ART Am ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2556, 11 March 1903, Page 64

ART Am ARTISTS.

— It is jvident that some of the upper ten of America are not to be relied upon as ar*» connoisseurs, for a leading San Franciscan, purchased a painting at' a. sjlle which was supposed to be a real Rubens. It was much admired and commented upon, and many, envied the luck of the purchaser, who was so fortunate as to secure it for 150 dollars. The other day the allusion was dispelled when an old. acquaintance, Mrs Johnson, by name, of the late owner happened to call,. and, spying the prize painting, declared in raptures : — "Well, I declare, if that ain't Matilida ! '» her hostess suspiciously inquired as to th<3 identity of Matilida, and discovered to her chagrin that she was Mrs Johnson.-! favourite washerwoman, and the painting wa3 by the daughter of the laundress. Rubens is now a tabooed subject in the purchaser's family, and it is safe to aay that Matilida'* features ornament some humble home. " — The old masters are no" always good. The halo with which they are surrounded i I often unjustified. Many old pictures dating from the best periods are not to be compared with the productions of modern mediocrity.For in the same way that many of the finest: works of 4he fifteenth and sixteenth centuries have been distroyed by misadventure, so accident has preserved for us others of quite inforior value.' Painting in its broadest aspects preserves from age to age a real con* tinuity. Styles' may alter, but the esscniije remain. The painters of to-day will be -it. old masters of to-morrow. And 00 it comes that there is no phase of modern painting-, however startling in its novelty, however audacious and revolutionary in its originality, which cannot be paralleled among the mosfc universally respected of these same "old masters." Giorgione was in his way "as revolutionary as Manet, Rembrandt as Whistler, Hogarth as Madox Brown. Whenever tradition, and only tradition, has been the watchword of painting, art has declined, until the inevitable re-action sets in and experiment takes its place. — "How to Look ab Pictures."

HIS TEST OF THE ARTIST. rUBCHASER MADE SUGGESTIONS TO SEE IF t THEY WOTJLD BE ACCEPTED. There is perhaps a lesson of some sort for young artists in the story told by -Frederick Kost, the landscape and marine painter, of the days when he was- just starting. It was at a time when things were not prospering as he could have wished — when, in fact, the artist was pretty hard vp — that a man wearing a fur-lined overcoat knocked at the door of his studio. The stranger was evidently a westerner and a man of wealth.

"Mr Koot," he said," I have seen pictures of yours at different exhibitions, and I thint" I would like to owii one."

Then he nodded approvingly at a landscape" on the easel, and said, " That is exceedingly nice.' But," he added after a pause,- "might I -make a suggestion ?" " Certainly, ' said Mr Kost. "60 ahead." " Well," said the v would-be purchaser, " I think the sky might be changed with advantage," and he started in' to explain the alteration .which ho thought would improve the -painting. Mr Kost did not agree with him, but as he wished to sell the picture, he said he would consider the matter. And the stranger went away, promising to call in a few days. - Mr Kost went to work io change the eky, against his own judgement, to suit the! stranger. He ended by changing the entire' picture to suit the sky.- In fact, from r landscape, it grow into a marine. The stranger never turned up, and th' • artist cursed his folly in having acted contrary to common sense to please an ignorant person, and so spoiled one of his best efforts, the reeult of several months of work.

About a year later a knock took Mr Eosfc to his door again, and there stood the stranger in the fur-lined overcoat. Being asked in he took a seat before the easel, and nodded approvingly at a, picture that happened to be there.

"I like that — like it very much," he said, thoughfully. Then, after a pause, " but may I make a suggestion ?"

Mr Kost was not so angry with the man. as annoyed at the recollection of his own fooliahfness. He looked squarely at his visitor.

" Go to the devil with your suggestions," he replied.

For a moment the other coloured. Then he smiled quietly. "Well, Mr Kostj 7 ' he replied, "I may take that trip some day ; but not just yet. In< the meantime I think I will buy that picture of yours."

After a pause- he continued :—"I: — "I would have bought the painting you show,ed me last year, Mr Kost, but when I buy a picture I want it to be one with which the artist ia perfectly satisfied, which he considers aT sample of his best work. When you consented to change the " other picture I concluded that you were not sure of it yourself. But I guess if you think enough of this ont/ to ask a mai to go to the devil because he wished to make a suggestion ooncerninjf it, it it the stuff I want." And the picture was sold accordingly. — New York Tribune.

— I'he smallest pony in the world belongs tt Miss Alta Westerman, of New York. It iB called Sixpence. It measures 2ft 3ia from tho shoulder to the ground, which ia much les3 than the height of many dogs.