The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-21
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ton of eighteenth and early nine
teenth century English masters to the
city of Philadelphia.
P4is collection was the property of
the late John Howard McFadden,
prominent Philadelphia cotton broker.
1t consisted of about fifty paintings,
both portraits and landscapes, includ-
ing the very best works of Gains
borough, Reyn olds, Raeburn, Romney
HoppneF, LAWRENCE, Harlow, J. Wat
son Gordon, Morland, Hogarth, Con-
stable, Crome, Bennington, Cox and
Turner. Among the paintings are
some exquisite studies and portraits OF
child life, such as "Bo Peep by Rom
ney, Mrs. Weddel and her Children
by Harlow, Master Bunbury' by Sir
Joshua Reynolds, also the fascinating
portrait of Lady Rodney by Cams
borough.
McFadden began making this col
lection in 1893. His first purchase,
was the above mentioned Gains
borough portrait. Henrietta Lady
Rodney" So consistent was he that
his art collection should be made up
entirely of works of one period, ma
tionality, and school, that he parted
with a VelasqueZ of great value, On
the ground that 1t did not harmonic
with his scheme of things"
The McFadden collection is to be
housed in the new Municipal Art mu-
scum being erected in Paramount
park, and special arrangements are
being made to display it to the best
advantage possible. The trustees who
have been left in charge of the col
lection, Judge Robert Won Moschl-
zisker, George Wharton Pepper and
Jasper T. Briton, cooperating with
the architects of the art museum, are
arranging a series of rooms, compare
BILE in size with those III which the
paintings are now hanging in the Nc
Fadden house on Rittenhouse Square.
These rooms are to be enbetlished
with period fhrniture and proper
hanginEs, consequently those who visit
them will not have that unpleasant
and fatiguing sense of doing" an art
gallery SO often experienced under
usual conditions.
Harvey NJ. Watts, in the May rum-
Der of Arts and Decoration, says;
Mr., McFadden aimed at rejecting
in his pictures that period of Eng
land which he loved, at It's mellowest,
the England of the open spaces, of the
rural cottage and of the fcotter's
simple life. along with the elegancies
ciety,' and the circle of those, noble
or otherwise, who ruled the country
and made England great"
Few Topeka people, even of those
who attend regularly the services Of
of art are the carved statues decorate
ing the pulpit and the altar of that
Church. Indeed they should be gems,
for they were carved by Anton Lang,
a worthy member of one of the most
noted families of wood carVers of that
wood carvers' community, the region
round about Oberammergau. Bavaria,
a place also we'll known on account of
the great passion play held there
every ten years.
On the Grace Cathedral pulpit are
figures of the Savior, the Four Evan
CYCLISTS. and of three angels. These
figures are all about three feet high.
Each stands in a separate niche
covered by a Gothic canopy. In fact,
the whole design of the pulpit is
Gothic, and the Statuettes breathe the
spirit of Gothic sculpture which is
that, no matter how much indiyidu-
nlity each possesses, it at the same
time, fits into and forms part of
decorative scheme.
A person giving the figures close
inspection will be at once struck with
the bold yet delicate technique of the
artist. He modelled each
with fdeft cuts of chisel and knife,
making no attempt to conceal or
smooth down the short snappy planes
by strokes of the tool. 1t is such
treatment that makes the figures
carry, so to speak.-makes them ap-
pear to equal advantage whether
viewed from far or near; also it gives
a play to the beholder's imagination
which a peffect, smooth finish would
not. 1t is the leaving something to
our imaginations, that constitutes one
of the attributes of true art: when
we know all there is to know, see
ali there is to see. we at once lose
Z Among all the figures on the pulpit.
perhaps the most attractive is the
81 limo
desk. Note the quiet. sanity dignity
of It's pose, the hang of the drapery
which expresses all there is to express,
without elaboration. and the curving
lines of the great wings with their sug-
gestion of feathers, made by an oc-
casional deft, swift stroke of sharp
chisel. Also notice the sl6illful model
ling of the little face and of the pray
ing hands ali done withNa few strong
decisive cuts-of a tool in the hands of
one who knew exactly what he wanted
70 do
OF equal merit with the work on the
pulpit, is the high relief carving of
the Last Supper" based on Di Nincis
great painting, that adorns the reredoS
of the altar. Here pictorial effect is
of as much Or more importance than
mere decoration. The main object of
the composition is to direct the atten-
ton of sworshippers to the. great COM
memorative act that takes place below.
: In this carving detail is made much
more subordinate to big masses and
plains of light and shadow, in order
that the group may be seen from
great distance, and its meaning and
significance clearly understood by
everybody attending the services.
The communion rail is adorned with
a string course representing a vine
with clusters of grapes. Here decora-
ton is the main purpose. 1t is not so
important that the beholder shall see
at once that the ornament is a grape
vine. as it is that what would other
wise look unpleasantly bare should be
properly embellished. Therefore the
first object TO be obtained in carving
was to make the leaves and the grape
clusters form a pleasing pattern.
1t is only when a person approaches
the rail that he becomes fully aware
of the grapes. 1.-The fruit of the vine,"
which Our Lord associates so inti-
nately with His shed blood. and which
t.