Evening star., 1936-05-03
BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.
"HE widespread interest that hs

"HE widespread interest that has
been shown in the art world
over the discovery of a re-
L ported Josef de Ribera, once
the property of Thomas Jefferson,
which was recently bequeathed to the
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Founda-
tion at Monticello, Va, by Miss Mary
K. Chapman, a great-niece of Presl-
dent James Madison, led to visit to
the National Art Gallery to see a
Josef de Ribera, which was presented
to the old National Institute, which
was the predecessor of the Smith
sonian Institution. by DIR. Robert w.
Gibbs of Charleston, S. c., in 1841
and transferred to the Smithsonian in
1862.
Mr.. Fiske Kimball, chairman Of the
restoration foundation and director
of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art,
has identified the jefferson picture
beyond a reasonable doubt. It seems
Miss Chapman sent her picture to
Philadelphia to be cleaned by Miss
Hannah Nee Horner an expert whose
attention in the process of cleaning
was attracted to certain letters in a
corner of the canvas, which aroused
so much interest that she consulted
Mr.. Kimball, who identified the letters
as the well-known cipher of Josef de
Ribera, a Spanish artist who was
born January IL, 1888, and died in
Naples, September 81, 1862.
There seems to be no doubt that
Miss Chapman's picture is the one
referred to by Mr.. Jefferson in his
manuscript catalogue of his collection
in which he makes the following entry
relative to this picture: "A Magdalen
penitent, sitting, her hair disheveled,
her eyes looking up to heaven, book
in her right hand and the left resting
on skull, three-quarter length of
full size on canvass by Joseph de
Ribera. called Espagnolet, purchased
from st. Severin collection catalogue
No. So" The manuscript catalogue
referred to is owned by Mrs. Edwin
Kirk, a descendant of Mr. jefferson.
In looking over the catalogue of
Jefferson manuscripts in the Library
of Congress, no reference was found
to his collection of pictures, but a
very thorough search was not made
The painting of the Magdalen, which
Is 35 by Is inches, was sold with
others of the Jefferson collection after
his death, and returned to Virginia,
when it was purchased by Mr.. Madi-
son.
Joseph de Ribera Painting
In National Museum.
Job and His Comforters," the
Josef de Ribera painting in the Ma
tional Museum is in one of the store
rooms, where it has rested for some
years. Owing to the heavy varnish,
with which it is encrusted, and the
need of cleaning and restoration, lit
tie can be seen of the painting. 1t
is a canvas about by feet. No
colors are visible, but the face and
figure of the reclining Job can be
seen in outline The three figures
grouped around are presumably those
of Elphaz the Temanite, Bildad the
Shuhite and the figure of woman;
the third comforter is not seen. A
tut VI lllC PlCluIC, WdS tNl-
IDENTIFY made some years ago, shows
the two men and the woman-per-
haps his wife or one of his daugh-
ters-"and in the land where no
women so fair as the daughters of
Job g" The book of Job is one
of the most beautiful classics in the
realm of literature.
Going down to Memorial Conti-
mental Hall. the classic abode of the
Daughters of the American Revolu-
ton, to see the rare collection of early
American almanacs in the museum,
and passing by the president generals
beautiful peach colored Office, it was
just too great temptation not to go
in and see Mrs Becker. You must know
that she is the only woman in Amer
1ca-or in the world as for that, who
bears the high-sounding title of presi-
dent general. OF course, the Presi-
dent Of the United States is COM
mander in chief of the Army and
Navy. but Mrs. Becker's Office is even
more arduous than that because she
Is the acting head of more than
hundred thousand women. This army
of daughters is composed of women
in every State in the Union, in Eu-
rope and in some of the islands of
the sea.
Mrs Becker of New Jersey is very
strong on the humanitarian as WE'LL
strong on the humanitarian as we'll