New-York tribune., 1912-03-17

you find the literature OF Oriental art
I'm another that OF Greek and Roman
archaeology, in another biographies and
dictionaries, and so on. One room con-
tains nothing but catalogues Of sales,
and most Of the twenty-five thousand CT
these in the collection are annotated
with prices and other information. A
room ls given to reproductions of the
drawings Of the masters and there are
similar collections OF prints and photo
graphs. In each room-and they arc
ALL by the way. well lighted-a big table
furnished with writing materials is
ready for the scholar who wishes TO
work here in quietude and with every
authority that he may need under his
hand. tested the catalogue system; it
was without a flaw.
Some OF these days the library will re-
qulrc and will doubtless obtain a special
building Of It's own. These problems are
always worked out in France. In the
mean time VI. DoucCt gees on buying
books, and NJ. Thurcau- Dangin, VI. Pcrd-
rizct and other sayants go on usins
them. Incidentally. there issue from the
Bbliothcquc from time to time, pri-
vatcly printed works OF scholarship. At
the moment for example. volume by
VI. PerdriZet on the Greek and Egyptian
bronzes In the Fouquet collection Is
coming from the press. and NJ. Rene
Jean, the courteous cOnserYalor. told me
that numerous other contributions TO the
study Of art were in preparation and will
bc issued IN the same way. Surely, no
collector has ever done n more gracious
thing than VI. Doucct has done I'm found
ing this library. Like all such generous
enthusiasts he has had his reward, in
that fortune has flung across his path
opportunities 10 secure the objects for
which he cares most One instance will
suffice. He has collected a remarkable
group of old Salon catalogues which be-
longed TO Gabriel de Saint-Aubin and
were annotated by him--the catalogues
which the Societ6 de Reproduction des
Dessins dc Maitres has been reproduc-
ing i'm facsimile. He had the luck, there
fore TO get hold of the ono prize in the
world that belonged with them. Gt con-
sists Of an eighteenth century guide To
Paris, set Of seven dumpy little vol
umes This. too, had belonged to Saint
Aubin, who for many years had carried
Il with him i'm his rambles about the
city, enriching the margins with hun
dreds Of little pencil sketches, many OF
them from buildings and statues after
ward destroyed by tho revolutionary
we're picked up In bookstall on the
DUAL for tho sum Of fourteen francs.
AT THE LOUVRE.
Paris continues 10 crack jokes over the
disappearance Of tho Mona Lisa. In the
shops along the rue do Rivoli where pict-
ure postcards are sold. the traveller may
take his choice between one reproducing
the painting in It's integrity and another
In which the lady's fingers are lifted de-
rsively to her nose. But In the Louvre
there is no mlstaking the effect OF the
catastrophe upon the administration
Guardians abound as never before, and
they seem, somehow little more alert |
than they used to be. AS for the detail |
OF hanging. to which allusiCn has already |
been made, one is really struck by the fe |
lIcitous judgment which gave the place OF |
the missing masterpiece to the "Baldas' !
sare Castiglonc." Musng on the subject .
in the Salon Care and specializing as 20
whether this or that great picture would /
have better answered the purpose, II Is |
hard 10 see how anything else In the col !
lection could have answered 1t 30 well.
The point is not altogether fanclful For
40 many years It has been so much a
matter of course to turn to that particu-
lar spot. with "a feeling that 1t was. IN
some sort, n unique spot I'm the whole
museum, that now one still pauses there
with a certain singular expectancy-and
the Raphael does not dlsappoint us. The
exclamation is that not simply has ono
beautiful painting been substituted for
another but the change still gives us T.
living presence A greater
work OF art could not, perhaps, have
filled the gap so alphabetically as 1t
is filled by the kindly. ingratlating old
author of the "Corteglano."
Among the recent accessions in the
Louvre there are a number of fine
things, including the beautiful Poussir. !
which was reproduced in The Tribune
some time ago, but no painting acquired
in years has had the profound signih-
cance of the new Mantegna. The great
italian is known to have painted three
Saint Sebastians. The best known of
these, because the most freely accessible.
has long been the panel at Vienna,
which Kristeller attributes to the ar
lists middle period. Baron Franchetti's
"saInt Sebastian" later work. has
baen known TO some but not to all trav-
oilers in Venice. The Louvre picture has
been familiar To most students OF Man
,egna only in photographs, for Aigue-
oerse is off the beaten track. All these
paintings are imbued with the tragic