Evening star., 1936-01-19
BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.


There has been much speculation
as to just why Mr.. J. Pierpont Nor
gan has during the past two or three
years been parting with SO many OF
the works of art in the wonderful
Morgan collection which his father,
the late j. P. Morgan spent years IN
collecting and in which he took so
much pleasure. 1t was generally as
sumed that the financial situation
which had affected thousands during
the years Of depression caused Mr..
Morgan to part with his treasures.
Daily bank failures, the scuttling of
securities were wiping out large and
small incomes and hundreds of peo-
pie were recovering on whatever they
could.
At last the cats out of the bag: It
was Uncle Sans beastly inheritance
tax, income tax, personal tax and all
those other taxes that come in the
night time to plague the rich and
near-rich. An industrious newSman
wangled out of Mr. Morgan the state
ment that the sales of parts of his
art collection was an attempt Ito pro-
tect my heirs from buying them back
from the Government"-after his
death. He wishes to put his estate
in a manageable condition during his
life-in other words, to set his house
in order. He has not added to the
collection-especially the miniatures
since the death of his father In fact,
the collection was SO large and so all
embracing that there would not have
been much to add. To relieve his
heirs of further responsibilities the COL
lection now housed in the J. Pierpont
Morgan. library adjoining his New
York town house. belongs to the Ii
brary. which is managed by board
Of trustees.
The sale of the Morgan collection
of miniatures in London. last June,
included the work of the leading
artists of the English, French, Italian,
German and Dutch schools, covering
. period from the sixteenth century,
perhaps earlier-down to the decline
OF the art in the earlier Victorian
period.
AZ A4ao 0SSA coAAs W tAiS AotN ASAA
Morgan there was no money worth in
these exquisite gems of art, but to
him they had a more personal and
appealing side. All the romance, the
tragedy, the misfortune and suffering
wrapped up in their history was what
charmed him, as we'll as the beauty
of the object. It is also said that he
never kept any records of the amount
OF money expended on his art pos
sessions. He did not employ an agent
to collect for him, but dealth directly
with the dealer, often requesting the
privilege of keeping for few days the
contemp.s ted purchase in order to get
better acquainted with it, to study it,
and in a word, to dream about it.
The characters peopling the magnifi-
cent JeWeled frames surrounding many
OF the miniatures were like friends
whose gaieties, misfortunes and trag-
edies he was interested in.
In the collection sold last year in
London was portrait of Queen Eliza
beth by Nicholas Hilliard about which
there was some mystery, as it has not
yet been decided to whom she awarded
the miniature-what romance. Was
it to one of her many lovers, and by
what route did it reach the collection
of the noble family who sold it to Mr..
Morgan?
This portrait is also noted for the
superb workmanship of its frame and
the value of the jewels incrusting it.
There are four square table-cut dia-
monds set below five rare rubies. At
the top and bottom is an intricate
design worked in triangular table
cut diamonds and the good Queen Bess
Is pictured with her hair dressed with
jewels, hair net set with pearls and
other precious stones in her necklace
and on her corsage.
A Holbein miniature of Henry VIII
which he is said to have given to
Anne of Cleves-the Flanders mare
exquisite examples of Fragonard and
IS miniatures by Samuel Cooper, ex-
amples of whose work are cherished
in this country, were in the London
sale.
Interesting History
In the Making.
Sisters of the Republican and Demo-
cratic parties take notice, and brothers
e the two national committees put
t!j in your pipe and smoke it, For the
first time in the history of the two
great political parties of America
q woman dominated a national COM
mittee met to choose convention