250 



FINE ARTS IN 1902. 



trast to the gorgeous uniforms of the Western 

 court. 



The Victors of Paardeberg, by James P. Beadle, 

 is one of a few pictures dealing with the Boer 

 War. It illustrates the first noteworthy triumph 

 of the British arms, the surrender of Gen. Cronje 

 on the anniversary of Majuba day, in the spring 

 of 1900. The trench dug during the night by the 

 Canadians and a company of royal engineers 

 has rendered untenable the Boers' position, and 

 they have succumbed to the inevitable. They are 

 seen at the left straggling forward, unarmed, and 

 many carrying their portable possessions, while 

 the victors in front, emerging Irom their trench, 

 are greeting them, some shouting with caps in 

 air, some standing in silence. 



A portrait of Major-Gen. Baden-Powell, a bust 

 picture in khaki and slouched hat, is the sole 

 contribution of George F. Watts. A full-length 

 of Lord Milner, standing, with a bust of the 

 King in the background, by P. Tennyson Cole, 

 represents another figure prominent in South 

 African affairs. 



A Tanagraean Pastoral, by George H. Bough- 

 ton, aims to revitalize some of the beautiful fig- 

 urines exhumed in the neighborhood of Tanagra, 

 where they have lain buried from a time long 

 anterior to the Christian era. At the left Pan 

 presides over a fountain, at the base of which 

 are three musicians crowned with bays and play- 

 ing on pipe, lyre, and tambourine. At the right, 

 in the foreground, several dancers, in swirling 

 draperies, keep measure to the music on the 

 grass, against a background of poplars and of 

 purple hills. 



Mr. Sargent was represented by 8 life-size por- 

 traits and groups. One of the latter, The Ladies 

 Alexandra, Mary, and Theo Acheson, Daughters 

 of Lord Gosford, an essay in the grand style, has 

 been compared, though not very justly, with Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds's Three Irish Graces, in the Na- 

 tional Gallery. It is a picture full of grace and 

 sentiment, but the grace is of the present and not 

 of the eighteenth century. The most masterly 

 portrait of the exhibition was Mr. Sargent's Lord 

 Ribblesdale, standing, in a long riding-coat and 

 top hat, against a fluted marble pilaster. 



La Belle Dame sans Merci, by Frank Dicksee, 

 represents the lady of the " wild sad eyes " who 

 holds in thrall the dreamer of Keats's poem. The 

 mailed knight has dismounted and placed her on 

 his charger, beside which he walks, blind to all 

 else but her faerie song as she looks down on him 

 unpityingly as they move onward through a blos- 

 soming country to her " elfin grot." 



Opposite it hung the Aphrodite of Briton Rivi- 

 ere, which illustrates the potency of love, a can- 

 vas suggested by lines in the Homeric hymn tell- 

 ing how the laughter-loving goddess, gloriously 

 clad, hastened down many-rilled Ida, attended by 

 the gray wolf, the bear, the lion, and the pard, 

 each under her potent spell. 



London: New Gallery. The winter exhibi- 

 tion was devoted to royal portraits, a collection, 

 says one of its critics, that does not give a very 

 high idea of the artistic patronage of English 

 royalty. One of the best exhibits was the picture 

 of Richard II from Wilton House, a diptych rep- 

 resenting the monarch in company with St. John 

 the Baptist, a pure tempera painting on a pat- 

 terned gold ground that would have done credit 

 to the finest technicians of Italy, Fra Angelico, 

 or the Siennese. It is probably of French origin. 

 There was a good portrait of Richard III and one 

 of Henry VII, but it was not until Henry VIII 

 secured the services of Holbein that royalty was 

 worthily depicted. Among other exhibits were 



the portrait of Queen Mary, by Lucas de Heere, 

 many of Elizabeth, mostly attributed to Zuc- 

 chero, and a number of Stuart portraits attrib- 

 uted to Van Dyck. 



The fifteenth summer exhibition contained only 

 309 numbers, as compared with 469 of last year. 

 If this diminution meant a higher standard there 

 would be cause for congratulation, but it seems 

 to indicate rather that the New Gallery has 

 reached a critical point in its career, for ever 

 since the death of Sir Edward Burne-Jones its 

 exhibitions have decreased both in number and 

 importance. Among the best of the exhibits 

 were: 



Love steering the Boat of Humanity, by G. F. 

 Watts, which, like many of that painter's works, 

 is an allegory. On relentless waters, under a 

 stormy sky, Love steers the boat, in the bow of 

 which is Humanity, apparently in the teeth of a 

 strong wind, the sail having collapsed. The pic- 

 ture is a marvel for a man of Mr. Watts's years, 

 but it will scarcely rank as one of his great 

 works. 



Of Mr. Sargent's three contributions, The Chil- 

 dren of Asher Wertheimer is a decorative tri- 

 umph. It contains three figures, two girls on a 

 draped couch with a black poodle between them, 

 and a boy posed on the floor in front. It is a 

 well-balanced picture both in pose and in its 

 color scheme, and marked by absolute sincerity. 



Sir W. B. Richmond's Last Watch of Hero for 

 Leander represents her seated on a balcony at 

 evening by cypresses, tragically silhouetted 

 against the sky, as if conscious that her lover is 

 to come no more. 



Places of honor were given to three sequent 

 works, by C. E. Halle: In Infancy, the Mother's 

 Care, shows a child on the daisied bank of a river 

 giving to the kneeling mother a daffodil; In Man- 

 hood, the Help and Playmate, a young man and 

 a girl, lovers probably, are beneath an apple-tree ; 

 and In Old Age, the Daughter's Song, the patri- 

 arch, with gray locks and sunken cheeks, is sol- 

 aced by his daughter, who sings to the accom- 

 paniment of a harp. 



London: Picture Sales. While the art-sale 

 season of 1902 was not a very remarkable one, 

 a few pictures brought good prices. The num- 

 ber of paintings which have reached a limit of 

 1,400 guineas during the past eight years is as 

 follows: 1894, 20; 1895, 45; 1896, 28; 1897, 32; 

 1898, 15; 1899, 30; 1900, 23; 1901, 21. Taking 

 this as a standard, the sales of the present year 

 have been small, for only 19 have reached the 

 limit of 1,400 guineas, as is shown in the follow- 

 ing table: 



Guineai. 



G. Romney, Portrait of Miss Rodbard 10,500 



M. Hobbema. Peasants shaking: Hands 9,200 



J. Hoppner, Portrait of Lady Mary Arundel 7.800 



C. Troyon, Cattle and Sheep 7,000 



Sir H. Raeburn, Sons of D. M. Binning 6,500 



T. Gainsborough, Portrait of his Daughters 5,600 



Rembrandt, Portrait of Old Woman 5.500 



O. Romney, Portrait of Lady Morshead 4,100 



F. Hals. Portrait of Gentleman 3,780 



Sir H. Raeburn, George and Maria Stewart 3.600 



Velasquez, The Grape-Seller 2.500 



Sir H. Raeburn, John Campbell when a Child 2.300 



J. van der Heyden, View of a D.utch Chateau 2,300 



Sir T. Lawrence. Charles Binney and Two Daughters 1,950 



J. Hoppner. Portrait of a Lady 1,700 



Botticelli, Madonna and Child 1,680 



Portrait of Edward VI 1,600 



Cecil Lawson, Valley of Doon 1 ,560 



Sir J. Reynolds, Maria, Countess of Waldegrave 1,500 



The Gainsborough, the sixth in the above list, 

 a portrait of the artist's own daughters, Mrs. 

 Lane and Miss Gainsborough, was once in the 

 collection of J. W. W. Brett, and was bought 

 from him in 1864 for 117. In 1887 it was sold 



