Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-07-03
Corregio, He Says,
Painted the Gem
Owned IN Newark
Art Dealers Fond Hope That
He Possesses a MASTERPIECES
Napoleon Took.

n Lefevre, a well-known art dea5sr
and restorer Of paintings, Of this city.
is in possession Of a canvas which
he would fain believe is a Correeio.
He is 50 certain that he Is correct in
his judgment Of the picture that he
proposes to take it to Paris and Lon
don TO submit it TO the inspection II
experts in Corregioss paintings, genn-
Inc and spurious.
NJ. Lefevre takes particular pains
when he shows the picture-'L eda
and the Swan2-to point out how
closely its excellences resemble the
exquisite outlines Of the figure Of the
nymph in Corregio's celebrated paint
ing of 10 and Jupiter" Another
point that he insists upon is the Won
derful softness Of the hesh-tones. the
prIl5ancy Of the foreshortening and
the chioroscuro and the manner in
which the impasto vas applied. Ex-
patiating upon these resemblanceg 10
the work Of the great master In the
canvas which he has beautifully re-
stored, NJ. Lefeyre offers another Sc
ries Of alleged facts which aid IN
confirming him in his fond belief that
he possesses a treasure OF art that
he would not part with for a sum
smaller than, say, $4,000
Was II Joseph Bonaparte'se
de believes that the painting ia his
atelier is identical with the one which
frpoleon l., with innumerable other
sens OF art brought from Italy and
which finally passed into the hands
Of Joseph Bonaparte, When the es
tate of the latter was disposed of this
painting was bought BY DR. Coleman.
e Trenton. Thence. as M. Lefexre
declares. it came into possession OF
its present owner. a physician Of
Newark.
This painting was described Ia the
Evening Star some months ago. But
/ 1t had not then been restored by SO
slxilful craftsman as the New street
dealer. and its wondrous beauty could
not be realized.
Without going so far as to express
an opinion as to the value Of the
! judgment of NJ. Lefevre in regard to
! the painting, 1t must be said that in
composition, form and coloring and in
execution. it is masterpiece Of which
even a Corregio might be proud
Nov, one Of the arguments Of the
dealer in support Of his theory as TO
the origin Of the work is the charac-
/ ter of the pigments used, and this
leads one to speak of a book recently
published by the Macmillans The
Pigments and Mediums Of the Old
Masters" The author of this book
Is A P. Laurie, a lecturer at the
Royal Academy in London
How to Test Old Masters.
Mr.. Laurie when he spoke last, de-
voted himself to the exposition and
explanation of the means of testing
the genuineness Of the so-called Old
Masters. In the present work the
author has amplified this subject and
in the book, THE Pigments and Me-
diums of the Old Masters are dis
cussed solely with the idea Of decid-
ing, through the means the author
offers, when and by whom picture
was painted. The other vital aues-
ton, how or why. is ignored by Mr.
Laurie
| To quote from recent foreign re-
view OF the book, Mr.. Laurie has de-
vised an apparatus like a cheese
faster, consisting of a tiny hypoder-
mic needle, ground and sharpened SO
as to take out circular section from
picture He has, also, list Of
Reagents suitable TO discriminate be-
tween pigments capable Of being com
| founded one with another, and these
| tests are supplemented by the use Of
polarizing microscope
IF oil of cassia.s' says Mr. Laurie.
lis used to mount a fragment, 1t will
be found that blue and green verditer
| and verdigris have retroactive indices
below that of oil of cassia, while
azurite and malachite have retroactive
induces above, and can thus at once
be distinguished.
Lastly, by the use of camera IT.
ted with lenses for magnifying small
passages Of brush work. he complies
a dossier Of examples of the handling
Of this or that artist in a ready form
for comparison.
Courses Of Experiments
In the book are the results Of certain
courses of inquiry on such lines. the
experiments being for the most part
made with certain Illuminated manu-
scripts, namely, the Court Rolls IN
the Record Office, and the Venetian
Ducali. which have the great ad
vantage of being dated There is thus
a table of pigments arranged chrome
logically to show the dates of their
various countries, together with in
formation as to the pigments or
media used in certain pictures.
From this explanation of the
method Of Mr.. Laurie ii may easily
be seen how valuable it is for anyone
who wishes to test the authenticity
of alleged "Old Masters" 1t is. there
fore, called particularly to the atten-
tion Of such men as III. Lefevre. who.
when they find themselves in the
presence Of a canvas of more than
ordinary excellence and beauty are
inclined to assign il to some master
hand.
The method may also be commend
ed to those who are interested IN
evading such tests. Already art
forgers are careful to avoid the use
of Prussian blue in canvases alleged
TO be of date prior to 1904. Here
after they will exercise great care in
the choice of ultramarine Of good
quality only for works Of the thir-
teenth century or later, and to avoid
blue verditer in the production Of
Primitiyes.
A Hint 10 Arr FerEers.
Any forger who cares for his repu-
tation viii be careful to use mix
ture of verdigris and ultramarine
when he prepares a Vatican for
wealthy patron.
we confess, says the foreign re-
viewer, that inquiries into what con-
stitutes quality Of tairt appears 10
us a worthier subject of scientific In
curry, but had Mr.. Laurie occupied
himself with that his book could not
have claimed the attention of the
two classes to whom We recommend
/ it. We cannot help Specializing. how
! ever, whether or not in such com
petent hands as those of Mr., Laurie
the microscope would throw any light
on what really happens in the way 81
the joining up Of one film Of paint
with another under various con1i-
tons. or on the ultimate disposition
1 of the different elements in an enlH
sion after long drying.
In the interesting and valuable
notes Of Mr. Laurie on pigment i
were to be wished that he had dis
/ cussed more fully the question Of