New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-03
Two Portraits by Copley

Two examples of the later work of
John Singleton Copley are to be seen
at the Enrich gallery-portraits Of DR..
Alexander Shearer and Of his wife and
daughter. They recently arrived from
England, where they were acquired
from the Shearer family. Mastery
Copleys, like the wonderful Mrs.
Fort" in the Hartford Atheneum, are
rare, and though our own museum was
strengthened by the purchase of his
Mrs. Bowers" fine but not extraor-
binary work, last winter, examples like
the two now under review are peculiar
ly welcome. They do much to explain
that high repute of the artist which
students here, none too richly provided
with materials for a judgment. have
sometimes found it difficult 70 compre
bend. This service is especially we'll
performed by the portrait of Shearer,
the philanthropic doctor 70 whom Cop
ley owed his voyage to Italy. In per-
lection of workmanship, in clarity Of
color in constructive logic. it is more
French than English; French, though
if we were 70 trace its human rather
than its technical lineage We might end
more readily in Boston. There is an
affinity, though it be paradoxical. be-
tween the classic and the Puritan
spirit-a matter of intellectual integ-
rity, perhaps, the rule of the will over
the emotions. This portrait by Cop
ley is done in what an English painter
of the eighteenth century, despite an
ardent admiration for the classics,
would have called cold blood. 1t is far
more a thoughtful than an emotional
work. It is nearer 10 Ingres than to
Reynolds, nearer to lngres though in it
We find color less austere than that
Of the Frenchmsn, and pleasanter.
Here is, in any case, a rare picture
out Of the English eighteenth century,
rare because il leaves not a single re-
minder of Italy, of the tiorid color that
the English painters, through Reyn-
olds, imported from her galleries. The
Frenchmen of Copley's time had con-
sciences, love of the perfected work,
and Copley, apparently. is the only
painter of the English school 70 have
Wed with them in integrity. This single
portrait may be cited an example.
The other is less successful, the lineal
composition is quite badly broken,
angular; the planes want breadth; the
color is overatteHtive 20 the local fact
and yet we have here again Copley
Of unfamiliar Importance.
Early Chinese paintings, potteries,
bronzes and stone sculptures, collected
by Mr.. A. W. Bahr. are shown in two
of the Montrose galleries, while an
ether of them contains the palntinglof
Patrick Henry Bruce. Mr.. Bruce, be
years ago. in New York, was pupil OF
Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Mil
Ter. In Paris he studied the old masters
for a time. during which he attained a
preponderating fondness for THE Man
with a Glove" This first love Of his
among the giants, engendered by pure
technique. was also his first step away
from the spell that Henri had cast over
him. His copy OF the Titan caught the
spirit Of the brush marks. of the shell,
and missed, quite completely, the heart
OF IT, He had done under Henri por-
trait OF a young hunchback-Hedges-
which was received with great acclaim
by critics here because, perhaps, Of its
verve. Paris saw him enamoured OF
Titan and then-following d friend
ship with Maurice Sterne. devotee
himself-one of those who worshipped
the primitive or, and more accurately.
the Primitives. Alfred II. Maurer. one
Of the conspicuous Americans OF the
quarter. was missing a step in his
chase after the realistic record The
notes OF the Bal Butler were becoming
fewer. Henri Matisse, "Les Fauves,"
Post Impressionists. were in the air
Bruce may be an instructive follower