ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2771, 24 April 1907, Page 69

ART AND ARTISTS.

— Professor Herkomer is s veritable Adrrirable Cnchton — painter, sculptor, archi toct, poet, musician, actor, machinist, deco rator, professor. His father was a Bavanan carpenter, his mother was a musician, and to hi= patents* self-sacrifice Profc c ?or HcrKomer ov. ?s everything, l.is fatlier gi\in,' up lii-s pipe and ins mother slaMni/ !'c. iJ that their son might be educated Hit, early ua\-, wore voiy hard, and it is said that one he ens.'oo.\ ou'-ed to join a tioipo of mt,ger min'tieK as a zither pluvci, to that he miQht earn the money to pay r&r lin studii.'-. Ho had his first chrnce on the Graphic, and hi» initial groat bucccs» was a picture called "The Lasr Mi;=tpr," exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1373. He- founded a sclicol of art at Bii'hcy, »ucceci!cd Ruckin as Sla<le Profctor ut O.\foid, and has painted the Km]A'ror \\ liliani among many other notable 1 <. ople

—Mr Anthony Rowlry wiites ip. the trLi-gow Xows: — '"We find no single picture gallciy 111 Rome at all c-omoarablo to tho Pd.ri.-j Liouw-c, or the L'fHzi of F!oKtico, but if v were possible to bring together all the famous paintings that are ovoi the city, Rome would pro I'aoly I'o-v -i the greatest gallery in the v.o id. Korro is specially iic-h 111 what i-> iiiou- lntorc-ting and lmprcsue than galloi j hung pict.ii us ; -he has on the ceiiirgand valk of her chapels and palaces the loftie.-t uilu< Mjmeiit-* of the two great iia^us--, 1 110 high -water mark of Raphael arid of Michael Angelo. Michael Arige!o"s decoiations of ih c loof of th 1111 11" 1 fehime C'lapel and the fie—cot-, of R iphisel on the walli o f the state apartments of th n Vatican palace ought to bring nicro pilgrim*, to Rome than comr to :■ '<■ tho Pope. An<l tlie-o pr.celess tiea u^ —thai Ie- and bic-s-irig^ to the Pope '01 it— die open and free to everyone." — Ja^ Chatlc-. wbcs'> rcnia-ining- pictuios v.no intently exhibited at tho Leicc-rci (lullcri's, LonWon, lia -. bcon compared b\ io r n<- 10 Jean I'Vai.coi^ Millet, and there It ccitdMilv <-ome rcseniblanco between the ciri'r'r- of thr two m^n. Both j.airt^n tho ]>■ i s a r it dnd t\>c cour.ti j-ido. ar.d Lor'i via' cont<_nt<.H to live a hfe that was not fai rcmo^(d fr^m that of th<> p^a-ani 111 r, ••lmphcity Tn<> life of Mil'ct at J^arliizos mls hot urihke that ol (-'l-ia;!c-~ in tlie ICTJIGt''- \lllugr.-, of Sihv"\ ]..-''■} n..' I <'l<' a living, 1/u* no moi- 1 , b\ c"tv Ji->, irf'i:trv- a- <1 tb" ri';>ut.itio;i 0.1 C l^ *'.- l~ M'-in^ a r '.er L<s (k fi, e\aftly u> thru of !M»ll< t did Chatl' -> v. a; a Ko-.-! A( „d< mj ■tv (Mit, who iKi iward* wen to Par T - to J-Ui ly. a' il tiiui ill \ Jiv lI 1 ii- ''" lj panit ir.z ]''t,"'i-li jT'-.'oraN. H' v,a c ore of 1 1. j^o iiiit iva 11 wno cart lifl<> foi fjiiu- 01 £01 <-!( mme ar < xhibit ior.s. but he i.-d ii< \<'i 1 h >!c--> a. fii in Li.hef tliat tJie inrrit of hi~ wo"l: would =cmc day be rccognited. Tho recognition has come, for ci cry critic talks now of the qualities of his painting, but it ha^ conic too late for

Charles, who died last August at the comparatively early age of 55. —Mr Charles Werthenner, from whose residence in London a number of valuable works of art- were recently stolen, is a brother of the liberal patron of Sargent, who commissioned, the great American to paint the portraits of himself, his wife, and all the members of his very large family. It was Mr Asher Wcrtheimer who (^avc Sargent his commissions, and is said to have offered a blank choque if tha artist would part with his original sketches — an offer that was declined. The two are the eons of Samson Wcrtheimer, who carried on the business of art dealer. --liter their father's death each brother went his own way in business. E\orybcdy iii" tl c world of art knows Mr Charles Wertheimei ancl his brother, who, with the Agnews and the Duveen*, stand in the fiont ran)f of European picture-dealers. All are prominent in the great fights at Christie'! on Saturday afternoons in the season, vhei the dealers run one another up to «: ght nine, or ten thou>and guineas for sorr( portrait by Reynolds or Gainsborough foj v. hich tlie artist got perhaps a hundred* For the battered and torn little canvai which hung in the Winter Exhibition oi the Royal Academy aa Gainsbororgh'l "Miss Linley" he paid £9000; and for th< famous "biberon" of rock crystal and golo the largest sum ever paid at Christie* for a work of art — 15,500g5.

THE CRAZE FOR COLLECTTXG.

Butterflies or beetles, stamps, picture post-cards, or old pewter, one or other of: them we are bound to collect, or to have collected at some period of ouv llw«s Tho craze for collecting is universal, and yet, as Mrs John Lane points out in a witty article on the subject in the February number of Pearson's Magazine, it is a healthy craze. She has many good storie3 to tell of tho joys t>nd sorrows and excitements of the collector's life. Here is ono of them: —

Mrs Lone writes: —

"That collectors are often hard up gives an added touch of piquancy to the joy of collecting. Some years asro a young American painter was in Cologne, prowlirf? about. Now he is quite the fashion, and his trouser pockets bulge with sparo cash. In those days they hung flabby. He had an expert eye for pictures, ancl when ho could he bought. Fate took him to an ancient patrician Cologne house which the whirligig of time had turned into a Tag-shop. Fiom top to bottom it was stuffed full of the refuse of ancient garrots. His soul achod when he 6aw the splendid ca'^cd oak stairs, down which many a lovely r 3ot had tripped, quire jjnen over to the Festive worm. The walls of ono groat room were covered by a most nauseating collection of old masters. Ho looked them idly over aa he strolled along, a-nd suddenly ho stopped as if he had been f-hor. He askee! the price of half a dozen pictures bc-'oro bo asked the price of the one, a very dirty portrait.

'"That, the worthy shopkeeper explained 1 , who had followed at his heels, was & real' Velasquez, and the price in American, money rbout lOOdol. Now, the point is that the painter man was ready to stake his life on its heir,? a real Velasquez, but h i no more could scrape together lOOdol than a hundred thousand. He had na money and no cicdit, and he saw amid all this worthless rubbish a priceless gem. Ho cursed his fato. pawned h's old gold watch, and took the next train back to Paris, where he was studying. All hig friends were, like himself, impecunious, though sympathetic, and just as he was on the very ver^o of despair he met a countryman of his who was a traveller inj the millinery line, and, though he hadi once scoffed at millinery, it came nobly to his aid, and ho made a bee-line back to Cologne. So great was his excitement that he rabbed it to the rag-shop, and flow up to the picture room, the shop-kor-npr again at his heels. He stared wildly about.

"'Where is thp Vcla°quez?' he crfod. ancl his lips trembled so that ho could hardly stammer out the words.

" 'Oh. we sold that the very day you saw it !'

"The painter lias often tried to desenbo his feeling:, but always fouml language totally inadequate. The Ve!a=^uez noV hangs in tho Louvre."