30 
House & Garden 
THE PROPER PORTRAITS FOR ROOMS 
Suggestions for Using Modern 
Portraits in Decoration 
PKYTON HOSVVKLL 
T he man was seated in a wide, deep, 
softly cushioned chair. It was one of 
the most comfortable chairs he had ever be¬ 
come accjuainted with. He was smoking a 
long Havana. It was one of the most de¬ 
lightful cigars he had ever smoked in his life, 
rhe walls of the room were hung with soft 
velvet, which caught the light from unseen 
electric bulbs and, instead of reflecting it, 
diffused it softly all over the room. The 
carpet was of the same gentle texture. The 
whole surroundings were mellow and sooth¬ 
ing, both to the e}'es and the nerves. It was 
a room in which a person might concentrate 
his attention, say, on a beautiful picture and 
enjoy it. 
And the picture was there, on a great easel, 
in one corner—just the right distance from 
the man with the cigar and placed at just 
the right angle so he could take in all of its 
beauty. It was desirable, beyond all doulfl. 
The quality of its beauty would appeal to 
any person. It was a hundred and some odd 
years old, dating back to the days of the 
great English portraitists. The subject was 
a woman, a proud woman of the English 
aristocracy, d'he man in the chair surveyed 
the picture with manifest admiration. 
rhe decorative possibili¬ 
ties of a family group 
portrait are infinite, when 
treated in this al fresco 
modern style of Olinsky’s 
“Mr. and Mrs. E. R. 
Hooker and Children". 
It would give color and 
personality to a room 
when used as an over¬ 
mantel. Courtesy of the 
Macbeth Gallery 
“Adiss Mary Prendergast" 
by Louis Betts is an ex¬ 
ample of a tonalist’s 
work that would enrich 
an English type room 
and-be in harmony with 
white paneled walls and 
seemly furniture that 
characterize 18t/z Cen¬ 
tury decoration. Cour¬ 
tesy of the Macbeth 
Gallery 
Enobtrusively, at one side, stood the art 
dealer, waiting for the other to speak. A prince 
of salesmen, a born psychologist, was this 
dealer. He had,sold millions of dollars’ worth 
of pictures, but he had never asked a client to 
buy one. He knew how to be agreeable, he 
had a vast knowledge of pictures which he 
knew how to impart to those who valued such 
knowdedge, he was a connoisseur among con¬ 
noisseurs, and collectors had grown to appreci¬ 
ate him as a companion and mentor rather than 
as a man who had something to sell them at a 
profit. He knew how to show^ a picture to the 
best advantage and he knew how' to talk about 
it. But the customer ahvays took the lead when 
it came to buying it. 
I'he man in the chair, who was many times 
a millionaire, surveyed the Old English por¬ 
trait musingly, through the bluish haze of his 
cigar. Then he reached over and deposited some 
ashes in the tray conveniently at his elbow. 
■‘It's a splendid picture—great!” he said. 
"I like it very much—i<^ is a privilege to see 
it-—but I don't want it. Some day I may form a 
collection—} ou know—just as a collection, and 
build a regular gallery for them. If that time 
ever comes, I will want such examples as this 
But just now I am looking for pictures to 
adorn my home and—I don't know just how 
to express it, but I am a bit prejudiced against 
{Continued on page 12) 
.1 portrait 
should be 
placed high, 
above the 
furniture line, 
so that it can 
be seen and 
a ppreciated. 
So placed, it 
will enrich 
the room, as 
in this ex- 
a m pie of a 
portrait by 
Cecil Clark 
used in a liv¬ 
ing room 
