New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-04-18
Centuries Old
Gems of Italian
Art on Exhibition
Florentine, Venetian and
Faenza Treasures of Cas-
tie and Church on Sale
at American Callerie 3

Art treasures of castle and church,
buried for centuries in forgotten cor
ners of Italy and collected recently by
Signor Raoul Tolentino, were put on
exhibition yesterday at the American
Art Galleries.
Florentlne statuettes, tapestries
Venetian worries and Faenza majolicas
carved walnut monastery tables and
cabinets and rare bits of ancient steel
armor filled the rooms, leading the art
lover on and on to hours of study.
While the entire display is said to
be unusually interesting to collectors,
and it was freely prophesied by the
directors of the sale yesterday that
eventually most of the articles would
find fitting resting places in museums,
owing to the growing scarcity of
authentic medieval relics, there were
certain things that attracted peculiar
attention.
There are, for example, four bits of
Donatello sculpture. Collectors admit
that to find original marbles by the
greatest Italian artists is now impos-
sible, but American museums NAV still
find it possible to obtain contemporary
stucco or terra Gotta reproductions of
the masterpieces. Replicas of the four
pieces in the Tolentino collection are
preserved in the British Museum.
Visitors to the small priyate room
where these treasures were displayed
yesterday found them to be small,
rlchly-dark bits of bas-relief Of sacred
subjects. The first consisted of a half
length figure of the Virgin, with red
robe and hood, her face seen in profile.
and bending over the figure of the
Christ Child, whom she supports with
one arm. There was an old carved and
gilt wood frame, with spirally huted
pilasters and arch.
A series of bronze busts Of the
Caesars, formerly in Price Barberini's
collection, believed 10 be the work of
Pietro Tacco, attracted much attention
also
The art lovers stood longest, how
ever, before a series of three "Vieux
Paris" tapestries, which nearly covered
the walls of the main salon
The first, woven of gold bullion
thread and colored silks, represents Re-
becca at the we'll. In the center is
Rebecca. in a bright colored robe, Of
fering drink of water to Abraham's
servant, Eleazer. On the right are two
camels laden with gifts, and a noun
famous landscape makes up the back
ground. The second tapestry represents
the return of the prodigal son, and the
third the vision of Zacharias.
The monogram ~. L. F." is that of
Jean LIE Fevre, famous tapestry weav-
er, who worked with his father in the
Louvre, and afterward in the Gobelin
factory. A series of tapestries SINH
larly signed is in the Uffizi Galleries,
Florence.
American art lovers, even jewellers
in New York City apartment houses,
have become habitual hunters of an
tique furniture in the last decade, until
it is commonly said the New York
apartment of the wealthy looks more
like an Italian palace than a modern
home. Seldom, however, do even the
most successful apartment house dwell
lers succeed in making perfect dupli-
cate Of an ancient room, as the bits of
furniture, panelling and decoration
have to be collected at random, fitted