The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-24
women ARE CAPABLE
Of EXTRAVAGANCE
But When Men Start Out to Get a
Thing They Pay Prices at Which
Women Would Balk.
By FRANCES sHAFFER.

d. O.
said to be losing their heads In the
mad desire fr foolish display. Some
times they do run away with themselves
and their money, and the echoes that
rea from the 'way-up spheres to folk
who are farther down have an unfamiliar
and a sort of unholy sound.
But II is not women alone who lose
their heads or who run away with them
selves and their money.
Most of folk were not interested at ALL
or at least in the mildest way, when II
was announced a few weeks ago that a
sale of long-famous paintings was TO be
held in the Georges Petit gallery. In
Paris. But art lovers all over the world.
particularly art lovers with acommodat-
ing and very massive pocket-books, knew
that II promised to be one of the most
sensational sales of the century. If not
OF all time And so all the great art
dealers of international repute. and all
the collectors and connoisseurs Of Paris
were on md when the time came for the
paintings to change hands in the great
auction room.
One of the paintings brought the modest
price of $50, $50, but the browning event
of the day came when Rembrandts
"Bathsheba" was announced for bids
The first offer was $1,000 which was
nOtnlng at ALL oIl anu IL "NilN' "AAiA
an avalanche of bids, until II reached
the $4,000 mark. when the struggle mar
rowed down TO two determined contest
ants In no time at all the offers
mounted to $4,000. and from that they
went on in strides of 5000 and 5000 at
a single bid, at last standing at SlSs,oOO
with the entire gathering spell-oound
and silently waiting for the last word.
1t came when one of the contestants
ringingly called out his bid-seoo,ooo.
Stuprndous Price.
And the sale was over. not exactly,
however. for il remained for the new
owner TO add the pretty little commits
sion Of 10000 to the price he had paid,
when the Rembrandt treasure was his.
To folk of moderate means and TO
those who must count their pennies, II
seems a stupendous illustration OF the
elasticity of that much-used word, ex-
travagance, when a man can and will
pay so vast a sum for painting, not
very large at that-it is only twenty
three inches high by thirty wide. But
one one Of the steps of the stone bench
where the radiant Bathsheba is sitting.
there is the mystic lettering, Rem
brandt, 1913" and that means much TO
lovers of art Perhaps the painting
itself means more. for it is very beauti-
full. 1t represents Bathsheba near the
basin Of a fountain. She sits there in
idle luxury. with Just a bit of white
drapery falling over her fair skin, while
a negress combs her luxuriant yellow
hair and another attendant is at work
on one of her delicately nodded feet.
In the background are the walls of
palace. and King David is pictured
standing on the terrace.
Beautiful. very; but the price fairly
makes one gasp.
The bidding went up by leaps and
bounds. and that is the way the valu-
alton has gone from the very first sale.
Away back in 1874 It was sold in Amster-
dam for s146, and its last owner paid
only s1,516 for 1t in 1871, and now, with
the lapse of over half a century. It
brings s2Oo.00o. And perhaps a multi
Millionaire of tomorrow may reckon its
value considerably higher and be quite
ready and willing to pay the price. 1t
is said that the late ]. Pierpont Morgan
paid s5o0,0o0 for one of Raphaers mas
terpieces; and OF course he counted that
next to nothing. in the great name of
art.
Striking Difference.
Awhile ago a woman whose purse is
very, very slender and who never has
known the meaning of ''plunging." even
IN tne mlldeSt KIND OF way, went out
to buy a pair of shoes. Never in her
whole lifetime had she enjoyed the lux
ury of a well-made, violating pair, and
she promised herself that for once she
would step over the line of prudence and
be really extravagant. And she was
for her. She paid the whole Of 50 upon
that gala occasion. and in commenting
upon her recklessness, she said they
were expensive shoes, and she must
wear them very carefully. to make them
last, you know. And then her listeners
remembered. They remembered that the
day before they had read of a pair of
shoes made for a woman at the start
ling price-startling to some of us-of
s125. And quite likely she did not reckon
1t extravagant at all. She wanted shoes
with a bit of class in their makeup,
wanted them made to her measure, and
doubtless the price seemed reasonable
enough for that. though they were for
ordinary wear. unembellished with dia-
mond heels and pretty nothings
Yes. women can be pretty extravaeant
when they Ike; but. after all, when
men start out to bid for bit of canvas
with well-known name attached, or
for anything else that they very much
want they do not stop because the price
comes high, and they generally outbid
women. Quite likely 1t Ia because they