WHAT IS ART?

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1389, 15 March 1912, Page 6

WHAT IS ART?

HOW A VALUABLE PICTURE CAMfi •,AND WENT.

"Art is long and timo is fleeting," wroto a famous Victorian poet, without the slightest reference to tho incident about to bo noted, on which, however, the quotation has a remote bearing. Some six or seven years ago a Wellington gentleman interested in art visited the Old Countrv, and whilst there the idea struck him to' bring out half a dozen good pictures, in tho hope of selling them on behalf of' tho artists, to Sew Zealand art galleries. Ono picture was by Ircd. Hall, a noted English artist, whoso works are always in demand. It was called "The MangelAVurzel Cutter, and was an ideal painting, both as an ornament for a gallery and as a study for art students to ponder over. It was offered to a gallery for XIOO, but the controlling authorities' of tho time thought the pneo altogether extravagant. Being; genuinely anxious that the picture should he retained in the Dominion, the gentleman concerned made an appeal to the artist, who finally consented to let it go for .£6B —a gift. Even then the art gallery authorities concerned "turned down" the offer, and finally the painting was returned to tho artist. It lias since transpired that a Liverpool gallery secured the painting at a cost of <£2JO, and a paper in that city remarking on its acquirement, said that such a work was cheap at the price, and congratulated tho purchasers on the rare bargain they had secured.