New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-22
Mrs. Fitz Eugene Dixon
Buys Don QuixOte
GObelinS.
MUSEUM TO KEEP
SET ALL SUMMER
Collection of Five Pieces Most
Important in u. S.-Half-Mill-
ion Reported Purchase Price.

a sudden change at the Metropoli-
tan Museum in the label Of tag from
-. +. Morgan" TO Mrs. Fitz Eugene
Dixon" revealed yesterday that the
world-famous Don Quixote set of
royal and imperial Gobelin tapestries
acquired by the late ]. Pierpont Nor
gan from the King Of Spain had been
sold again.
Half a million dollars is the sum
said to be involved. Mrs. Fitz Eugene
Dixon, the purchaser, is a daughter OF
the late George Widener, the Philadel-
phia traction king. who went down
with the Titanic. Her husband Is a
we'll known Philadelphia clubman. p.
W. French G. Co. negotiated the pur-
chase They said yesterday that Mrs.
Dixon had consented 10 allow the tap
estres to remain on exhibition at the
museum all summer.
OF Gobelin tapestries on this side
Of the Atlantic the Morgan collection
is the most important. 1t was the
first of Charles Coypel's renowned
Don Quixote series to cross the ocean.
Five pieces compose the collection.
Originally the tapestries left the
French Garde Meuble AS imperial
presents, four of them being given
| in 1774 by King Louis XVI to the
Archbishop Of Rheims. and one, in
1910, by Napoleon to the Prince of
I Hesse-Darmstadt.
All Five Tapestries Signed.
Two years after the Archbishop of
Rheims received his royal gift he died,
and the Gobelins were sold at public
auction in Paris. The subjects of the
( FIVE tapestries, which appear in French
on the pieces themselves, are: %
don Quixote Guided by Folly" GU
"Don Quixote Mistakes a Peasant Girl
for Dulcinea," 80 Don Quixote Pays
His Respects to the Duchess" (4
Don Quixote Served by the Ladies"
and (5) "Ssncho's Departure for the
Island of Barataria"
All five are signed, the first by Neil
son, 1888; the last by Audran, 1913,
and the others ~ Cozette, 1878. High
warp looms were used in weaving the
last four. and the first was woven on
a low-warp machine.
One o. the striking features Of the
works are the crimson damasse, but
tapestry woven. mats that surround
the pictures between the inner ard
QUITE gilt-frame borders. These were
first suggested by Nelson, and il is
due TO them that the tapestries have
their extraordinary decorative value.
They are considered superior 70 the
earlier ones Of the same series, with
yellow mats.
Coypel Originated Pictures.
Exceedingly attractive are the orna-
mental features of the mat and
frames, especially the flowers by
Fontenay, and the dogs, sheep, monkey
and peacock by Dcsports; the former
| the floral, the latter the animal paint
/ er OF the Gobelins.
The originator Of all the pictures
that form the Don Quixote series, but
which were never woven as one COM
plete set. always in small groups Of
four or five. according TO the wish OF
| the purchaser or the royal within, was
| Charles Coypel He designed the first
work in 1714 and the last in 1851. All
| but the last are still preserved in the
| French National Museum at Com
piegne The Don Quixote series was
easily the most important collection
/ Of tapestries woven at the Gobelins
| i'm the eighteenth century.