ART MASTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 189, 11 August 1937, Page 3

ART MASTERS.

FINE EXHIBITION.

IMPORTANT COLLECTION.

WORK OF EARLY SCHOOLS. The most important exhibition of paintinjrs of old masters of the Flemish, Dnt"]). Venetian, French and early English schools ever to be seen in New Zealand, has been o;>enerl at the Art Gallery, Kitchener Street. There are works by Van Ostade, Van der Velde. Van Dyck, Canaletto, Rubens, Hogarth <»"d n number of others, nearly iill of them numbered in the painters 1 hall of fame. And, more impnrtant, thrre is to .he seen the development of paiiitiiiir in the seventeenth and early

c'iuliteiMith centuries, which had so much influence on the modern school. Tii ;>ll there are 5.1 paintl:is>3 in the eolk'ctiiin, whk'li lias been loaned for exhibition in Xew Zoolnnd l>y the i NatiiMial Lfan Collection Trust of' London. Mostly lli' > collection rejirc- I Flomi'sh and Dut.-h school?, with | a wide ninge of subject and treatment. 1 The deep rich olouriiitrs of I'loniisll portiaituiY. and th'.> influences 01 I'.jre, ,ui\e to lMi-.-t of til , .- [laintings a low-toncl ini|:ro:-!(in th:it not at iir: t nlj-lit unvst attention, except where a Venetian iiiflitcj:c"'d intorior or hmdscajie. with its colour and stands out. Caunk'tto, of the V;netian school, has out , strikinp; interior that is notable for this iii'velopniont ami for its drauphts-nifut."-'ii|>. 'In thru (lev-.'lopnient. which brciijiht uindr'c:i]!C art to a hipli sta.cre, i]uit" a notjibla part v.;'s pluy.d liy the Am>t •■.'lain school, '-..to by the works of Van der Vvlclu, Wynants and Van der Hoyden. The Famish School. Oik- of tho .urcato-t of the Flemish .■cl'.iii!. Adriai-n Van O*U\Av. who U i-;;;ik.(i \\\;h <!:• Hcofli and X'er.iiu'or, of Dslft. aiiio; , ." tau 1110 t painters of lii.-loiy. is represented by 'two deli'iht.'ul portrait studies and a villas,; IV.ir eveno. There arc a number of portraits, however, which are intorvstinjr not only individually, but colloctively, in their contrasts of treatment. Cli; c by a beautiful rcprodcnw-lon of a chiil.by child, the work of Van Everdiiifron, of the Dutch school, is tho rich colouring of a main. lu\-.:l by Cornelius Ji-ii.-sLMi, who is clr. isiik'd in tho L'njtlish schoiil, and nearby is further contrast in the cliai 111 of a girl's head by the French portrait painter, (ireuze. Rubens, that outstanding artist of the Flemish ,«-hool who was knighted by Charles 1., is not represented by any of his famous nudes or carnival s en.s, but by a painting of the head of his daughter. Van Dyck. pupil of Van ISaleu am! Kuhcnx. and probably the best known portrait painter of' England's galleries; (who is buried in Old St. Paul's Cathedral) is splendidly represented by his famous painting of the Virgin and Child. This attracts attention inimediatciv.

There is special interest, however, in the work of William Hogarth, in whose work was born the English school of painting. Only one portrait of his is exhibited, that of Lady Byron, which is of quiet tone with a "warmth of colour. A delightful miniature by Van der Heyden, "The House on the Hill," has a mass of detail and a warmth of treatment that is most attractive, and a small portrait study, "Youth Lighting a Pipe," with the face lit by candlelight fe delightfully treated. It is by Godried Schalcken, of the School of Leyden.