Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-07
Some Things You Want to Know
Business Side of Art.

daub that he may be foolish enough &c
buy. Many artists whose talents are
worthy a better cause are contstatly em-
ployed In retouching and restoring old
canvasses and making them appear 20 be
genuine works Of art.
In hundreds OF instances art forgerlos
have deceived even the best experts Many
objects that have been venerated for scores
II years have been found afterwards to be
fragrant forgeries. Not less than fifty
pieces some OF which had been acquired
at great cost, were removed from the Brit
ish museum galleries at Kensington be-
cause they proved to be worthless. In 1901
a portrait OF Arosto was acquired by the
British government for $4,000 There are
many experts who say that not only is Il
not the work Of Titan. but that It is not
even a portrait Of Arlosto.
A war Is now raging between England
and Germany. The causis belli is a GER
tain bust bought in England by DR.. Rode,
the Berlin art expert and museum director.
who is regarded as the worlds foremost
judge OF such objects. He paid 5000 for
the bust. No sooner was It bought than
evidence was produced tending to show
that 1t was an early Victorian work by
Lucas, second rate English sculptor.
copied after painting by Leonardo Doc
umentary evidence OF its production was
secured, also proof that II had stood long
neglected in a garden. and finally IL was
shown that the wax was the same as that
used by Lucas. An examination Of the
core showed the presence Of a small piece
Of old-fashioned British bcdcover. But
DR.. Bode and his German compatriots
stand pat and declare the work to be
genuine. The controversy has made It the
most popular piece in any of the Berlin
museums today crowds floclSing around II
all the time.
In 1906 the Rokeby Venus. painted by
Valasquez. now hanging in the National
Gallery at London, was bought for $225. 900.
1t is now claimed by no less an authority
than Sir w. B. Richmond that there are
two pigments in the picture which were
not used In the days of Valasduez The
friends Of the canvas answer that even
this does not show lack of genuineness.
since some restorer might have added these
pigments. They point out that many Of the
known-to-be old masters have been
restored in the same way.
When DR.. Cook presented the pictures in
his illustrated lecture, at least the artists
discovered fraud After he lectured in
Baltimore the artists there got together
and discussed their Impressions. They
agreed that the pictures of DIR. Cook at the
pole was slide made from a picture faxed
by some artist, but the climax was reached
when he showed a picture Of hinslf and
his two Eskimo attendants in a boat.
There was no other person present with
them, so, asked the artists, who could
have snapped the camera?
In the museum of Algters there Is one
object which is unique in the worlds list
OF curiosities. 1t is a plaster cast of the
martyr Geronimo in the agony Of death.
The Algerians put him alive into a soft
mass Of concrete, which was presently
hardened into a block and used in the con-
struction of a fort. This was In 1869, and
about forty years later a Spanish writer
described the event and told how that
particular block could be located. After
800 years the fort was torn down, the block
opened and the cast made which now
adorns the Algiers exhibit.
In bowling down to the smiling little god
millions Of people have acxnowl-
edged the creative genius Of Miss Florence
Pretz a Kansas City girl Before her
creation Of Blllildn she was failure as
an artist. at least from a bread-winning
standpoint. But Billikin caught the public
fancy from the time he invaded Chicago
and It was not long before orders were
coming in from everywhere. With the
funds thus accumulated Miss Pretz has
studio of her own in Chicago and is af-
forded an opportunity for study under the
best teachers Of that center Of art
While there are many instances where
quick appreciation and good financial re-
ward have come to the struggling artist,
they are the exception and not the rule.
Literary men are often dead long years in
advance Of true appreciation of their
labors A Poe may peddle his Raven for
a song, and Riley get fired from a news
paper because his poems are not worth his
salary. The works Of Rembrandt, Michael
Angelo, Rubens and others are valued at
millions but they received only a small
share Of the fruits of their labors.
By PREDERIC ]. HAsKTN,
Tomorrow-savIng the Public Domain.