State Agricultural Society. 307 



PAINTINGS. 

 Statement of Mrs. W. E. Brown, of Sacramento. 



To the Committee on Gold Medals: 



I desire to enter the pictures which I had on exhibition at the last 

 annual Fair, for competition for the gold medal of the society. I claim 

 the medal, first, on account of the number and variety of the pictures 

 exhibited by me, embracing landscapes from original sketches; heads, 

 in oil and water colors; foliage, in oil on porcelain; and fruit, in pastels; 

 second, on the ground of their superior excellence. 



Very respectfully, MES. WM. E. BROWN, 



Corner Third and streets. 



PAINTINGS. 



Statement of Oscar Ivattschmidt, of San Francisco. 

 To the Committee on Gold Medals : 



Gentlemen: It does not seem to me to be exactly in accordance with 

 good taste for an artist to set forth the merits of his own art perform- 

 ances, especially in a contest for merit with the works of his brother 

 artists. It would he much more agreeable to me to leave this matter of 

 comparative merit entirely to the good taste and judgment of those who 

 are especially designated to decide it, without comment. But as you 

 require statements from all contestants for the gold medal, I suppose I 

 will have to \&y aside my own feelings in the matter and comply with 

 the requirement. 



First, then, I would remark that as the contest in the fine arts depart- 

 ment lies principally between two classes of work, viz: ordinary work 

 in marble, and paintings, I presume the committee will have no hesita- 

 tion in determining which of these classes is entitled to be placed first in 

 the scale of excellence or degree of merit. Had the artist in marble 

 presented finely executed specimens, requiring the highest order of art 

 in his class, such as historical or allegorical representations or statuary, 

 and the painters had presented only such samples of their art as require 

 the lowest order of skill, such as copies of other paintings, or specimens 

 of portraits, then a different question would have been presented to the 

 committee from the one raised by the facts of this exhibition. This 

 question having been decided, as I am satisfied it will be, in favor of the 

 paintings, the second question arises as to which artist in this class 

 exhibited works requiring the highest order of art to represent or 

 design and paint. This question can be easily determined by reference 

 to the entry books of the Fair, or it was undoubtedly remarked by those 

 members of the committee who examined the exhibitions of the dif- 

 ferent artists in the gallery. 



The exhibition made by myself embraced all the following subjects: his- 

 torical, allegorical, landscape, portraiture, and fruit, while, if I am not 

 mistaken, the exhibition of none of the other artists embraced more 



