Evening star., 1925-11-15

fine old specimens of china. oriental
rugs and laces round out the collection.
There can here be made no more
than fragmentary and random re-
ference TO some of the outstanding
objects which are already to be seen at
the Corcoran. There is The Wood
Gatherers," signed by .Corot on his
deathbed: Inness and Redfield land
scapes: Carl Melcher's Maternity"
A Stuart Washington. Chases. Sar-
gents. Weirs and portraits of numer-
Gus historical figures find places
among the finest examples of every
period in the development of Ameri-
can art from the age of Benjamin
West down TO the present-day winners
of the Clark prizes and Corcoran
medals.
MANY of this generation are not,
4'A aware of the fact that Samuel F.
E. Morse, inventor of the telegraph,
was an artist of more than amateur
ability. Perhaps his most ambitious
undertaking with the brush. a scene
in the chamber of the United States
House of Representatives dated 1922,
hangs in the Corcoran. Many months
the inventor-artist devoted to this can
vas. which required the painting of 80
individual portraits.
"A
than los signed bronzes of Antoine
Louis Barye and that striking work Of
an early American genius. The Greek
Slave" by Hiram Powers. which
elected fervid lines from the pen of
Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Augustus
Saint Gaudens is represented, as are
the leading cotemporary American
sculptors, including Paul Manship and
H. A McNeaL. A recent acquisition
~ 10 nDr- al N~N-
French's masterpiece. The Sons of
God Saw the Daughters of Men That
They Were Fair
In carrying out the wishes of the
founder. the Corcoran trustees main
tain a free day and night art school
at the gallery. in which the enroll
ment is nearly 400 ambitious young
men and women.
William Wilson Corcoran. an out>'
standing American of his time, was
born in Georgetown. D. c., December
q. 1898. After an early business
failure with his brothers in George
town. he became, in 1870, the bank
ing partner of George w. Riggs, the
firm later growing into the great
Riggs National Bank of today. When
fortune began to smile upon Corcoran
his first act was to disburse S46 900 in
payment of debts involved in his early
bdilhl uplCNr although lie Ildu DeeH
granted an absolute discharge of his
obligations.
a man of great forcefulness Of
character, Corcoran determined that
his firm should take up the entire
Mexican War bond issue, venture In
which Riggs did not concur. This
left Corcoran in possession of $12.=
100000 worth of Government per
cents in the midst of falling market.
He went to London. and so disposed
of his holdings that the foundation of
his large fortune was made secure.
Corcoran early evinced an interest
| in the arts that abided With him
throughout his days, which were
many. for he lived to the age of 90.
His was the first American collection
of importance, and a guiding influence
in his life was the determination that
his art treasures and his wealth
should foster development of an Amer
lean school of art that would take
rank with those of the Old World.
While the opening of the Corcorar
Gallery antedated the establishment of
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art In
New York, those institutions were
created by reason of the demands and
encouragement of the respective com
munities. In the case of the Corcoran.
the benefactor was considerably in ad-
vance of his community. which only
in recent years really caught up with
the spirit of the founder of a gallery
which geographically is Washing
tons, but which in a larger sense is
the cherished possession of the Amer
lean people.
tCopyright 1897