Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-13
Jan Steen
Elizabeth
Art Prize
Picture Owned by Woman in
That City Attributed to
Rembrandt's Peer.

Strangely at variance with the fact
is the commonly expressed idea that
Newark cares nothing for art. On the
contrary. with such avidity do people
of wealth in this city and its sur
rounding galaxy of towns search for
pictures and objects of vertu that
they throw taste and judgment to
the winds in their eagerness. One
buys a hard, crude. harem scene, fit
ornament of a garish cafe, or a
chromo-like nymph painted on cop
per. with a simpering face and at,
| tire of the date of Queen Victoria :
coronation, and considers them gems.
Another is satisfied with a nonde-
script imitation of the work of a
Romney. but still they buy this fiot-
| sam of art. No love Of art here?
| Why there is a perfect craving for
| it and If the taste displayed is not
| equal to the appetite 1t is, perhaps,
| because Newark, otherwise so thor
| oughly equipped for those who de-
sire a liberal education, has, as yet,
no great art gallery or museum
where the knowledge of the public
| in such matters may be treated and
| purified by an inspection and study
lsof works of genuine merit.
One Purchasers Discrimination.
But one is sometimes delighted by
| the discovery of one who has shown
| discrimination in the choice of art
| treasures. The other day | found in
shop a beautiful painting declared
| TO be a Jan Steen. and while always
| doubtful Of the authenticity of these
wonderful prizes it must be said that
| this picture bore internal evidence
| of having been painted by the mas
ter who was next TO Rembrandt"
The painting, which is the property
of Mrs. Frank Bergen, of North Broad
| street, Elizabeth. is a Dutch interior.
quite in the manner of Steen. 1t bears
| the date 1860 and one can imagine
that it once bore the signature of
the painter and that this signature
may have been obliterated by care
less, ignorant work in restoration. 1t
is certain that in the subject it is
precisely such a picture of Harlem
or Leyden. life as Jan Steen loved
to paint. Even the ever-recurring
lifeiike little spaniel is figured in the
foreground, exactly as is the same
dog in some of the artists most re-
nowned masterpieces.
Intimate Human Life.
Ilen, also, IN the painting lncTe
appears that love of intimate human
life which always characterized the
work of Jan Steen, causing it to be
said of him that he painted with the
large heartedness of Shakespeare, the
wit and satire of Moliere and the
ribaldry of Rabelais.
In fact, this picture of the Elizabeth
resident is exactly of that type OF
Genre painting which won for the
artist the proud title of the greatest
Genre painter of the seventeenth cen
fury, the character painter par. ex-
cellence.
The period of production of Jar
Steen is reckoned as most marked
between the years 1654-1669. so that
the date of the picture in question
would bring it within his most impor-
tant period of issue.
Another feature of the picture Is
the beauty of it's coloring and ths
mastery character of the drawing
Added to this is the humor and ten
derness of the sentiment. But, above
all. there is the fine sense of color Of
the master.
All those who love the masterpieces
of Dutch artists should see this paint
ing.