat beside that of Reynolds, and the big
portrait group of the Beaumont family is
no exception. There are five people in this
group, but they are all detached figures
and each would look equally well If the
canvas asswere2 cuttsinto t~strlpsge and each
framed by itself. The only two who seem
to belong to each other are Elizabeth and
her husband, Lieutenant General Bernard,
for he is leaning IN the back of his wife's
chair.
The more one sees of Hogarth's pic
lures the more one admires his genius.
The "Lady's Last Stake" is a perfect piece
Of work. The subject is interesting. The
lady has lost all her money and Jewels
gambling with an officer and the moment
tohosen is where he offers them back in
return for her honor and she is wavering
at his suit. And the painting Is so good.
Everything is perfectly rendered and yet
'keeps its place in the whole scheme. This
picture is lent by J. Pierpont Morgan, who
has also lent an "Annunciation," by
Lorenzo Costa; the Portrait of a Child"
already mentioned; "Depositing Giovanni
Bellinis Three Pictures In the Church Of
the Redentore. Venice" by Turner; the
self-portrait OF Nine. Vlgee le Brun, L
Devideuse." by Greuze, and the portrait
OF Mime de Pompadour." by Van Loo.
II is interesting to note that three
portraits by women. Nine. Vigee lie Brun,
Maria Cosway and Angelica Kaufman
all hold their own in such a fine collection.
The latter was an Academician, the only
other woman to/have that distinction being
Mary Moser. the flower painter.
Z. j. Gregory, the lately deceased II.
A, whose work fills the last gallery,
was one Of the least known OF the academi-
clans. He was a shy and retired man
and his output of work was not large.
He chose as a rule simple subjects, working
with equal skill in oil and water colors,
and his pictures of girls in boats on the
upper reaches Of the Thames are full Of
the delight Of the river on sunny days.
The finest picture Of all belongs to Mr..
Sargent. This is called Dawn" A whole
story is written in the figures Of the man
and woman In evening dress standing be-
side z grand plano, the woman turning
away her head while the cold light OF
dawn creeps slowly through the venetian
blinds, combating the hot yellow glare OF
y artificial light The two eontending lights
are admirably rendered and the finish OF
the painting is as exquisite as In the