ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2666, 19 April 1905, Page 76

ART AND ARTISTS.

— Mr H. J. Thaddeus, who is bringing an action against Mrs Howard Gould, in New York, 'or the recovery of the price of a full-length portrait of that lady, which he affirms was commissioned at 5000dol, is well known in Australia. He was born in Ireland, edxxcatcd in France, and has his hoir.e in Wales, and is responsible for a long lUt of portraits of notables, among his successes being the Princess of Wales before her" marriage, Mr Gladstone, and Pope Pius X. — The Order of St. Olaf, of which Mr G. R. Sims has been made a Knight by KingOscar 11, is the youngest of the Scandinavian fraternities of the kind. It was .founded by King Oscar I 58 years ago, when he nominated to it 79 knights, inclusive of the Bishop of Drontheim, who, at his coronation, had lefused to anoint the Queen, holding that the law of the land mentioned only the coronation of a King. The order is designed as a reward for all classes who distinguish themselres in patriotism or in the arts and sciences.

—It has been found ncoessary to post- f pone until after Easter the ceremony of unveiling the memorial of the late Arch- j iishop Temple in Canterbury Cathedral, which is in form of a bronze kneeling figure of the revered Primate, m his robes, holding a book in one hand. The statue is of heroic proportions — about 7ft high — under a. canopy, supported at the four oorrers by angels. The monument has been erected at a cost of about £2000 by direc- ' tion of the London Committee of the j Temple Memorial Fund, and was designed '■ by Mr W. D. Caroe, architect to the Dean ' and Chapter, the sculptor being Mr N. t Hitch. I

— Claude Monet is the artist whese habit it was said to ba to start at sunrisa on a painting expedition in an old-fashioned and spacious landau, of which h& has made a circumambalatory studio. Piled upon Ihe seat in front of him Trere a couple of do^-aa or so of prepared canvases, on each of which he would paint a version of the same subject, changing 1 his canvas to suit eve^y modification of his surrounding by the changing light. Thus it is that one &o often finds the landscape a familiar one in

M. Monet :

s pictures.

— Sir Wyke B&yliis calls attention in Good Words to the sinignlar fact that in Protestant England Ra.ph.iel is represented almost exclusively by Catholic pictures : — "The cartoons, oow at South Kensington, were designs for the decorations of the" Pope's private cbapel. The- Madonna Ansidei, and th& Archangels, in our National Gallery — the Holy Family in the Bridg" water collection —the Crucifixion, in the possession of the Earl of Dudley, are all ecclesiastical subjects. Moreover, trie paintings * nricst widely kno.vn amongst us, by means of copies or engravings, are of the- same character— the Transfiguration, the Madonna dell.i Sedia, the Madonna di San Sielo. And yet these religious pictures iepr&sont only one phase of Raphaels work." More than half his life was given to the painting of mythological and classical J designs of which we do not possess a single ' sample.

— Paisley has just inaugurated its annual art exhibition, which, always takes a leading place among the shows promoted by the larger Scottish towns. This ancient town, famous for its poets and its thread, numbers among its citizens and neighbours many owners of fine collections of pictures, whose treasures provide unfailing examples of the highest class of pictorial art. On this occasion two local gentlemen have lent three portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr Holms sending " Mrs Jordan " and " Mary. Countess Delenvarr " (sic in Catalogue), and Sir Thomas Glen-Coats " Miss Palmer." Naturally, Scottish artists are largely represented. Sir James Guthrie (the president) and Sir George Reid (the ex-president of the Royal Scottish Academy) have each sent a portrait, the ex-president's being a presentment of a local oelebrity, Principal Hutton. Most of the leading Scottish painters now workimg. are represented, whilst the artistic past of the country is shown •in examples by such men as John Phillip Alexander Fraser and 1 Sam Bough, usually reckoned among the Scots.

—In eoatinuation of th°ir series of work* of great masters, George Newnes (Limited) have now produced 1 examples of -the "Drawings of Albreoht Durer." The number of plates presented is 46, and they include 11 which form the so-called " Green Passion " alluded to by Hans W. Singer, in his lengthy biographical notice, as one of the most precious possessions of the famous Albertina collection at Vienna. These drawings — pen and ink on gi"een paper — are eocoeedingly well reproduced, as also are many others, among which may be mentioned the portrait of a man 90 years old, this forming the frontispiece of the volume, the "Flagellation" and the "Prodigal Son." Many of the examples given are simply studies, but they serve to show more conclusively than anything else the character of the famous artist who, " instead of abandoning himself to the unfettered sway of that wonderful fancy with which he was gifted, succumbed to an inclination towards inexorable „ thoroughness,"' and, his biographer goes on to say, it was this that ruined him ; it was this that finally transformed what had once been a. sup-erb artisfc into an indifferent scientist. The book is one of excellent character. — Field.

— Adolf yon Menzel, th-e noted Germaj artist, «lied at Berlin on February 9. He was about 90 years old. Herr Menzel, whose death was due to weakness, superinduced by a severe cold, had been identified with the best in German art for 60 yeai's, and had been treated by this generation with that reverence and respect which Germans love to show to their old men. His quaint figure, about sft tall, with hat, oravat, and dress suggesting the fifties, was known to most of the people of IJerlin, for he was often m the streets walking for pleasure and ob&ervfng the people. He sat in a certain restaurant almost every evening for ai hour or two, taking a glass of wine and then walking- home. Menzel's work, even to within tlie last five years, was regai-ded

as very good, and he worked evory morning until taken ill. He was often mentioned as the first artist to receive the highest Prussian decoration, the Black Eagle, conferred on him by the present Emperor, who hold him in much esteem. Prince Henry of Prussia called on Menzel the day before his death, but th > old fertJst could not ppo him. The Prince told Menzel's sittpr that the Emperor would 1 the sick n>an two bottles of a wonderful 1868 Stcinberger wine, which would strengthen him. Tho wine came in the- evening, bul the patriarch had already fall°n into the from which he did not awake.