FINE ARTS IN 188T. 



270 



their prizes could not be given to them, and 

 they will probably be added to those of next 

 year. The Norman W. Dodge prize of $300, 

 for the best picture painted in the United States 

 by a woman, was awarded to Mrs. Mary Curtis 

 Richardson for her portrait - piece entitled 

 " Lenten Lilies." 



At the third annual Prize Fund Exhibition 

 of the American Art Association, held in New 

 York in May, the catalogue contained 242 

 numbers, including pictures and sculpture. 

 Two prizes of $2,000 each were awarded as 

 follows: Charles H. Davis for his landscape 

 entitled "Late Afternoon " ; Edward Gay for a 

 landscape, " Broad Acres." The former be- 

 longs to the Union League Club and the latter 

 to the Metropolitan Museum. Ten gold medals 

 of $100 each were distributed as follows : 

 Robert Blum for " Venetian Lacemakers " ; 

 W. L. Dodge, u Death of Minnehaha " ; Hora- 

 tio Walker, " Milkmaid " ; George W. May- 

 nard, " Sappho " ; Carlton Wiggins, " Early 

 Morning " ; J. F. Murphy, " September After- 

 noon"; F. D. Millet, "Difficult Duet"; J. 

 Scott Hartley, " Satan Vanquished " (sculpt- 

 ure) ; George Hitchcock, " Toilers of the 

 Sea " ; D. W. Tryon, " Night." 



The Society of American Artists held its 

 ninth annual exhibition at the Yandell Gallery, 

 New York, April 25 to May 14, with 148 en- 

 tries. A prize of $300, offered to the society 

 by Dr. W. Seward Webb for the best land- 

 scape by an American artist under forty years 

 of age, was awarded to J. Francis Murphy for 

 his ' Brook and Field." 



The American Water-Color Society's twen- 

 tieth annual exhibition, held in New York 

 (January 31 to February 26), contained 656 

 works. An exhibition of works by the New 

 York Etching Club was held in one of the 

 rooms of the Academy at the same time. 



An exhibition of 223 pictures by French art- 

 ists was held at the Academy, New York (May 

 25 to June 30), under the management of M. 

 Durand-Ruel, of Paris. The place of honor 

 was occupied by Eugene Delacroix's great 

 picture, "The Death of Sardanapalus " (Salon, 

 1827), which marked the transition of the 

 French school from classicism to romanticism. 

 Other noted pictures were ten studies by 

 Puvis de Chavannes, from which were painted 

 the mural decorations of the Pantheon in Paris 

 and the museum at Amiens; Manet's "Death 

 of Maximilian," and examples by Henner, Re- 

 noir, Monet, Jules Dupr6, and other famed 

 artists. 



The Metropolitan Museum has received, by 

 bequest of Miss Catherine L. Wolfe, late of 

 New York, a magnificent collection of about 

 200 works in oil and water-color, valued at 

 from $400,000 to $500,000. It includes chiefly 

 fine examples of the modern French and Ger- 

 man schools. Another noteworthy gift, by 

 George I. Seney, of Brooklyn, consists of 

 about twenty pictures, including Lerolle's 

 "Organ Rehearsal," Julian Dupre 1 s "The 



Balloon," and Josef Israel's "Expectation" 

 and " Bashful Suitor." Other works acquired 

 by the museum during the past year are 

 " Christopher Columbus at the Court of Fer- 

 dinand and Isabella," by Vacslav Brozik, pre- 

 sented by Morris K. Jesup, who purchased it 

 for $20,000 ; " The Horse Fair," by Rosa Bon- 

 heur, presented by Cornelius Vanderbilt; 

 " 1807," by Meissonier, and "The Defense of 

 Champigny," by Detaille, presented by Henry 

 Hilton ; " Thusnelda at the Triumph of Ger- 

 manicus," presented by Horace Russell ; "The 

 Vintage," by L'Hermitte, presented by Will- 

 iam Schaus ; " Trustees of the Earl of West- 

 moreland," by Sir Joshua Reynolds, presented 

 by Junius S. Morgan, London. 



Among the important pictures exhibited in 

 New York during the past year were " The 

 Gilder " (Le Doreur), one of Rembrandt's best 

 works, purchased by William Schaus from the 

 heirs of the De Morny estate ; " Christ before 

 Pilate," "Christ on Calvary," and "The Death 

 of Mozart," by Mihail Munkacsy; "Madonna 

 and Child," by Franz Defregger; " Tel-el-Ke- 

 bir," by Alphonse de Nenville; "Une Bergere 

 Souvenir de la Picardie," by Charles Sprague 

 Pearce, which won the great medal of honor 

 at Ghent, 1886; "Russian Wedding Feast," 

 and " Choosing the Bride," by Konstantin 

 Makoffsky; " The Wise and Foolish Vir- 

 gins," by Carl von Piloty; " Diana's Hunting 

 Party," and "The Five Senses," by Hans 

 Makart; " Elaine," by Toby Rosenthal : "The 

 Two Sisters," by Charles Giron. Munkacsy's 

 " Christ before Pilate " has been purchased by 

 John Wannamaker, Philadelphia, for more 

 than $100,000, and his " Last Days of Mozart," 

 for $50,000, by R. A. Alger, Detroit, who has 

 presented it to the Detroit Museum. Benja- 

 min-Constant's " Justinian " (Salon, 1886) has 

 been bought by Robert Mannheimer, St. Paul, 

 Minn. ; De Neuville's " Tel-el-Kebir " has been 

 purchased by James Hill, also of St. Paul. 



The most important art sale of the year was 

 that of the A. T. Stewart collection, which was 

 exhibited at the American Art Galleries, New 

 York, from February 21 until the sale, March 

 23, and the following days. An illustrated edi- 

 tion of the catalogue, limited to 500 copies, 

 with etchings of the pictures by prominent 

 artists, was issued. The total amount of the 

 sale, including pictures, sculptures, bronzes, 

 ceramics, books, etc., was $581,933. Among 

 the best prices obtained were : Meissonier, 

 "1807," $66,000, " At the Barracks," $16,000, 

 "Charity," $10,500; Rosa Bonheur, "Horse 

 Fair," $53,000; Auguste Bonheur, "Environs 

 of Fontainebleau," $17,800 ; Ge>6me, " Chariot 

 Race," $7,100, "The Gladiators," $11,000, 

 " Une Collaboration," $8,100; Erskine Nicoll, 

 " The Disputed Boundary," $15,250 ; Mariano 

 Fortuny, "The Serpent Charmer," $13,100, 

 " Beach at Portici," $10,100 ; Ludwig Knaus, 

 "The Children's Party," $21,300; Constant 

 Troyon, "Landscape and Cattle," $11,000, 

 "Cattle," $7,150; Bouguereau, "Homer and 



