Evening star., 1943-07-11
Art
Notes
National Gallery
Gets New Gifts
From Chester Dale
By Leila Mechlin.

Again the National Gallery Of Art
has been enriched by the generous
gift of a wen-known collector. The
donor in this instance is Chester
Dale of New York, who, by the way,
is associate vice president OF the
National Gallery, to which he and
his wife have already made notable
gifts and loans and other contribu-
tiors. This most recent donation
consists of II paintings by artists OF
renown, some of whom were not
heretofore represented in the ma
tional collection.
Such gifts and loans are OF great
value at any time, but especially
now, when relief from the tension
of war Is a common need and one
which the arts can particularly well
satisfy. Witness the large attend
ance at the National Gallery OF Art
on Sunday afternoons and evenings
when the works on view are free to
all, and lectures and concerts, cor
relating the arts are given for the
especial pleasure and benefit of the
men of the armed service and their
friends.
These paintings-now national
possessions-have been on loan to
the National Gallery for some time,
not hung separately as a group, but
with other works of the same artists
schools or periods, where they can
be studied most advantageously and
in sequence. For example, the mag
nificent "St. Jerome" by Ell Greco,
Is hung between the two works by
the same artist-"San Ildefonso"
and "St. Martin and the Beggar"-
both of which were included in the
Mellon gift.
A larger version of the latter came
10 the National Gallery from the
Widener collection, together with an
equally important canvas depicting
~The Virgin With Santa Ines and
Santa Tecla"-so that in examples
of this extraordinary and unique
master it is exceptionally rich.
The est. Jerome" is one of the art
lists last works and represents him
at the peak of his power, when sur
charged with the religious fervor
which seems finally to have COM
rletely possessed him. 1t was in the
artists possession at the time of his
Death and noted in the inventory OF
his estate. In 1902, when a great
exhibition of Ell Greco's works was
held in Madrid, it was one OF the
outstanding canvases.
An earlier but likewise important
example of Ell Greco's work-"The
Repentant Peter"-is owned by the
Phillips Gallery of this city. Yet
another is owned by and hung in
the Greek Embassy here.
Paintings by Chardin.
The Mellon Collection comprised
two paintings by Chardin-"The
Young Governess" and THE House
of Cards"-to which have now been
added two from the collection as
sembled by Mr.. and Mrs. Dale.
These are a still life formerly in
the collection of the Marquis de
Biron of Geneva, and portrait OF
Ettienne Jeaurat. who was not only
himself a painter but, in 1767,
keeper of the pictures of Louis XIV
ct Versailles.
Charlin. it will be remembered,
vas a painter Of the people; his
father was maker of billiard
tables, in the service of the King.
whose patronage he secured for his
son; but Jean Baptiste always re-
manned simple in tastes and asso-
Citations; happy in his art and skill
full in it's practice OF him, Royal
Cortissoz has said, He painted little
subjects and he made them great"
What higher praise could one have?
If socially Chardin was OF the
bourgeois, in art he was an aris-
tocrat His paintings, whatever
their subject, invariably possessed
dignity as well as grace; they evil
dence the personality of the painter
but are never self-conscious. He,
above almost all, loved beauty and
his fellow men; to give expression
to that which was revealed to him,
by sympathetic seeing, was his great
Joy and lasting distinction. AS a
technician his works sing his praise.
Three other French artists are
represented in the Dale gift. They
are Boucher, Druais (the Elder
and Bodily; the last by an interior
painters Studio: the second by a
sensitive and really exquisite, "Por-
trait of Lady"-typically French
and aristocratic; and the first by
representative work-"Venus Con-
soling Love"-once owned by Baron
Alfred de Rothschild and later by
the Marchioness Curzon of Kedles-
ton. Each has something to tell-a
place of its own-a beauty which is
memorable.
The Flemish School.