ART “FINDS.”

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15511, 11 January 1911, Page 2

ART “FINDS.”

The Neubotirg grocer who was fortunate enough to pick up at an auction sale for 24s a Raphael, the value of which is at least 4000 times the price he paid for it, had many recent predecessors in similar lucky experiences, the stories of which quite outstrip romance.

A short time ago a second-hand dealer purchased a deplorably dirty canvas from a poor widow for a few shillings—a sum which brought tears of gratitude and joy to the woman’s eyes. After carefully cleaning the picture the dealer was delighted, altnough not altogether surprised, to discover that he was the possessor of an undoubted Gainsborough, for which he found an eager purchaser for £3500. A few weeks earlier a carpenter presented himself at the shop of a picture dealer in tho Rue St Lazare, Paris, offering for sale a large and dirty canvas for .ho modest sum of 20 francs. “ I don’t suppose the picture is worth anything,” he said, “ but the frame ought to he worth the money.” The dealer, who was in want of a frame of similar size, paid the 20 francs, and, removing the canvas, he CAST rr ASIDE IK A CORKER OF HIS SHOE. Some weeks later an artist customer chanced to notice the discarded canvas, and, after examining it, exclaimed, “ Halloa ! You’ve got a. treasure here. It is a variant of one of Raphael’s works, the Vatican ‘Adam and Ere.’ ” The news of the discovery spread, and within a few days tho dealer Lad sold his 20-frnne picture for 10.000 francs. Another Raphael. “La Belle Jardiniere.” was quite recently discovered at a second-hand shop in Paris, and purchased for 41 francs, probably less than a two-tliousandth part of its real value: a Rubens, valued at £7OOO, was picked up for a five-pound note at an auction sale in Carnarvonshire; and 2os was the price paid at an old curiosity shop m Barmouth for a seapiece, painted m oils on an oak panel, which when cleaned proved to he a genuine Turner, worth at least; £7OO. More remarkable still was the good fortune of a picture-lover who strolled one day into a shop on the Paris boulevards and, noticing among a lot of lumber

A STUDT nr RED CHALK, purchased it for half a franc. On examining his purchase more carefully ho found to his delight that, he was the possessor of Raphael’s original design for. his famous picture, “La Disputa del Sacramento,” now in the Vatican, the value of which is little short of £IOOO. A romantic story was told a short time ago of a widow who took an old picture to a second-hand dealer, begging him to buy it, as she wanted a few shillings to pay the expenses of visiting some friends. The dealer examined the proffered canvas, which was covered with generations of dirt, and reluctantly offered 30s for it. When the canvas was cleaned it proved to he a very fni3 example of Gainsborough’s, worth at least £SOOO. A year or two ago an East Ham pawnbroker advanced £ls on seven old piotures to a needy client, lending the money, as he said, “ mainly oil the value of the frames, one of which contained quite £3 worth of gold.” When the agreement expired the unredeemed canvases were consigned to the lumberroom and practically forgotten, until one day an antique-dealer chanced to see them, and on his advico they were submitted to experts, who pronounced them valuable old masters (they included a Rubens and a Gainsborough), worth several thousand pounds.