Arizona republican., 1916-12-30
TO SELL PICTURES
 ID BUY PICTURES

 LONDON, Dec. 9a.-There is d. pe-
 culiar appeal 10 the art world os
 America in the proposal now before the house of lords 10 sell famous pictures in the national sallery in order to provide funds for inc 2ur- chase of still more noted raintings and thus stem the >flov to the tinted 1 States. America Is the onlv country
 buying works of art just now. Recent sales to noted collectors in the United States or some of the great pictures in England have alarmed the local ,agt world.
 But the proposal which authorizes inc trustees to sell works of art which have been bequeathed or given
 for tho benefit of the nation is op- posed by large body cf distinguished painters arG sculptors on the ground that it involves q series hreech of faith. Another objection is that it
 would break up the works of J. NJ. V
 Turner. who k ranked l-t many at
 the creates, artist this country has produced and the greatest landscape painter
 In a formal protest to the prime minister, q score of noted painter-t and sculptors declare that inc pro- posed powers have never vet heea ciVeE to a similar board of trustees by any state or legislature They say that the immediate result would be tO discourage prospective donore and testatOrs and that no future pur- chases could compensate tte nation , for tbe destruction of the Turner collection
 i Supporters of the bill say that the l Turner works are redundarl.. are no, appreciated and could easily he sold and the funds devoted to o5taining more wonderful masterpieces. Led : by Lord D'AternOn. the author cf the 1 bill they assert that tf - .0OG pie tures and drawings owned by the i national gallery. 20,o00 aIe by Turner.
 rnd 5000 by artists of al other
 schools. In other words tney say ! that there are too many Turner's. i They want to get rid of some of ttem
 SO ti,at ttey can prevent other
 masterpieces from crossing ,hc At-
 lantic
 Many artists and students of Turner 1 have joined in the opposition to the 1 bill. Lord D'Abernon and the trustees : of tie gallery have been att Ckcl iii parliament and through the press the { trustees being accused of selecting a 1 favorable opportunity to sntugele . 1 bill through giving themselves power | tO betray their trust and buy q few { more l'ltlHleS NnlCn inti'f lTcSrIt
 conditions are regarded as unneces- ! sary luNurics
 ! But it appears that what :he oh. I jectorS feaer most is that the pTivi
 lcgc thus given to the trustees win prove tho entering Wedge to q sys- tcm that will threaten the unique col lection of Dutch pictures. It was only the other day" wrote noted
 artist to the Telegraph. that q ccr-
 tain noble peer parted with cele- brated Italian picture for America,
 and is it not to be pre- tuned that the provefbial sum of l00.001 pounds
 has been obtained? SuppoSing then that Lord D'Abernon's bill had be- come law, it s evident that Turner would not have supplied the required
 demands. and in order to make the | purchase the trustees would have been obliged to dip into the Dutch collection
 \ strong appeal is made on senti-
 mental grounds. The pictures were obtained by requests and it is con 7 Sidered unfair to deceased donors to
 have their gifts traded with. or the national gallery changed from a per manent resting place into an occa- SiOnal auction mart