THE AUCKLAND GALLERY AND ITS TREASURES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 60

THE AUCKLAND GALLERY AND ITS TREASURES.

By

EDITH SEARLE GROSSMAN, M.A.

Our recent guest, Lord N orthcliffe, when in Auckland, expressed his astonishment at the treasures of the city’s Public Library and the Old Colonists’ Museum. Probably lie meant to include in his appreciation the treasures of the Art Gallery which are housed in the same building. At least they merit equal praise. Each of the four centres of New Zealand has something in which it surpasses the others, as Christchurch and Dunedin have their University Colleges, Wellington its Public and Parliamentary Library, and its Government Buildings and its wharves. The most valuable belongings of Auckland are its Art Gallery v an<l Reference Library, and its city parks and gardens. lire Art Gallery is a treasury for the whole Dominion rather than just for the city itself. It, throws that of Christchurch into the shade as completely as, on the other hand, Canterbury College overshadows Auckland’s insignificant colleges. The collection of paintings is astonishing both for their number and their merit. Even in England there are only a few cities outside of London which can show galleries equal to this one. It includes amongst- the old masters several original pictures; a small “Holy Family” by Rafaelie, a “Virgin, Child, and Saints” by Parme-giano, a “Head of the Virgin” by Murillo, a pallid and tragic “Christ Mocked” by Velasquez, a “Saint John the Baptist” by Guerino, an infant “Christ Asleep” by Guido Beni, a “Pan and Syrinx” attributed to Rubens, “Jo-seph Sold into Captivity” (Horace Vernet). Rafaelie, Parmegiano, Guerino, and Guido Reni represent the old Italian school, Murillo and Velasquez the Spanish school, Rubens the Flemish. More numerous are the art treasures from the brush of the British masters. Three of these are by Reynolds; one, a man with a slightly cynical expression • another, a beautiful girl holding a dog; and a third, “A Holy Family,” a most beautiful and natural group. A tiny landscape bit claims to be, -and perhaps is, by Turner; but it certainly looks like the copies made by students in the Tait and the National Galleries. There is a Wilkie, a curiously eighteenth century “Ceres in Search 'of Prosperine” ; and a wierd eighteenth century “Serpent Tempting Eve,” by Fuseli, the once famous rival of William Blake at the close of the century before last. Pictures by distinguished and famous Royal Academicians abound. Among works by the best-known modern painters we have two by Sir Alma Tadema; one, .a strange, sombre, and gorgeous revel in an Egyptian palace, entitled “Egyptians Three Thousand Years Ago” : the other, a sensuous “Cleopatra” ; Sir Alfred East’s picture of Spanish peasants and citizens waiting “Outside the Bull Ring” ; a night scene, half in shadow, half in light by moon or lamps, a street by Clausen ; a small, but unique, effect by Woolner, the pre-Raphaelite and friend of Rossetti and Burne-Jones ; “Autumn Floods,” by Waterlaw ; “Cardinal Wolsey and the Duke of Buckingham,” by Sir J. Gilbert; Sir Edwin Long's “Lorna Doone” ; Herkomer's “Idler” ; and a small piece by Watts, which, however, does not show the wonderful suggestive power of his masterpieces. The Scotch painters represented are MaeWhirter, in two pictures, one exceedingly lovely, both, of course, landscapes with birch trees; Peter Graham, in “ A Highland Glen ” ; David Farquliarsoi), an autumn study, “From Birnam to Dunsinane,” Sir David Murray. There is a painting by Frank Brangwyn of a market at Montreuil; and an “Amlrocles and the Lion by one of the greatest of animal painters, Breton Riviere. Amongst foreigners are Cuyp, Hals, and Franck. James Tissot (in one of his earlier stylo), and Van der Weldon, whose work is the “Otira Gorge,” a duplicate of that in the- Christchurch Gallery. It may be remembered this eminent Dutch painter visiter New Zealand some 30 years ago. "The mere, list of names gives some idea of the number of valuable paintings. Those by the old masters, which are nearly all the gift of Sir George Grey, are priceless; so, too, are those by the earliest of our Wat, English painters, Sir Joshua Rev-

file artists represented are amongst the world's greatest masters. then works are to be found in the chief galleries of Europe. They adorn the walls of the National and the Tait Galleries, of the Louvre in Paris, the Pitti and the Uliiz/i in Florence, the Galleria Aegli Belle Arte in \ enic-e, the galleries of Rome, of Antwerp and Brussels. And all those named, be it remembered, are originals. 1 have passed over so far numerous copies of masterpieces, a copy of Rafaelie’s “Madonna Aegli bedia.” in Florence, one of Turner’s “Grand Canal” in Venice, others of Rosa Bonheur s “Horse Fair,” works by Rubens, j iepoio, Rembrandt-, and one tnat, even in the copy, is exceedingly lovely, Murillo’s “Assumption of the Madonna. But it is the originals that are a pos ession for all New Zealanders, and is is something lor the whole Dominion to have a collection like this. v Ike collection of paintings bv our bust oca - a lad painters is perhaps as in“rt ting to us as the bore cius ii . d masters and the aitLts of the English, Bcotcn, _ and foreign modern schools, laiilly, Worsloy, Gibb, Blomfield, Goldie, b'tcele, Wright, Kemictt Watkins are names that are familiar to all who frequent. tlie annual exhibitions in oar New zeaiand Cities. Besides the pictures by ;;l ‘o-.oa or by well-known a.-tist; , f many countries, there arc a large number inWVY- ilg ; n themselves, sonic ouch as the old-time Maori subjects, illustrating the o'g-’iie diets, customs and life of the Native race, pictures of historical seems, a burde / ra,d > the Day of Sedgemoor, scenes from the great war, picture* of places as they looked one or two centuries back, like those which render Brussels or Brighton in the Victorian or pre-Vic-torian days. Some attract attention for their own sake, like the lovelv and light picture of white-robed young dirls. whitefleeced lambs on a flowerv unland on a spring morning, or tile exquisite white and gold head of a female saint—bv an unknown painter. There i s yet another class, vvnich attract, on the whole, more attention than all the others. These are subject or “story” pictures, romances or poems or dramas cm canvas. Ihoy occupy some of the largest canvases, and generally draw most gazers, and they are one of marked features ox the Auckland Gallery. Some are also fine specimens of painting, but there are others of which tne whole value is the human interest suggested. Perhaps these are not examples of pure art, and some artists might regard them scornfully, but I think they have a place of their own, and it is perfectly natural that one should linger in front of them and spell out for oneself the half-hidden tale. Examples are the impressive “Legend of Sir Patrick Spoils,” by James Archer; the much-talked-of “In Times of Peril,” by Blair Leighton; “The Escape cf Royal Fugitives to Sanctuary" ; “Chatterton in his Room,” on the eve of suicide; “The Death of Burke,” the Australian explorer; “The Arrival of the Maori Canoes.” The Art Gallery properly so-called includes 10 large rooms. One of these is devoted to plaster casts of the most famous ancient statuary—the Venus of Milo (now in the Louvre), Venus de Medici in Florence, the Antinous, Laokoon, “Dying Gladiator,” Diana, Diskolbouies and Apollo Belvedere. Two ethers are chiefly filled with precious olyets de verta of all sorts, paintings oil enamels, mosaics, rare porcelain, and Venetian glass, cabinets, and tables of polished and inlaid woods, exquisitely carved ivory, cameos and miniature paintings, and a few specimens cf armour. All the rest are devoted to pictures. Up the staircase is the Lindauer collection of paintings of Maori chiefs and chieftainessee, a collection of real historical value. Besides the Art Gallery, Auckland possesses two other buildings devoted to art. In one across the street below Albert Park the local Society of Art holds its annual exhibitions of New Zealand paintings, and the other is the -School of Art in Rutland street. The great majority of pictures in the Ait Gallery were given by the munificence of art-loving citizens. The splendid donations of Sir George Grey are, so to speak, the foundation of the re~t. Next in extent and importance is the Mackelvse collection. The New Zealand section is largely a bequest of Helen Boyd; the piaster statuary was the gift of Mr i. Russell in 1878. Dr Leys, of the Auckland Star, has this year presented a magnificent gift of work by Ma-cW hirter, Albert Lynch, Gow, Sir Edwin Long, Sir Alma Tademo, and several F reni n and Spanish artists. Other donors are Mr Vaile, Sir John Logan Campbelb the Hon. A. Myers, Messrs Nathan Brothers. Lord Leverhulme this year gave a small paintaing by J. Tbsot. Ihe artist Breton Riviere gave lus “Androeles and the Lion. The 1 i*t°of givers is too long to set down here, but their civic spirit and munificence ought to act as a stimulus to the otner cities of Maoriland. I hope it may be possible, another time to give some details of the pictures that are of most popular int-rest though it must be confessed these are not always the ones that bear tne most i mucus iicinitrs.