The Ordway new era., 1914-01-16
The Metropolitan Museum of
Art is the greatest treasure
house in the western world. II
1t were not such an orderly es-

II were not such an orderly es-
tablishment 1t might be COM
pared to an Aladdin's cave, magnified
thousand times, for on its walls. In
its cabinets and in its fireproof, bur
glar-proof storage vaults are art OBJ
1ects worth $l5OO0O,0 900. exclusive Of
Its financial resources OF upward OF
$10.000.000. It holds individual works
Of art that are the finest things Of
their kind In the world: 1t has collec-
tions that have no peers in the great
galleries of Europe. 1t is only ~
years since 1t was organized. and In
that half the span of its honorary
presidents life 1t has grown from an
idea to the greatest marvel In the his
tory Of art museums in the world.
And 1t never has been able to exhibit
anything like all the art objects in its
possession.
Long Called an Art Pirate.
such polite institution that one re-
frains from calling the museum a kind
of gorgeous pirates lair, filled with
such treasures. magnifled thousand
fold, as the Kidds and Morgans of the
Spanish Main were wont to gather in
as loot from the galleons and cities
they sacked. r4I fsl
Indeed, ever since the Metropolitan
museum trustees made their second
purchase Of collection as whole in
1872, when they took the Cesnola
antiques away from the British mu-
scum, our greatest art institution has
fv, E,,v1 -
pirate ranging the seas of that partic-
ular world and picking up every avail.
able treasure that showed its sail
above the horizon. What Disraeli
could not induce the British nation
10 do-to keep the Colonna Madonna
through its purchase. Pierpont
Morgan was able to accomplish and
bring 1t to New York. The museum.
however is the most honest pirates
lair that ever was. --G
When the museum was first organ
,ized. in 1871. the officers and trus-
tees started out to raise $250. 900, and
the first collection they bought was
,one Of ITS paintings of European
schools. for which they paid Sl1s.-
'180.27. At the present time there are
two single objects in the museum that
cost 100000 each, and the institu.
ton has only recently been presented
with the Benjamin Altman collection
of 7b paintings that are valued at
SIS. .0O0. 900.
That comparison serves to Indicate
the spirit with which the museum 10
regarded nowadays as compared to
tho era Of Its beginning. when its first
important acquisit1on--the Cesnola
collection of Cypriote antiques-caus.
ed the most acrimonious art battle
that this country ever has known. and
when the museum seemed to have
more enemies than friends. Now II
seems to have nothing but friends,
whose liberality surpasses that OF any
of the great prodigals of history or
fiction.
The leader Of these friends Of the
museum 10 the late ]. Pierpont Nor.
gan. who still lives within the walls
OF the building in spirit and whose
benefactions in the forms of gifts,
loans and influence are as vital today
as they were before his death. There
IL scarcely a gallery In the whole OF
the many-chambered structure that
does not bear evidence of his gen.
erosity and his catholicity Of taste.
From the entrance hall, with its
Don Quixote tapestries that are reput.
ed to have cost the late flnancier
$40. 900. through the classical. Egyp
;tian, Decorative Art. Painting and