Evening star., 1922-10-22
MISS FINCH
By e ON rey
BY LEILA MECHLIN.

INWO extremely valuable colfec-
tions of paintings by great
masters have recently been
loaned and are now ON ex-
hibition in the National Gallery of
Art. National Museum building, 10th
and streets. These are the H. c.
Perkins collection anu the John H.
McFadden collection.
Henry c. Perkins is Washing
tonian and for many years has re-
sided at 1901 Connecticut avenue
Recently selling his house and going
abroad for an indefinite period. he
left his fourteen extremely valuable
paintings in the custody Of the Ma
tional Gallery of Art. William H.
Holmes. director of the national gall
Iery, has arranged this group most
effectively in one of the small gall
leries at the north end of the series
occupied by the national gallery COL
lection, adjacent to the gallery where
for some time has been shown the
Ralph Cross johnson collection.
which was presented more than
year ago to the nation and which,
by the way. the Perkins collection
most admirably supplements.
This collection includes a portrait
of Sir Thomas Lawrence of Henry,
first Earl of Mulgrave, foreign sec
retary under Pitt; a portrait of the
Countess of Clermont by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, formerly in the collection
Of the Earl of Carlisle; two por-
traits of Dutch ladies. one by Mere
velt, the other by Victoors. the latter
from the collection of the Princess
Mathilde. both typical Of the best
of the Dutch school and extremely
important. Besides which in the
realm of portraiture are paintings
of a young girl by John Opie; Of
a ruddy-faced old gentleman possibly
by Beechey. not improbably by Rae
burn; and a madonna and child at
tributed to Van Dyck. from the col
lection of the Duchess Of Montrose:
besides a portrait of boy by John
Hoppner.
With these magnificent figure
paintings setting them off and adding
decorative quality to the collection
as a whole are no less than three
landscapes by Richard Wilson, one
by Ladbrooke. and a ffth by an un-
known artist. presumably of the
same time and school.
Two of the Wilson landscapes are
studies of ruins and the third is a
magnidcent finished work showing
a typical English landscape silhou-
cited against the golden sunset sky.
4f fa
masterpiece, a rare treasure and even
the uninitiated cannot fail to be i'm
pressed by the quality of tone. the
harmony of color and the genu-
inc beauty of the collection as
whole. Not only did the painters OF
the era to which these men belonged
render their subjects with consum-
mate skill, but through appreciation
of the fundamentals of art they made
them Of lasting interest. The people
who are pictured are real people. full
of personality and vital interest. and
as one looks into their faces they
seem indeed to live again--to have
Seen immortalized.
THE McFadden collection is larger
J. but not unlike the Perkins col
lection in general character. 1t COM
prises forty-four paintings. and all
are of the English school of the
eighteenth century.
The late John H. McFadden of
Philadelphia assembled this collection
during a period Of thirty years. bring
ing together examples Of the greatest
importance and charm. purchasing
wisely and discreetly until tho Nc
Fadden collection became the most
important Of its kind in America
Indeed, it has been said by those best
informed that one might go as far as
England and fare less we'll even at
Burlington House
To give an idea of the wealth of
this collection it is only necessary to
say that it includes two paintings by
Gainsborough, two by Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, eight by Romney. eight by Rae
burn, three by Constable. two by
John Crome, two by Hogarth, Hop
ner, q Lawranoe. . Cox. Bennington.
a Turner, q Wilson. three Moriands
and a Sir John Watson -0og60nA nA