PIANOLA 300 YEARS OLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12718, 13 August 1919, Page 4

PIANOLA 300 YEARS OLD.

TREASURES AUSTRIA IS TO DISGORGE. Among the many problems concerning Austria which the Peace Conference has to decide is the question of Italy’s claim to many of the world’s greatest masterpieces now in the museums of Vienna..

Tho fate of these priceless treasnreb is being watched with tense interest by art connoisseurs the world over, but the general public has little knowledge of the importance from an historical point of view of the impending changes. Italy’s claims are based upon three considerations, according to Professor Paolo d’Ancona, head or the Italian Art Mission in Vienna. First, as indemnity for the art works, valued at £2,000,000, destroyed in Austrian raids during the war on places such as Venice, Ancona, Padua, Ravenna; works of art stolen or forcibly carried off in the many invasions of Italy in the past, and works which logically belong to the territory now occupied by Italy or about to become Italian, including Pola, Lissa Island and Fin me.

There are also provisional claims for Italy’s share in works which belong to her historically in the event of the Vienna and Budapest museums being divided up among the nations of the former Dual Monarchy. The Czechs have lodged a similar claim, Eighteen of the paintings demanded alone represent half of the art indemnities claimed. All those are by Italian artists, except Rembrandt’s famous portrait of himself- There are also several Rubens of great size, and a valuable canvas by Giorgioni, in which is the first known painting of a sunrise. Other notable works are Raphael’s “Madonna del Prato” and Titian’s “.Madonna of the Cherries.” In view of the unsettled state of affairs in Austria all the museums in Vienna are. now closed, but the objects required by Italy are marked with a piece of rod paper- Should all the works so marked bo taken away the historical value of these museums will in great part be destroyed. According to the Austrian version many of these treasures are claimed by Italy solely on the ground of their Italian origin If this principle were enforced generally there would be many gaps in the British Museum.

The Italians are asking for the famous crown of the Holy Roman Empire, because it is thought to have been made in Italy. The Austrians, however, advance, with substantial evidence, that it was fabricated by the workmen of Mayence. Another glorious masterpiece is Benvenuto Cellini’s gold salt-coffer, made for Francis I. of France, and given by Charles IX. as a wedding present to Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol. Among the musical instruments is the earliest known specimen of a mechanical piano, made in the sixteenth century by Samuel Biederman, of Augsburg. It is a long narrow box, fitted with a keyboard similar to those of the old claviers, and plays four quaint little melodies—popular airs, no doubt, in the days of brave knights and fair ladies. The pianola, therefore, is not a modern invention. The prospect of losing all these treasures has caused consternation throughout Austria.