FINE ARTS. 



317 



GRIAT BUITAI.V. The activity which tlio art 

 market >f London usually exhibits in tin- spring 

 and summer was fully sustained in 186(3, al- 

 though in the character and quality of tho 

 works offered for sale, and in the prices which 

 they realized, the year cannot bo said to have 

 shown such striking results as its predecessor. 

 In ISil'i I'urvliasors seemed to put no bounds 

 possess works by artists whom 

 . or popular caprice, had brought into 

 prominciire. In the succeeding year, prices 

 a scale more in accordance with 

 the actual value of the works disposed of, al- 

 :i they still remained relatively high. The 

 ^tions most in demand are still those of 

 .dern British school, and particularly of 

 that branch of it which has flourished within 

 the lost quarter of a century. The painters 

 who were famous in the latter part of tho last 

 century and the beginning of the present are, 

 with some notable exceptions, gradually falling 

 into disrepute, while for good average works 

 by Turner, "Ward, "Webster, Stanfield, Roberts, 

 or Landseer, from five hundred to two thousand 

 guineas are often obtained. Tho Continental 

 schools are apparently less known or appre- 

 1 than in tho United States, notwithstand- 

 ing their principal seats lie almost at the door 

 of London ; and probably as many pictures by 

 French, Belgian, or German- painters are an- 

 nually sold at auction, in New York alone, as 

 in all England. On the other hand, British art 

 is almost unknown on the Continent, and until 

 within a lew years it was unsuspected there 

 that such a thing as a national and original 

 school of painting flourished in England. The 

 passion for collecting works by the old masters, 

 and more particularly those of the Flemish and 

 Dutch schools of tho sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries, for which English connoisseurs were 

 once noted, has very considerably declined, 

 although well-authenticated pictures of this 

 class, in good condition, still command high 

 -. But where from one thousand to six 

 thousand guineas were once given. for such 

 works, probably less than tho first-named sum 

 would now bo obtained. Tho auction sales 

 commenced hi March, and continued well into 

 July. In April, many fine water-color draw- 

 ings by W. Hunt, Cox, Roberts, and other pop- 

 ular artists were disposed of at prices far below 

 what their works had obtained in previous 

 years. A collection of twenty sketches by John 

 Leech, brought only 15., and thirty-seven 

 beautifully executed pen-and-ink drawings by 

 Flaxman, to illustrate Hesiod's "Theogony" 

 and " Works and Days," 21. A pair of por- 

 traits, by Hudson, fetched 10s. 6d. ; and the 

 " Deliverance of St. Peter," by Hilton, a once 

 popular painter of history, 225. On May 19th, 

 perhaps the most important sale of the season, 

 BO far as prices were involved, took place in 

 London. Turner's " Seventh Plague of Egypt " 

 fetched 1,060 ; " View of Dort," by Stanfield, 

 1,450 ; " Taming of tho Shrew," by Landseer, 

 1,510; Rosa Bonheur's "Labourages Niver- 



naU," originally painted for Count Orlofli 

 2,100; and "The Hay Wain," by Constable, 

 which forty years ago waa exhibited in Paris 

 ami obtained for tho artist a gold medal from 

 tho French government, 1,365. A landscape, 

 by Gainsborough, brought 504; and one by 

 Richard Wilson, 42 ; and a portrait of a lady, 

 by Reynolds, 320. Works by Calcott, Cooper, 

 Collins, Ward, Webster, Etty, Dyce, Mailer, 

 Phillip, and others, were also disposed of at 

 prices ranging from five hundred to twelve 

 hundred pounds. In the same month occurred 

 a sale of works by tho old masters, an event of 

 so rare occurrence in London now-a-days, that 

 it was singled out for special comment. The 

 highest prices obtained were 609 for a still- 

 life subject, by Weenix, and 504 for a seaport 

 scene by Claude. Pictures by Van der Velde, 

 Cuyp, Berghem, Teniers, Canaletti, Guido, Mu- 

 rillo, and other masters, once in repute in Eng- 

 land, fetched from one hundred to two hundred 

 and fifty pounds only, far less than they would 

 have realized a few years ago. In June, another 

 similar sale took place, with very similar results. 

 An ' " Infant Christ," by Raphael, which has 

 been engraved by Doo, fetched 430 ; and tho 

 " Burial of the Virgin," attributed to Giotto, 

 178. In the same month a large and admira- 

 ble collection of etchings and engravings, the 

 property of Mr. Drugulin, of Leipsic, was sold 

 at what were considered fair prices. From 

 among a fine series of the works of Albert 

 Durer, may be mentioned the "Passion of 

 Christ," 17; "St. Eustachius," 33; and 

 " The Knight, Death, and the Devil," 30. The 

 collection also contained a number of the 

 choicest etchings of Rembrandt, including his 

 famous "Christ Healing the Sick," called "The 

 Hundred Guilder Piece," which fetched 70; 

 the "EcceHomo," 25 10j.;'the "Burgomas- 

 ter Six," 27; and "St. Francis Praying," 

 29. The last notable sale of the season was 

 that of the collection of prints and drawings by 

 the old masters, formed by the late Dr. Wel- 

 lesley, principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford, and 

 which comprised examples of most of the great 

 painters of all the various schools. Those by 

 Claude numbered over one hundred, and were 

 of excellent quality. This remarkable collec- 

 tion produced nearly 9,500, and during the 

 two weeks that it continued, excited among 

 connoisseurs an unusual spirit of competition, 

 which was kept up until tho last lot was dis- 

 posed of. From among the drawings the fol- 

 lowing may be quoted: "Portrait of Cornelis- 

 sen," by Vandyke, 20 ; " Portrait of L. Sforza," 

 by Leonardo da Vinci, 54 ; "Giovanni Galeazzo, 

 duke of Milan," by the same, 82 ; " Head of a 

 Young Female," by the same, 43 ; " Portrait 

 of Philip the Second," by Titian, 18 10*. ; 

 "St. Hubert," by the same, 42; "A Land- 

 scape, with Waterfall," by the same, 30; 

 " Adoration of the Shepherds," by the same, 

 1717. ; "Infant Saviour," by the same, 

 17 10. ; " Ancient Roman Ruins," by Claude, 

 65 2*. ; " Piazza St. Marco, Venice " an ad- 



