The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-27

nihcent G449-92), encouraged ltera.
ture and the arts, employed learned
men to collect choice books and anti
quitles for him from every part of the
known world and filled his gardens
with collections of the remains of
ancient art"
Substitute for the name of the me.
dieval tyrant Of Florence that Of his
modern reincarnation, ]. p. Morgan,
and you have in the foregoing quota
ton an accurate description of the
man who set Eng'an in turmoil by
announcing that he was about to re-
move his art collection from London
to New York. Originality is not
claimed for this likening of Mr.. Nor
gan to the fifteenth century patron
of the arts. The comparison has been
made many times and every time it
has been noted that the star of the
Italian collector of art objects be-
NCAANeo q lhNAt PAL vi uDOul TIE
twentieth magnitude when it is com.
pared with the sun of the American.
In other words, Lorenzo de Medci's
fame as an appreciGtor of antique
and modern beauty cannot for a mo.
ment be compared with that of Nor
gan. If Lorenzo waS the Magnificent, "
/ Dinrnnt,4 Ct,pnv n og
raised to its highest power. He is
the Superman in the worlds of money
and of art collection.
You can't write a dozen lines about
J. Pierpont Morgan without mention
ing money in big qualities. No one
ever did. The name Morgan is syn
onymous with Money. Reason for
London's CONSERVATION over the pro.
posed removal of the Morgan art col
lections hitherto placed on public
view in the South Kensington museum
is found in the inestimable value of
the collections Of paintings, worries,
tapestries, porceiains and other things.
No one knows how much they are
worth, not even Mr.. Morgan himself
or his advisers.
No professional dealer in art wares
would risk his professional reputation
by placing a valuation upon them. Very
many of the objects are unique and
can never be duplicated, having been
produced in "the elder days of art
when machinery was unknown and
time was worth as little as it's posses
sor valued it, and a month in illumin-
ating one initial letter in a missal or
a book of hours. Many of Mr. Morgan's
acquisitions date back to those days,
and it is no wonder that $1OO0O0,OO0
is the sum that has been named as the
possible value of the art objects as.
sembled in the London museum, in
Mr.. Morgan's house in London, in
Alexandria and in his Paris collec.
tions.
Worth Many Millions of Dollars.
What is known certainly is that mil
liors of dollars have been paid for the
objects and that they are not now and
probably never will be for sale, so that
estimates of their market value is
pure guesswork. In some few in
stances Mr.. Morgan may have met the
common fate of art collectors and
have been deceived as to the authenti-
city Of his purchases, but such cases
are rare, for he has had and has paid
well for the advice of the best Euro
pean experts. Besides, he is himself
an expert in virtually every branch
of art.
There is in America no complete
cata ogue of the Morgan treasures to
be brought across the ocean, and in
all likelihood there is none in Eng
land. In a general way it may be said
that they include many paintings, a
collection of bronzes of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, enamels dat
ing back hundreds of years, ceramics
of the fourteenth, fifteenth and six
teenth centuries, a collection of stain
ed glass and others of old jewels
pendants, carved worries, watches
rock crystals, old silverware, bronzes
etc. There are amber and jade, rart
manuscripts and tapestries. Nothing
Of worth and beauty has escaped th'
eye and the purse of this all absorbing
collector of the arts, and in severa
instances he has outbid government
for the possession of his covetet
specimens. Among the paintings ar
the famous Gainsborough Duchess o
Devonshire," reproduced herewith
which was once stolen, and the fam
GUS Raphael called the Madonna @
st. Anthony of Padua on which va
uation of 100000 has been placed.
All of these things, with many, man
others, are in Mr. Morgan's Europea
collections. Besides them he has tn
wonderful things laid up in his oil
fashioned small brownstone house a
the corner Of East Thirty-siXth stree
. nd In, 4ha I'D iniT