Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

had aroused to subside, and devoted his leisure hours to the promotion of a taste for art in his countrymen, adopting this as his recreation and pleasure, and continuing to make friends among the paint ers and sculptors in his own city.

For many years Mr. Marquand has been carefully collecting paintings and other beautiful objects, and although he has presented a large portion of these to the public, his house still contains many interesting and valuable specimens of ceramics, painting, and sculpture. This house, which was one of the earliest efforts to break the unvaried monotony of our streets, was designed by the late Rich ard M. Hunt, and is a delightful piece of architecture, its interior bearing ample evidence of the refined taste of its owner. Since retiring from active business Mr. Marquand has devoted more and more time to his favorite pursuits. His collections, which have been made personally and with great care, are not confined to any one branch, but include pictures, porcelain, tapestries, enamels-in fact, everything that is artistic or illustrative of the progress of the arts. Neither has he neglected the cause of music, having acted as one of the directors of the musical festivals held some years ago in New York under the leadership of Theodore Thomas. He has also given money and influence to the development of the higher class of operatic works and the establishment of a suitable place for their performance, and stimulated by his liberal patronage a taste for orchestral music of the first order. His own house has on many occasions been thrown open for classical renderings, when the musicians outuumbered the listeners.

It is not surprising that one whose fine nature inspired him to study and foster the beautiful should be found equally sympathetic with all forms of education. It is many years since he began a series of benefactions to Princeton University. His first contribution enabled the institution to build a gymnasium. Later on he was the principal contributor to the Art Museum, and the beautiful Chapel--the work of Hunt-was his gift also. His son, Professor Allen Marquand, occupies the chair of Art and Archæology in that institution, and by his devotion, learning, and liberality reflects honor upon the father whose artistic bent seems to be reproduced in him.

He

All of Mr. Marquand's benefactions have been made in the most unostentatious manner possible, and although his gifts to the Metropolitan Museum have been continual, the mode of their presentation has been so modest and unassuming that their importance has never had proper and widespread recognition. began his public gifts in 1880, with the wonderful collection of Venetian glass and ancient American pottery; this was shortly followed by the two collections of Charvet glass and the presentation in 1882 of the superb altar-piece by Luca della Robbia; after this a collection of Russian metallic reproductions and a fund for the Art School of thirty thousand dollars; and finally, in January, 1889, he crowned all his former gifts by the presentation of his collection of old masters and paintings of the early English school.

These pictures were first exhibited in New York when, in 1888, Mr. Marquand lent them to the museum. A few months later, in January, 1889, he presented them outright, with no conditions attached to the gift excepting a modestly expressed wish that, in so far as it was possible, they should be kept together. How deeply this munificent gift was appreciated by the trustees of the museum is amply testified in the elaborate resolutions of acknowledgment and thanks that were drawn up and sent to Mr. Marquand when the pictures were officially accepted, which, after enumerating his different gifts, concludes with this tribute to his public-spirited generosity: "These several donations rank high among the most liberal and beneficent contributions made by any American in his lifetime from private resources for a public use."

In forming his collection Mr. Marquand has had not only the guidance of his own cultivated taste, but the help and advice of a number of eminent painters whom he counts among his personal friends, and the result of all this care and intelligent selection is to be seen in the admirable group of pictures that hangs at present in Eastern Gallery No. 2 of the museum. This group, with some additions that have been made since the original gift, now comprises about fifty-two paintings, in almost every instance thoroughly characteristic examples of the painters whose names they bear.

It was many years ago that the particular usefulness of making such a collec

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]

in all art matters, they quite naturally turned to him for help in their new enterprise, and although he was not a rich man when they first began their exhibitions, he was often induced to attend their sales and bid upon the pictures, and several times found himself the possessor of work he did not admire because he happened to prove the only bidder. It was during these sales that Mr. Marquand became convinced that a really good picture rarely failed to find a ready purchaser, and he determined to devote his attention to a comparatively neglected field, and thus began his collection of old pictures. He felt sure that a group of paintings of the highest order would be unique and invaluable, for although the museum at the outset had secured a creditable collection of old masters, which were looked upon at the time of their purchase as a great acquisition, they comprised few examples of the first order, and could hardly be compared in importance with even the least interesting paintings that were subsequently brought together by Mr. Marquand. The value to the public of such a collection could not be estimated; but there were great difficulties lying in the way of any collector of representative works. In the first place, really fine examples by the best men are rarely offered for sale, and when they are, every effort is always made by foreign museums to secure them for their galleries, and the European governments throw every obstacle in the way of their exportation. There was an additional drawback in the stupid prejudice that imposed an almost prohibitive entrance tax upon works of art brought into the United States; and on several of the paintings that Mr. Marquand has since given to the public he was forced to pay thousands of dollars in duties. It was largely through his exertions that this odious tax was first modified and finally removed.

In giving his pictures to the museum Mr. Marquand had primarily in view the benefit they would confer upon students of art, and there is no doubt that this mission has been more than accomplished. Painters and students have found in these a mine of inexhaustible wealth, and they have aided and encouraged many persons who are not able to afford the luxury of study abroad; but its educational value is not restricted-or rather ought not to be restricted to this one class; the pic

tures should command a far more general enthusiasm and appreciation.

The interest we feel in visiting foreign galleries comes largely from the fact that we have been drilled to admire their most celebrated masterpieces, and all that we have read in praise of these famous works has its influence also. We are usually quite familiar with the varied reproductions of their beauties, and almost always meet the originals as old and valued friends. It is no wonder that we constantly mistake association for appreciation; if this were not so, much more attention would be devoted to the small but wholly satisfactory little gallery that lies open at our doors, where every painting is interesting, and several cannot be surpassed by anything to be found in the more advertised European collections.

In

Where, for instance, could we find a more satisfying example of Vandyck's English mauner than in the fine portrait of James, Duke of Lennox and Richmond, that occupies the place of honor in the Marquand Gallery? The original of this noble portrait was a near relation of Charles the First, and is said to have been present at his execution, when he offered himself to the executioner as a substitute for the King-a gallant offer, no doubt, although perhaps a very safe one. this painting we have "il pittore cavalieresco" in his most distinguished mood, for although the picture lacks a triffe of the force and virility that characterize Vandyck's earlier productions, the weakness in the painting of the head is more than atoned for by an additional elegance and distinction which seem to have been developed in the Flemish painter by the English type, a quality that is less strongly emphasized in his portraits of the stolid yonkers of his father-land.

The late Lord Leighton, speaking of this picture in a letter to Mr. Marquand, says: "I know your Vandyck well; it is superb; there could not be a finer specimen of the master. Of course my heart bleeds that it should leave this country; you will understand that; and so much granted, there is no one in whose hands I would rather know it beyond our shores than yours. I heartily wish you joy of it."

There is another Vandyck in this gallery, the portrait of a woman, and it has some qualities that the larger picture does not possess, the head in particular

[graphic]

THE MARQUAND GALLERY OF OLD MASTERS, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

ment of a bit of emas ng w intervening op ree and roo's meet to the gray eo, ati,ta bulgeround for the mos could loudly be riva od himself Mr Horney in regnantiny Town of this picture for an ex. old masters at Burlington House merilce it "the maten een portrait of Pram Hala by her potent hasband, Huk consiners us by his spontanery 1 at he loved his painting, there is something wo bounty and joyous about his work, and I always goes straught to the point. amming to have no trouble or hesitation In doing so What the aristocrat Velas que did for the royal family and bida.Bore of Hpain, Hals, in a more home.y moner, has done for the good people of Holland painting them with a couvietion and power that we find in no other of the Northern painters, however brillbant, for to us the strength and greatmos of Vandyck, Rembrandt, and others equally distinguished lie in quite a diffrent direction Perhaps the museum may eventually come into possession of two small bonds by Habs that are now in the private collection of Mr. H. O. Have mayer, for these, together with the portrait of Man Hals, would form a group of this master's work difficult to rival in any country

A small Busanna by Rubens quite adequately expresses the spirit of this painter at his very best. Bathed in the Vich glow of color in which he delighted, it is far more convincing than the life alve portrait of a man by the same hand,

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

M. MA espretedy a friend and this pre

The Time Van de tion is unique quand chanced spre ly. He was taken in Paris to see a Vaziy ture was shown him as an after thought. There are few examples of this painter's work in existence, and Mr Marqiand Las secured one of the very best, and by so doing has added another gem to his pietures. On the little canvas the very last word in genre painting has been said. It is so modern in feeling and treatment that one wonders how any later painter can be foolliardy enough to attempt over again the problems that Van der Meer has managed to solve so satisfactorily. Here are to be found finish that never

« AnteriorContinuar »