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FINE AETS. 



FINE ARTS. Under this head it is pro- 

 posed to give an annual summary of the chief 

 events occurring in relation to art, both in 

 Europe and America. Criticism, except of a 

 very general character, will he avoided, as in- 

 consistent with the scope or purpose of the arti- 

 cle, which will record chiefly the increase, dis- 

 covery, accumulation, dispersion, or destruction 

 of works of art during the year. Incidental to 

 this will be an account of the rise of new artists 

 into eminence, or the decease of those already 

 known ; but in the latter case the chief infor- 

 mation must be sought for under the appropri- 

 ate biographical or obituary head. 



ENGLAND. So great has been the accumula- 

 tion of works of art in England during the 

 present century, in consequence not only of the 

 increase of wealth but of improved taste, that 

 London has become one of the chief European 

 marts for the purchase or sale of this species 

 of property, the value of which of late years 

 has been considerably enhanced. Every spring, 

 when the city is fullest of people of wealth and 

 art culture, collections of various degrees of 

 merit, but generally of native or at least 

 modern origin, are disposed of at auction, and 

 pass into the possession of new collectors. 

 Whether from a capricious taste or impaired 

 means, it often happens, however, that such 

 works remain but a comparatively short time 

 in the hands of the purchaser, and that a few 

 years will find them again offered for public 

 competition. Another, and probably a better, 

 reason for this frequent change of ownership, 

 is the enormous rise in the value of pictures 

 which has taken place within a comparatively 

 recent period, and which has made the pur- 

 chase and sale of them a source of profit to 

 expert dealers. Hence the frequent reappear- 

 ance of the work.s of popular artists like Tur- 

 ner, Landseer, Stanfield, Roberts, Faed, and 

 others, in the auction-room, indicates a less 

 healthy growth in taste than the casual observer 

 might suppose, but rather great activity of the 

 commercial spirit of the country in a new chan- 

 nel. Whether such a result is beneficial to 

 British art, it does not fall within our province 

 to inquire; but that it tends to increase the 

 number of artists and of their works is beyond 

 question. The spring of 1865 witnessed a 

 more than ordinary activity in the public sales 

 of works of art, and during the months of 

 March, April, and May thousands of oil paint- 

 ings, water-color drawings, engravings, etc., 

 were disposed of at unexampled prices by the 

 metropolitan auctioneers. " Everybody," says 

 the London " Athenroum," " who has a collec- 

 tion seems determined to dispose of it, and 

 accident has thrown a large number of works 

 on the art-market ; but as those who have taste 

 and means seem just as eager to buy as the 

 collectors are to sell, the activity of the art- 

 marts is but a natural consequence of the law 

 of supply and demand, the natural limit having 

 been extended in several instances by the acci- 

 dental reappearance of many works twice or 



three times during the season. It is always 

 dangerous to assume the prophetic character ; 

 but it appears very improbable that, on the 

 average, works of art will fetch higher snms 

 than they have during the present year." This 

 supposition will not appear unreasonable in 

 view of the fact that, during the season in 

 question, the productions of several British 

 artists, who have flourished within the last 

 quarter of a century, have realized prices vary- 

 ing from five hundred to nearly twenty-five 

 hundred guineas, or many times more than 

 these artists would have- obtained for them a 

 few years ago. The first prominent sale of th 

 season was that of the collection of Mr. H. 

 Wallis, comprising 130 pictures which realized 

 an aggregate of 9,645. In March a collec- 

 tion of 170 oil paintings and water-color draw- 

 ings, belonging to Mr. T. Blackburn, was sold 

 for 8,763, and a miscellaneous collection of 

 177 oil paintings fetched over 10,000. Another 

 collection of 78 pictures, the property of Mr. R. 

 G. Reeves, was disposed of for 6,275. On 

 March 24th and 25th a collection of oil pictures 

 and water-colors, including masterpieces by 

 Turner, Stanfield, Roberts, Creswick, Mullen, 

 and others, realized the large sum of 18,475. 

 The productions by Turner were water-color 

 drawings, never previously exhibited in public, 

 and sold for almost as many guineas as the artist 

 could originally have obtained shillings. This 

 portion of the sale closed with Turner's famous 

 oil painting "Palestrina," which brought 2,100 

 guineas. At the same sale a landscape by Stan- 

 field, " On the Maas, near Dordt," fetched 2,110 

 guineas, and " Interior of St. Stephens, Vienna," 

 by Roberts, 1,820 guineas. So large were these 

 prices that competent critics declared their 

 inability to comprehend on what principle the 

 purchases were made, unless that of buying what 

 could be most readily and profitably sold again. 

 On April 7th and 8th, the collection of Mr. 

 John Knowles of Manchester, rich in engrav- 

 ings, water-color pictures, and oil paintings, was 

 disposed of at auction for 21,750. Three pic- 

 tures realized over 4,000, viz.: "Spanish 

 Muleteers crossing the Pyrenees," by Rosa Bon- 

 heur, 2,000 guineas ; " Religious Controversy 

 in the tune of Louis XIV.," by Elmore, 1,000 

 guineas ; and " The Errand Boy," in size only 

 14 inches by 19, by Sir David Wilkie, 1,050 

 guineas. In this sale, as at previous ones, it 

 was noticed that the highest prices were given 

 for pictures by no means the highest in the 

 scale of merit, but which from certain extrinsic 

 qualities, or on account of the popularity of the 

 artists, were nevertheless in greater demand 

 and were held to possess greater merit than 

 those in which intellectual labor was combined 

 with unquestioned artistic qualities. One of the 

 most interesting sales in April was that of the 

 artistic remains of John Leech, coiupririns 

 sketches, drawings, and a few oil paintings, and 

 which realized the handsome sum of 6,580. 

 Most of the sketches were little more than first 

 ideas of the pictures which for so many years 



