BRITAIN’S ART TREASURES

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1928, Page 7

BRITAIN’S ART TREASURES

GREAT EXHIBITION OF MASTERPIECES. (liOiulon “Daily Mail.”) The British antique dealers had a real field day when they met the elite of British art collectors on the occasion of the opening of the great exhibition of antiques and works of an at Olympia, organised by the “Daily Telegraph.” Any attempt to do justice to this stupendous show in a brief notice would he equivalent to trying to deal, say, in the space of a column with all the treasures to be found in th. showrooms of nearly ail antique dealers of standing in this country. An idea of the scope of the exhibition may he gathered from the fact that the catalogue is a quarto volume of 358 pages.

How tin’s exhibition could have 'been arranged, brought to its state of completion, and the laborious and amply illustrated catalogue produced in less than a week from the date the hall became available for the purpose is simply a miracle of efficient organisation and hard work. The general visitor, who is not inspired by the sense of acquisitiveness Out takes a platonic interest in work: of art of great aesthetic significance will no doubt be more attracted by the loan collection of treasures from private 'sources than by the concentrated .essence of Bond Street whicl forms the bulk of the exhibition,

HERITAGE NpT EXHAUSTED. In this connection it is gratifying to note that, in spite of the really alarming exodus of priceless works o* art to the United States, not only is the national art heritage far from exhausted, but it is continually added to by judicious acquisitions from abroad on the part of collectors who are not likely to yield to the temptation of the dollar. The centre of attraction will inevitably be the picture gallery, if only for the presence of the £150,000 Cowper Raphael Madonna lent by Sir Joseph Duveen, and of the famous Wilton /Diptych—ain absolutely unique and perfectly preserved example of supposed English I4th century painting representing Richard II before the Virgin. The historic and artistic importance of this picture cannot be overrated, and it is to be hoped that it may eventually pass into one, of our national museums.

There are also Van Dyck’s portrait of the Abbe Scagglia, from the Holford Collection,, N whic*h was recently bought at auction by Sir William Berry, Raeburn’s famous portrait of The Mac Nab, lent by Lord Dewar, and scores of other works of outstanding importance.

LORD ROTHER MERE’S SCULPTURES. Apart from the picture gallery, there is another loan section of sculpture and objects of art, .full of precious things, and rendered memorable by the presence of three almost unknown ejbjects of inestimable value leijft by Lord Rothermere. One of these is an alabaster relief of a Pieta, carved by Michel Angelo for Pope Julius II.; the second a gloriously beautiful and exceptionally well preserved thirteenth century French Gothic silver statuette of the Virgin and Child; and the third an early 16th .century Italian book of hours with jewel-bordered engraved cornelian cover and book-marker by Benvenuto Cellini.