PICTURES FOR AUCKLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19050, 1 July 1924, Page 7

PICTURES FOR AUCKLAND

VISCOUNT LEVERHULME’S GIFTS. SIX VALUABLE WORKS. THREE BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES. Auckland, as well as Wanganui, is to benefit by Lord Leverliulme’s splendid generosity. Three years ago the Rt. Hon. Viscount Loverhulnie presented to the Auckland City Gallery, through Dr. T. W. Leys, a very brilliant picture by the eminent French artist Tissot. When Viscount Leverhulme was in Auckland, he was shown over the City and Mackelvie Galleries, and expressed admiration for the very fine collection of paintings, observing that the Mackelvie Trustees must have been well served by the gentlemen entrusted with the purchase of pictures. He noted that our gallery had no picture by Sir E. Burne-Jones, and promised to supply the deficiency. He has more than redeemed his promise in the following letter received by Dr. T. W. Leys:— “Dear Dr. Leys,—l have now had an opportunity of making the selection of pictures or drawings that I am proposing to send as a free gift to the Auckland Art Gallery, and I attach a list of the same. I am having these packed and forwarded at an early date. May I again repeat there is no obligation on the Committee of the, Auckland Art Gallery to accept all or any of these pictures. If any arc found not suitable, or all are found to be unsuitable, then please have them forwarded to Messrs Lever Bros., Ltd., Petone, near Wellington. I hope you may find some of them of interest. It is a great pleasure to me to be able to help in this way.” The list of pictures included in this very valuable and generous gift is as follows: A. Anderson, 188 4. “Husband, Children, Home—After Earthquake.” Woman in grey dress lying full length on ruins; sea in distance. Oil. Sight size, 32in X 53in. Morgan. “A Coming Nelson.” Oil. Frame size, 38in X 49in. . Jas. Orrock. “Normanton on Soar, Leicestershire.” Oil. Sight size 31iinx 49£in. Six E. Burne-Jones. **The Car of Love, or Love’s Wayfaring.” Love, mounted on a high and ponderous car, dragged by his votaries. Pastel. Sight size, 107 in x 58in. Sir E. Burne-Jones. “By the Rivers of Babylon.” One or two designs for church at Kirkcaldy; group of Jews sitting beside a little curling stream, speaking to their children, who sit with them or separate by tho waterside; on a tree above hang four large harps, in the shadow of the high walls of a city. Chalk. Sight size, 84in x 25iin. Sir E. Burnes-Jones. “St. Hilda.” design for stained glass window at Edinburgh. Fully draped female figure, her draperies cast over head like a hood, standing full-length, head in profile and slightly downcast to right, her arms crossed on her breast; a broad scroll her head for inscription, a mass of rocks behind her; painted top. Chalk. Sight size, 70in X 264 in. Many Municipal Galleries in Great Britain have been enriched by Viscount Leverhulme’s liberality as a patron of art. He has also presented a very fine collection of pictures, nobly housed, to Port Sunlight. His gift of Stafford House as a permanent home for the London Museum was among his; princely gifts. His own private collection of pictures ranks amongst the finest in England. All the pictures enumerated in the list of his generous gift to Auckland are by artists of outstanding merit. Among these, works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones occupy a unique position. He was an active member of the circle which gathered around Ruskin and William Morris, and he produced a number of stained glass designs for Morris’s firm and cartoons for tapestry. He was elected A.R.A. in 1886, and received the D.C.L., of Oxford, in 1881, and a baronetcy from Queen Victoria in 18 94. After his death in 1898, i his painting, “King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid,” was bought by public subscription and presented to tho National Gallery of British Art, which also possesses two other paintings by him and thirty-five drawings and sketches.