ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1916, 6 November 1890, Page 36

ART AND ARTISTS.

The Czar of Russia is one of the greatest art collectors in the world. The acquisition of a unique painting or a priceless bronze gives him more joy than the annexation of a slice of Central Asian territory. His study at Gatchina is a miniature museum, in which all branches of art are represented.

The Countess Fedora Gleichen, who is a grand-daughter of the Queen's half-sister, has just finished for her Majesty a work of art, which is to be given as the Queen's prize in the forthcoming regatta at Cowes. It consists of a group in oxidised silver, surmounted by a shallow cup in white onyx; the group, some 12in high, represents Amphitrite surrounded by the infant Winds. The modelling and grouping are such as to reflect great credit upon the young and very promising artist.

Paris, of all modern cities, has the most numerous and most beautiful monuments. The Portes St. Denis and St. Martin were erected in 1673-74 ; the Arc dv Carrousel in the years 1806-9, in honour of the armies of France. The most magnificent is the Arc de PEtolle, built to commemorate the victories ot Napoleon. England has her arch at Hyde Park, with the equestrian statue of Wellington and Cumberland gate as her only monumental specimens. Triumphal arches are said to be of Roman origin, where the first was built by Stertinius, about 196 B.C.

The recent statement in the St. James' Gazette that the French Government had decided to abandon the national?manufactory of porcelain at Sevres, and' that the establishment would pass into the hands of a private company, is entirely erroneous. Our contemporary is also mistaken in supposing that the Sevres factory is conducted at a loss to the French nation of £25,000 annually. On the contrary, it makes a profit of £6000 per annum, besides furnishing the splendid vases which are given as presents to royal and distinguished personages by the Republic.

The experiment of opening the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, at night, when it is lighted by electricity, it is said, has been more successful than had been expected. " It has been found," says the correspondent of the Boston Journal, " that there is not only a large art-loving public in Washington that is glad to avail itself of the opportunity, of which many cannot take advantage in the daytime, but that the lighting of the pictures by electricity is, for some of the works, as good as daylight. The trustees have carried out their original design in making these evening exhibitions free. There have been recently some important additions to this gallery, and among them are many works of recognised merit "

Albert Wolff has been visiting Rosa Bonheur at her studio at Thomery, near Fontainebleau, and gives a long and interesting account of what he saw there in the. Figaro. On the threshold of the house he saw " a little man wearing a peasant's blouse and velvet breeches," who saluted him by waving a straw hat. This was Rosa Bonheur, now 67 years old, who knows " that for a painter there is no old age while her art is youno;." She showed him two rooms full of studies — horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, cows, oxen, buffaloes, and lions. Dcs morceaux mcrveilleux, dont heaiiooup me firent pousser dcs eris dejoie. He remarks that no one can know an artist thoroughly well without some acquaintance with the works that he makes for his own satisfactkfn, outside of the crowd.

The collection of pictures for the Exposition Art Galleries, in Chicago, which have most of them been received, include a large proportion of the important pictures of the year. The exhibition, in point of excellence, will surpass that of any previous year, although the number of pictures will be about the same. There are a large number sent by artists "who desire to compete for one of the 500dol prizes offered by James H. Deane for the best figure piece, and by Potter Palmer for the best landscape not previously exhibited in Chicago. Several important pictures, which were exhibited by the Society of American Artists in New York, that were not included in the exhibition by them at the Art Institute in June and July, will be seen at the exposition galleries.

The "Tinted Venus" of the celebrated English sculptor, the late John Gibson, R.A., is about to be sold by public auction at Christie and Manson's. This well-known statue was originally made for a Mr T. B. Preston, in the year 1852, and was exhibited in 1862 at the great Exhibition of London. It was a magnificent specimen of the sculptor's art, but instead of being presented in the plain marble it was tinted so as to have the appearance of a human figure. At first the innovation was resented by the art critics, but after a time it was found that it was really not an innovation, but a repe-

tition of an old trick of the Greeks to give to their statues the appearance of reality. Crowds were wont to gather round this effigy, and, although Mr Gibson was severely censured for his offence against the received canons of art, his reputation, which was at this time very high, was greatly augmented. So important an innovation was this that several sculptors, both English and American, in Rome, where Gibsoc did all his work, imitated it, and did so with profit to themselves. The various ornaments of the statue were of gilt, and the decoration of these was clone by the celebrated Pio Oastellani, whose as a? designer and reproducer 'of Etruscan, Greek, and old Roman jewellery had made him famous throughout the world.