The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
ENGLAND LOSING FINEST ART WORK Mournful Appeals of Press
 Without Avail NO. REASON FOR FEAR Dr. Evans Claims Boys Should Be Given Military Training Between
 Ages of IA and 17-Visit Paid
 to Aeroplane Factory


 London, May 20-(special.) )-Despite the mournful appeals of British newspapers to English men of wealth, urging them to unite that they may cause halt in the steady flow of "old masters" from the Manor of Britain to the houses of the American milionaires in the great cities of the United States, the exodous of England's finest works of art still goes OH. and Americans are the buyers. A slight check was given at a recent sale of the Worthemer collection at Chris ties. where New York and London firm of art dealers knocked up the price O. one Raeburn to sl11,OOO This portrait, 4s1kx3S inches. the subject of which was Mrs. Hay, wife of General Andrew Hay. netted the artist $250, so they say; Rae burn, dead, is worth more than Raeburn living.
 The sale suggests these conclusions. The first is that the pride of the British gentry can be touched, because most of the important works were kept by Brit isl gold within the three kingdoms. The second is that paintaings are very much like good wine-the more they are the more valuable they become. The third ccr sideration, and after all the most con- elusive, is that the world at large is gain ing keener and more generous apprecia- tion of art treasures, and artists are now reaping remuneration for their work, which they would never have dreamt of asking a generation ago. Even works of doubtful value sell at fair prices. The more cleverly reproductions are exploited, the more eagerly does the buying public yearn for originals. If his purse will not run to a Raeburn or a Romney, the hum be votary of art contents himself with the work of some unknown. unrecognized ps sinter; hangs it up upon his library or dming room wall, and points it out proud iy to, his friends. That's a MacDauber." he will say; and his friends will chorus. "Oh, indeed; isn't it just lovely?" They will speak of the sky tints. middle dis tances, foregrounds-and the atmosphere ot course. You cannot critieise a picture and be conventional, without dragging in the atmosphere; although, truth to tell most of the modern outdoor scenes in oils, particularly, suggest a mental fog rather than a brain swept by a cleansing breeze Cur own MT. Robinson is one of the very few lanscape painters of today who can give you a cornfield where you can really see that the corn is ready to be harvested or still in need of sun or shower, or a woodland scene where the boughs of the tt ees nod and whisper as you look at the picture. It Is only once in a long while that the prophet speaks in the children of men. Take any field of the fine arts, as you list, 1t is ever a far cry from Pisario to Gllick, Raphael to Murillo from Homer to Shakespeare, Holinshed or Bede tcA Hume. Between the mountains of course. there are lofty hills. which top the valley and impress the casual observer as being quite as lofty as the great peaks themselves, but as they travel farther they learn to recognize the difference be- tween the mountains and the merely mean altitude between mediocrity and megnificence.
 The little tilt between the London and the New York professional art middle mer will not stem the tide which is bear ing tffe art treasures of the old world ''v'estward ho," Rome in her pride drew the richest stores ofthe craftsmen, chisel- CTS. and painters of her day by the force of her gold to the Seven Hills which gird her The same glittering magnet rules tooay.
 With the entente cordiale solidly ce- merted between England and France and he, relations with Germany undergoing radical and pleasant change, Britain las no reason to fear invasion. But they tell us Tn time of peace. prepare for war" Dr. R. c. T. Evans of Herno Fay has worked out a scheme which promises to England a good strong force of 6ooOoO stalwart fighters. True, these