New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-04-09
PICTURE BUYING.

The temptation to assign peculiar
significance 10 the prodigious sum real
tied NJ the sale of the YerlleS pictures is
easily resisted. 1t was a large collec-
ton. Of considerable repute, containing
many good pictures. and i'm view Of the
current craze for works of art IL was
natural that the bidding should run
high. This seemingly exceptional Law
ishneSs in expenditure Is really only the
logical outcome of conditions which have
long been obvious. There are only
limited number Of first rate works by
old masters in the world. and most Of
these are permanently fixed I'm museums.
The few that get into the market are
competed for by collectors with UNI
limited purses. and hence prices soar to
a point which makes II impossible 10
frame any rational scale of values. In
order 10 preserve HOlben's Christina
of Denmark" and VelasqueZ's "NenIs
and Cupid for the National Gallery I'm
London IL was necessary to raise the re-
spective sums OF S3J0.OO0 and S225.OOO.
Only the other day Mr.. Otto Kahn was
reported 10 have paid half a million
for the Halls he has lent to the Metro
pOlitan Museum. On Thursday night at
the Yerkes sale a portrait of woman
by the same master fetched $4,000.
Figures like these may break records,
but they establish no principle save the
one that i'm an age of luxury the man
Of wealth will get what he wants re-
gardleSs of cost. IL he cannot get exact
ly what he wants-say. an old master
Of the highest rank-he Will get the next
best thing and still be Indifferent 10 the
price.
There is, TO be sure. certain piquant
amusement TO be derived from contem-
platiOn of these doings in the market
place When The Man with the
Sword" that magnificent portrait Of
Willem Van HeythuyseD by Halls. now
in the Leichtenstein Gallery at Vienna,
was sold i'm 1900, it brought S21 -.
Sixty five years later his Laughing Cav
alier." to-day in the Wallace collection,
was sold for a trifie more than $4,000.
The prices cited above are In staggering
contrast TO these. Mr.. Davies, the biOg-
rapher of Halls, observes that so far as
he knows there is no record of the price
paid to the painter himself for any of
his pictures. OF one thing we may be
sure. that if he could revisit the glimpSes
Of the moon and see what Is paid for his
work now he would straightway fall in
fit On that point, however. II is use
less to moralize. If there is any lesson TO
he drawn at all from the development
Of picture buying into an affair of high
finance IL is that the American lover of
art would do well 10 come 10 closer quar-
tiers with his subject, seeking by study
and prudently bought experience To know
good painting for its own sake and not
for the sake Of great names. The mo-
ment is critical and it behooves the anna
teur 10 keep his head. Since the removal
Of our tariff on art an amazing number
Of pictures have been hurried 10 this
country. evidently on the assumption
that we would promptly enter upon a
carnival Of collecting. The carnival spirit
Is not favorable TO discretion
Market values. so called. have their
place and meaning, but if the collector
does not pay the closest attention To in
u liioi' Ndiuts sure uiS'bll0turp awaits
him. Two lawsuits have recently been
reported over transactions in which buy
or and seller fell out as To the authen-
ucity OF the pictures that had passed
between them. and education Is the ONLY
means Of avoiding episodes of the sort.
When ii is possible for collector ar
ranging a sale Of his pictures To pur-
chase number of additional works 10
strengthen the show" thus transform
inS himself from the amateur into the
merchant il * time for buyers 10 recog-
Hize that in the world Of art business
IS business and that they must he on
their guard. Above all they should buy
pictures not for purposes Of investment
but because they appreciate their quail
Ties. Then perhaps il will occur 10 Amer
leans that while the old masters are very
desirable, SO, likewise. are our own paint
ers. No one can regret the results of
the Ierkes sale. But ii would be a pity
If, with so much money To be spent on
art, the American painter should be
shouldered aside as IL negligible quantity.
IL would Ice a pity, and shame.