Evening star., 1960-04-10
sport AND
THE HORSE
Richmond
Exhibit
Opens
RICHMOND

70 nelgnCS OF eloQuence IN
his dinner address in the
tapestry hung medieval hall
at the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts last week end.
In referring to his father,
the late beloved Ambassador
to the United States, Lord
Halifax understated his own
effect on the 800 sponsors
and patrons of the museums
exhibit of Sport and the
Horse" who came from up
and down the Eastern sea-
board for the opening dinner.
Although many of them had
known his father, this was
the first time that most of
them had met the son.
Virginia Gov. Lindsay Al
mond, the Earl and Coun-
tess of Halifax, Exhibit
Chairman and Mrs. Paul
Mellon, and Director of the
Virginia Museum and Mrs.
Leslie Cheek. jr., greeted the
guests as they arrived in the
Mediterranean Court, a court
built around a large, square
sunken pool that reflected in
It's soft waters a large seq
ment of Virginia's fox-hunt-
ing group.
There were no pink coats
In the conservatively dressed,
black-tie 300, but there were
enough masters of foxhounds
seated in the enormous main
rooms at dinner to make the
foxes in the hunting pictures
go for cover.
TwO-Year Work
Paul Mellon, as chairman
OF the exhibit, saw the frui-
ton of two years of hard
work. Presiding at the din
ner, he stressed, in a relaxed,
well -phrased and slightly
whimsical talk, the help the
patrons had given in keeping
the flow of paintings from
abroad. He thanked, in par
ticular, President Eisenhower
and her majesty Queen Eliz-
abeth II, honorary patrons
of Sport and the Horse;
Mr.. Cheek. whom he said
had a wonderful fair for ar
ranging imaginative shows,
and for handling the mass of
terrific minutae involved with
the exhibit.
He also thanked Walter S.
Robertson, a vice president
Of the museum. for his help
beyond the call of duty"
tossed verbal bouquets to
Muriel Christison, associate
director of the Virginia Mu-
scum, and. in summing up,
thanked the museum itself
for being probably the only
institution in the South that
would allow a Yankee to pom
tificate, particularly about
horses and art"
In introducing Lord Hall
fax, Paul Mellon pointed out
that the visitor had come all
the way to America to open
the exhibit and that, al
though Lord Halifax pro-
fessed to know little about
formal art, he was an au-
thority on the horse, being
steward of the Jockey Club
in England, chairman Of the
Masters of Foxhounds ASso-
citation, master of the Mid
dleton Foxhounds, and a
member of the National Hunt
Committee.
Lord Halifax set the pace
Of the evening by quoting the
often quoted English homily
that What is an MP COM
pared with an MFH?" and
went on to point out that
this was the first outstand-
ing display of sporting oils
In the country"
The Impact
The terrific impact of the
exhibit itself, composed of
about rs oils on loan from
England, France and Amer
lea, was felt after dinner as
guests wandered through the
museum. The English paint
ers started with John Woo
ton, a master of several diff
ferent techniques. ranging
from the primitive to the
traditional.
Other English painters rep
resented from the 18th and
10th centuries were James
Seymour, whose paintings
were loaned, among others,
by the MELONS, David Astor
and Michael AStor: George
StubbS. whose anatomical
drawings lead up to the large,
documented oil of Mares
and Foals," loaned by Earl
Fitzwilliam who, with his
wife, was guest at the ex-
hibit;; Artist Sawrey Gilpin,
one of whose paintings was
loaned by Queen Elizabeth;
Ben Marshall, represented by
another picture from Queen
Elizabeth's collection, and by
pictures from the Paul Mel
Ions private collection. James
Ward completed the English
collection.
French painters represent
ed were ,Gericault. Daumier,
Dedreaux Manet, Degas and
Forain. James Troye was the
only American painter whose
pictures were exhibited.