HENDERSON H3« 3ti(aca. S7»tti ^nrk COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY y:S^.A..^*rr-rrfry^ Cornell University Library N 6535.W31H38 The art treasures of Washington; an accou 3 1924 020 704 619 Date Due MAY 2 31962 PRINTED IN U. ». H, [**f NO. 23233 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402070461 9 CJe 9itt Creasures of 3l^asf)ingtott art (5allerte0 of Hmerica Series Sack one voluntCj octavo^ profusely illustrated i in duogravure. tTbe Btt of tbe jflbettopolltan fliuseum ot "Mew Kotft . . $3.oo BY DAVID C. PREYER Q^be ^Boston Abuseum of 3Ffne arts 3.00 \ BY JULIA DE W. ADDISON Vat penneslvania Bcadems \ of tbc jffnc atts .... 3.00 BY HELEN W. HENDERSON ' ^be Btt trteasures of 'QQlaebs ington net, 3.00 \ postpaid, 3.25 BY HELEN W. HENDERSON i L. C. PAGE & COMPANY ' 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. i MICHAEL ANGELO (see page 371) By Paul W. Bartlett je ^rt t^ «^ ^ Eteasute0 of ^ An account of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and of the National Gallery and Museum, with descriptions and criticisms of their contents; including, also, an account of the works of Art in the Capitol, and in the Library of Congress, and of the most important Statuary in the City By Helen W. Henderson Author of " The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts," etc. Illustrated Boston L. C. Page & Company MDCCCCXII Arsis? Copyright, igia, By L. C. Page & Company, (incorpoxatbd) All rights reserved First Impression, October, 1912 THE COLONIAL PRESS C. a. BIMONDS ft CO., BOSTON, IT. B. A. TO Sculptor this book is affectionately inscribed and dedicated preface The following pages, written in the springtime in Was'hington, are, to the writer, intirnately asso- ciated with that alluring season, ^nd suggest an analogy between the awakening of nature and the quickening of art impulses in this most lovely city. So rich and so manifold have been the influences operating toward the development of the book, that it becomes futile to try to place categorically one's order of gratitude. There are memories of long, studious days of solitude in vast and various halls of learning, where, according to the exigencies of the moment, the tent was pitched. These are made memorable by reason of an universal friendliness toward the wayfarer that seerns a very fitting at- tribute of a capital city. The book aims to cover the seriously conceived works of art in Was'hington, with special reference to its galleries, its museum, and its public statuary ; but ignores the private collections, of which there are several of importance. It purports to bring to viii preface the observer interested in the subject a risume of the best that the city affords in the artistic field. This best is culled from a great overproduction of the mediocre and the banal. More than most cities has Washington suffered at the hands of po- litical schemers ; and Congress has so systematically favoured the obvious and the futile, has expended such absurd sums for the acquisition of worthless material on the one hand, and has been so niggardly in its provision for official portraits on the other, that appreciation of the occasional masterpiece has been lost sight of in the ready ridicule of failures and mistakes. The Capitol and the city parks have naturally been the chief victims of this misdirected zeal. The early efforts of the builders of Washington were in the right direction, and, within the last half score or more of years, a reversion to the intentions of the forefathers has resulted in a sort of renais- sance in the capital city, long left, in the interim, to the undirected hand of destiny. The work of the commission in charge of the development of the city has accomplished much to restore the intended dignity and simplicity of plan and arrangement. The erection of new and com- modious quarters for the National Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art has stimulated both insti- tutions to renewed usefulness and activity; while preface ix new blood has been infused into the latter with its biennial exhibitions. The National Gallery, for years less than a name, has through the generosity of its three benefactors become a live and vital actuality. The Museum, it is true, has developed along the lines of ^hnology and natural history chiefly, and, though it contains some interesting collections of lace and ceramics, they have not appeared of sufficient importance, as yet, for inclusion in a work of this character. It has been thought more interesting to devote the available space to a consideration of the unique fea- ture of the Museum's collections from the art standpoint — its aboriginal American pottery — the finest and largest general collection, of the kind, in the world. In the preparation of these chapters dealing with the Indian pottei;y the writer has bad every access to the voluminous writings on the subject by Mr. William H. Holmes, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, and others contained in the annual reports of the Bu- reau of Ethnology, as referred to in the bibliog- raphy. It is hoped that the brief extracts here re- printed will direct attention to the original publica- tions — papers wonderfully and thrillingly inter- esting, lavishly and beautifully illustrated, a very treasure trove of reading, instructive and highly romantic and entertaining. This collection of X preface aboriginal pottery has special point just now, when the new movement in art is searching out the ele- mentals. Mr. Glenn Brown's " History of the United States Capitol " has furnished most of the facts concerning that interesting edifice contained in this volume, and will be found a most thorough and complete record of the building, with numerous and elaborate plates illustrating the carefully accurate text. The preparation of the following material has involved a number of interesting discoveries about Washington that tempt one to perpetual digression. There are many avenues of adventurous interest here only suggested, rich in material, perforce, but regretfully, eliminated as not strictly germane to the subject in hand. Helen W. Henderson. Philadelphia, August i, 19 12. Contents Preface I. The Development or Washington II. The Corcoran Gallery or Art . III. The New Building .... IV. The Nucleus of the Collections The Hudson River School V. Influence of the Dusseldorf School UPON American Painters . VI. Links in the Chain of American Paint- ers VII. Early Portrait Painters VIII. West and Morse .... IX. Contemporary Americans X. Foreign Schools .... XI. The Barye Collection: Antoine Louis Barye, 1796-1875 XII. Casts and the Greek Slave XIII. The Saint Memin Collection XIV. The National Gallery of Art . XV. The Harriet Lane Johnston Collec- tion XVI. The William T. Evans Collection XVII. The Freer Collection . XVIII. The National Museum: Chiriqui Pottery XIX. Artistic Pottery of the Pueblos xl MOB vii I 20 41 S3 77 88 99 120 140 1 59 174 192 198 204. 2ii 220 239 252 267 XII Contents CHAPIEB XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. SiKYATKi Pottery 277 Pottery of the Mississippi Valley: Musical Instruments .... 285 The Capitol: Sculptural Decora- tion 292 Miscellaneous Sculpture . . .321 Paintings 327 Historic Portraits 349 The Library of Congress . . . 359 Public Statuary 375 Bibliography 385 Index . _. . ., 389 Xlst of miusttattons PAGE Michael Angelo (see page 371) .... Frontispiece By Paul W. Barllelt L'Enfant's Plan for Washington 6 General Plan of the Mall -15 Model of the City as it will be, looking from the Capi- tol TO THE Lincoln Memorial . ... 16 Model of the City as it will be, looking fsou the Lin- coln Memorial to the Capitol 18 The Corcoran Gallery of Art 44 Plan of the Ground Floor, The Corcoran Gallery of Art . . 47 Plan of the Second Story, The Corcoran Gallery of Art 48 Edge of the Forest 65 By Asher B. Durand Winter Morning at Montclair 92 By George Inness Landscape: View from Mount Mansfield .... 94 By Alexander Wyant LORETTE 97 By George Fuller Portrait of the Artist 100 By Edward Greene Maibone Portrait of Chief Justice Shippen, of Pennsylvania . loa By Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Andrew Jackson 104 By Thomas Sully Portrait op James C. McGoire m6 By Charles Loring Elliott ziii xiv Xlst Of Illustrations PAGB Cupid and Psyche 120 By Benjamin West Light on the Sea 140 By Winslow Homer An Engush Cod 142 By William M. Chase MOTHES AND ChIU) 144 By George Be Forest Brush Road to Centre Bkidge 146 By Edward W. Redfield Mosning after Snow 148 By W. Elmer SchofiM May Night 150 By Willard L. Uelcalf Penelope 152 By Gari Mekhers Gjxl in Brown 154 By J. J. Shannon Josephine and Mercie 156 By Edmund C. Tarbell MmsiMUER 158 By William B. Bolmes The Warhener 160 By George Morland The Wood Gathekers 16a By Jean Bafliste CamUle Carol Brittany Widow 165 By Jules Adolphe Breton Angeuca and Roger MorrNTEo on a Hippogkiff . . . 183 By Antoine Lotus Barye The Jaguar Devouring a Hare , igy By Antoine Louis Barye Greek Slave ip6 By Eiram Powers Portrait oe Miss Kirkpatrice 212 By George Romney Portrait of Mrs. Abington 214 By John Bopfner Portrait op President Buchanan 216 By Jacob Eichholts Xfst of f Ilustrations xv FAQB Portrait of F. P. G. Gdizot 218 By George P. A. Healy Portrait of President Tyler 220 By George P. A. Heaiy High Cuffs: Coast of Maine 224 By Winslow Homer The Spouting Whale 226 By William Morris Hunt The Torrent 230 By John Henry Twachfman Tete Gentlewoman 232 By Julien Alden Weir " Caresse Enfantine " 234 By Mary Cassatt Portrait of F. R. Leyland 244 By James A. McNaU Wkistter " Jeune Femme, dite L'Americaine " 246 By James A. McNeill Whistler Nocturne — Blue and Silver: Battersea Reach . . 248 By James A. McNeill WhisUer KWAN-YIN 250 Attributed to Chang Slng-yu KWAN - YIN 252 Artist unknoan. School of Wu Tao-tm Waterfall in the Adirondacks 254 By Winslow Horner Diana 256 By AbboU Handenon Thayer " A Lady Playing a Violoncello " 238 By Thomas Wilmer Dewing Puma - Shaped Metate of Gray Andesite, from Rio Joca, Chiriqui. — Large Vase with decoration in Red AND Black, Chiriqui 265 Bowls and Potsherd, with figures of Birds, from Sik- yatki Graves, Arizona 284 Pewkes Collection Head -Shaped Vase, Pecan Point, Arkansas . . .288 Bird Whistle, Alligator Ware, Chiriqui. — Whistle in form of a Jaguar, Alligator Ware, Chiriqui . 290 Clock with Figure of History 299 By Giuseppe Pramoni xvi OLfst Of irUu5tcations FASB Freedom . . 312 By Thomas Crav^ord Fragment of Pediment for the House Portico of the Capitol. — No. I 319 By Paul W. BarOeU Fragment of Pediment for the House Portico of the Capitol. — No. EL 320 By Paul W. BarlleU Portrait of Lafayette 350 By Ary Scheftr Portrait of Thomas B. Reed 353 By John Singer Sargent Portrait of the Artist 355 By Benjamin West Shakespeare 369 By Frederick MacMennies Christopher Columbus 371 By Paul W. Barllett Adams Monument: Rock Creek Cemetery .... 382 By Augustus Saint Gaudens Bust of Henry Lorenz Viereck 384 By Charles Grafiy Cl&e 9irt 'Creasutefi of WmUwton CHAPTER I THE DEVELOPMENT OF WASHINGTON Washington lays proud claim to be one of the most beautiful cities of the world. In its great ar- tistic composition, its combination of usefulness and beauty, the genius and sagacity of our forefathers is everywhere instanced ; and amongst the treasures which the Capital preserves, is not one which rivals the city itself, with its broad thoroughfares, its verdant squares and circles, its handsome edifices, and generous park systems. Washington has the advantage over the modern cities of the world, with the possible exception of Saint Petersburg, in having been designed and laid out as the capital of a great nation. It has no civic history which antedates the establishment of the government upon its site, and it is a unit in a sense 1 2 Zbc Hrt Uteasures of masbington scarcely true of any other city, in that from the beginning everything has been planned to fit the purpose of the nation's executive administration, everything weaves together into the common pat- tern. There is a tradition that George Washington, when a youth, surveying the lands of the opulent Lord Fairfax, and all unconscious of the brilliant career which the future had in store for him, pre- dicted that a great city would occupy the territory now included in the District of Columbia. In later years, when serving under General Braddock he encamped with the British troops upon the hill now crowned by the National Observatory, he is said to have sat many times at the door of his tent and gazed at the undulating plateau on which the city rests ; noted the broad river front and the sur- rounding hills, and with the practised eye of a practical surveyor, traced out the future abode of thousands. Centuries before the physical advantages of the site had attracted the aboriginal Indians of our country. The Manahoacs frequented the region now occupied by the city, and in the spring assem- bled there to hold their yearly councils. Shad and herring ran in the river at this time, and great feasts were made while the return of the vernal season was heralded with joyous ceremonies. Ube S)e\>elopment of Masbittdton 3 When Captain John Smith sailed up the Potomac, in 1608, he found the country inhabited by numer- ous Indian tribes, and archaeological treasures have been found in abundance where they had their camping ground. The Potomac borders were again thoroughly explored in 1623-25, when Henry Fleet, the hardy English fur trader, visited the country. He wrote and published an enthusiastic description of the country about Washington, and doubtless influ- enced many of the emigrants of that time in favour of Maryland and Virginia, as a place desirable for settlement. Amongst the first of these settlers was a com- pany of Scotch and Irish people who established themselves within the limits of what is now the District, obtaining patents for a large tract of land, and calling their domain " New Scotland." Their descendants were imongst the original proprietors of the land upon which Washington is built. It is told of a member of this colony, named Pope, that " he set up his lares and penates on the top of the hill, where the Capitol now stands. He called his plantation Rome, and a little stream that meandered along the base of the hill, the Tiber, believing that, in the course of time, a capital city greater than imperial Rome, would arise on the spacious plateau where he cultivated his crops." 4 zbc Hrt Uceasures of Masbtitdton The selection of a site upon which to erect the capital city of the United States was left to the wisdom of President Washington, who was em- powered by the second session of the first Congress under the constitution, held in New York in the summer of 1790, to select a Federal Territory, " not exceeding ten miles square, on the Potomac River, at some space between the mouth of the eastern branch of the Conogocheague, for the per- manent seat of the government of the United States." There had been a severe contest over the selection of the Federal Territory; New York, Philadel- phia, Baltimore, Trenton, Harrisburg, and many other places urged their claims to be made the cap- ital city. The final adoption of the Potomac site was brought about by a coup d'etat contrived by Jefferson and Hamilton. Through their ingenious manipulation, the bill fixing the permanent seat of the government on the banks of the Potomac was the argument which turned the scale and carried Hamilton's monument of statesmanship, the fund- ing bill, which gave life to public credit and saved from dishonour the war debts of the States. The bargain carried both through. The District of Columbia, or the Federal Terri- tory, as originally laid out by the first commission, under the direction of President Washington, em- XCbe development of xmiasbfnflton 5 braced one hundred square miles, so located as to include the thriving towns of Georgetown, Mary- land and Alexandria, Virginia, together with the confluence of the Potomac River with its eastern branch and the adjacent heights. Maryland and Virginia ceded to the United States the territory required. In 1846 all that portion of the District lying on the west bank of the Potomac was retroceded by Congress to the State of Virginia, so that the Fed- eral Territory at the present time comprises sixty- four square miles and is bounded on three sides by the State of Maryland, with the Potomac River on its west. Having chosen the area of the Federal Territory, Washington next turned his attention to the plan of the city. For this important task he had engaged the services of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a skilftil French engineer, to whom the country owes much for his intelligent and beautiful treatment of the design of the capital city. L'Enfant (1755-1825) was a lieutenant in the French provisional service, and came to this coun- try, with Lafayette, in 1777. He entered the Con- tinental army in the autumn of that year, as an engineer, was made captain in February, 1778, and at the siege of Savannah was wounded and left on the field. Recovering, he afterward served under 6 Ube Hrt tCteasures ot xpaasbington the immediate command of Washington, and be- tween the two, a warm friendship sprung up. He became a major in May, 1783, and was employed as an engineer at Fort Mifflin in 1794. He was ap- pointed professor of engineering at the United States military academy in July, 1812, but declined. The insignia of the Society of Cincinnati, of which L'Enfant was a charter member, was designed by him at the president's special request, and he had in various ways shown the possession of marked artistic ability. L'Enfant's plan shows that he was familiar with the work of Lenotre, whose examples of landscape architecture, not only in France, but also in Italy and in England, are still the admiration of the world. L'Enfant had also the advantage of those maps of foreign cities, " drawn upon a large and accurate scale," which Jefferson gathered during his public service abroad; while from Jefferson's let- ters, we learn how he adjured L'Enfant not to de- part from classic models, but to follow those ex- amples which the world had agreed to admire. Washington and Jefferson took an active interest in the plan, and L'Enfant presented a great artistic composition in his design, with its proposed park treatment, radial streets, beautiful vistas, reciproc- ity of site between points of interest, and grouping of Federal buildings. Streets, parks, and sites for Ube Development ot Masbington 7 the President's House and the Capitol are shown on the original map practically as they exist to-day. L'Enfant took his first draft to Mt. Vernon, where he remained a week, in consultation with Washington, during which time the plan of the Federal City was thoroughly matured. Alterations were made and the sketch completed under the di- rection of General Washington, who, with a clear understanding of the requirements and mechanical difficulties, gave close attention to everything per- taining to the District or to the city. The result of this collaboration was elaborate and magnificent and was duly set forth upon a map, finely drawn. Washington, L'Enfant and Ellicott, who was doing the field work, went over the ground carefully together and " selected the sites of the ' grand edi- fices ' where they would command the greatest pros- pect and be susceptible of the greatest improve- ment." The topography of the city and its sur- roundings developed a wealth of magnificent possi- bilities. The district, encircled by two beautiful rivers, nestled in an amphitheatre of hills — noth- ing could be more inviting to the artistic mind. According to L'Enfant's map, the Capitol is placed on a centre line of four avenues — North, South, and East Capitol Streets, and what was to have been the Boulevard; an arrangement which created twelve pleasing and unbroken vistas, as one 8 Ubc Brt Ureasutes of XRaasbington approached the building from different directions. Similar views were allotted the President's House, which was so placed as to form the vista at the end of seven streets, with its southern front facing the Washington Monument. The " grand edifices " were to have been located in the centre of parks. The plan provided that the Mall, extending from the Capitol to the Washing- ton Monument, should contain through its centre, an avenue four hundred feet wide, and about a mile in length, bordered with gardens, ending in a slope from the houses on each side, and connecting the Monument with the President's Park. On both sides of this avenue, parks were to have been laid out, ending against a background of public build- ings. The pristine beauty of L'Enfant's plan was sub- ject to menace from the very first. The young Frenchman was put in charge of its execution, after it was formally adopted, and had his own troubles in carrying it out. We read that " shortly after the streets were marked out, strictly in accord- ance with L'Enfant's plan, Daniel Carroll, who was one of the commissioners, assumed the right to be- gin the erection of his house in the middle of New Jersey Avenue, near the Capitol grounds. " L'Enfant vigorously protested against its loca- tion, which would close the avenue and destroy the Ube Development of Masbtngton 9 symmetry of the general plan of the city; but his protests not being heeded, he gave orders one morning to his assistant to demoHsh the structure. Carroll hurried to a magistrate, obtained a warrant and stopped the demolition before it had proceeded very far. That night when L'Enfant returned to the city from Acquia Creek, where he was working busily getting out sandstone for the new Capitol, he was much chagrined to find his orders unful- filled. He vowed the house should come down, and organizing a gang of labourers, secretly took them up the hill, after dark, and set them at work. By sunrise not a brick of the obnoxious dwelling was left standing." ^ L'Enfant carried his point, and when the house was rebuilt it was erected on North Carolina Avenue. After the demolition of the Carroll house, how- ever, L'Enfant was not in good favour and his unpopularity increased when he refused to allow his map to be published as a guide to the purchas- ers of lots, on the plea that such a distribution of the city's plan would be detrimental to the preserva- tion of its best interests, as speculators would in- form themselves of the desirable locations, and build unsightly edifices upon the finest streets. This attitude on the part of L'Enfant resulted in his dismissal from the service of the government. ' " Picturesque Washington," by Joseph West Moore. 10 Ube Hrt Uteasures ot iDlasbfngton He continued to live in Washington, and, in his old age, became a claimant for his services as the original designer of the city, constantly haunt- ing the committee rooms of Congress, " a poor, but rather courtly, feeble, old man, attired in a long blue coat, closely buttoned high on his breast." His claim was never considered, and it was the fashion, in those barbarous days, to laugh and sneer at what was called " L'Enfant's extravagant plan." He died in 1825, and was buried by charitable hands, on the Digges Farm, a short distance from the city. No stone marked his grave. Eighty-three years later, in 1908, Congress ap- propriated $1,000 for tha removal of the body of Major L'Enfant from the Digges Farm, in Mary- land, to " some place selected by the District Com- missioners, and for the erection of a suitable memo- rial, at the spot where tha body should be rein- terred." On May 22, 191 1, the simple monument which marks his final resting place, on the green knoll in front of the old Lee mansion in Arlington Cemetery, overlooking the broad Potomac and the Capital, was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies. At his second burial L'Enfant was given a mili- tary funeral, under the direction of the War De- partment. Exercises were held in the rotunda of the Capitol, where the body lay in state, and where addresses were made by Vice-President Sherman, Ube development ot masDtngton ii the French Ambassador, and Mr. Macfarland ; after which a military procession escorted the body to Arlington, where it was reinterred April 28, 1909. The society of graduates, in the United States, of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, offered to make the design for the monument free of charge, and held a competition for that purpose, which was decided subject to the approval of Mr. Cass Gilbert, Presi- dent, and Mr. Glenn Brown, Secretary, of the American Institute of Architects. Mr. W: W. Bosworth won the competition, and his design was accepted. The design of the memorial is of the old Cold- nial type. On the flat surface of the stone, between the balusters, the military sword of that period is carved in bold relief, with a wreath of laurel around the hilt. On the top of the capstone is a faithful reproduction of the map of Washington, as orig- inally drawn by Major L'Enfant, together with a brief commemorative inscription. The base stone, eleven feet long by seven and a half feet wide, is formed of a single block. The material is of Knox- ville graystone. In the carrying out of the design of the city several grave mistakes have been made, the selec- tion of sites for public buildings seeming, for a time, in later years, to have been a purely haphaz- 12 Ube art treasures of TKttasbfngton ard one. Each time that the French soldier's plan. was departed from, disaster to the unity of the city ensued. The Capitol and Executive Mansion are on the ground originally intended for them. The completed structures more than justify the wisdom of the choice. The efifectiveness of the White House is, however, marred by the erection of the State, War and Navy, and the Treasury buildings; the latter also causing the tiresome break in Pennsylvania Avenue, which causes so much inconvenience to residents of the city and is so confusing to strangers. The Library of Congress is the first structure to bring an antagonistic element in relation to the Capitol. The Library is built across Pennsylvania Avenue, on the east, and destroys the fine view of the Capitol which the far distant end of East Capitol Street formerly commanded. Now the dome of the Capitol rising over the Library and seen in conjunction with the central feature of that edifice, produces confusion and discord. Mr. Glenn Brown in speaking of the indifference shown by later generations to the preservation of the city's beauty, says : " The more the scheme laid out by Washington and L'Enfant is studied, the more forcibly it strikes one as the best. It is easy to imagine the magnificence of a boulevard four hundred feet wide, beginning at the Capitol and ICbe ©epelopment of Masbington 13 ending with the Monument, a distance of nearly a mile and a half, bounded on both sides by parks, six hundred feet wide, laid out by a skilled land- scape architect and adorned by the work of capable artists. ... By this time, such an avenue would have acquired a world wide reputation, if it had been carried out by competent architects, landscape artists, and sculptors, consulting and working in harmony with each other. The parked portion of the Champs Elysees, which is approximately thir- teen hundred feet wide and three-quarters of a mile long, would not have compared to it in magnitude or grandeur. " The original plan can be commended for other reasons than those of beauty. It has every advan- tage in point of economy in maintenance, repairs, supervision, inter-communication, transportation, and accessibility of the departments to each other and to the public." The " Congress House " and the " President's Palace " as ha termed them, were the cardinal fea- tures of L'Enfant's plan, and those edifices he con- nected by " a grand avenue four hundred feet broad and about a mile in length bordered by gar- dens." At the point of intersection of two imagi- nary lines drawn through the centre of the Capitol -and the White -House, L'Enfant fixed the site of an equestrian statue of General Washington — one 14 Ube art XErcasures of tPMasbfngton of the numerous statues voted by the Continental Congress, but never erected. When, in 1848, the people began to build the Washington Monument, engineers despaired of seh curing, on the proper site, a foundation sufficient for so great a structure, and consequently the Mon- ument was located out of all relation with the build- ings which it was intended to tie together in a single composition. To recreate these relations, as originally planned, was one of the chief prob- lems of the Park Commission, which took charge of the development of Washington, about ten years ago, presenting its first report on the City of Wash- ington, to the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, on January 15, 1902. In order to restudy the same models that had in- spired the designer of Washington in the prepara- tion of his plan of the city, and to take note of the great civic works of Europe, this commission spent five weeks of the summer of 1901 in Europe, and visited London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Frankfort, and Berlin. The recommen- dations for the future development of Washington consisted in suggestions for the grouping of future Federal buildings and important monuments in the centre of the city; for new park areas necessary to preserve features of natural beauty or to en- hance the natural landscape; and lastly sugges- 1-1 < w M H o- < Pi < w o Ube 2>e\>elopment of Masbington 15 tions for the most feasible and artistic connecting links between the parks. Two models were presented by the Park Com- mission with their report: one showing the city as it was at that time, and the other altered ac- cording to the recommendations of the commis- sion; These are displayed in the Library of Con- gress. The model of the city as it was shows how an indifferent administration came near to destroy- ing the great composition left us by the Father of the Country. " Since the days of Madison," says Glenn Brown in his address before the Washington Chamber of Commerce, on the development of Washington, " each park, building, and monument has been designed as an individual entity without relation to the other; thus the dignity of the com- position has been lost. Looking from the Monu- ment to the Capitol, one sees a tangle of trees, a jumble of unrelated buildings, jarring one with the other. . . . This model graphically displays the want of judgment in the disposition of Federal buildings without uniformity of design or group- ing; and the thoughtless destruction of the beauti- ful vistas which constituted the fundamental and distinctive features of the original plan. " The model for the Mall, which illustrates the proposed reinstatement and development of L'En- fant's design, demonstrates what may be accom- 16 Zbc art XTteasures of waasbtngton plished by directness, simplicity, and dignity in park treatment, and grouping of classic structures. The composition contemplates two principal axes, one east and one west, beginning with the Capitol, and ending with the Lincoln Memorial ; ^ the other be- ginning with the White House, having as its central feature the Monument Garden, ends with the monument to the Constitution makers.^ The planting and roadways of the parks, the architec- tural adornments, and the disposition of the new buildings, are designed to emphasize these axes and enhance the dignity of the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the monument to the Constitution makers, which are the principal points of interest and beauty in the composition. " It is proposed that the Federal buildings for legislative purposes should be grouped around the Capitol; the Executive Department buildings around the White House; and that the Scientific Departments of the government should face the Mall. The centre of the Mall from the Monument to the Capitol will be a carpet of green, three hun- dred feet wide, bounded by four rows of stately elms on the north and south. Beyond the elms may • The Lincoln Memorial and the Monument to the Constitution Makers, are two proposed structures contemplated by the Park Com< mission in its plan for the development of Washington. O S 2 O U a H O >^ O H S < tl) M H O In ■ C3 !? O O H-l W CQ J J H a H o w Q o Ube Development ot Masbtngton 17 be seen white, classic buildings. Between the Mon- ument and the Lincoln Memorial is" a broad canal two hundred feet wide flanked on either side by dense forests. " In addition to the enclosure of the Capitol Grounds by classic structures on three sides, a ter- race is proposed on the west facing Union Square where the Mall terminates. From the centre of the present terrace a fountain is brought to the new terrace, by a series of cascades to a basin of no meap dimensions, in which fountains will play and around which the steps, with richly treated balus- trades, will wind. " Union Square, in which the Mall terminates, is an important detail of the composition. It will have the new marble terrace of the Capitol on the east, classic white buildings on the north and south, and the Mall with its vistas, lawns, and trees on the west." In this square is to be placed the statue of General Grant, by Shrady, now in process. " Where the rows of dms which form the bound- ary of the tapis vert on the Mall reach the Wash- ington Monument, the plan broadens into the form of a Greek Cross. A base line, which is so much needed, is given to the Monument by the marble terraces depicted. The east terrace is a little above the surface of the park, while the west terrace is forty feet high and a broad and imposing flight 18 Ube Hrt treasures of iHftasbinQton of steps leads from the formal garden, on the lower level, to the plaza around the great shaft. From the pavilions on the plaza, embowered in elms, vis- itors will be able to obtain many enjoyable views of the Monument, its garden and the canal, as well as distant vistas of the Capitol, White House, and the Lincoln Memorial." From the Monument garden, west, according to the new plan, stretches a canal, thirty-six hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide with central arms and bordered by stretches of green, walled with trees, leading to a concourse raised to the height of the Monument platform. From this ele- vation of forty feet, a memorial bridge will lead across the Potomac directly to the base of the hill, crowned by the Mansion House of Arlington. Reclamation of the Potomac flats, prosecuted since 1882, has added to the Monument grounds an area of about a mile in length, from east to west. The proposed treatment of this area, from New York Avenue to the river, includes the informal planting of a wood, marked by formal roads and paths, after the manner of the arrangement in the Bois de Boulogne. Since the report of the Park Commission^ much has been accomplished along the lines laid out in its pages. The great Terminal Station, the Agri- cultural Building, the New National Museum, the o < u o pa o i-i o (J z o fa 2 O O , ►J w « l-I t/1 < H H M H fa O J W Q O s Ubc development of Masbfngton 19 dffice buildings for the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Municipal Building, the build- ings for the Bureau of American Republics and the Daughters of the American Revolution, as well as the monument to General Grant, have all been de- signed and placed to conform with the new plan for the development of Washington Citjr. CHAPTER II THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART Historical Sketch The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a monument to the magnanimity, cultivation, and far seeing judg- ment of its founder, William Wilson Corcoran, a native of Georgetown and a resident of Washing- ton, who, during the course of a long and active life, had amassed great wealth, much of which was spent in the cultivation of the fine arts. His was one of the first of the considerable collections of paintings and sculpture in the United States, and is of especial interest and historical value, since it reflects, to a degree, the flavour of the time at which it was formed. Mr. Corcoran appears from the first to have had faith in the development of the art of his own country; and his private collection, which formed the nucleus of the present gallery, was practically confined to the works of contem- porary American painters, while he was careful to stipulate, in making his gift to the nation, that the institution was " to be used solely for the pur- 20 TTbc Corcoran ©allcrs of Hrt 21 pose of encouraging American genius in the pro- duction of works pertaining to the fine arts." Mr. Corcoran was born at the close of the eight- eenth century, on December 27, 1798, and as he lived to be ninety years of age, saw the beginnings of many schools of painting, was contemporary with the early struggles of our first native artists and the patron of many. The recognition of Con- stable, the discovery of the Venus de Milo, the birth and maturity of the Barbison School, the rise of the school of French Impressionists, and many other important and epoch-marking events, in the history of art, occurred not only within the life- time, but within the memory of the philanthropist. His opportunities as a patron of art and as a col- lector, were marvellous. His life spanned the lives of Millet, Diaz, Troyon, Rousseau, Courbet, Cou- ture, Manet, and Delacroix, and he was but two years younger than Corot and Barye whom he also survived. He had attained mature manhood be- fore the deaths of Stuart and Peale, of our Amer- ican School of portrait painters, while Sully and Neagle were born and died within his dates. He lived also in an important period of national history. His birth antedated by two years the removal of the seat of government of the United States to its present situation — until then virgin country. He grew up with Washington, became 22 ube art treasures of XWlasbington one of her most flourishing citizens, and by his financial operations, as owner of one of the first banking houses of the city, and by early invest- ments in city lands, which greatly increased in value when Washington became a thriving city, he became a millionaire. His father, Thomas Corcoran, one of the princi- pal citizens of Georgetown, was a native of Ire- land, and emigrated to America in his youth, set- tling in Maryland, where, in 1788, he married Han- nah Lemmon of Baltimore. He became a promi- nent business man of Georgetown, and was, at one time, magistrate, and also served as member of the levy court, postmaster, and college trustee. William Wilson Corcoran, after pursuing classic and mathematical studies in the private schools, and at Georgetown College, engaged in business, at the early age of seventeen, under the direction of two brothers who combined with the dry goods trade, a wholesale auction and commission business, which was carried on successfully until 1823, when, on account of the great financial stringency of the time, it was compelled to suspend. For thirty-nine years Mr. Corcoran continued to reside in Georgetown, giving his attention to mer- cantile affairs. In 1828 he took charge of the large real estate held in the District of Columbia by the United States Bank of Washington and the Bank XLbc Corcoran (3alleri? of Hrt 23 of Columbia, in Georgetown, and after his father's death, in 1830, devoted himself assiduously to this responsible trust, until 1836. In 1837 he began business as a banker and broker in Washington, and three years later called into partnership George W. Riggs. In 1845 t^^ firm established itself at the seat of the old United States Bank. It is interesting to note that amongst the first uses that Mr. Corcoran made of his ac- cumulations was the disbursement of $46,000 in absolute discharge of the debts incurred by his early failure with his brothers, for which a legal compromise had been made in 1823. He paid them all to the uttermost farthing, with interest to the date of settlement. The firm of Corcoran and Riggs was now strong enough to deal in large enterprises and ac- quired a national fame during the Mexican Waj: by taking up the entire loan that was called for by the government in 1847-1848.^ At one stage its transactions under this head were so bold that Mr. Riggs thought it more prudent to retire from the partnership. Mr. Corcoran now found himself with twelve million of the United States six per- * When Mr. Corcoran retired from business, Mr. Riggs formed the firm of Riggs and Company. The bank still exists under the name of The Riggs National Bank, and occupies the site next door to the original house, which stood at the comer of Fifteenth and Pennsyl- vania Avenue. 24 Zbc art treasures ot liaiasbinflton cent loans on his hands in a falling market, already dropped one perceot below the price at which he had taken them up. Nothing daunted, he em- barked at once for London, and there, owing to the faith inspired by his business judgment and honour, he succeeded in enlisting the greatest banking houses of England, in support of a loan that seemed perilous, but which proved a source of great profit to all interested in it, besides bringing relief to the exchanges of the United States. This negotiation, so creditable to his sagacity, courage and integrity, laid the basis of his own wealth, that came in time to be reckoned in mil- lions. In 1854 Mr. Corcoran retired from business and devoted himself to the management of his property, and to the disbursement of a very considerable fortune in the furtherance of public works. Col- leges, churches, and theological seminaries were included in the list of his varied benefactions, of which the most indicative of the chivalry of his sympathetic nature, is the Louise Home, founded in memory of his wife and daughter, which is re- served to ladies of birth and education, whom the reversal of fortune has left resourceless, and where they are entertained as the founder's guests. At the age of seventy-one years Mr. Corcoran carried out his long cherished scheme of establish- Zbc Corcoran ©allers of art 25 ing, in Washington, an institution " dedicated to art." His gift to the city included the original building,^ which still stands at the corner of Penn- sylvania Avenue and Seventeenth Street, together with the ground surrounding it; his private col- lection of paintings and statuary, valued then at about $100,000; and an endowment fund of $900,000. The erection of the building was begun in 1859, after the design of James Renwick, an architect of considerable reputation in New York, who had dis- tinguished himself by the construction of Grace Church in that city, and who afterwards built St. Patrick's Cathedral and other New York churches. He also was the architect of the fountain in Union Square, and built Vassar College. In Washington he was known as the architect of the Smithsonian Institute. Though inside the profession Renwick was es- teemed very highly, in his time, in the light of to- day's development, his work does not appear scholarly. It was not sufficiently good to command permanent admiration. Neither does it express any particular originality, but is, on the contrary, largely adapted from classic models and possesses most of the faults which characterized the period at which he flourished. * Now the Court of Claims. 26 Ube Hrt treasures o( masbington The old Corcoran Gallery — which may be the more freely criticised since it has been replaced by a most beautiful building — is in a style much in vogue at the time of the Centennial, usually de- scribed, in contemporary accounts, as Renaissance architecture, on account of the curb, or modified Mansard roof, and the central and corner pavilions, which, in their purity, form the salient features of the architecture of the sixteenth century; and which, with certain perversions of proportion and so on, were revived to an unfortunate extent in America at about this time. The combination of red brick with brown stone facings and ornaments was also considered very modish at the time, and the architect, who was fond of the florid, let himself go in the matter of superficial ornament — trophies, wreaths of foliage, garlands, finely carved, the monogram of the founder in medallions, repeated in the decoration, and the inscription " Dedicated to Art," which surmounted the entrance. Thirteen niches made the tour of the second story, and have since, for the most part, been converted into windows. These were intended for statues of artists, in white mar- ble, and provided for a large commission which fell to an American sculptor, as we shall see further on. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Civil War ar- Ube Corcoran ©allerg of art 27 rested the work of construction, and early in 1861 the government appropriated the building, just as it stood, in the rough, so to speak, for the Quarter- master-General's Department, retaining it until four years after the close of the war. The subsequent claim, made by the trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, for compensation for the use, by the government, of the property, re- ferred, by act of May 24, 1870, to the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secre- tary of State, throws a very interesting light upon this feature of the usefulness of the building and its importance to the government in time of stress. The Corcoran Gallery owing to its size, the solid- ity of its construction, and the fact that it was fire proof, or supposed to be, rendered it especially valuable as a stronghold for government purposes. During the years of the Rebellion, the city was an extensive military encampment. Its streets re- sounded with the march of troops, and all its avail- able buildings were used for military purposes. Immediately upon the close of the war Mr. Cor- coran made efforts to regain possession of his prop- erty, but it was not until four years later that the government was able to provide adequate accom- modations for the quartermaster's effects. The actual tenure of the premises by the government was from August 22, 1861, to September 15, 1869, 28 TCbe art Ureasures of Tiaiasblngton — eight years and twenty-four days, for which the trustees claimed $300,000 indemnity and recovered $125,000 on April 15, 1872. On the loth of May, 1869, the property was re- stored to its owner, who at once placed it in the hands of a board of nine trustees, and we find the deed of gift dated May 18, 1869. The institution was chartered by act of Congress on May 24, 1870. The trustees, named in the deed of gift, were selected by the donor from amongst his personal friends, and consisted of James M. Carlisle, a well- known lawyer; James C. Hall, a distinguished physician; George W. Riggs, Mr. Corcoran's business partner; Anthony Hyde, his confidential agent; James G. Berrett; James C. Kennedy; Henry C. Cooke, former governor of the District; James C. McGuire, a well known amateur in art, possessed, himself, of a notable collection; and William T. Walters, whose collections covering a wider field of pictures, sculpture, and ohjets d'art, were already attracting considerable attention in Baltimore. All of the trustees, with the exception of Mr. Walters, were residents of Georgetown and Washington. These gentlemen were made the official recipients of the munificent bequest, or rather, according to the formal wording of the deed, the property was Ubc Corcoran Gallen? of art 29 "bargained and sold, aliened, enfeoffed and con- veyed " to them " in consideration of the premises and the sum of one dollar current money of the United States." After the institution was incorporated, in 1870, the general work of reconstruction and adaptation of the building to its original purpose was begun, and in 1871 was ready for occupancy. It is important to remember that the completion of the Corcoran Gallery was coincident with a spe- cies of regeneration, which possessed the city of Washington at about this time. An exotic, whose situation was the arbitrary selection of our first president, Washington had had no normal growth, but, on the contrary, had been retarded, in every possible way, by jealousy and opposition, as well as frequent threats to remove the capital. The formal transfer of the government from Philadelphia to Washington took place in October, 1800. That it was a day of small things, is evident when one reads that " a single packet sloop brought all the office furniture of the departments, besides seven large boxes and five small ones, containing the ' archives ' of the government." The ofiScials numbered fifty-four persons, including President Adams, the secretaries, and the various clerks. They came to the city by different conveyances, and as they had left pleasant, comfortable quarters in 30 XEbe Hrt trreasures of "caiasbinQton Philadelphia, the crudeness and discomfort of Washington was almost unendurable. Mrs. Adams spoke of Washington as " this wilderness city; " and Secretary Wolcott in a letter to his wife said, " There are but few houses in any place, and most of them are small, miserable huts, wihich present an awful contrast to the public buildings. The people are poor, and, as far as I can judge, live like fishes, by eating each other." The best description extant of the city, as it ap- peared at the time that the government took posses- sion, is found in a letter written by John Cotton Smith, then a member of Congress from Connect- icut. He says : — " Our approach to the city was accompanied with sensations not easily described. One wing of the Capitol only had been erected, which, with the President's house, one mile distant from it, both constructed with white sandstone, were shining objects in dismal contrast with the scene around them. Instead of recognizing the avenues and streets, portrayed on the plan of the city, not one was visible, unless we except a road, with two buildings on each side of it, called the New Jersey Avenue. The Pennsylvania Avenue, leading, as laid down on paper, from the Capitol to the Presidential mansion, was nearly the whole distance a deep morass covered with elder bushes, which were cut through to the President's house: Ube (Corcoran ©allers of Brt 3i and near Georgetown a block of houses had been erected which bore the name of the ' six buildings.' . . . The desolate aspect of the place was not a little augmented by a number of unfinished edi- fices at Greenleaf's Point, and on an eminence a short distance from it, commenced hy an individual, whose name they bore, but the state of whose funds had compelled him to abandon them. " There appeared to be but two really comfort- able habitations, in all respects, within the bounds of the city, one of which belonged to Dudley Car- roll and the other to Notley Young. The roads in every direction were muddy and unimproved. A sidewalk was attempted, in one instance, by a cov- ering formed of the chips hewed for the Capitol. It extended but a little way and was of little value ; for in dry weather the sharp fragments cut our shoes, and in wet weather covered them with white mortar. In short, it was a new settlement." Such was the capital city in which President Adams, Secretary of State, John Marshall, Secre- tary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Secre- tary of War, Samuel Dexter, Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddart, and the other officials of the Government took up their abode in the fall of 1800, twenty-four years after the Declaration of Independence. Congress began its sessions a few weeks later, and many and loud were the com- 32 UBe Bet Urcasures of Xdasbington plaints, of the new capital, uttered by all the as- sembled statesmen. Newspapers in New York, Philadelphia and New England, and satirists everywhere, cracked many amusing jokes at the expense of the infant city. The Capitol was called " the palace in the wilderness," and Pennsylvania Avenue " the great Serbonian Bog." Georgetown was declared " a city of houses without streets " and Washington " a city of streets without houses." The Abbe Correa de Serra, the witty Minister from Portugal, bestowed upon Washington the famous title of " the city of magnificent distances," referring to the great spaces between the scattered houses; while Thomas Moore, just then coming into prominence as a poet, visited the city in 1804, and contributed to the general fund of humour, at the expense of the unfortunate city, by the com- position of this satire : — " In fancy now beneath the twilight gloom, Come, let me lead thee o'er this modem Rome^ Where tribvmes rule, where dusky Davi bow, And what was Goose Creek is Tiber now. " This fam'd metropolis, where fancy sees Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees; Which travelling fools and gazetteers adorn With shrines unbuilt, and heroes yet unborn." Ube Corcoran Gallery of Hrt 33 During the administrations of Adams, Jeffer- son, and Madison the city improved considerably. Jefferson secured money from Congress for the public buildings, planted poplar trees on Pennsyl- vania Avenue, and did what he could to redeem that thoroughfare from its lamentable condition. He applied his artistic taste and skill to the work of beautifying the city. The invasion of Washington by the British troops, in 1814, was a severe blow to the weak and slowly growing city. The troops dispersed throughout the city, burning and destroying a large amount of private, as well as public prop- erty. While the public buildings were burning a severe storm began, and the drenching rain fortu- nately extinguished the fires at the Capitol and White House and saved them from total destruc- tion. During the administration of John Quincy Adams, Washington had 'a population of nearly twenty thousand, but it was a slow going, uninter- esting city, with very few signs of progress. Even so late as 1840, Monsieur de Bacourt, the French Minister, wrote : " As for Washington, it is neither a city, nor a village, nor the country: it is a building-yard placed in a desolate spot, wherein living is unbearable." About this time there was a general renewal of the public buildings. 34 ube art XEreasures of Masbtngton and after 1850 the city began to wear a somewhat brighter and more enterprising aspect. The Civil War again arrested the hand of prog- ress, and, for a few years after peace was con- cluded, Washington continued to be an unattractive city. At this time an English tourist wrote of it: " The whole place looks run up in a night, like the cardboard cities Potemkin erected to gratify the eyes of his imperial mistress, on her tour through Russia; and it is impossible to remove the impression that, when Congress is over, the place is taken down and packed up till wanted again." In the year 1870 Washington was suddenly aroused from its lethargy. After seventy years of existence it had not realized the expectations of its friends, or greatly lessened the opposition of its enemies. The situation was critical. Its use by the Federal soldiers in the Civil War had made thousands of intelligent northern men familiar with its discomforts, its shiftlessness, and its lack of the qualities desirable in the seat of the government of the American Nation. The project to remove the national capital to St. Louis, vigorously started by a western man of energy and persistency, gave Washington, at this time, a great fright. The proposition of removal r.eceived the hearty endorsement of the West, and Ube Corcoran Gullet^ of Hrt 35 a large delegation in Congress was pledged to its advocacy. St. Louis was ready to expend millions to obtain the splendid prize, and other large west- ern cities came forward with offers of influence and money, enthusiastic over the plan. At this juncture a strong man came into leader- ship — Alexander Shepherd — well known after- ward, to the country, by his sobriquet of " Boss Shepherd." The history of his political activities makes romantic reading. He believed in Washing- ton, and joining his personal ambitions to the larger issues, succeeded in turning aside the current which opposed her; until Congress finally disposed of the whole question of removing the capital, by appropriating $500,000 to begin the erection of the State, War and Navy Building. General Grant was president and his friendship for Shepherd was marked and enduring. As governor of the District, the latter forced public improvements against all opposition, determined that the city should no longer be a reproach to its people. The old municipal form of government was abolished and the conservative regime of the past swept away. Eighty of the three hundred miles of half made streets and avenues were im- proved, and nearly all the thickly settled streets of the city were paved with wood or concrete. A general and costly system of sewers was begun. 36 Ube art tCccasures of TRBasbinaton scores of new parks were graded, fenced, and set with trees and fountains. The old Tiber Canal was filled up, and the greatest nuisance of Wash- ington was thereby shut out of sight. This digression will serve to recall to the mind of the reader the peculiar circumstances which characterized the early history of Washington — to explain the somewhat tardy awakening to artis- tic consciousness and appreciation of the fine arts, which is apparent in the city. The Corcoran Gallery of Art was then one of the first of the institutions established by this for- ward movement. It was carried by the wave of progressive Americanism, which culminated in the Centennial Exhibition, of 1876. Two of the most important museums of the country — the Metro- politan and the Boston Museum of the Fine Arts were incorporated in the same year as the Cor- coran Gallery — 1870. The opening of the actual gallery, however, antedated that of both of these institutions by several years. It occurred on Jan- uary 19, 1874, when the picture galleries, octagon room, and the hall of bronzes were thrown open for private exhibition. One of the first of the vis- itors to arrive was the president. General Grant, and many other distinguished personages thronged the halls during this brilliant and crowded inaugu- ration, and Mr. Corcoran was warmly congratu- XEbe Corcoran (Bailers of art 37 lated upon the fulfilment of his munificent plans. Preparations for the installation of the galleries had occupied three years. In 1873 Mr. Walters, one of the trustees, and the chairman of the pur- chasing committee, had been empowered by the board to purchase in Europe works of art for the gallery. The choice fedl the more naturally to Mr. Walters, as he was that year made art commis- sioner from the United States to the International Exposition at Vienna. The most important of his purchases at this time was the collection of Barye bronzes, which still re- mains one of the chief glories of the institution, and grows yearly in value and rarity. On April 29, 1874, the halls of sculpture and of bronzes were opened, and in December of the same year all was at the disposal of the public. The building, which in the light of later sophistication appears cumbrous and ill adapted to the uses of a museum, was, at the time of its inauguration, re- garded as one of the sights of the city — its solid construction, its lofty ceilings — still proudly desig- nated as the highest in Washington — its heavy en- closed stairway leading directly from the entrance to the second floor, were accepted by citizens and visitors to the capital in the true spirit of the giver. 38 trbe art tCrcasures of TiClasbfngton The Octagon Room, built over the vestibule, on the second story, is still spoken of with respectful admiration, and was designed to contain the fa- mous " Greek Slave," one of the chief treasures of Mr. Corcoran's private collection. The room was undoubtedly inspired by the Salle of the Venus de Milo, at the Louvre, where the chef d'ceuvre is effectively displayed against a red curtain. The walls of the Octagon Room were hung with hand- some maroon paper, against which the white marble of Powers' masterpiece was richly relieved. The main picture gallery was ninety-five feet nine inches by forty-four feet six inches, with a height of twenty-four feet to the cornice of the arched ceil- ing, and thirty-eight feet to the inner skylight. All the picture galleries communicated by high, arched doorways, and were lighted from the roof. The contract for filling the niches of the old gal- lery with full-length manble statues of eminent painters, sculptors, and architects, for which the plan of the building provided, was given by Mr. Corcoran to Moses Ezekiel ( 1844 — ) then a rising young sculptor, living in Rome. Ezekiel was born in Richmond, Virginia, and was much in the public eye at the time that Mr. Corcoran selected him to complete the ornamentation of the Gallery. In 1872 ho modelled the colossal bust of Washington, now in Cincinnati, which gained him admission "Cbe Corcoran ©allers of Hrt 39 into the Society of Artists of Berlin. In 1873 he won the Michael Beer prize, never before given to a foreigner, and in 1874 the Jewish Secret Order of the Sons of the Covenant commissioned Ezekiel to erect the group, entitled " Religious Liberty," for the Centennial Exhibition. It was unveiled, in Fairmount Park, on November 30, 1876, and now stands in front of Horticultural Hall. When Mr. Corcoran, desirous of patronizing only American talent, cast about for a sculptor capable of executing the proposed statues for the exterior of the Gallery, his choice fell naturally upon Ezekiel, who had so notable a record of ac- complishment, though the selection was more credit- able to his zealous intentions than to his artistic judgment, as results amply proved. The four niches on the front facade were first equipped. Colossal statues of Phidias and Ra- phael, carved in Carrara marble, were sent from Rome in 1879, and placed, one on each side of the centre of the building. In 1880, Michael Angelo and Albrecht Diirer took their stands in the two remaining niches, and Sculpture, Painting, Archi- tecture, and Engraving- were represented. By 1884, the seiven receptacles, on the Seventeenth Streeit side, were fitted with statues of Titian, Ru- bens, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Murillo, Canova, and Crawford, and in 1886 the bronze medallion of 40 tCbc Hrt treasures of masblnflton W. W. Corcoran, which still embellishes the front of the building, was in place. The whole idea of the statues was unfortunate, and, with the removal of the Gallery to its present site, no provision was made for them. CHAPTER III THE NEW BUILDING The old gallery served its purpose for a little less than a quarter of a century. Before the ex- piration of the first score of years of its existence, however, it became apparent that the building, which had at first seemed so commodious, would be, in a comparatively short space of time, wholly inadequate for the proper display of the growing collections of the gallery, while larger and better facilities were already required for the rapidly ad- vancing free school of art, for which thoughtful provision had been made by Mr. Corcoran. At the same time it was found that, owing to the inability to acquire land adjoining its site, it would be im- possible to enlarge the original building so as to meet the future wants of the two establishments. These conditions pointed to the necessity of pro- viding, without delay, for the erection of a larger, more conveniently arranged, and batter lighted building, upon a plot of ground large enough, not only to furnish space for the projected structure, 41 42 JLbc Hrt treasures of masbington but also to provide for such enlargements of the gallery as might be required by its normal growth. In selecting the site of the present gallery, the trustees were again in the vanguard of progress that set the pace for the reclamation of the whole of this lower northwest section, which had been considered irretrievably swampy and malarious, and had been relegated to the uses of what is poetically termed a dump, but which is now trans- formed into one of the most beautiful park spots of Washington. The land was purchased on April 3, 1891, and on January 9, 1892, it was determined to erect the new gallery, building on the eastern portion of the plot thus acquired. The architect of the new build- ing was Ernest Flagg, chosen from a number of prominent men, who had been invited to compete for the commission. His plans were accepted with certain modifications and alterations, and he was employed to carry them out, under the supervision of a special building committee, created for that purpose. Ground was broken on June 26, 1893; the cor- ner stone laid on May 10, 1894, and on January 8, 1897, the keys of the new building were delivered to the trustees, and the work of transferring the exhibits from the old to the new building was commenced. Zbc iRew Butl&fng 43 On the evening of the twenty-secpnd of Febru- ary of the same year, the formal opening of the new building was celebrated with a private view, to which more than three thousand invitations were issued. The attendance included the president of the United States (Grover Cleveland) and Mrs. Cleveland; the members of the president's cabinet, with their wives; foreign ambassadors and min- isters, and the members of their respective lega- tions; senators and representatives in Congress; the judiciary; artists and connoisseurs of the arts; officers of the army and navy; and hundreds of ladies and gentlemen, prominent in private and public life. The whole building was brilliantly il- luminated by over three thousand electric lights, presenting a scene of rare beauty; and the music by the Marine Band, which was present by court- esy of the Secretary of the Navy, added charm to the occasion. The reception committee consisted of the mem- bers of the Board of Trustees, as then constituted, including: Edward Clark, Samuel Kaufifmann, Frederick B. McGuire, Walter S. Cox, Charles C. Glover, Calderon Carlisle, Matthew W. Gait, Will- iam Corcoran Eustis and Thomas Hyde. The building stands with its main front on Sev- enteenth Street, extending from New York Ave- nue on the north to E Street on the south, a dis- 44 Ube Htt Uteasures of masbinQton tance of two hundred and fifty-nine feet, with a depth of one hundred and thirty-three feet, and occupies about half of the lot. The style of archi- tecture is the so-called Neo-Grecian, the material being white Georgian marble, on a basement of Milford pink granite. The first story is pierced with windows; the second story rises in a solid white wall broken only by a row of open-work marble panels along the upper edge, which serve as ventilators to the galleries. Between these panels and the cornice, which is rich in ornamental carving, extends a narrow frieze, bearing, in Roman letters, the names of famous painters and sculptors of ancient and mod- ern times. The roof of glass slants sharply up- ward to the ridge, which is finished by a cresting of bronze, terminating at each end of the building in a winged griffin. The severity of the elevation is broken by the curve at the north end, in which are located the art school and a lofty semicircular room, known as the hemicycle, designed for lectures, special ex- hibitions, etc. The main entrance to the building is on Seven- teenth Street, which, at this point, takes on the aspect of a broad and handsome boulevard, leading on to Potomac Park and to the Speedway. The imposing doorway is flanked on each side by a co- lossal lion in green bronze, mounted on a white marble pedestal. These are reproductions of the famous lions by Canova, which guard the tomb of Pope Clement XIII, in St. Peter's, at Rome, and were a feature of the entrance to the old building. The situation of the Corcoran Gallery could scarcely be improved upon. It stands detached from other buildings, faces the broad green of the President's Park and commands an extensive view of the White House and grounds, the Mall, the Tidal Reservoir and the Washington Monument. It profits of these public parks, which furnish a most appropriate setting for the elegance of its clear cut lines, its handsome proportions, and its beautiful colour. Its one preeminently successful architectural feature is its absolute fitness for its role of art museum. The Corcoran Gallery essen- tially looks the part. Passing through the entrance, a broad and easy flight of steps leads directly to the main hall or atrium, a spacious apartment extending the length and'breadth of the building, lighted by skylights in the roof, through large openings or light weJls in the floor above, which is supported by forty fluted monolith columns of Indiana limestone. This wide hall is devoted to the display of the collections of casts from the antique and Renaissance periods, and from it opens a chain of smaller communicating 46 XCbe art XCreasures of TKftasbington rooms, which, with the exception of those required for the library, administration offices, etc., are also dedicated to sculpture and contain the original mar- bles, bronzes, additional casts, and the famous Barye Collection. Directly opposite the entrance, and across the full width of the atrium, rises the grand white marble staircase, fifteen feet in width, and of easy tread, -which leads to the second story, and forms one of the most imposing of the architectural features of the interior of the building. The second floor re- peats the arrangement of the main floor — the cen- tral hall, from which open oflf eight picture galler- ies. The immense skylight is supported by thirty- eight fluted monolith columns of Indiana limestone. As has been pointed out, the Corcoran Gallery possesses sufficient ground in the rear of its build- ing to enlarge several times its present area, a ne- cessity which may arise with the increase of the permanent collections, and the growth in magni- tude of its biennial exhibitions of contemporary American paintings. Of these biennial exhibitions there have been three, limited according to the policy of the exhibi- tion committee, to paintings in oil by living Amer- ican painters. The first exhibition was held from February 7 to March 9, 1907, and included three hundred and ninety-seven works of sufficient im- Ube new Buil&ing 47 48 Zbc Htt Uteasures of TKIladbtndton Ube "View 33utlMna ^^ portance to place the exhibition at once in the for- ward ranks of similar exhibitions throughout the country. The jury of selection for this initial ex- hibition included ; for New York, Irving R. Wiles, H. Bolton Jones, and Louis Loeb ; for Philadelphia, Hugh H. Breckenridge, Thomas P. Anshutz, and John Lambert; for Boston, Edmund C. Tarbell, Thomas Allen, and Herman Dudley Murphy; and for Washington, Richard N. Brooke, Max Weyl, and C. H. L. Macdonald. The jury of awards and hanging committee consisted of Irving R. Wiles, Edmund C. Tarbell, Hugh H. Breckenridge, Ralph Clarkson, and Richard N. Brooke. Towards the success of this initial effort in a new direction, three Washingtonians contributed generously, by offering the following prizes: the W. A. Clark Prize of one thousand dollars, accom- panied by the Corcoran Gold Medal; the Charles C. Glover Prize of five hundred dollars, accom- panied by the Corcoran Silver Medal ; and the Vic- tor G. Fischer Prize of two hundred and fifty dol- lars, accompanied by the Corcoran Bronze Medal. These were awarded respectively to Willard L. Metcalf, for his exhibit entitled, " May Night," Frank W. Benson, for his " Against the Sky," and to Edward W. Redfield, for his " Lowlands of the Delaware." During the month that the exhibition remained 50 Ube Hrt treasures of TKttasbington on public view, it was visited by over sixty-two thousand persons and the total sales amounted to $49,000. In view of this unusual success and of the marked interest in the exhibition manifested by the artists, art lovers, connoisseurs, and the pub- lic at large, the trustees of the gallery determined to hold a similar exhibition in 1909. For this ex- hibition Senator Qlark came forward handsomely with an offer to finance the whole burden of the prizes, and donated the sum of $5,000 towards this purpose, which was accepted by the trustees. The amount was divided into four prizes of two thou- sand, fifteen hundred, one thousand, and five hun- dred dollars respectively; and the winners at the second eochibition, held from December 8, 1908 to January 17, 1909, were, Edward W. Redfield, Joseph DeCamp, Robert Reid, and Frederick Carl Frieseke. Senator Clark repeated his generous donation for the third exhibition, held in the galleries from December 13, 1910 to January 22, 191 1, the awards going to Edmund C. Tarbell, Gari Melchers, Childe Hassam, and Daniel Garber. The same sum has been put at the disposal of the management by Senator Clark, for the fourth exhibition in the series which is announced to take place from De- cember 17, 1912 to January 26, 1913. The three exhibitions of contemporary oil paint- Zbc *«cw Buil&fng 5i ings, held in the Corcoran Gallery, were attended by over one hundred and fifty thousand per- sons. Seventy-three pictures were sold, aggrega- ting $136,410, and of this handsome total, twenty- eight were purchased for the permanent collection of the institution. If the opening of the new building marked a species of regeneration in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the biennial exhibitions have undoubtedly greatly stimulated the vitality, the growth, and general usefulness of the institution. That the Corcoran Gallery has not made strides commensurate with the activities of the two great museums, whose contemporary it is in point of actual birth, is attributable to several causes. Of these not the least potent is the fact that the Gal- lery, unlike the Boston and the Metropolitan Mu- seums, which were the logical product of a commun- ity's needs, had its conception in the brain of a benefactor, considerably in advance of his locality. The locality is just beginning to catch up with the spirit of the founder, and the biennial exhibition has been the one great spontaneous flower of the thirty-eight years of the Gallery's existence. This, more than anything else, has justified the purpose of the institution; a fact that is amply proven by the public's instant and overwhelming response to its call. The figures given outstrip 52 tibe Hrt Zvcasntcs or WasbinQton easily those of institutions older in the field of ex- hibitions. In the realm of the Gallery's usefulness no better way has yet been devised to further Mr. Corcoran's project "to encourage American gen- ius." CHAPTER IV THE NUCLEUS OF THE COLLECTIONS : THE HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL The nucleus of the collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art has a certain flavour of the time at which the collection was formed that is not with- out its attraction. In it is preserved a sequence of examples of the best of the painters in vogue in the early half of the last century, and it represents fairly adequately what was bought and liked by contemporary collectors of the epoch. The fragmentary group of portrait painters who survived the decline of the English bred artists, the so-called Hudson River School of landscape painters, and the early reflections of the influence of the Diisseldorf School upon the group of native painters, struggling to find themselves, figure prom- inently in the catalogue of the original gift, which numbers eighty-one pictures and five pieces of statuary; while the eleven pictures bought in Eu- rope by Mr. Walters, and added to the collection before the date of the opening, are an echo of the Salons of that period. 68 54 XT be Hrt Ureasures ot XRnasbfngton The best days of our early art had reached their maximum with Gilbert Stuart, and may be said to have dedined from the epoch of that distinguished personage. The generation of painters who had drawn their inspiration from the English School of portrait painting had died out, and their tradi- tions with them. With the passing of Benjamin West the link with the mother country was broken and the vogue of historical painting languished. Nationalism began to be a force in the lives of the American people ; and with it oame a desire for independent expression. They began to look within for beauty and inspiration, and the range of vision was extended and the illimitable resources of the country, in the realm of the picturesque, were made manifest to thousands by the opening up of our first railroads and grew apace. The awakening was general — it pervaded all the arts. Poets were born who sang of the wild beauties of our country; novelists and essayists disclosed the mysteries and enchantments of the regions of the upper Hudson, and out of the gen- eral trend of thought a new development of land- scape painting was evolved. The early efforts of this school were illustrative, filled with as much of the map of the country por- trayed as patience and an intimate knowledge of the topography of the landscape could provide. Ube 1Flucleu0 of tbe Collections 55 With courage born of a magnificent ignorance these painters attempted the impossible. Knowing nothing of the art of selection — of summarizing — ^ of simplification — of concentration — of mass- ing^ and with but small technical equipment ^- they painted a faithful panorama of the scene be- fore them, over which the eye wanders, undirected, subject to a variety of impressions,- but with no sense of unity or completeness. Nature lovers they were, filled with ardent aims and ambitions to become artists — dreams that were never realized. In their attitude toward na- ture, they had the support and sympathy of their audience and their influence upon public taste was as long and enduring as it was deleterious. It would seem that Cole, at least, had some idea of how far he fell short of his goal, for he writes : " I would give you a fuller description of what I intend to do, but unfortunately my intentions cannot be fulfilled. I have advanced far with the first two pictures,^ and find all my gold is turning to day. ^ Reference is made here to a series of five pictures upon which Cole was engaged fti 1834, at Catskill. The subject was " Thie His- tory of a Scene " as well as an " Epitome of Man." The same scene was to have been represented in each of the pictures — the first in a savage state; the second, the simple, when cultivation had com- menced; the third the state of refinement and highest civilization; the fourth the vicious or state of destruction; and the fifth, the state of despoliation, when the works of art are again resolving into ele- mental nature. 66 TLbc art treasures of Masbington I know my subject is a grand one, and I am dis- appointed at finding that my execution is not worthy of it. In the first picture I feed that I have entirely failed; in the second I am rather better pleased; but perhaps it is because there is so much unfinished. I have no doubt but they will please some of my indulgent friends but they are not what I want." The term Hudson River School has come, in the light of the actual contributions which the paint- ers so classified made to the world of art, to be al- most a term of reproach. For most of us the land- scapes of this time are repellent and dry as com- pared with the fuller revelations of the rich, sug- gestive canvases of Constable, Courbet, and the Barbison School, through which modern thought in landscape, traces its descent. History, however, records them as a little band of self-educated pioneers — as the precursors of that return to nature, which, unknown to them, had led also Rousseau and his followers to Barbison and was to become in literature and painting the strong, distinctive characteristic of the nineteenth century. Taken in relation to their opportunities, their accomplishment seems admirable, and the history of their struggles — the persistence of the passion in the face of every physical discouragement. trbe mucleus ot tbe Collections 57 forms a basis of character from which any school of painting might be proud to trace its roots. As the founders, or chronological forerunners, of a national school of landscape painting, these men have in the logical sequence of an historical picture gallery dedicated to American painting their immense importance. Progenitors of the present robust school of native landscape painters, they cannot by any possible stretch of imagination be supposed to be. Their ideals hark back to the brilliant epoch of seventeenth century landscape painting, and their productions seem to be the last emasculated flicker of the influences of Claude Lorrain and of Nicholas Poussin. Italy had found, in Poussin and in Claude, two masters able to comprehend it and to express its hidden poetry, The purely decorative preoccupa- tions of their followers contributed to the forma- tion of that conventional branch of painting known as the historical landscape. In this are found many second rate and insig- nificant compositions, for which neither Poussin nor Qaude can be held responsible. After them came painters who did not trouble to go direct to nature for their studies, but who were content to imitate their glorious predecessors : for instance — Jean Glauber, who painted Italy before visiting it, 68 tCbe art XCreasures of XKnasbtngton and Frangois Millet, who painted it without ever seeing it. Then came copiers of copiers, whose works have neither style nor anything natural about them. Such painters brought about a legitimate reaction against a branch of art which they gradually dis- credited. Our Hudson River men, as we have said, re- turned to nature — but with a prejudiced eye. In their work there is nothing naive or unsophisticated, on the contrary, everything to indicate an intense parti pris for the literary in art — for the style which we are to suppose must have become famil- iar to them — since in their youth they did not travel — through the engraving and the chromo, just making its debut. We know that Durand was an excellent en- graver, and that both Kensett and Cole had prac- tised the art as a means of livelihood long before they were able to devote themselves to painting. Thus it is that the engraver's, rather than the painter's feeling, is evident throughout their can- vases, which are accurate, statistical, and dry. That it was not only the manner, but the subject of the •engraving that impressed them, and that they must have seen and copied many engravings of famous pictures is evident from the fragments of letters and diary of Thomas Cole that have been preserved. Ube mucleus of tbe Collections 59 His allusions to Claude — of whom he speaks with the highest reverence — indicate the immense influence which that painter exerted upon his work. Such passages as the following occur constantly in his correspondence : " In Rome i was about three months, where I bad a studio in the very house where Claude lived." " Claude to me, is the great- est of all landscape painters, and indeed I should rank him with Raphael or Michelangelo. Poussin, I am delighted in." " Of landscapes my favourites are Claude and Gaspar Poussin." Like Caspar Poussin, the Hudson River painters too often gave themselves up to an exuberant fancy, accumulating in one picture a variety of motives grouped together without much choice. Gaspard lacked the unity, the fine sense of proportion and the strong, expressive force of Nicholas Poussin, The superabundance of needless and incoherent de- tail proved rather a lazy mind than a wealth of imagination. Poussin, on the other hand, was close in touch with nature during the execution of his pictures. His daily walks, before and after work, were not chosen at random. He would go into the country, to study the various details he intended to put into the work he was engaged upon. Although he bor- rowed from nature in this way, it was rarely that he copied exactly enough for one to identify the 60 Ube Hrt treasures of TOIlasbington localities which furnished him with his ideas. It is only occasionally that we find in his compositions the exact spot which inspired him. The Hudson River painters were content to hold the mirror up to nature — a fine view, a pretty fall in a brook, perhaps only a rock or a great tree, is taken in its most favourable aspect and enough of the surrounding detail added to fill up the canvas. The composition never perfectly fits the frame. Durand's pictures were largely great sketches from nature. He had no feeling for balance of line, no great traditions of art to fall back upon, and he worked largely out of doors, painting directly on his final picture, a practice exceptional at the time ; and without any desire or consciousness of being an innovator, his surroundings and his study from nature forced new compositions upon him. The earliest of the Hudson River School of painters, in point of years, was Thomas Doughty ( 1 793-1856), who was born in Philadelphia seven years before the close of the eighteenth century — a man of the people, apprenticed in his teens to a leather manufacturer — but in whom the desire to be a painter awoke early in his career, and finally dominated all else. At. the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, to the despair of his friends and relatives, he decided to abandon his comparatively lucrative, but wholly Ttbe IJlucleus of tbe Collections 6i uncongenial trade, and, with no particular pros- pects, adopted painting as q profession, having as he says " acquired a love for the art which no cir- cumstances could unsettle." Doughty was to all intents and purposes un- taught. In his correspondence with Dunlap on the subject of his life, he refers to possible influences to which he was, in his youth, subjected, and which fired him with an enthusiasm for painting, strengthened by his dislike for the trade he had learned. Of these influences the earliest was the attitude of his genial schoolmaster, who encouraged the development of the artistic tendencies of his pupils, by allowing" them one afternoon a week in which to practise drawing — himself inspecting their ef- forts. Later, at the close of his term of apprentice- ship, he received a quarter's tuition at a night school in drawing in Indian ink. His woodland landscapes, especially many small, picturesque, and eiifectively coloured scenes, soon be- came popular. Contemponary critics found in them " a cool, vivid tone, a true execution, and especially a genuine American character," which, in the early part of his professional lifei, rendered the studies, sketches and finished landscapes of Doughty more suggestive and interesting, to lovers of nature and of art, than- other works of this kind. 62 Ube art XCteasures of TOnasbington A collection of his landscapes, exhibited in Bos- ton, in 183 1, impressed all capable judges with what was considered Doughty's remarkable talent and true feeling for nature. He was at one time thought the first and best landscape painter in the country. The Corcoran Gallery owns four of his pictures, of which " Autumn on the Hudson " and " Land- scape " were in Mr. Corconan's private collection ; and " Welsh Scenery " and " Tintern Abbey " were the gift to the Gallery of William Church Osborn, of New York. The real founders of the school, for Doughty was but the forerunner, were Durand and Cole. Asher B. Durand (1796-1886) was the elder by five years. He was born at his father's farm on the slope of Orange Mountain, New Jersey, and was the eighth of eleven children of his Huguenot father and Dutch mother. The elder Durand was a watchmaker and silver- smith, possessed of unusual cleverness and versa- tility, which, coupled with an industry and perse- verance, were the heritage of his gifted son. The boy's first experiments in engraving were upon plates, which he manufactured himself, from cop- per coins, with tools of his own contrivance. He showed so much aptitude for the work, that, in 1812, he was apprenticed to Peter Maverick, who Ube 'Wttcletts of tbe Collections 63 lived near Newark, only seven miles from the Durand farm. His term was for five years, at the end of which time he became of age and was taken into partnership. At this time, Durand attended the school be- longing to the American Academy of the Fine Arts, of which Dunlap was the director -and keeper. Here he had some practice in drawing from the antique. The preference which Trumbull gave to Durand by employing him, to the exclusion of Maverick, broke up the partnership, and Durand opened up a rival establishment, on the strength of an impor- tant commission from Trumbull for the engraving of his " Declaration of Independence." The skill which Durand displayed, in the execution of this plate, established his reputation as an engraver, and placed him at the head of the profession in Amer- ica. For the next few years he was fully employed. Much of the work was purely commercial ; business cards, lottery tickets, diplomas, and especially bank notes, for the production of which he formed a partnership with his elder brother, and he designed many graceful vignettes. He also produced a great number of other plates, portraits of actors and heroes of the War of 1812, and race horses, ending with a " Musidora " and the " Ariadne " of Van- 64 TEbc art treasures of OTasbtngton derlyn. In these Durand shows himself a thor- oughly competent engraver. " He had studied dili- gently the best prints he could find, and had mas- tered a variety of technique, from the school of the cross hatching of Raphael Morghen to the stipple of Bartolozzi. His drawing is good, his line is clear and strong and faithfully reproduces his models. That his work has so little interest is due mainly to this last virtue. If fortune had given him the compositions of Reynolds or of Law- rence to work from, his prints might now be dis- puted by collectors, but the heads by Waldo and Neagle, which were for the most part his portion, were calculated to increase neither his fame nor his skill." 1 " Ariadne," finished in 1835, was practically his last effort as an engraver. From that time he be- gins to figure as a painter. He had already made some attempts at portrait painting, as a relief from the confinements of his profession, and had made heads of John Frazee, the sculptor. Governor Og- den, of his native state, and of James Madison. This last portrait he made in 1833, at the residence of the ex-president in Virginia, and is now the property of the Century Association, of New York. In 1840 he made his only trip abroad, visiting ' " The History of American Painting: " by Samuel Isham. EDGE OF THE FOREST By Asher B. Durand ITbe Bucleus ot tbe Collections 65 London and the chief continental cities and winter- ing in Italy, where he studied and copied the old masters. On his return to this country, the follow- ing year, he was made the president of the National Academy of Design, a post which he held until 1861. Toward the end of his long life he devoted his talents exclusively to landscape painting, winning a favourable reputation. When in his eighty-third year, finding himself disqualified for active work by advancing age, he was obliged to lay aside his brush and passed the last seven years of his life in peaceful contemplation of the beauties of the sur- rounding country upon the farm where he was born. His " Edge of the Forest," owned by the Cor- coran Gallery, poetical and dignified in conception, is probably his best known picture. It was painted in 1871, and sold to the gallery in 1874. There is good character in the trees, into the individuality of which he had a keen insight, and his oaks, syca- mores and butternuts are valuable reminiscences of . the woodlands he loved so much. We now come to the most interesting and impor- tant of this early group of American landscape painters — Thomas Cole, who was born at Bol- ton-le-Moors, England, February i, 1801, and died near Catskill, New York, on February 11, 1848. 66 Ube Hrt TTreasures of Masbfngton He made his first bid for public attention in the winter of 1828-1829 — two years after the found- ing of the National Academy of Design — when, quite unknown to fame, and struggling bravely against every form of adversity, he succeeded in getting three pictures exhibited, and gained imme- diate recognition from the profession — Colonel Trumbull, Durand and Dunlap each acquiring one at modest prices. These were sketches made along the banks of the Hudson, where the painter had made his way in search of picturesque material. His career up to this time had been one of terri- ble poverty and privation. The family — Thomas was the seventh of eight children — came to Amer- ica in 18 19. In England Cole had pushed forth the first tentacles toward tiie art that was to master him, by resisting his father's efforts to apprentice him to an attorney or an iron manufacturer, and by entering a print works as an engraver of sim- ple designs for calico. In the designs and colours with which his daily work was making him familiar, there was a charm undreamed of in the subtleties of law, or the pon- derous operations of iron making. From this occu- pation, he passed to engraving, at which he worked for a time, with an employer in Liverpool. Arrived in America, the lad was thrown upon Ube "Wucleus ot tbe Collections 67 his own slender resources, and earned a meagre living for a time at wood engraving, while his father struggled to establish himself, first in Phil- adelphia, and later in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio; and to provide for his numerous family. Thomas was at this time in frail health, which the circumstances of his life, with its endless privations, did not tend to mitigate. He made the journey on foot to Steuben ville, Ohio, when his^ father needed him in the little paper manufactory which he had established in that town, and here he finally formed the great determination of his life — to be a painter. His half formed inclinations in this di- rection were doubtless pushed to resolution by his meeting with a portrait painter, who came to the village, and who, it is said, lent Thomas a book on English engraving, and, by his own example, stimulated the incipient genius of the boy. The time was more than unpropitious. The country was in the grip of the financial crisis of the period: banks had suspended, men of business were hopelessly involved in debt, and produce, not currency was the medium of exchange to a great extent. So great was the scarcity of money that the transactions of the whole community were fre- quently carried on for weeks without the sight of a dollar. Recently a frontier, without proper roads, the country, of this district, was new and isolated. 68 Ubc Hrt treasures of Wasbington Thought for the fine arts in suah a state of affairs could not be reasonably entertained. It was in 1822, when Cole had just completed his twenty-first year, that, having tested his capabilities with the completion of a few portraits at home, he set out " with a green baize bag over his shoulder," containing a scanty stock of wearing apparel, his flute, colours, brushes, and a heavy stone muUer, to face the precarious fortunes of an itinerant painter — a career ably described, with pathos and infinite details, in " The Life and Works of Thomas Cole," from the «, appreciative pen of Louis L. Noble. But these privations, having in them a saving grace of adventure, were as nothing compared to the life the poor boy led upon his return to Phila- delphia, the following year, where we read of him making his weary way in an insolent carrier's wagon, and arriving, oppressed, in the midst of " the lofty buildings, wide streets and busy multi- tude." " He was now to seek instruction and employ- ment. His plan for living, as he could not afford to pay for board, was to take an empty room, sleep in a blanket he had brought from home, and live upon bread and water." He actually commenced this mode of life with results that can be well im- agined — suffered and nearly died. from want and Ube mucleus of tbe Collections 69 exposure, until cared for by his poor, but warm hearted landlady. There is some mention of his obtaining permis- sion to draw at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — of his painting pictures and selling them at auction for a triflo — of work upon the backs of bellows for a japanner, in whom he found a friend — of a commission for a landscape (price seven dollars) and of an introduction to Bass Otis, who employed him upon transparencies, incident to the arrival in the country of Lafayette, the nation's guest. Meanwhile, his nomadic father again removed his family — this time to New York, and thither Cole repaired, setting up his easel in his father's garret. Some landscapes which he painted here were shown, and a sale of one, for ten dollars, was made to a Mr. Bruen, who met the artist and financed his expedition to the banks of the Hud- son, where he made the three pictures bought by Trumbull, Durand and Dunlap, previously re- ferred to. Dunlap gives a picturesque description of the oc- currence : " I remember the sensitive and amiable painter, then seen by me for the first time, standing in the presence of the three above mentioned, like a school'boy in presence of the trustees, and looking an image of diffidence before men, neither of whom 70 Ubc art XCreasures of XHHasbinaton could produce a rival to the works offered for the paltry price of $25 each." Though the pecuniary aid was trifling, the admi- ration and commendation of fellow artists, whom Cole looked upon as " arrived," was a strong en- couragement to the young painter. Dunlap also, according to his own story, published an account of the artist and his pictures, which doubtless drew attention to them. From that time forward Cole received commis- sions to paint landscapes from different quarters, and gradually came to occupy a position of some distinction and authority in the art world. Among his pictures at the exhibition of the Na- tional Academy, in 1828, was the ambitious at- tempt upon which he based so much hope, the " Garden of Eden " and the " Expulsion." With the proceeds of these two pictures, which his recent successes had impelled him to regard as practically certain, Cole had planned a trip abroad. In this he was, however, bitterly disappointed, and when he did sail, in 1829, it was with funds otherwise provided. He remained abroad three years, nearly two of which were spent in England. There he met shortly before his death. Sir Thomas Lawrence. He speaks, in his correspondence, of meeting Leslie and Constable — though there is no hint of his tSbe mucleus ot tbe Collections 7i having realized the importance of the latter. He dismisses the modern English School of the day as either below mediocrity, or going widely astray in pursuit of effects that have not their foundation in truth or nature. He remarks in Turner " a great falling ofif," though he admires the colour; is con- temptuous of modern French painting when he visits Paris; and throughout his wanderings pre- serves an ever increasing regard for the landscapes of Claude and Poussin; speaks well of Ruysdael, copies a Richard Wilson, and generally repudiates the revelations of the school of painters just then stepping into glory. On his return to America, he made his home near Oatskill, where he died, surrounded by his beloved mountains, at the early age of forty-seven years. Here he devoted himself to those long series of allegorical landscapes, in which, like West, he studied to find visible symbols for ideas better de- scribed in words. In his efforts to represent sub- lime truths, to suggest homilies on the grandeur and the decline of nations, the transitoriness of human life, the reward of virtue, he outstepped the province of the painter, and his work became sober and dry. He conceived some sort of a plot for each of his pictures, and often a series of canvases was re- quired for the complete revelation of the story. 72 Ube Uvt treasures of TRaasbington The " Voyage of Life " represttited in four can- vases, Infancy, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age, drifting upon an allegorical stream of time. The " Departure " and " Return," owned by the Corcoran Gallery, and recerived from Mr. Corco- ran's private collection, depict a knight leaving his castle on a summer morning, with floating banners and prancing steeds, on a warlike expedition, in defiance of the warnings of a holy palmer; and brought back dead, at the close of an autumn day. Such allegories were in tune with the taste of the day and enjoyed a tremendous vogue. The mission of art was accepted in its guise of moral teacher, and Cole, in his struggle to express lofty sentiment, lost sight of the message of pure paint- ing, and in a constant reaching out after nobler subjects, technique fell too far behind to give to his work a permanent value, beyond the realm of his- tory. Of the work of the fourth of the founders of the Hudson River School of painters, John Frederick Kensett (i8 18-1872), the Corcoran Gallery con- tains three examples, including one of his most important works — " Afternoon on Lake George." The picture was painted in 1864, and became the property of the Gallery in 1877, having been bought from the 01)rphant sale, where it fetched a high price. Ube mucleus ot tbe Collections 73 What Tuckerman describes as an able critic, in referring to this picture says : "" The most unaggres- sive and loved of the leaders of the American School of painting has at length produced a picture of sufficient size to call forth his best strength ; and of importance enough in subject matter, if success- fully treated, to confirm his position as one of the three foremost men of our landscape art." In his own day, Kensett was eulogized as a con- summate master in the treatment of subjects full of repose and sweetness ; for his tenderness and re- finement of feeling; exquisite quality of colour; and a free and individual method of painting cer- tain facts of nature. It is true that he had at least the great merit of simplicity, that he never invoked the assistance of a great or sensational subject, but depended upon what skill and feeling he had as a painter, to teach, or rather to render the poetry of such subjects as came to his hand. Like many artists, Kensett was originally an en- graver, to which may be ascribed the careful atten- tion to detail so manifest in his pictures. He studied engraving with his uncle, Alfred Daggett, turning to painting as a means of recreation. He was bom in Qieshire, in Connecticut, cutting away to Europe at the age of twenty-two with Durand, Gasilaer, and Rossiter in 1840, where he passed seven years devoted to travel and study. His first 74 Ube Hrt treasures ot masbington success was a view of Windsor Castle, exhibited at the Royal Academy, which Tuckerman tells us was purchased by " a prize holder in the London Art- Union." He made, it appears, many studies dur- ing a pedestrian tour through Swit2 was purchased ten years later by Henry Sampson, who paid for it $10,150. Inness ties in with the Hudson River School of painters from the fact of his birth, which occurred at Newburgh on the Hudson, though his youth was passed in Newark, New Jersey. His only direct instruction was a month's study with Regis Gig- noux, a Frenchman, from whom, it is supposed, he 90 Ube art trreasures of Wasbington received his first bent toward the painters of the Barbison School, which led to his later intimacy with Corot, Rousseau and Millet, with whom on his second trip to Europe, in 1850, he was much associated. His development was logical arid slow, and much of his youth was spent in -assimilating the things he had seen. In 1871 he went abroad for the third time, and spent four years in Paris and Rome ; hut while he subjected himself to the influences of Euro- pean art, both old and new, there is no man whom he can be said to have copied, or even imitated. He evolved, from much meditation and study of the great masters, the sound principles which gov- erned his later work, and which form the basis of the difference between himself and his predecessors. Inness was the first in this country to realize the now generally accepted theory that the aim of art is not to edify or to instruct, but to awaken an emotion. The Corcoran Gallery preserves a large example of the work of George Inness, painted in 1891 — three years before his death — and representing his mature style, with a possible tilt toward decadence. It was purchased by the Gallery in the year that it was painted. " Sunset in the Woods," as the title suggests, depicts an interior of the woods, through which XCbe Cbaln ot Hmerfcan painters 9i the sun strikes a path, lifting into prominence the trunk of a great tree, in the foreground, thence carrying the eye to a sunlit passage in the distance, beyond a great rock. The canvas presents a rich treatment of a fine subject, and develops all the curious features of the painter's method — the baffling technique attained by a well defined process of working, which included glazing and scumbling bright colour over dark. In (the method itself there does not appear to be anything particularly meritorious, on the contrary, one is inclined to say that the end does not always justify the means. The canvases themselves, and this one in particular, have often a sticky quality in itself repellent, proving, indeed, a real obstacle to enjoyment of the serious message that Inness had to deliver. Certain it is, however, that Inness directed pub- lic attention into a new and more wholesome quar- ter, and he figures as a very definite milestone in the century of progress. He broke away by virtue of his own originality from the traditions of his forebears, when there was everything to push him into the stereotyped mould ; and this at great personal sacrifice, for his early work — thin, smooth and meagre, like that done about him — found ready sale, while his change of style meant strug- gle and adversity. For this we owe him much. 92 Ubc Hrt treasures of IKflasbington But Inness is a separate and isolated figure, and if he made easier the route of those who were to come after him, it was not as a path finder. His discoveries, such as they were, he utilized himself in his own way, leaving nothing that posterity has been able to push any further. What he started he carried to completion in his own life and work, and though he had many imitators he does not count as an influence in the big scheme of the development of American landscape painting. There is a canvas by Inness in the private collec- tion of Mr. Charles C. Glover, the president and treasurer of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, that throws a new and refreshing light upon this painter. The title is " Winter Morning at Montclair," and it it signed and dated, 1882. This rare and beauti- ful canvas is absolutely simple and direct in its painting, and justifies what he himseilf once said of his work — that he " seemed to have two oppo- sing styles, — one impetuous and eager, the other classical and elegant." " Winter Morning at Montclair " belongs to the first category — it is impetuous and eager, and so far as the writer's knowledge of the painter's work goes, appears to be the very gem of his middle period. The canvas would seem to have been, per- haps, an experiment in a complete discard of all mannerism. Here is nothing of Inness' usual in- JLbc Cbatn of Hmecican painters 93 volved style of expression. Each brush mark stands unaltered in the painter's charming resume of the scene before him. It is winter; as may be noted from the bare ground and the occasional snow patches; from the cold colour of the sky, the bleak trees, or the figure of the old woman, who, huddled into her shawl, makes her way across the middle distance, with her armful of faggots. The picture is the essence of what the French call the pay sage intime. Ever so cleverly and intimately does the painter lead the observer through his landscape, calling his attention to the stump of the newly felled tree in the foreground; to the tree itsdf, lying a little beyond; to the old woman with her fire- wood; to the white patches, where a recent light snow fall has left its trace upon the frozen ground. On beyond is a house, and across the background stretches a wooded country. The sky is lit with the fresh blue of morning, and across its smooth surface lie thin, white clouds. The canvas is per- vaded with a sense of openness, of clear, wintry morning, of country familiar and beloved by the painter, who holds our interest in its smallest de- tail by virtue of his own enthusiasm in the render- ing. The canvas has that delightful quality that makes one long to touch it, to follow with the fin- gers those brush marks so lovingly made, and to possess it. 94 Zbc Htt treasured of Masbington Upon the original research work of George In- ness a chain of his contemporaries was content to hang, repeating his utterances, and striving for some of the glory which his effulgence reflected. Of these the Gallery preserves examples of the most notable. In Alexander' Wyant (1836- 1892) the thinning out process begins. His " Landscape r View from Mount Mansfield," was received in 1 90 1, and is considered a masterpiece. Wyant was born in a small town in Ohio, where he was subject to the usual artistic privations until at the age of twenty years he removed to Cincin- nati, where, it is to be supposed, he first came into contact with artistic productions worthy the name. Though Inness was at this time a comparatively obscure painter, Wyant sensed his importance, and feeling within himself something responsive to the greater painter's articles of faith, made the trip to Perth Amboy, where Inness then lived, and sought his advice and aid. As a painter, Wyant had not the powerful exe- cution nor the varied repertoire of his distinguished prototype. Glimpses of sunny, rolling country, seen between slander wood grown trees, form the theme upon which he develops many variations. The Corcoran Gallery's example is purest pastoral. With Inness, Wyant, and Homer Martin (the lat- ter not represented in the Gallery) comes the cul- Ube Cbain of Hmetican painters 95 mination of the early American school of land- scape painting. In J. Francis Murphy (1853 — ) we trace a less intelligent leaning upon the methods of Inness. His " October," painted in 1888-1893, reflects the subject, style, and mannerisms of the older painter to a marked degree. It came to the Gallery from the Thomas B. Clarke sale in 1899. William Lamb Picknell ( 1852-1897) j who is represented in the Gallery by two large landscapes, studied for two years with Inness in Rome, and afterward with Gerome, in Paris. Ha lived and painted in Brittany, working under Robert Wylie until the death of that artist. " The Road to Con- carneau," considered the painter's masterpiece, was painted in 1880, and purchased by the Gallery from the Thomas B. Qarke sale, in 1889. The picture is clear and brilliant, more like the atmospheric ef- fect of Arizona, in the sharpness of its detail and the intense blue of the sky, than like France. Picknell's style was realistic and his method of painting direct and courageous. " En Provence," bequeathed to the Gallery by the artist's widow, is a work of a later period. Of the army of painters dependent upon the Barbison School for the source of inspiration, we have here Henry W. Ranger (1858 — ) whose " Top of the Hill," formed unimaginatively upon 96 trbe Hrt treasures of iwasbinflton the art of Diaz, is a fair representation of his thor- oughly commercial work. The cold literary ideals of the Hudson River painters are eminently preserved in the work of William T. Richards (1833-1905), of which the Corcoran Gallery contains three examples. " On the Coast of New Jersey " was painted to order for the Gallery in 1883. Richards is a notable example of an artist who achieved his great success during his lifetime. His work was received and hung in the Royal Academy, in London, in 1869, 1878, and 1881, and at the Paris Salon in 1873. He was medalled at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadel- phia, in 1876. The pictures owned by the Corcoran Gallery are characteristic examples of his tight, photographic manner, and absence of temperament. A certain tonal affinity appears to unite the work of Ralph Albert Blakelock ( 1847 — ) with his senior painter William Keith (1839-1911). Blakelock is, however, the more original painter. He is an ex- treme example of the fad for developing the intrin- sic beauties of pigment, as such, without attempting accurate transcripts of nature, which at this junc- ture began to take possession of certain painters. Blakelock is much more adequately represented in the Evans Collection at the National Museum in Washington, and will be more fully considered in the chapter dealing with that gallery. The exam- Copyright Detroit Publishing Co. LORETTE By George Fuller Zbc Cbatn of american ffi>alnters 97 pie owned by the Corcoran Gallery, " Colorado Plains," is small, but handsome in its effect of light, and warmth of colour. William Keith was a Scotsman, born in Aber- deenshire in 1839. He studied with Achenbach and Carl Marr, and came to New York in 1851, where he worked at engraving until 1859. In that year he went to California, and before his death became the leading painter of the Pacific Coast. " By the Creek : Sonoma " was received by the Corcoran Gallery in 191 1, and may be considered a characteristic example of his style. Keith also achieved some prominence as a portrait painter, and the Gallery owns his portrait of Irving M. Scott, the shipbuilder. Of the figure painters of this period we have a good example of George Fuller (1822-1884), whose " Lorette " was painted in 1882, and bought at the William T. Evans sale in February, 1900. Fuller is amongst the most original and impor- tant of our native artists. His career was a strange one. Born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, he made his start in life as an itinerant artist, painting por- traits for a pittance, and eking out his talents by a few months' study in Boston and New York. In 1857 he was sufficiently recognized to be made an associate of the National Academy of Design, but his art was so unremunerative that two years later, 98 Ube Hct treasures of XRaasbtttdton when the death of his father and brother made him the head of his family, he was obHged to return to the old place in Deerfield, and to assume charge of the farm in order to provide for its wants. Painting became thenceforth a secondary con- sideration, but Fuller worked at it for his own amusement and solace, developing in his isolation a strength of personality that had been lacking in his previous work. Before he returned to the farm he made a six months' trip to Europe, to visit the galleries in an effort to absorb enough inspiration to last him through the years of contemplated sac- rifice. He seems to have grasped something of Hunt and of Millet in this flight and in his work is a considerable robust affinity with that of those sturdy masters. In 1876 the failure of his efforts as farmer to yield an adequate living, for himself and for those dependent upon him, forced Fuller to send a few pictures to a Boston dealer. These canvases bore no relation to his previous careful, prosaic work, and their success was instantaneous. For the re- maining eight years of his life he had purchasers for whatever he did. CHAPTER VII EARLY PORTRAIT PAINTERS The Corcoran Gallery rejoices in a very consid- erable collection of miscellaneous portraits by early American painters, which have come to the Gallery by purchase, gift, and bequest, and form an interesting and pertinent feature of an American gallery. While the collection is not so important, nor so local in character, as the similar collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Bos- ton or Metropolitan Museums, nor so complete in the following out of the work of individual paint- ers, it includes, nevertheless, one or more, examples by nearly all the prominent American painters from the Colonial period down to the middle of the last century. One of the chef d'ceuvres of the collection, from the point of view of its rarity, is the portrait of Edward Greene Malbone (i 777-1807) by hiniself, presented to the Gallery by Mr. Corcoran, in 1883. It was purchased by the donor from George Doug- lass Brewerton. BO 100 zbc Hrt tTreasures or wadbtngton Malbone was, of course, chiefly distinguished as a miniature painter, and portraits by him, other than miniatures, are exceedingly rare. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island, August, 1777. He received some instruction from a local scene painter, and was so precocious that, in his sixteenth year, he painted a portrait of considerable merit, so that, although his life was very brief, he has left ample evidence of a rare genius. He established himself in Boston as a miniatur- ist, and there formed a close friendship with All- ston, with whom, in consequence of failing health, he removed in the winter of 1800, to Charleston, South Carolina, where some of his best works were produced. Malbone accompanied Allston to Lon- don in May, 1801, and while there painted his most celebrated miniature, " The Hours," now in the Providence Athenaeum, a group of three beautiful girls, representing Past, Present, and Future. On returning to this country, Malbone chose Charles- ton for his permanent residence, visiting the north periodically in the interest of his profession. In 1806, his health still failing, he sought relief in Jamaica, but feeling no benefit from the change, started home and died on reaching Savannah on May 7, 1807, in the thirtieth year of his age. Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) is represented in the collection by three canvases, of which the most im- Copyright Detroit Publishing Co. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST By Edward Greene Malbone iBarls portrait painters loi portant is the " Portrait of Chief Justice Shippen, of Pennsylvania." This is one of those sterling portraits of distinguished men, in the painting of which Stuart developed the fulness of his powers. The canvas belongs to the painter's ablest period, and is in an exodlent state of preservation. It was purchased in 1874 from Mrs. Pringle, of George- town, South Carolina, who was a great grand- daughter of the sitter. Edward Shippen belonged to an old Philadelphia family, distinguished throughout generations for public services to the country. His great grand- father, Edward Shippen, was of English birth, having emigrated to Boston in 1668, where he be- came a wealthy merchant. He married Elizabeth Lybrand, a Quakeress, united with that sect and shared the " jailings, whippings, and banishments, the fines and imprisonments " that ware inflicted on the Quakers in those days. In 1693 Mr. Shippen was either banished or driven to take refuge in Philadelphia, where his wealth and character ob- tained for him position and influence. In 1701, he became Mayor of Philadelphia, being so named in William Penn's charter of that year, and during this year he was appointed, by Penn, to be one of his commissioners of property, holding the office until his death. Edward's son Joseph, grandfather of Chief Jus- 102 Ube Hrt XTteasuces of TRIlasbindton tice Shippen, was among the men of science of his day, and joined with Benjamin Franklin in found- ing the Junto, " for mutual information and the public good." Joseph's son Edward, was no less eminent in his way than his forebears. In early life he laid out and founded Shippensburg, Penn- sylvania, and was one of the founders of the Col- lege of New Jersey, a subscriber to the Philadel- phia Academy (afterwards the University of Penn- sylvania), a founder of the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society. Edward, son of the second Edward, and the sub- ject of the portrait, was born in Philadelphia in 1729 and died there in 1806, having filled many important offices, for which his profession of jurist fitted him. He was made chief ji^stice of the Su- preme Court, by Governor McKean, in 1799, and held the office until his resignation in 1805. To his pen we owe the first law reports in Pennsyl- vania. The best extant portrait of him is this one by Gilbert Stuart, preserved by the Corcoran Gal- lery in Washington. His third daughter, Margaret, familiarly known as " Peggy Shippen," was a great belle and beauty in her day, and became the second wife of Benedict Arnold. It was just such a man as this that inspired Stu- art's keenest interest, and the portrait is a superb specimen of his most eloquent style, needing little Copyright Detroit Publishing Co. PORTRAIT OF CHIEF JUSTICE SHIPPEN, OF PENNSYLVANIA By Gilbert Stuart JEarlB portrait painters 103 coramant to attract the observer to its rare quali- ties of colour, character, form, and masterly ex- pressiveness. The replica of the Athenaeum portrait of Wash- ington, by Gilbert Stuart, was presented to the Cor- coran Gallery in 1902, by Mrs. Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, and though it appears a perfunctory exam- ple of this familiar type, its history is well authen- ticated. It was purchased from Stuart himself by Colonel John Tayloe, of Mount Airy. The third Stuart is a " Portrait of Colonel Sam- uel Miles," and was a gift to the institution from Miss Elizabeth F. McKean, in 1909. This is an interesting and characteristic example, despite the ravages of time and the restorer, which have com- bined to destroy the original vigour of the por- trait: As is wdl known, Stuart availed himself of every advantage offered by the surface upon which he painted. The portrait of Colond Miles is done upon a wooden panel, which has been carefully grained with a tool to resemble English twill can- vas — a characteristic trick of the painter, and one that often figures in the identification of doubtful portraits. The portrait has been a very vigorous work of probably Stuart's best period. It has lost vitality in the process of cleaning and restoration, but a good deal of power still remains, as well as 104 Ube Hrt Zvcasvivcs of TPdlasbindton some original brush marks, which testify to its pris- tine superiority. Miles was prominent in the early history of our country, and was one of the first to espouse the cause of independence, taking an active part in op- position to the parliament of Great Britain. He raised the second company of militia that was formed on that occasion, and when the militia became a regiment, was elected colonel. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth and servicei, a large land owner in Chester County, where he laid out the town of Milesburg, and was for one year, 1790, Mayor of Philadelphia. His autobiography writ- ten in 1802, and published in the American Histor- ical Record (Philadelphia, 1873), is an interesting paper, and a valuable contribution to the history of the battle of Long Island. One of the treasures of the collection is a portrait in full-length of Andrew Jackson, by Thomas Sully (1783- 1 872), which belonged to Mr. Cor- coran's private collection and came to the Gallery with the original gift. It was painted, according to the register,^ in 1845. The canvas is signed and dated, but the data is undecipherable. It represents Jackson as a man of about fifty years of age, tall, thin, and wiry, the very embodiment of his sobri- » A Register of Portraits Painted by Thomas Sully. Arranged and edited by Charles Henry Hart^ Copyright Detroit Publishing Co. PORTRAIT OF ANDREW JAOCSON By .Thomas Siilh- iBatVs ©ortraft painters 105 quet, " Old Hickory." The presentment is gra- cious, full of manly verve and strength, and the head is very distinguished. Of the early presidents of the United States, Jackson's portrait is, after Washington's, the most familiar. General Jackson had light blue eyes and sandy hair. His face and figure were easily carica- tured and many fine portraits exist among the oar- toons made of hiin during his public life. An Eng- lish traveller of the time makes this vivid descrip- tion of him: " General Jackson is tall, bony, and thin, with an erect, military bearing, and a head set with a con- siderable fierte upon his shoulders. A stranger would at once pronounce upon his profession, and his frame and features, voice and action, have a natural and most peculiar warlikeness. He has, not to speak disrespectfully, a game cock all over him. His face is unlike any other. Its prevailing expres- sion is energy, but there is, so to speak, a lofty hon- ourableness in its worn lines. His eye is of a dan- gerous fixedness, deep-set and overhung by bushy grey eyebrows. His features are long, with strong, ridgy lines running through his cheeks. His fore- head is a good deal seamed and his white hair, stiff and wiry, brushed obstinately back." A full-length, cabinet size portrait of James Mad- ison, by Sully was received in 1877, from F. E. 106 Ubc Htt XTreasures ot Masbtngton Church, the painter, through Mr. Avery. The third example of the artist owned by the Corcoran Gallery is a portrait of himself, painted in 1850, and received with the original gift. One of the most interesting portraits in the col- lection, is of Chief Justice Marshall, of Virginia, attributed to Robert M. Sully (1803-1855), a nephew and pupil of Thomas. The portrait is a powerful study of character. Though Robert Sully began his studies under his uncle, in Phila- delphia, his style and habits of painting reflect much more strongly the influences of his four years resi- dence in England. He was not so clever a crafts- man as his master — the neckcloth of this portrait is notoriously badly painted — though probably re- stored — but the head and hand are very able, and, in their freedom from traditional treatment, deh velop an interesting, personal sort of style that is above all eminently sincere, and therefore good. Chief Justice Marshall was the subject of sev- eral portraits by this painter. What is claimed as the original was painted for the constitutional con- vention of Virginia, but, no appropriation being made for it, it remained in the possession of the ar- tist and became the property of his father-in-law. Garland Thompson, of Virginia, and is now owned in Chicago. A replica is in the Court House at Earls IPortraft painters 107 Staunton, Virginia, and another in the Historical Society at Madison, Wisconsin. The portrait is unsigned and was until 1908 at- tributed to Thomas Sully. Like Jackson, portraits and statues of Giief Jus- tice Marshall abound in Washington. He was tall, plain in dress, and somewhat awkward in appear- ance, but had a keen black eye and overflowed with geniality and kind feeling. The Gallery owns an excellent example of the work of Chester Harding (1792- 1866) in his por- trait of John Randolph, of Roanoke, painted about 1830. This interesting character was a vigorous figure in the early days of the Republic. He claimed the distinction of being a descendant from Pocohontas by her marriage with John Rolfe. His personal appearance was striking, and he is de- scribed as being " six feet in height, very slender, with long, skinny fingers, which he pointed and shook at those against whom he spoke." Although Randolph was pugnacious in argument, he appears to have been imbued with a hatred of war, which animated his diatribes against Napoleon, and his resolute opposition to the war policy of Madison. Harding's portrait is a vigorous presentment, full of individuality and character. The style of paint- ing is very personal, and bears out his assertion that he was practically self taught. Harding's ca- 108 Zbc Ect Ztcasrxtcs of inaasbindton •reer is graphically described in his own words in Dunlap's " History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design." He was born in Conway, Massachusetts, of poor parentage, married early, and after many adventures and vicissitudes set up as a sign painter in Pittsburgh, in about his twenty- fifth year. Inspired by his own tentative efiforts in portraiture, he grew disgusted with his vocation, neglected his customers, and conceived the idea of going to Kentucky, where he subsequently estab- lished himself, in the town of Paris, taking rooms, and commencing business at once. His price was $25, which, he tells us, the Ken- tuckians paid cheerfully, though he trembled at his own temerity in asking so much; and here he painted about an hundred heads, laying aside suf- ficient funds for a visit to Philadelphia. He passed five or six weeks in Philadelphia, studying the por- traits of Sully and others, and then returned to Kentucky, to reneiw his labours under the influence of what he had seen. The effect of his visit to Philadelphia, so far from proving a stimulus was, at first very discour- aging to Harding, whose vanity had received a se- vere blow in beholding the work of his contem- poraries. He owns to having been intimidated by the knowledge of the many obstacles that he must overcome, before he could arrive at distinction in £arlp portrait painters 109 art; to have felt the presence of more difficulties than he had dreamed of, before his visit to the metropolis ; all of which reacted upon his activities and paralyzed his efforts at production. The period of his return was also coincident with the financial crisis in the affairs of the country, which operated also against him, and orders for portraits were not so plenty. In search of better- ment of fortunes, he removed to St. Louis, where he raised his price to $40, and remained until 1821, when he made his debut in Washington. His suc- cess was immediate, and he painted about forty heads during the winter and spring, and then pushed on to Boston, on a pilgrimage to Stuart, where he finally established himself, and had a great vogue. In 1823 Harding went to London, meeting also with success, and after three years' ab- sence, returned to Boston, where he died in 1866. Throughout his career, Harding seems to have been content with the soberer virtues of portraiture. His John Randolph is strong in character, as has been said, and in a style very personal. It has, on the other hand, little quality, and no attempt at anything more subtle than the record of the local colour in the picture. This he manages in a way almost decorative. There is something quaint in his frank noting of the sitter's spotted blue tie, and the red covering of the chair across which his arm no tlbe art "JCreasures of Masblngton is thrown. There sits John Randolph, very much as he must have looked — a Southerner all through, and something of the old woman about him. The portrait exerts the spell of personality. It was purchased by Mr. Corcoran, for the Gal- lery, from L. R. Page, Esq., on November 8, 1875. For what it lacks we have only to compare it an instant, with a delicious portrait of the same sitter, as a boy, by Gilbert Stuart, owned by Mrs. C. T. B. Coleman, and deposited by her in the Gallery. This is a chef d'oeuvre of Harding's eminent con- temporary, one of the loveliest Stuart's in existence, and the comparison of the two is very interesting and not a little instructive. The pose of the por- traits is quite similar, and the traits of the boy we find developed in the man. But Stuart's colour, his exquisite method of painting, the ineffable loveliness of the quality of the canvas is inimitable. The eyes are lustrous, the cheeks of transparent, wonderful skin beneath which the blood pulsates. It is all so smooth, so flowing, so suave, so graceful and so strong. The picture belongs to Stuart's most superb period, the transition between the English and American man- ner. Of Stuart's contemporaries we have a fine ex- ample of the art of John Neagle (1799- 1865) in his portrait of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, Vice- JEatl's portrait painters iii President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. It came to the Gallery in 1902, as the gift of Mrs. Benjamin Ogle Tayloe. The portrait is a vigorous and forceful example, depicting Johnson as a ruddy faced genial person- ality, seated in an easy attitude and wearing an informal costume, of which the striking feature is a red waistcoat. There is an admirable sense of flesh and blood, of bone and muscle, nicely tem- pered by a very definite expression, which animates the whole canvas, and gives life to it. Neagle had a thoughtful habit of inscribing various useful data on the backs or faces of his canvases. This one is no exception to the rule. On the back appears the following inscription: " Q)l. Richard M. Johnson, painted from life by John Neagle, Frankfort, Kentucky, March 9th, 1843. Col. R. M. Johnson, Vice-President of the United States, under the administration of Martin Van Buren. Died November 19th, 1850." A portrait of Benjamin Franklin, attributed to Duplessis in the old catalogues of the Corcoran Gallery, has recently (since 1908) been assigned to Joseph Wright, on the strength of certain proofs brought to light in defence of this claim, by Charles Henry Hart. The basis of the argument by which Mr. Hart establishes his authority for asserting that the por- 112 Ube Hrt treasures of Wasbfngton trait is by Wriglit, and not by Duplessis, is inter- estingly set forth, by him, in a pamphlet published in 1908, on " Joseph Wright's Portrait of Frank- lin belonging to the Royal Society, London," and reprinted in a limited edition from the Pennsyl- vania Magazine of History and Biography, for July, 1908. The portrait in the Corcoran Gallery was pur- chased in 1885 from Henry Stevens, of London, an eccentric character, who dealt in Americana, and who had bought it three years earlier from Graves, the print seller, and successor of Boydell. Upon the back of the picture is this inscription: " This picture of Dr. Franklin was painted at Paris, 1782, and was presented by him to Mr. William Hodgson, of Coleman Street, as a token of his regard and friendship." Hodgson was a friend of Franklin and of the Colonies, acting on the behalf of both in England, for the exchange of American prisoners of war, and the amelioration of their condition during con- finement. There seems little doubt from Mr. Hart's paper that the portrait in the Corcoran Gallery is by, or after, Joseph Wright. The painter is an inter- esting one, his brief life having been full of inci- dent, and his opportunities exceptional. He was born in Bordentown, New Jersey, the son of Pa- £arly Portrait ]patnters ii3 tience Wright, that unique figure in the history of American sculpture, and accompanied his mother to London, where she settled in 1772, plying her trade of making portraits in wax, with remarkable suc- cess. Joseph studied painting under Benjamin West, and also with John Hoppner, who married his sister. His sojourn in France was rather brief, something short of a year, he sailing for home on the Argo, late in October, 1782. He carried with him a letter of introduction from Franklin to Washington, from whom he received the appoint- ment to be first die-sinker of the United States Mint. He peirished in the yellow fever epidemic, in Philadelphia, in 1793. The series of six portraits of noted men by Charles Loring Elliott (181 2-1868) gives a fair idea of the scope and prowess of this portrait painter, who is best represented in the Corcoran Gallery by his portrait of James C. McGuire, a former trustee of the institution, and of Colonel Thomas L. McKenney. Elliott was born in Scipio, New York, and began life humbly, as a clerk in a store in Syracuse. He removed to New York in 1834 and became a pupil of John Trumbull, and of Quidor. He was a pro- lific painter, and is said to have accomplished dur- ing his comparatively short life — he lived but fifty-six years — more than seven hundred por- 114 Ube art Ureasures ot masbington traits, including some of the most prominent men of his time. He died in Albany in 1868. Elliott's work is of uneven merit, which biogra- phers have attributed to his own variable tempera- ment, and somewhat dissipated habits of life. Like Stuart, whose work he closely studied, he is at his best in the portraits of men of character and achievement. The vigour and truth of such like- nesses, as well as the colour and quality which dis- tinguish them, place these portraits amongst the best of his epoch. Tuckerman appreciatively writes of him : " Elli- ott is a man of will rather than sensibility, one who grasps keenly his subject, rather than is magnetized thereby: his touch is bold and free; he seizes the genuine and pierces the conventional, he has a nat- ural and robust feeling for colour; he is more vigorous than delicate. . . . There is a manly in- stinct which leads him to give prominence to the essential and characteristic, and the more of a man his subject is, in intellect, spirit, feature, and ex- pression, the more satisfactory will be the ' counter- feit presentment.' " Trumbull is said to have at first discouraged him, but finally to have been won by his determined ef- forts and evidence of ability, and to have aided him by granting him access to the casts in the American Academy, instructing and helping him, while con- TBatVs portrait iPatnters ii5 stantly opposing his career, as one of privation and discouragement. Finally Elliott broke away from Trumbull and went to study under Quidor, who had been a fellow student with Inman under Jar- vis, and through whom he doubtless picked up his reverence for the English traditions in portrait painting, which he follows to a certain extent. Tuckerman related with much graphic detail how, in his formative days, he became the proud owner of an original Stuart, which he studied pro- foundly and which exerted a powerful influence in the formation of his style. Elliott apparently never went abroad, despite which there is nothing provincial or uncertain about his technique, and he was for a time one of the most capable portrait painters in the country. His drawing is firm, the colour robust and fresh, and he used a full, fearless brush. He painted many eminent men — statesmen, military celebri- ties, clergymen, and authors. Of, these owned by the Corcoran Gallery, three were the bequest of the late James C. McGuire, who, as has been mentioned, had a" notable private collection, contemporary with Mr. Corcoran's. Mr. McGuire, whose son is the present director of the Gallery, was one of the original trustees, appointed by the donor. On his death, in 1888, he bequeathed to the Gallery his portrait of himself, with those 116 Zbc Ett treasures ot TRnasbington of Colonel Thomas L. McKenney and William Cullen Bryant, by Elliott, and a portrait of Pro- fessor Joseph Henry, by Huntington. Elliott's portrait of Mr. McGuire is one of his finest efforts. The sitter is a handsome, young man of the typical Irish type, with black hair and blue eyes. He wears the picturesque costume of the early fifties. The head is solidly painted, is full of a vigorous sense of personality, and is wholesome and rich in colour. The date of the canvas is 1854. The portrait of Colonel McKenney is even more attractive, if possible, in its frank, positive delinea- tion of character. The complexion is of that ruddy hue, which most appealed to him; and the hair, profuse and beautifully white, is quite a master- piece in texture. McKenney was a picturesque figure in Washington, remembered even yet, by some of the older residents of the District, though he died in 1859, as a familiar boulevardier to be seen at the fashionable hour, wrapped in his grey shawl, in which Elliott has painted him, pacing the most frequented thoroughfares. It was thus that Elliott learned to know him, and feeling an irresistible impulse to put so winning a personality upon canvas, finally addressed him, introducing himself, and frankly asking him to pose. McKen- ney was delighted, and Mr. McGuire bought the picture. i ; ^H -t '^^^^^^^^P '^^ «9 H w ; %1 i,*^« K:.- S..ijM m>H ■> ^ ^^'^vv^ ^l^^l ^A 1 ' :. 'X '' «Si ^^^^^^H ^fefe ^^1 ^^^^1 ^^^^^^^^1 ■ Hk* fl ■ Copyright Detroit Publishmg Co. PORTRAIT OF JAMES C. McGUIRE By -Charles Loring Elliott Batlg ©ortraft painters ii7 McKenney was an Indian agent. In 1824 he was placed in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and in 1826 was given a special commission with Lewis Cass to negotiate an important treaty with the Chippewa Indians at Fond du Lac, in the Ter- ritory of Michigan. Elliott was at his best in heads. When he at- tempted whole-lengths, tha result was much less fortunate. He had little idea of composition or of concentration, and in these larger portraits he gives the unimportant details as much, if not more insistence than the face. The full-length portrait of W. W. Corcoran, painted from life in 1867, one year before the painter's death, when the sitter was sixty-nine years of age, carries out most of his serious faults. The carpet, chairs, and various accessories obtrude themselves upon the attention of the beholder, to the detriment of the ensemble. The boots are especially marvellous and the eye keeps returning to their shapely and lustrous smoothness. The portrait is regrettably uninspired, considering its importance in the collection. The portrait of Joseph Henry, the noted physi- cist (1797- 1878), a former trustee of the Gallery, and the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, by Daniel Huntington (1816-1906), has cer- tain sober qualities of strength and resemblance, and is, of course, important as the portrait of a distin- 118 Zbc art TEreasures of Masbington guished Washingtonian. It is considered by those who knew Henry as the best portrait of him ever made, though, as a matter of fact, he never sat for the picture. Huntington painted it from sketches which he made while his subject was lecturing. Huntington is also represented by a replica of " Mercy's Dream," from Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," the original of which is owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. To an early period of the Republic belongs an- other notable name associated with a promise only partially realized, that of John Vanderlyn (1776- 1852). Though he painted many excellent por- traits, his fame rests chiefly upon two pictures — " Marius among the Ruins of Carthage " and the nude figure of " Ariadne." The one example of Vanderl)^ owned by the Corcoran Gallery, is a portrait of General Zachary Taylor, painted in 1852, and one of the last of his portraits. It was done from life, soon after Presi- dent Taylor was inaugurated. To relieve the dis- tress of the veteran artist, it was raffled off for $350 and was won by Qark Mills, the sculptor, who afterwards sold it to this Gallery. Vanderlyn was born and died in Kingston, Ulster County, New York. His life was fraught with vicissitudes and he died in destitute circumstances. The collection contains two portraits of the series jEarls portrait painters ii9 of distinguished Frenchmen, painted by Rem- brandt Peale, during his residence in Paris. That of M. Lasteyrie, the economist and author, was once a part of the collection belonging to the fam- ous Peale Museum. That of Jacques Henri Ber- nardin de Saint Pierre, the author of " Paul and Virginia," was painted from life in Paris in 1808, and was a gift to the Gallery from George W. Riggs, in August, 1873. It appears in the first edition of the catalogue. The Gallery is also the custodian of Rembrandt Peak's equestrian portrait of " Washington before Yorktown," which belongs to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.. CHAPTER VIII WEST AND MORSE Two important and interesting works of the earliest American painters figure prominently in the collections. These are " Cupid and Psyche," by Benjamin West, and " Hall of the House of Rep- resentatives," by his pupil, Samuel F. B. Morse. " Cupid and Psyche " is a late work of Benjamin West (1738- 1 820), having be«n painted in 1808, when the venerable artist was in his seventy-first year. Though not a characteristic work of the painter, in the general sense, the picture is an agree- able one, well suited to the purposes of a gallery of moderate proportions, being neither too large for the average wall space, nor of too set and formal a style to show well beside miscellaneous exhibits. On the contrary, the subject is eminently pleasing and decorative. The composition is distinguished. The central group of youthful lovers is of a grace and light- ness, with a certain clean elegance of line. They are posed against a stormy background composed of sky, land, and water. Cupid occupies the centre of 120 West an^ Oiotse 121 the square canvas, and, with wings outstretched, bends over the partially reclining form of Psyche, who leans upon his knee and places one arm about his neck, while she looks into his face. The drap- ery falls from Psyche, revealing the smooth con- tour of her lithe body. The picture was purchased in 1910 from a New York dealer. It is signed and dated " B. West. 1808," and by its title and dimensions appears to be one of the list of one hundred and fifty works by Benjamin West that were offered to the govern- ment for purchase, by the painter's sons, Raphael L. and Benjamin, for the nucleus of a national gallery.^ The picture belongs to the period of West's first reverses, when, after having enjoyed during a resi- dence of half a century in London a position of power, as president of the Royal Academy, and as court painter to George III, the madness of the sovereign resulted in the immediate withdrawal of royal favour. West had been engaged by the king to paint for the hall of Windsor Chapel a series of decorations upon the life of Edward III. When, with the disability of the monarch, the new regime ' Their letter with the list was addressed to the Honourable J. W. Taylor, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, and dated Newman Street, London, April 12, 1826, It was presented to the Second Session of the Nineteenth Congress, De- cember II, 1826, was read and " laid upon the table." 122 XLbc Hrt xrreasures ot TOlasWnQton came into power, this handsome commission was countermanded, and while suffering these rebuffs, West received a blow from an unexpected quarter, and was deposed from the presidency of the Royal Academy. But this last reverse was only temporary and he was reelected president the next year, with but one dissenting vote. Despite the loss of royal patronage, and advan- cing years. West's greatest popular successes were yet to come. His chef d'ceuvre, " Christ Rejected," was painted when the painter had reached the age of eighty years. The career of Samuel Finley Breese Morse (179 1 -1872) is fraught with interesting incident. He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and educated at Yale College, from which he graduated in 18 10. His talent for the profession, which ha served with distinction and honour until discouraged by his failure to obtain a commission from the gov- ernment, developed early. It was Washington Allston who discovered and fostered his artistic talents, taking him abroad with him on his second trip to Europe, about 18 10. Benjamin West, then at the zenith of his fame, also took a deep interest in Morse and gave him counsel and encouragement. In Lx)ndon he made the acquaintance of Charles Robert Leslie, who was a few years younger than himself, and who afterwards distinguished himself Mest and /Dorse 123 in art. Amongst his other intimates were Cole- ridge, the poet, Fuseli, the eccentric artist, Rogers, Charles Lamb, and others. While in London, he moved in excellent society. From West and AUston, Morse acquired a reverence for the historical painting, repudiating portraiture — for which he had rare talents — as an inferior occupation, unworthy of his genius. i His letters reflect the influence which the two older painters exerted upon his aspirations and his style, and they too kept alive his patriotic American- ism. He quotes West as speaking of Philadelphia as " the future Athens of the world," and he says : " My ambition is to be among those who shall re- vive the glories of the fifteenth century; to rival the genius of a Raphael, or a Michelangelo, or a Titian. My ambition is to be enlisted in the con- stellation of genius which is now rising in this country (America). I wish to shine, not by a light borrowed from them, but to strive to shine the brightest." In the year 1812 ha had so far advanced in his studies as to attempt a large picture of a single figure. The subject was the " Death of Hercules," and, under the direction of his friend and master, AUston, who was at the same time engaged upon his " Dead Man Restored by Touching the Bones 124 Ube art Uteasures ot Masbinaton of Elisha," he modelled his figure of Hercules, as an exercise preparatory to the painting. This was Morse's first attempt at sculpture, but it won for the young artist a gold medal offered by the Society of Arts at the Adelphi. In 1815 he returned to America to take up the despised portraiture as a means of recouping his fortunes. He settled in Concord, New Hampshire, and painted portraits, at fifteen dollars each, of the worthies of New Hampshire, making the tour of Concord, Walpole, Hanover, Windsor, and Ports- mouth, and in 18 18, after his marriage with Miss Walker of Concord, went to Charleston, South Carolina, and painted many of the prominent citi- zens of that city, including James Monroe, for the Common Council. Whilei in Charleston he helped to found the South Carolina Academy of the Fine Arts. In New York, in 1826, he was one of the prime movers against the old Academy of the Fine Arts, of which Trumbull was president, and in the launch- ing of the National Academy of Design, of which he was the first president. To this office he was annually reelected until 1845, when he refused to be nominated, feeling that he could not devote the necessary time to the discharge of its duties, for the telegraph had become a success and absorbed his attention. In 1861 he was again prevailed upon WiCBt anS) /Dorse 125 to accept the presidency of the Academy for a year. Morse made portraits of Lafayette, Henry Clay, Chancellor Kent, William Cullen Bryant, Fitz- Greene Halleck, Thorwaldsen, Jeremiah Evarts, and General Stark. His full-length of Lafayette, hung in the City Hall, New York, is one of the most admirable of the several portraits of the gen- eral made during his visit to the United States in 1824-1825. In 1822 Morse painted the large picture of the " Hall of the House of Representatives." Upon this picture he centred many hopes, but the times were not yet ripe for works of that character. He had laid by sufficient means to enable him to give two years to the experiment, but when it was exhibited it was attended with but little success. At one time a bill was introduced into Congress urging the purchase of the picture by the govern- ment, to be hung in the Capitol, which would have been a most fitting depository for so admirable a work, immortalizing one of the handsomest apart- ments of the original edifica The Corcoran Gal- lery preserves a copy of the bill, which is here re- produced in part. The first quotation is from Primes' " Life of Morse," the second from the New York Daily Graphic, of May 26, 1873, and the 126 Ube Hrt treasures of uaiasbindton third is the artist's own description of his work, written to accompany the picture. " The painting of portraits was to him, as to all painters of original power, a weariness, and Mr. Morse resolved to attempt something in which it might be raised to the dignity of history. He con- ceived the idea of making a large picture of the ' House of Representatives ' at Washington, pre- senting a view of the chamber, and portraits of individual members. For this purpose he went to Washington in November, 182 1, and was kindly received by the president of the United States, who encouraged his grand undertaking, and gave him every facility for its execution. The architect of the House, Mr. Bullfinch, and all the officers of the House, entered cordially into the work, and en- couraged him with their efficient aid. " Mr. Morse obtained the use of one of the lower rooms of the Capitol, and there established his studio, to make it convenient for the members to sit to him for their portraits ; and while they were not with him he could work upon the interior of the chamber. He writes to Mrs. Morse: " ' I am up at daylight, have my breakfast and prayers over, and commence the labours of the day long before the workmen are called to work on the Capitol by the bell. This I continue unremit- Mest and /Dorse 127 tingly till one o'clock, when I dine, in about fifteen minutes, and then pursue my labours until tea, which scarcely interrupts me, as I often have my cup of tea in one hand and pencil in the other; be- tween ten and eleven I retire to rest. This has been my course every day (Sundays, of course, excepted) since I have bean here, making about fourteen hours study out of the twenty-four. This, you will say, is too hard, and that I shall injure my health. I can say that I never enjoyed better health, and my body, by the simple fare I live on, is disciplined to this course. As it will not be nec- essary to continue long so assiduously, I shall not fear to pursue it till this work is dona. I receive every possible facility from all about the Capitol. The doorkeeper, a venerable man, has offered to light the great chandelier expressly for me to take my sketches in the evening, for two hours together,- for I shall have it a candle-light effect, when the room, already very splendid, will appear ten times more so-' " His absorption in the picture was so great that he once arose in the night, mistaking the light of the moon for day, and went to his task, and at another time lost the reckoning of the days of the week, and attempted to enter the hall on Sunday, to pursue his work, and could hardly be persuaded to admit that he had lost a day. By the middle 128 Zbc Hrt ICreasures ot Masbington of December he was working sixteen hours a day. ' I never enjoyed better health ; the moment I feel unwell I shall desist, but I am in the vein now, and must have my way. I have had a great deal of difficulty with the perspective of my picture. But I have conquered and have accomplished my pur- pose. After having drawn in the greater part three times, I have as many times rubbed it all out again. I have been several times, from daylight until eleven o'clock at night solving a single problem.' " The work required far more time than he an- ticipated. December was gone before the portraits of the members were begun. On the 2nd of Janu- ary, 1822, he writes: " ' I have commenced to-day taking the likenesses of the members; I find them not only willing to sit, but apparently esteeming it an honour. I shall take seventy of them, and perhaps more, all, if possible. I find the picture is becoming the subject of conversation, and every day gives me greater encouragement. I shall paint it on part of the great canvas when I return home. It will be eleven feet by seven and a half feet; that will divide the great canvas exactly into two equal parts, on one of which I shall paint the House of Representatives, and the other the Senate. It will take me until October next to complete it.' Mest and {fbovac 129 " He painted eighty portraits on the great pic- ture, and on the loth of February left Washington. By steady travel in. the stage he performed the journey from Washington to New Haven in six days, reaching his home and family on Saturda!y, the 1 6th of the month. " As a work of art this picture was admirable, but it failed to attract the attention of the public. The artist's expectations of deriving profit from its exhibition were disappointed. It proved a loss to him pecuniarily, and was at length sold to an Eng- lish gentleman, who took it to his own country, where it remained for several years. The artist lost trace and knowledge of it. While abroad in after years he made inquiries for it in vain. After a lapse of a quarter of a. century he received the following letter from an artist friend : " ' F. W. Edmonds, Esq., to Prof. Morse. " ' New York, December 7, 1847. " ' My dear Sir : — I was applied to by a gen- tleman a few days since to call and see your picture of the " House of Representatives," which has been sent to this city from London, by a house who had advanced a sum of money upon it while in England. I called upon Mr. Durand, and he accompanied me on visiting it. We found it at the store of Coates 130 Ube Brt ZTteasuree of Wasbtngton & Co., No. 54 Exchange Place, nailed against a board partition in the third story, almost invisible from the dirt and dust upon it. It has evidently- been rolled up, and, having no strainer, its surface is as uneven as the waves of the sea. In one place where it has been rolled the paint has peeled off in a narrow but long seam, but this is above the heads of the figures, and >I think can be easily re- paired. Otherwise the picture seems to be in a good condition, if washed, stretched and varnished. They (Coates & Co.) hold it for sale, but in its present condition, few, excepting those very famil- iar with pictures, would look at it with a view of purchasing it. I suggested to them to wait till I could write to you before they showed it, as you would probably desire that it should be cleaned and varnished, and, if you were likely soon to be in the city, would prefer doing it yourself. I think it would not cost over ten dollars to put it in good order. Excuse me for troubling you in this matter, but, believing it to be one of the best works ever painted by you, and knowing it to be invaluable as containing portraits of many eminent statesmen of this country, I could not patiently be silent while in its present condition. " ' Respectfully and truly yours, " • F. W. Edmonds. " ' Samuel F. B. Morse, Esq.' Mest and /Dorse I3i " The picture was rescued from its confinement, and became the property of the distinguished artist, Daniel Huntington, Esq., in whose private gallery it is preserved. " In the winter of 1822, notwithstanding the great expense to which Mr. Morse had been sub- jected in producing this picture, and before he had realized anything from its exhibition, he made a donation of five hundred dollars to the library fund of Yale College, probably the largest donation, in proportion to the means of the giver, which that institution ever received." (Primes' " Life of Morse," pp. 122-135.) (From the N. Y. Daily Graphic of May 26, 1873.) " In the studio of D. Huntington is a most interesting historical painting by Professor Morse, which bears the date of 1822. The canvas is eight feet by eleven feet and represents the old House of Representatives at the hour of lighting. In the centre hangs the great chandelier, and on a high step-ladder a negro is turning up the Argand burn- ers, which are evidently.of interest, as the group on the platform, among whom are Story and Marshall, are regarding the operation. Scattered among the seats and around the room are members talking to- gether, and one with his back towards the light is endeavouring to read. In the half gloom of the 132 Zbe Brt trteasuces of Masbtngton gallery are several persons, one of whom is Morse, the geographer and father of the professor; also Professor Silliman and an Indian Princess. There is the greatest fidelity in the painting of the room, and what renders the picture still more valuable is the fact that the faces are all portraits. The key to the picture cannot be found, but the faces of a number have been recognized by the likenesses as those of Chief- Justices Marshall and Story, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Governor Tomlinson of Connecti- cut, Gales and Seaton, of the National Intelligencer, and several others. The studies for these heads were made by Professor Morse in Washington, and afterwards were stolen, some of them finally finding their way into private collections, where they now are. The aim of the artist seems to have been to present a true picture of the House at that time, rather than to attempt anything picturesque. The whole work has an honest air, which adds to its historical interest. The costumes are those of that time, when gentlemen wore ruffled shirts and white ties. There is but little attempt at composi- tion. The groups are arranged in broken lines, but the effect of the whole is a little stiff. The low, rich tones, the crimsons and warm greys are very, agreeable. The perspective is good, and the paint- ing, especially of the columns, is very solidly done. For its historical accuracy, its portraits, its repre- Mest and Aovse 133 sentations of the costumes and the appearance of the old House of Representatives ; for its rendering of a phase of our national life now passed away, as "well as from the fact that it is the work of one of the fathers of American Art, and one of the most illustrious of Americans, it deserves a place in the National Capitol, and none could be more appropriate than that same room it pictures, which is now fitted for a public gallery." DESCRIPTION OF THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REP- RESENTATIVES AT WASHINGTON TO ACCOMPANY morse's PICTURE " The Hall of the House of Representatives of the United States is, without doubt, one of the most splendid legislative halls in the world. Foreigners, as well as those of our own countrymen who have travelled abroad, agree in this opinion. " Its general form is semi-circular, having the speaker's desk in the centre of the greatest diam- eter, with a considerable space in its rear. The diameter of the semi-circle is ninety-five feet, the other diameter is eighty feet. The extreme height is sixty feet. The room is covered by a half dome, resting upon a Corinthian entabla- ture, which is supported by twenty-two massy columns. 134 Zbc Hrt treasures of Masbineton " The dome is ornamented by painted imitations of sunken panels, with a flower in the centre of each: the panels are separated by a braided orna- ment. " The entablature is of greyish sandstone, richly ornamental ; all the ornaments are exquisitely sculp- tured. The eagle upon the frieze over the speaker's chair is ten feet between the wings and very beau- tifully wrought ; above the eagle upon the entabla- ture is a statue of Liberty, of plaster of Paris ; the piece of a fluted column entwined by a serpent is an. accompaniment of this statue, and is all that is seen in the picture. " The columns, 28 feet in height, are made of breccia, a concrete of various kinds of stones, of all sizes and colours; the capitals and bases are of white marble, sculptured in Italy, in imitation of one of the most beautiful antique remains preserved in Stuart's Athens. " Between the columns and behind them are sus- pended curtains of scarlet moreen, fringed with yellow drops. Under the curtains in the semi- circle is the gallery, in front of which is an iron railing. " The door is on the extreme right, and is of fine white marble ; over the door is a marble statue of History in the car of Time, with a book, in which she is recording passing events; the car is Mest and /Docse i35 upon a portion of a celestial globe; the wheel of the car is the clock. " Between the fourth and fifth pillars from the s door is a stove of stone, highly ornamented, which admits warm air through the circular openings near the top; there are also openings behind some of the pillars for the admission of warm air from furnaces below. " The speaker's desk is to the left under an oc- tagonal canopy ; the canopy is a dome, covered with pink coloured silk, surmounted by an eagle of brass, and resting on an entablature, which is sup- ported from the back part by four fluted Corin- thian - columns ; from the edges of the canopy is the speaker's chair and desk on which are the Bible, papers, inkstand, and silver-branch candlesticks; the access to the chair is by six or seven steps, the balusters of which are seen a little below the chair. " Before the speaker's desk is the clerk's table, which is of mahogany, on which the clerk is leaning, and upon which are the papers of the House. " A little nearer the middle of the picture, upon the stone pier in the distance, is a bronze coloured frame, surmounted by an eagle, containing the in- teresting print of the Declaration of Independence, published by J. Binn, Esq., of Philadelphia, ren- 136 XCbe Hrt Ureasures of TtUasbindton dered doubly valuable as the finest specimen as yet produced of that class of American en- graving. " Under this print is a fire-place ; the opposite fire-place is indicated by the light on the faces of Messrs. Gales and Seaton; the platform on which these gentlemen stand and on which the judges of the Supreme Court and others also stand, is three or four feet above the level of the floor of the House ; upon this platform those only are admitted who are privileged by the rules of the House ; the sofas seen between each of the pillars are also appropri- ated to this purpose. " The chandelier is of brass, and contains 30 Argand's lamps; there is also on each of the pil- lars a similar lamp, not lighted, as seen in this picture. " Through the windows on the right is seen fire- light from the lobbies; through the middle win- dow is the direction of the post-office of the House, which is in the lobby. " Directly under the left of the chandelier in the distant part of the room is one of the boxes appro- priated to the stenographers; there are other sim- ilar boxes not seen in the picture on each side of the speaker's desk. " The desks of the members are arranged in six concentric circles, each circle of seats rising a little WL&st and Aborse 137 above the preceding one, as you recede from the centre; these are divided from the door to the speaker's desk. The desks are of mahogany, fur- nished each with a drawer, ink-stand, sand-box, &c., &c. ; the chairs are of mahogany, with stuffed backs, and seats covered with hair cloth. The floor is covered with elegant Brussels carpet- ing. "In the foreground is seen the letter-box with the letter carrier in the act of taking out the letters ; by the side of the box are reams of paper for the use of the House. " The time chosen is at candle lighting, while the members are assembled for an evening session. The portraits were taken at Washington about a year ago ; each person sat for his likeness, with the exception of Hon. William Lowndes, whose por- trait was sketched from the gallery. " The primary design of the present picture is not so much to give highly-finished likenesses of the individuals introduced as to exhibit to the public a faithful representation of the national hall, with its furniture and business during the session of Congress. If the individuals are simply recognized by their acquaintance as likenesses, the whole de- sign of the painter will be answered. (Signed) " Samuel F. B. Morse. " New Haven, February ist, 1823." 138 XTbe Hct TTteasures of xmiasbtndton The bill failed to pass, and the picture, which had been deposited in the Corcoran Gallery in 1874, was finally purchased by that institution in June, 191 1, from the estate of Daniel Huntington, through his son, Charles R. Huntington. A still more bitter disappointment was reserved for Morse, with his failure to secure a commission to paint one of the panels of the rotunda, in the Capitol, in Washington. The selection of artists to paint the great historical pictures for these pan- els, was referred to the committee in Congress of which John Quincy Adams, ex-president, was a member. Morse, strongly endorsed by Washington Allston and by the National Academy, confidently expected to be chosen to paint at least one or two of these pictures. Mr. Adams wished to throw the competition open to the artists of all countries, say- ing that there were no American artists of sufficient ability to paint, such great pictures. This roused the ire of J. Fenimore Cooper, whose caustic reply to Mr. Adams' assertions, appeared anonymously in the New York Evening Post, and was attributed to Morse. The truth came out too late, and Morse's name was rejected by the committee. The struggles incident to the invention and de- velopment of the telegraph, coupled with this blow to his ambitions, turned Morse from the practice of art, but to the end of his life, he was deeply in- Mest and /Dorse 139 terested and active in any scheme for its advance- ment. As a tribute of affectionate esteem for his friend and master, Washington Allston, he pur- chased and presented to Yale College the latter's " Prophet Jeremiah Dictating to the Scribe Ba- ruch," CHAPTER IX CONTEMPORARY AMERICANS Having dealt with the evolution and birth of the Corcoran Gallery, and considered its historic col- lections, we proceed to the gallery of contemporary American paintings, which constitutes its present growth, and where we find most vigorously ex- pressed the progressive spirit of the management. The collection numbers, at present, between forty and fifty works. Its development received direc- tion and stimulus from the three biennial exhibi- tions of contemporary American art, from which twenty-eight works were purchased and added to the permanent collection. Winslow Homer's (1836-1910) "Light on the Sea," painted in 1897, is of his late middle period, and belongs to the type of picture of which the Luxembourg Museum owns a masterpiece. The sky is stormy and the light on the sea lifts the horizon sharply against the threatening dark. A sea-gull flies low, and against the light a woman's figure, posed on the rocks, at the water's edge, forms a substantial silhouette. She is of the robust, 140 / Contemporaris? Hmericans i4i masculine type, familiar to such surroundings, har- dened by wind and weather, with something of the eternal about her. The face and arms are heavy with the strength of a life spent always in combat with the elements, and in her is that development, by association, that makes her part of nature itself. For the rest, the water has a silver hue, with the variations and depth of A great opal, as it is played upon by the changing light and mood of the com- ing storm. The rocks are heavy with moisture. There is not much motion in the sea, only that heavy, rhythmic slosh of the water when the great basin is full, as it lifts and pulsates in response to the mysterious action of the moon. Homer studied and knew the sea profoundly. William M. Chase is represented by the earliest of his series of still-life paintings, with fish. " An English Cod " was painted in London about seven years ago, and first shown at the centenary exhibi- tion of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in 1905. The picture was painted in one sitting, which accounts, in a measure, for its brilliant unity. Throughout the making enthusiasm has held from start to finish. One of the best of his riper period, it proves the painter's place amongst the foremost still-life painters of his time. The canvas displays a powerful study of textures. The cod lies heavily lax upon a large porcelain 142 Zbc Btt TTreastttes of Masbittdton platter, its immense head resting upon the table, the mouth gaping — a great splendid specimen. It is a joyous bit of painting, this fish, with its exquisite pinks, its pearly grays, the blues and greens of the flesh, as it turns away from the light. Two hard little mackerel He on the table before the monster, and the contrast in character and quality is ex- pressed in a masterly fashion. They, too, are of a beautiful iridescence. In the background is a brass kettle done in Chase's most distinguished manner. George DeForest Brush is represented in the col- lection by one of his series of madonna-like pic- tures, entitled " Mother and Child." This particu- lar example is done on a long panel, the figure of the mother standing, holding the baby, which brings the heads well up toward the top of the frame. The canvas develops the painter's scholarly drawing, ac- quired from exhaustive study of the Florentines. His picture has classic repose, his technique is smooth and finished, while the colour is mellow and harmonious. The woman's face dominates, and is of unusual type, with fine arched brows and full sympathetic mouth. The chubby baby is less real, less vital than in some others of the series, and his little hands are sharply done, like porcelain. " Twilight," by Alexander Harrison, is one of O J= U U O ca < >• m Contemporats Hmericans us the three famous wave pictures, all of about equal merit, and representing the best of which the painter is capable. The other two are owned in Philadelphia.^ They were done at the painter's ripest and most interesting period, and amply justify the reputation which Harrison enjoys, as a marine painter of strength and personality. The Gallery has recently acquired examples of the chief exponents of the modern school of land- scape painters, which add strength and interest to the collection. Of these " The Delaware River," by Edward W. Redfield, is of paramount impor- tance as a fine, characteristic work of a man essen- tially a leader in the modern movement. The pic- ture was purchased from the first of the biennial exhibitions, having been previously awarded the Webb Prize at the Society of American Artists. The subject is one of the arrangements familiar to the locality in which the painter resides, and may be considered an admirable example of its period. The composition includes both banks of the river, with a strip of the island projected upon its partially frozen surface. The sun shines upon the distant shore, while the foreground is in shadow. Trees break the composition at the left margin. The "■ " The Wave " is in the Temple Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and " Le Grand Miroir " is in the pos- session of the Wilstech Collection, at Memorial Hall, Fairmoxmt Park. 144 Zbc Utt XTteasutes ot iisiasbtngton painting is rich, direct, subtle and strong, produ- cing a palpable sensation of a winter day, with its cold, beautiful colour, and brittle air. " Road to Centre Bridge," in the collection of Charles C. Glover, of Washington, is less abstract than the canvas owned by the Corcoran Gallery, and the pattern is richer and more varied. The roadway running past the house, on the left, and off into the picture, is marvellously rich, like an old mosaic, its deep wagon ruts filled with ice that re- flects the note of the sky, through whose blue depths the warm sun filters. The distance is lit with dif- fused light passing through trees. Throughout there is strong character, luscious colour, controlled by a growing sense of beauty. Redfield has preserved more than any painter of his generation, his open vision — his first plasticity. In the early days of struggle against popular preju- dice, his work was elemental, presenting a remark- able lesson in simplification. As the years have passed, the painter has elaborated his theme, de- veloped his colour, embroidered his pattern, be- come more subtle and more profound in his method, but without losing his primitive force. As a leader, he has had a tremendous vitalizing influence upon the landscape painters of his day, giving a marked direction to the whole movement. For himself his strength lies in his originality, in MOTHER AND CHILD (see page 142) By George De Forest Brush Contemporarg Smcricana 145 his stupendous industry and indefatigable study of nature. A decorative impulse animates the work of W. Elmer Schofidd, and distinguishes it from that of his illustrious confrere. He is more sensitive to influences, but the work that is characteristic of him has a certain conventional treatment of colour, ob- serves mora formal composition and lias a sugges- tion of tapestry, in tone and texture. His art is of a distinguished qiiality and exhibits a good deal of variety. Though he received his early education at the Pennsylvania Academy and supplemented it by a course of Paris training, his long years of residence in England, on the Cornish Coast, where he married, have dona most to give him the individual touch that separates him a little from the group of Pennsylvania painters. There is in his technique something that recalls the brush work of the English painters. Some of his studies of the coast at St. Ives — notably the one owned by the Metropolitan Museum (Hearn Collection), reveal artistic ability of a high order. Again, his series of the harbour at Dieppe is forceful and strongly personal. The example owned by the Corcoran Gallery, " Morning after Snow," was painted in 1908, and purchased from the biennial exhibition of that year. The composition is in his favourite style. Shadow 146 Zbc Bet XCceasures of HSlasbington envelops a building in the left foreground, abutting on a canal. The early slanting rays of the morning sun strike the house in the middle distance, with a warm glow, and light the hilly, snow-covered country in the rear. The deep and narrow mill- race is fiill of reflections and gives the note of colour to the picture — otherwise monotonously white with freshly fallen snow. The eye follows the canal to the sunlit house, where the reflection in the water is brightest. The painting is crisp and virile. " March Snow," in the collection of Mr. Glover, is characteristic of the more personal type of Scho- field's work, with its decorative design, its arbitrary greys and broad handling. Schofield is a vigorous, strong and charming personality, and much of him- self is reflected in his work. "May Night," by Willard L. Metcalf, was an. epoch-making picture in the career of this artist. It received the Corcoran Gold Medal, with accom- paniment of $i,ooo, in the first exhibition of con- temporary American pictures, in 1907, and was pur- chased by the institution. The canvas is an attract- ive one by reason of its poetic subject, which is patterned out prettily and with a great deal of in- terest and charm of rendering in the drawing of the trees, and the placing of the translucent shad- ows, which enrich the smooth texture of the green Contemporary Smericans 147 sward before the old. Colonial type of southern mansion. The house itself stancjs in a glare of moonlight, which lifts into dazzling brilliance the pillars of the portico. If the canvas misses fire at all, it is in the treatment of the house, which is a little out of scale with its environment, in point of size and illumination; while, on the other hand, it is hard to, fancy, in the face of a somewhat thin faqade, the bulk of the whole substantial struc- ture. The Colonial house represented in the picture is the old home in Lyme, Connecticut, where many of the artists resided and painted, and which is termed by them the " Holy House." The Childe Hassam owned by the Gallery — " Northeast Headlands : New England Coast," ac- quired at the same time, reveals a rare and original quality of vision. The composition includes high blufifs to the left, a stretch of pebbled beach, inter- mingled with seaweed, and, in the distance, a sweep of sea, cerulean blue, dona with courage, most decoratively. The harmony of colour in this pic- ture is absorbingly interesting. Taking blue as the note, Hassam has played the harmonies by contrast of a true impressionist ; placing one colour against another, in the relation of quantity and depth, to make each count its utmost value in the vibrating whole. His headlands run to gorgeous aubergines. 148 Ube art Zvcaentcs of TRnadbington founded upon yellows, and through the beach the colour is of a most amusing variety. The canvas is like the performance of a great virtuoso — or, better yet, the leader of an orchestra, who lifts at will the volume of sound, separates or mingles the choirs, picks out a French horn or an oboe for an effective passage, the bassoon for an accent, calls upon the piccolo to carry an air ; while the great burden of the theme is sustained by the strings. " After an April Shower " by Charles Morris Young, is a recent purchase, representing the work of a third of the Pennsylvania landscape painters, who has devoted himself to the t)rpe known as the paysage intime. The canvas is characteristic of Young's point of view, which is sensitive and temperamental, bringing the beholder at once under the atmospheric spell of its locality. Of the present rapidly augmenting group of American landscape painters, Young was a pioneer in Ijhe field of snow painting, and his first canvases, exhibited in the early nineties, were pic- tures of the snowclad landscape in the vicinity of Philadelphia, or gleaned from the more picturesque and varied surroundings of Gettysburg, his native town. Known a dozen years ago as a painter of snow scenes. Young was again one of the first to depart from this uniformity of subject and to turn Contemporary Hmericans . 149 his attention to the more colourful effects of au- tumn, spring, or winter out of doors. Some years in France, painting in Monet's coiantry, developed, in the painter, a richer sense of colour and a more subtle quality of depth and atmosphere. Of late subject appears to have interested him more than formerly, and his most recent output is interesting in its portraiture of the circumstances amidst which he now spends his life. Young has become essentially a painter of Penn- sylvania, through whose fertile landscape he occa- sionally records a bit of unmistakable architecture — an old bridge or a certain handsome old style house not built more. His trees, roadways, red mills, barns, cedars, and stone fences all bespeak the territory to which they give character and flavour; while from the manner of treatment one could well build up the kind of man so intimately affected by the familiar features of his environment. He does not search for eccentric arrangement, but gives again, and in a way very much his own, the sensation of the various moods of nature by which he has been influenced. Daniel Garber's " April Landscape " is the work of a serious painter in whose work the arrangement or design of the canvas is its most appealing quali- fication. He sees nature decoratively, making use of the hanging grape-vines and the patchy syca- 150 JLbc act Ztcasntce ot Masbinaton more trees, which follow the canal, as interesting features in the foreground, through which are in- troduced glimpsfe of the river and the distant bank, with its various detail. If the canvas is a. little thin, that in Garber appears to be the inevitable result of his limited scale and chalky colour. If it is over blue, that again is no affectation, no fault of insincerity, but a characteristic peculiarity of vision. The collection includes an unsatisfactory exam- ple of that talented painter, Theodore Robinson (1852-1896), whose career was cut short before he fully matured. His place in the development of American landscape painting is an important one, because he, with Twachtman, brought to us the spirit of the French Impressionists. He lived some years in Giverny, where he became both pupil and friend of Claude Monet, with whose work Robinson was greatly in sympathy. " The Valley of the Seine from Giverny Heights " but vaguely suggests the things for which this gifted painter stood. " Lady with a Mask " is one of those patiently minute portraits of women in outdoor setting, upon which Thomas W. Dewing has exclusively special- ized. His work has something of the charm of old Oriental pottery in its craftsmanship. His ef- fects are attained by a deliberate system of glazing and staining, not unlike that of the potter's art. ■'.. '*•*: 'j..T^^_L,=#i^J ^^^yi^ '' 4f^^^i -• ^^Bml^ ''^ir J^l ' -'it^ >„!,;■' ' '-^-" '^^!' y- ~%. "^'"^m ■ fT' -*'■'• »■ ^^i^^^s "''*.^^W', ^^■i" *""^ "^^I'^^W^^ ^ i'"'^ /: ■^^^' ,.■■ . %'" 9 ** ^^^^^^'fl'liiiifc, 1 ^ ■Tfl •^ ?M^'^^^ * *- ■ ■ 'JT-^WM i' W^ '^^■- ^^■ 1 1 I -^P i,; . f; ' ■ i--^ V V."'.'''^;. ■ it ' "■'■-.&! 1 1 1 r iKl ' -?■■• - :*■ 1 W.: -^ ■*«» 1 1 1 1 ^ 1^ j«.,:_^/' '^■ B' #w "'" HMr ■' : .'^ ' ^ hm, atSi, |H**|^'' .-' ^^^^^^g A'JlH IS^^ 1 ^^ ^. '* ' ' .^^m^^ I w: f^ ^^^k- 1 ^W^ m^L. . . ■ ■■'<'■:. g&ir ^ ^^^%f ■^^-■^^^^a ^ ■■iMSI^te-^- ' '^ "''*^"*'" % *d* lipf. '^'^"^' "t^^S m igS- ?5^- ' "^1 M ^&^^^^i ^k-rJSik P»^^fL ^mi ^^^r ".^^aH^ S«'' F^s 1 *''>4l :-;|£u,,,_.^^^^ •■.;?«s" : *> , ., *^ -T,; ';«pBi^ g#r - '"• ..- --.. -^ -?-^^''^ Copyright Detroit Publishing Co. MAY NIGHT (see page 146) By Willard L. Metcalf (EontemporarB americans i5i His drawing is of a fragile perfection, within the strict limits which Dewing has proscribed for him- self. His work shows almost no variety, and it is extraordinary how little fatigue the process be- trays. The " Ave Maria " of Horatio Walker was one of the purchases from the first biennial exhibition, and may be considered a typical canvas from the brush of a painter who has had all the advantages of liberal patronage. Walker and Paul Dougherty are widely separated examples of a kind of idealism in art. Paul Dougherty's canvas " Land and Sea " is a representative example of his easy method of attack. There is power in the drawing of the water, and appreciation of the majestic in the big cliff which rises abruptly from its depths, and is verdant within a few feet of high water mark. But he lightens his sea beyond cheaply, and is at best a superficial observer. Charles H. Davis is counted one of the earliest of the serious painters of landscape. He was born in Afnesbury, Massachusetts, and studied with Otto Grundman and at the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston. In Paris he worked with Boulanger and Lefebvre. The Gallery possesses a fine, characteris- tic example of his early manner in " The Deepening Shadows," painted in 1884. 152 XEbe Hrt treasures of Tiaiasbington Ben Foster, Leonard Ochtman, Gardner Symons and H. Bolton Jones about complete the list of landscape painters represented in the collection. Gari Melchers, that robust painter of figures under varying conditions, is ably represented in the Gallery by a well lighted interior with two women, which he calls " Penelope." A strong, vivacious, wholesome picture it is, broadly painted, with un- compromising colour, and a keen touch of the joy of living. Melchers has not the finesse nor the faultless drawing of the Boston makers of paintings; and, for that very reason, his work is the best of criti- cism upon their cramped ideals and too literal realism. He paints people of flesh and blood, of bone and sinew, in real situations. His subjects are placed out in the wholesome daylight; and he creates problems for himself by opposing to them strong coloured objects — like the green lamp, in the present instance — and he dresses them in joy- ous coloured gowns, whose effective patterns make difficulties in the flesh painting against which he likes to pit his strength. " Penelope " received a silver medal at the third of the biennial exhibitions, and was purchased for the permanent collection. The Gallery preserves a fine example of J. J. Shannon — " Girl in Brown " — painted in 1907. The canvas shows the influence of the painter's Copynglit Detroit Publishing Co. PENELOPE By Gari Melchers Contemporary Hmcrfcans 153 long residence in London, where he has become a portrait painter of importance. Harmonious, rich, distinguished, and beautiful in its quality of colour, the " Girl in Brown " makes .also her personal ap- peal by reason of her piquant face, so delicately modelled. " Groupa d'Amis " also bears the ear marks of foreign influence, and is the work of Robert Lee MacCameron, who has resided in Paris practically since his early student days, though he was born in Chicago. The canvas is wedl painted, extremely fine in appreciation of contrasts and sympathetic in character. The painter's impression of the famous heure verte is somewhat sordid and horrible, yet the artistic merits of the picture raise it above the merely literary, and reveal much beauty of colour and truth of observation. " An Ancestor," by Walter MacEwen, was pur- chased from the second biennial exhibition, and is a representative canvas by another American artist who resides permanently in Paris. It is an ade- quate example of MacEwen's academic style. Edmund C. Tarbell, the most noted, of the Bos- ton painters, is represented by one of those charm- ing, quiet interiors, entitled "Josephine and Mer- cie," painted from his own daughters in 1908, and purchased by the Corcoran Gallery from its biennial of that year. The picture antedates the much med- 154 Ube Hrt Zvcasutcs of Wasbindton ailed rendering of the same subject, shown in the third of the Gallery's exhibitions, and now in the collection of Dr. George Woodward, of Philadel- phia. The same room is depicted, and apparently one, at least, of the two girls is the same, but the scene is shifted a little to the left, and the com- position is more accidental. A contemporary painter remarked "with some enthusiasm of this picture, when it was first shown, that it was the most thorough example of sawing wood that he had ever seen. Professional com- ment must be allowed its quaintness. What he felt in the picture was the remarkable solving of every problem according to the absolutely legitimate rules of the game. Here we have an interior, in diffused light, with the ordinary accidental furnishings and two figures: one of the most difficult technical problems of which it is possible to conceivei. In its solution Tarbell resorts to no evasion of the real issue. He paints his picture object by ob- ject, with the utmost thoroughness; and he keeps each detail in its place, not by focussing upon one spot and allowing everything else to recede from the visual point until it loses itself in a misty envel- opment, but by force of absolute relative colour value. If he appears to miss the human interest and vigour of the work of VerMeer, Ter Borch or Copyright Detroit Piibhshmg Co. GIRL IX BROWN (see page 152) By J. J. Shannon Contemporari? Hmedcans 155 Metsu, to whom it is the fashion to compare him, it is doubtless because our intimacy with the types and subjects he presents blinds us to the virtues of their equally veracious colloquialism. " La Femme au Chien," of Mary Cassatt, be- longs to an early, immature period of this most important American painter, but has, at the same time, some qualities of investigation, and a certain quaintness which distinguishes it from the work of her later more professional period. " Narcissa " is an amusing nude by Sargeant Kendall, depicting a child standing on a couch re- garding herself in a long mirror. The flesh is a little hard, according to Kendall's formula, but the drawing is fine and the composition original. A recent acquisition by Richard Miller entitled " The Boudoir," is the direct antithesis of the style of these more academic masters. It presents a charming, rather slight sketch of a lady at her toi- lette, which is refreshing in colour, suggesting the purity and directness of a pastel. Robert Reid, who is classed amongst the painters influenced by the French Impressionists, is repre- sented in the Gallery by an interesting experiment in opposing lights, entitled " The Open Fire." It treats of a problem always fascinating to an artist, that of a figure aflfected by artificial light in a room from which the eflfect of day has not yet vanished. 156 Ube Htt Utcusnxcs of Masbington Reid treats it in a colourful way, developing an amusing harmony of complementary colours. " Peonies," by Wilton Lockwood, is a pretty can- vas, clever in its delicate suggestion of the fresh quality of the flowers, and in a pleasing envelop- ment of tone, which unifies the values, and brings into the general effect of the canvas a certain re- semblance to tapestry. The Gallery is loyal to thei local artists, of which it preserves examples of Edmund Clarence Messer, the principal of the Corcoran School of Art; of Max Weyl, Richard N. Brooke, Jameis Henry Moser, and William H. Holmes, the Curator of the National Gallery of Art. Mr. Messer's canvas, " January," was paintedan 191 1. It is a poetic rendering of a winter land- scape with a lowering sky and low-flying birds. The painter is a New Englander by birth. He was born in Skowhegan, Maine, studied at the National Academy of Design, and at the Pennsylvania Acad- emy of the Fine Arts, and with Collin, Courtois and Aime Morot in Paris. He has been princi- pal of the Corcoran School in Washington since 1902. Max Weyl has been for years associated with the art life of Washington, though he is a Ger- man, having been born in Wiirtemberg. He came to America in 1855. Of his two canvases in Contempocars Hmericans 157 the Corcoran Gallery, " Approaching Night " is a landscape of unusual quality, revealing a poetic feeling and a tenderness in both subject and ren- dering that are characteristic of this gentle Teuton. " Lovers' Lane " is pastoral in subject and in his general style. " A Pastoral Visit " is an early work of Richard N. Brooke, having been painted in 1881. It is a homely domestic scene with a wealth of faithful detail, characteristic of a negro home in Virginia. Mr. Brooke is a Virginian. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and in Paris under Bonnat and Benjamin Constant. He was elected vice-principal of the Corcoran School of Art in 1902. The example of William H. Holmes is a water colour, entitled " Midsummer," freely painted and delightful in colour. Mr. Holmes was born in Harrison County, Ohio, and took up water colour painting at an early age, without a master. In 1872 he joined the United States Geological Sur- vey of the Territories as artist, and, although turn- ing his attention almost immediately to geologic and archseologic studies, he has at all times kept up the practice of his chosen profession. The re- sults of his artistic feeling may be appreciated at the National Museum, in the arrangements of the exhibits and in the designing of the many Indian 158 zbc Hrt Zvcasnvcs of TKIlasbington groups, executed, under his direction, by Paul Law- rence Dunbar, sculptor. Two water colours, by James Henry Moser, are included in the collections of the Gallery, and ex- press the painter's facility with the medium. Moser is a native of Whitby, Ontario, making his winter home in Washington and his summer residence in Connecticut. The National Gallery preserves a more important example of his work, which is re- ferred to in the chapter dealing with the Evans Collection. CHAPTER X FOREIGN SCHOOLS Miscellaneous examples of contemporary for- eign paintings number about fifty, most of which have been acquired since the collection was trans- ferred to the trustees. The nucleus of this collection is the canvas by Georgei Morland (1763- 1804), which was bought by Mr. Corcoran in 1850, for his house, and came to the Gallery with the original gift. " The War- rener," or " The Farm House," as it was formerly called, is one of those typical, pastoral scenes which Morland painted so well, introducing a wealth of homely detail, while preserving the handsome tone of the whole. The picture is full of lively, charm- ing incident, and shows observation of farm life in its relation to the natural beauties of rural Eng- land. Morland was one of the greatest English paint- ers of his epoch. It is said that he drew well when only four years of age, and gained a reputation by sketches shown in the Royal Academy in his elev- enth year. 159 160 Ube Uvt tCreasures of TRilasbfndton Most of tha Barbison painters are represented amongst the works of foreign masters : Corot, Daubigny, Troyon, Jules Breton, Diaz and Dupre all figure in the collection. Of these the most im- portant is " Wood Gatherers," by Jean Baptiste Camilla Corot (1796-1875), purchased at the Mary Morgan sale, in 1886. The picture is one of the last painted by the artist. According to the rec- ords, it was signed by Corot, in his bed, a few days before he died. The catalogue tells us that " Corot was inspired to use for the motive of this picture an old study by Morvan, representing a landscape, with' St. Je- rome at prayer. Alfred Robault owned the sketch for the picture, and also another one, in which the composition was changed from ' St. Jerome ' to ' The Wood Gatherers.' Corot made several sketches for it and, in the last transformation of the motive, he changed the principal figure and addad others." The studies show the development to the final enlarged version. The painting was destined to become the prop- erty of a Monsieur Breyesse. It was shown in the Salon of 1875 (No. 519 of the catalogue), and was sold at the Faure sale, April 29, 1878, for thir- teen thousand five hundred francs, and appeared again at Shaus', in New York, in 1881. Corot was born in Paris, of simple parentage. jfocetgn Scbools i6i His father was the grandson of an agriculturalist of Mussy-la-fosse. Camille was entered at the College of Rouen at the early age of eleven and stayed there until 1812. His father then put him to work in the employ of a cloth merchant, and, despite his distaste for the business, he tried, out of deference to his father, to accustom himself to it during a period of eight years. Everything we read of Corot points to the ster- ling worth of his character. " His straightforward honesty in his advice to customers at the cloth shop, where he was employed, was not always in accord- ance with the interests of his employer." Later, when under the influence and stimulus of Michal- lon, he began to attempt landscape, " he rose early and made use of all his leisure moments, for with scrupulous honesty he made a strong point of ful- filling all his other engagements and of observing strict regularity in business." Finally his father yielded to' his entreaties to be allowed to be a painter, though greatly against his prejudices. For thirty years he lived on an income of about sixty pounds, which his father settled upon him at his majority. His needs were few, and he enjoyed the idea that he was free to devote himself to art. He practised great economy, gave himself up en- tirely to his studies, and delighted his master by his energy and frankness. 162 xcbe Hct Ureasutes of Masbittdton It was a grief to Corot when Michallon died, in 1822, and, after that bereavement, he entered the studio of Victor Bertin, a faithful disciple of Valen- ciennes, and at the time one of the best qualified painters of the conventional, historical landscape. Corot spent two years in Italy, from 1825 to 1827, — years of delightful freedom, and of friendly intercourse with Aligny and Bertin, who were his inseparables, — such a life as made the contrasts of his return to France doubly severe. Beside the complete change of habits involved by his return, many difficulties awaited him. He no longer felt at home ih Paris, where eiver3rthing had undergone a complete transformation during his absence. The remaining exponents of academic landscape painting had acquired a certalin authority, and, with systematic despotism, opposed the new doctrines of the rising group of painters. Corot's sympathies were with this younger school, but he was unknown to its adherents, and was determined to make his way alone, living apart and joining neither the academic nor the romantic coteries, both of which were much in the public eye. Without imitating Claude, for whom he pro- fessed great admiration, Corot seems to have de- veloped upon his traditions. He enjoyed order and rhythm in line and a certain sjrmmetry in arrange- ment, at the same time his love of freedom pre- jfoteidtt Scbools les vented the monotony produced by a too rigid reg- ularity. The air circulates freely through his pic- tures, and the light appears through the leaves of his graceful trees. The beauty of Fontainebleau appealed to him and in 1830, 1833, and 1834, he sent to the Salon pictures of subjects he had found there. Corot's talent was characterized by great sin- cerity. He was a true impressionist in his knowl- edge of what to hold back, while in the precision and accuracy of his touch, one recognizes the mas- ter. " Every year at the beginning of spring," says Emile Michel, " he was in a hurry to leave Paris and to go to the fields. Fascinated and deeply touched by the mysterious awakening of all vege- tation, he liked to be near enough to watch its daily progress; while, after being shut up the whole winter in his studio, he loved to feel himself gradually growing young again by inhaling the fresh, vivifying air and by refreshing his eyesight with all the delicate and fleeting harmonies of spring. To the venerable artist these were priv- ileged moments, and one feels in the more delicate technique of his later studies, and in the more exquisite gradations of colour, a sort of emotion mingled with the joy of painting." " Nature," he said, " is never two minutes alike, 164 Ubc Brt treasures of Masbtngton it changes constantly, according to the season, ac- cording to the weather, the hour, the light, the cold, or the heat. All this constitutes its expression, and it is just this which one must translate well. One day it is this way, and another, that, and when once the artist has taken in all its different aspects, he must make a whole of it, and this whole will be like nature, if he has seen properly." These ideas were also those of Constable. The Gallery possesses an excellent example of Constant Troyon (1810-1865), who was born at Sevres, and who received his impulse toward ani- mal painting from a visit to Holland, in 1846, where he came under the influence of Paul Potter and Cuyp, and studied through them the natural relationship bet?ween animals and landscape. " The Drinking Place " was purchased for the Gallery in 1885. Emile van Maroke (1827-1890) was Troyon's pupil and equally famous as -an animal painter. He placed his cattle in pasture lands, marshes, by the sea, or near cottages in Normandy, and his land- scape backgrounds often have as much character and interest as the beasts. His cows were painted with more accuracy than those of Troyon, who often failed to understand either the character or the anatomy. Of van Marcke, the Gallery owns two examples. Copyright Detroit fublishing Co. BRITTANY WIDOW By Jules Adolphe Breton ^foreign Scbools 165 The revolutionary painter, Gustave Courbet (1819-1878), is represented by one small, charac- teristic "Landscape," — vigorous, fresh, and joy- ous. As the first pronounced exponent of the real- istic school, Courbet, of all the French painters of his epoch,, exerts the strongest influence upon the landscape painting of to-day. " Brittany Widow " by Jules Adolphe Breton (1827-1906), is a fairly representative example of this artist. It was painted in 1886, and appeared in the Salon of that year. It represents a sailor's widow, who carries to the altar of Saint Anne, the virgin patroness of Brittany sailors, a taper in memory of her husband. It is of the solid, stodgy painting which Breton made so faultlessly and with so little temperament. Passing to later painters, we have three exam- ples of Jean Baptiste Edouard Detaille (1848 — ) of which " Le Regiment qui Passe," painted in 1875, is the most important. The scene takes place on the Grand Boulevard of Paris, before the Porte Saint Martin, one of the ancient gateways of the old city. The public will be keenly interested in the key to the picture, by the aid of which, one may recognize portraits of numerous celebrated contem- poraries of the painter, including Meissonier at the extreme right, with Detaille, himself, beside him in a brown coat, in whose lapel the red ribbon of 166 Zbc Hrt XCreasutes of xmiadbtndton the Legion of Honour is conspicuous. Adolphe de Neuville stands at the extreme left. Leon Auguste L'hermitte (1844 — ). the most eminent of the painters of peasant life at the pres- ent time, is represented by a large canvas painted in 1908, and one of the recent accessions. " La Fa- mille " plays a variation upon the painter's favour- ite theme, which displays the peasant in all his rusticity, painted objectively, with horny hands, bronzed face, at rest amidst the suspended labours of the fields, which the painter understands so well, having himself worked in their company, for L'hermitte was the son of a peasant. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) is favourably shown in the Gallery by a small study of a " Bull " re- ceived from the hairs of the late George E. Lemon, of Washington, with nine other pieces. Thomas Couture (1815-1879) is represented by a strongly individual " Female Head," admirable for its breadth of handling, the massive realism of the vigorous drawing and the quality of the paint- ing. In his larger, more important works, such as " The Thorny Path," in the Pennsylvania Acad- emy of the Fine Arts, we feel Couture's academic training, bis adherence to the traditions which Ingres, Delaroche, David, and the generation which preceded him imposed upon him, but in these slighter performances his fatherhood of Manet — iforcffln Scbools I67 who was his pupil — is perfectly comprehensible, and it is even possible to imagine Manet's cour- ageous personality reacting upon his master, caus- ing him to paint more freely and more acceptably to modern thought. Of Jean Charles Cazin (i 840-1 901) the Gallery owns two attractive canvases. Amongst the miscellaneous foreign pictures is a portrait of Bismarck by Franz Lenbach (1836- 1904), the famous Bavarian portrait painter. The portrait is one of many that Lenbach made of the German prince. It was bought by the Gallery in 1903 and was painted in Friedrichsruh, in 1892. From Richard Muther, professor of art history at the University of Breslau, is quoted the follow- ing : — " The greatest pupil of the old masters, Franz Lenbach, stands in a close and most impor- tant relationship with those endeavours of modern art, through some of his youthful works. " The public has accustomed itself to think of him only as a portrait painter, and he is justly hon- oured as the greatest German portraitist of the century. . . . His gallery of portraits has been called an epic in paint upon the heroes of our age. The greatest historical figures of the century have sat to him, the greatest conquerors and masters in the kingdoms of science and art. . . . Some of his Bismarck portraits, as well as his last pictures 168 Ube Htt Uteasures of Masbinaton of the old Emperor William, will always stand amongst the greatest achievements of the century, in portraiture. In the one portrait is indestructible power, as it were the shrine built for itself by the mightiest spirit of the century; in the other the majesty of the old man, already half alienated from the earth and glorified by a trace of still melan- choly, as by the last radiance of the evening sun. In these works, Lenbach appears as a wizard call- ing up spirits, an ' ivocateur d'&rn^s' as a French critic has named him." Again, in describing his methods, Muther says: — " He paints only the eyes with thoroughness, and possibly the head; but these he renders with a psychological absorption which is only to be found amongst modern artists, perhaps in Watts. In a head by Lenbach there glows a pair of eyes which burn themselves into you. The countenance, which is the first zone around them, is more or less, generally less, amplified ; the second zone, the dress and the hands, is either less amplified or scarcely amplified at all. The portrait is then har- monized in a neutral tone, which renders lack of finish less obvious. In this sketchy treatment and in his striking subjectivity, Lenbach is the very opposite of the old masters." So much for the contemporary criticism of a compatriot. To the writer there is little interest iforefgn Scbools i69 in those portraits by the German painter, whose originality of thought seems to have been pretty well stultified by the numerous copies which he made for Baron Shack. " Study of a Head of a Young Man," by Louis Mettling (1847-1894), is a gift to the Gallery from Ralph Cross Johnson of Washington. It is ad- mirable in its quality and in the sincerity of the painting, beiing of that class of fine arts of which Alfred Stevens was so notable an example. Adolphe Schreyer (1828- 1899) is ably repre- sented by " The Watering Place," a powerful can- vas containing much valuable study of the anatomy of the horse. A large and characteristic Dutch interior — " Interior of a Cottage " — by Josef Israels (1824-1911), was added to the collection in 1903. " The Banks of the Adige " is a good ex- ample of the work of Martin Rico, of the Spanish School, whose style reflects his intimacy with his distinguished contemporary, Fortuny. Oswald Achenbach of the Dtisseldorf School, brother and pupil of the more famous Andreas, is represented by an interesting canvas which depicts the " Festival of Santa Lucia : Naples," painted in 1886. The type of picture is now hopelessly demode, but one may still admire its dramatic sense of movement, in the darkened crowd of revellers, and the restraint with which he painted the fire- 170 Ube Hrt Ureadutres ot Masbtttdton works; and the contrasting peacefulness of the Bay of Naples, which balances the activities upon the shore. A somewhat similar subject is treated very dif- ferently by Hugo Frederick Salmson of Stock- holm (1843-1904), whose "Fete of Saint John in Dalecarlia, Sweden," is fairly suggestive of the robust joy of the Scandinavian merrymakers, which he invests with a good deal of individual beauty and fidelity of costume. A "Portrait" by John Jackson (1778-1831), presented by the fourth president of the Gallery, Samuel H. Kauffmann, is a good specimen of Eng- lish portraiture. With the original installation of Mr. Corcoran's collection, in the old gallery, were eleven pictures selected and purchased by Mr. W. T. Walters in Europe in 1873. These were: "Flower Piece," and "Flower Piece (with Cat)," by E. Gustave Couder; " Spring Landscape," by Japy; " Death of Julius Caesar," by J. L. Gerome; "Snow Scene: Moonrise," and "Landscape: Sunset," by Emile Breton; " Vase of Flowers," by G. Jeannin; " Lost Dogs," by O. von Thoren; "Count Eberhard of Wittenberg Weeping over the Body of his Son," by Ary Scheffer; "The Drought in Egypt," by F. Portads ; and " A Family of Satyrs," by Louis Priou. foreign Scbools i7i Most of these works were purchased from the Paris and Vienna Expositions of that year, and were painted between 1869 and 1873, reflecting the somewhat arid period which they represented, as well as the taste of a collector who did not depart from the traditions of a very general public. Jean Leon Gerome (1824-1904) for instance, enjoyed a great vogue during his lifetime as a history and genre painter, receiving many medals and honours, and reaching the zenith of his fame at about the time of Mr. Walters' trip to Europe, as ^rt commissioner to the Vienna Exposition. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1855, Officer in 1867 and Commander in 1878. At the Exposition Universelle of 1867, he received a medal of honour, and was awarded one of the eight grand medals of honour at the similar ex- position of 1878. As an instructor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, in Paris, he became widely known and popularized by his students. " Cassar Dead " is supposed to have been the study for Gerome's more elaborate composition of the same subject in which the conspirators are rep- resented retiring from their bloody work in the Senate Hall. The picture is academic to the point of suppres- sing all the emotions, and leaves the spectator, for all its tragic story, as cold as ice. 172 Ubc art XCreasures of TKllasbfnQton "Lost Dogs," by Otto von Thocen (1828- 1889) was exhibited at the Vienna Exposition of 1873, and has always been one of the popular fa- vourites of the Galleiry. The painter was a Vien^ nese and was decorated with the Order of Franz Josef and the Russian Order ol Vladimir. Ary Scheffer's " Count Eberhard," also known as " The Weeper," is based upon the story of the ballad of Uhland, in which Ulrich, son of the count, had lost the battle of Reatlingen, in which many of the nobility were slain. Ulrich was dan- gerously wounded, but recovered and sought his father, finding him at Stuttgart over his solitary meal. He was coldly received — not a word was spoken — as he took his place at the table opposite his father. When the fish and wine were served to him the old count seized a knife and cut the table cloth between them. Frenzied by this insult, Ulrich rushed into the middle of the fight, gained the battle of Doffingen and was slain. Schiller's ballad, based upon this theme, of which Lord Lyt- ton made a spirited translation, gives many details of the incident which inspired the pictura According to an old catalogue of the Gallery this is claimed to be the original canvas painted by Scheffer, of which replicas are owned by the Rotterdam Museum, the French Government, and the Boston Athenaeum. fovclQn Scbools 173 The most modern in feeding of the works pur- chased for the Gallery by Mr. Walters, is " A Fam- ily of Satyrs," by Louis Priou, a French painter, born in Toulouse in 1845, and educated under Gibert and Cabanel. This picture was awarded a gold medal of the first class, at the Paris Exposition of 1874. It is a spirited composition. The satyrs are grouped in the interior of a wood. Interest centres upon an infant satyr, who blows upon the pipes and dances while his father snaps his fingers in time to the music, and incites the boy to further effort. A female satyr leans forward to watch and listen. The grouping is effective, and the painting skilful and professional. CHAPTER XI THE BARYE COLLECTION: ANTOINE LOUIS BARYE. I 796-1875 Original bronzes by Antoine Louis Barye form one of the chief features of interest, in a review of the possessions of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The collection in its entirety dates from 1873, when Mr. W. T. Walters, representing the trustees of the institution, was commissioned, by his col- leagues, to purchase in Europe, works of art for the Gallery; and gave Barye a command for a copy in bronze, of eivery work he had produced. The Barye Collection of the Corcoran Gallery is then one of the several important collections of the works of that master in existence, if it is not, indeed, all things considered, the richest, at least in this country. Each of the one hundred and seven pieces in the collection is a " proof " — that is to say it is signed by the artist, and issued from his studio. The existence of at least three of the great col- lections of Barye bronzes in this country, may be directly ascribed to the influence of Mr. George A. 174 Tlbe £ar]?e dollectton 175 Lucas (1824- 1 909) of Baltimore, who, during a residence of over fifty years in Paris, was instru- mental in bringing about a public recognition of the Barbison School of painters, and of Barye. He was an intimate friend of most of the noted artists of Paris, and frequented their studios; becoming a recognized authority on art matters, and a col- lector of art objects. Mr. Lucas was in close touch, from the begin- ning, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery, the Walters collection, and many of the leading private collections of America, and together with Samuel P. Avery, of New York, and Mr. Walters, his intimate friends, influenced these collections quite materially. His home. No. 21 rue de I'Arc de Triomphe, was a centre of artist life of Paris ; in it during his long life, he gathered the large and choice collection of art treasures, which, at his death, he bequeathed to the Maryland Insti- tute, of Baltimore. Barye was the son of a master silversmith, who had migrated to Paris from Lyons, and estab- lished a business. Though not college bred, Barye was a serious student, informing himself liberally on all the collateral branches of his profession, and acquiring an excellent and thorough general edu- cation. His youth, as well as his whole life, was honourable and laborious. 176 Ube Htt treasures of Masbindton He made his entree into the profession, which latterly absorbed him, through the industrial arts; and learned to engrave upon metal in the shop of Fourier, whose work consisted chiefly of ornament- ing the military trappings, so much in vogue at the time. He also made steel moulds for the repousse work of Biennais, a successful silversmith. In i8 12 he was conscripted, and served his coun- try until the fall of Napoleon; when he returned to his interrupted labours, and soon after entered the studio of the then famous sculptor, Bosio, and of the noted painter, Gros, in whose atelier he ac- quired that freedom of execution which animates his wonderful drawings and his powerful aqua- relles. At the close of the first year of study under Bosio, Barye presented himself for the concours in statuary, and nearly carried off the prize. For four successive years he tried to obtain the Prix de Rome, but never rose beyond the second place. Rebuffs and disappointment only strengthened his determination to succeed, and he devoted himself with renewed assiduity to his work. Driven by the necessity of earning a livelihood, Barye worked until 1831 for Fauconnier, jeweller of the Duchesse d'Angouleme, composing for him exquisite little pieces, some of which he afterwards signed. The animals, which he modelled for this Ube Bati?e Collection m work, show every indication of the richness of his talents, and the seriousness of his application. He passed whole days studying his models, informing himself of their habits, comparing them together, and noting every trait of character. He read and studied the books by Buffon, Lacepede and Cuvier, and followed assiduously the lectures at the Jardin des Plantes, and other courses of anatomy. He practised and experimented with all the delicate operations required in the casting of metals, and acquired a mass of knowledge, which his memory, constantly exercised, never lost. He sent to the exposition of 1827 two busts and several medallions; but they were not noticed by the critics, and no contemporary opinion of them comes down to us. Barye appears again at the Salon of 1 83 1, with a Saint Sebastien, and his group — " Tiger Devouring a Crocodile." The former was much admired, but the event of the exposition was the animal group, which was re- ceived with universal plaudits. (No. 3030 in the Corcoran Collection.^) M. Delecluze, who was art critic in the Journal des Deha,ts, and an old pupil of David, waxed enthusiastic over it, and pronounced it the strongest and best work of sculpture in the Salon. ' The numbers in this chapter refer to the catalogue of the Barye Collection, issued by the Corcoran Gallery of Art. 178 Ubc art Ureaeures ot MESbindton In the Salon of 1833, Barye strengthened his incipient reputation by the exhibition of a " Bust of the Due d'Orleans," a " Stag Borne Down by Hounds" (3049), "Horse Overthrown by a Lion" (in plaster), "Charles VI in the Forest of Maintz," a " Cavalier of the XV Century," " Lion and Serpent" (3022), "Russian Bear," "Bear of the Alps" (probably 3106), " Fight Between Two Bears of America and India" (3016), "Elephant of Asia " (3041), " Dead Gazelle " (plaster study), and a frame of medallions. To the same Salon he sent a series of six aquarelles. The critics were again favourable and " N," writing in Le Nationale, of April 21, says : " From men let us pass to animals, and what shall we say of Barye, their wonderful interpreter? What shall be said of the little dramas he makes them play, dramas so simple, yet so deep in effect? What death of a human being in this Salon stirs more the soul, than the death of this little gazelle, only so long as your hand, lying so languishingly upon the sod, as if drawing its last breath ? What assas- sination appeals to you more than this wounded stag, fighting the dogs for its life; or this horse overthrown by a lion? . . . Who could make you laugh more merrily than this bear, on his hind legs, waiting for you to throw him a piece of bread ? " At this point in his career, Barye was fortunate TLbc Barse Collection 179 in securing the protection of a certain cult in France, headed by the Due d'Orleans, composed of amateurs of the new progressive art. The Prince possessed already several of his works, amongst them the "Bear in the Trough;" and wished to have a series of ornaments for his di- ning table from the hand of the great artist. So, just as Benvenuto had wrought plates and dishes for the Medicis, Barye was forced to expend his marvellous skill upon the nine groups, now so famous, for the table of the duke. These groups were deisigned to stand upon an epergne or surtout de table, made by Ghenavard, and intended for the centre of an enormous baro- nial table, laid with mirrors, and lit with brilliant masses of tapers. There were five principal groups, representing mounted hunts of the tiger, with elephants; the wild ox; the bear; the lion with buffaloes, and the elk. These were varied in shape, according to their relative positions. The Tiger Hunt was the central feature. It was composed of Hindoos and Mohammedans, on the back of an immense elephant, defending themselves against two tigers, one of which climbs up the flank of the great brute, reaching almost to the howdah in its back; while the other grips the left hind foot of the beast, and regards the enemy with a savage snarl. On the long sides of the table 180 Ube art XTreasuces of Masbington stood the Lion and Wild Ox Hunts, forming long masses of combatants ; while at the ends, on elevated parts of the tray, were the Elk and Bear Hunts, rounded in general outline. While the collection contains none of the hunts in bronze, it is rich in the possession of a water colour sketch of the Tiger Hunt, bought at the sale of Bar3re's works soon after his death, in 1875, by Mr. Lucas. The original bronze is in the Wal- ters Collection. The mould was destroyed after this cast was made and there is no other in ex- istence.^ The Salon of the year 1834 refused these groups, despite the intervention of the Due d'Orleans, who was the exhibitor; and when the latter, in indig- nation carried the case to the king, Louis Philippe was powerless. The combination of artists, with minds closed to new ideas, and of officials, who enjoyed the opportunity of snubbing royalty, was too strong for a monarch who had all he could do to maintain himself amidst the political difficulties of an insecure kingdom. The disfavour of the jury was a blow, but Barye had the courage born of competence and was other- wise upheld by the strongest writers, and an im- posing list of patrons. ' The Walters Collection lacks but one of this famous quintette. The Lion Hunt is still owned in France. TTbe Batise Collection I8i To the Salon of 1835 he sent only a " Tiger Devouring a Stag," which was executed in colossal size, in stone, and placed at Lyons, the birthplace of his father. The subject he also cast in bronze, by the lost wax process, in small size, for Thiers, who was already collecting. The " Seated Lion," afterwards bought by the government, and placed in bronze by the poStem of the Louvre, which issues on the quai, was ex- hibited in the Salon of 1836, which refused his small pieces, on the old plea that they were jew- eller's art, or commarcialized sculpture. The rejection of his small pieces by the Salon authorities seemed to prove so rooted an hostility to his work, that Barye resolved to eschew exhi- bitions, and for thirteen years did not expose. Bad luck took charge of his affairs, and he began to get into debt. With the panic of 1848 all his finished bronzes, his models, and stock of various kinds were attached by a founder, named Martin; a calamity fraught with dire possibilities for the sculptor, who feared that slovenly or altered stat- uettes might be signed with his name, and sold by his creditors. The best work of this period includes " Angelica and Roger mounted on a Hippogriff " (3009), and the famous pair of " Candelabras " with nine lights (3010) made for the Due de Montpensier, the 182 JLbc art Ureasures of XRflasbfngton youngest son of Louis Philippe. The eandelabras were designed to light the group, and in this posi- tion they are displayed at the Corcoran Gallery. Roger, mounted on the Hippogriflf, holds in his arms the beautiful Angelica, according to the epi- sode described in Ariosto's poem, " Orlando Furi- oso." Gustave Planche writes of the group in 185 1 : " The genius of Ariosto, the first poet of Italy, after Dante, suited the turn of Barye's mind mar- vellously well, though his conception of the theme is on a more reserved basis. Angelica, with her full rounded limbs, exemplifies sensual beauty. Her figure, in its graceful strength, is charming and seductive to the eye and to the imagination. . . . Thare is truly, in this admirable creature, something that partakes at the same time of the nymphs of Rubens and of the maids of Athens, whose graceful profiles decorate the Temple of Minerva. . . . Suppleness, strength, and grace — nothing is wanting in this beautiful creature to charm her lover. Roger, who holds her in his arms, clad in solid armour, adds to the beauty of the woman by the energy of his attitude, by the power of his glance, at once loving and domina- ting." ' The Hippogriff, whose type, sketched by Ari- osto, allows free course to the artist's fancy, has not been interpreted less felicitously than the lovers. (El l-H o o 2; o H .r. w o U c a O ^f' Jq pq £ i (J ii < Ube Barse Collection 183 This marvellous horse, of which nature furnishes no model, partakes of the nature of the eagle and the horse. He devours space as did, Jove's courser, and exhales fire from his delicate nostrils. The wings attached to the shoulders, Hght and powerful, move with a rapidity which defies the eye, and there is in this singular ensemble so skilful a com- bination, so naturally conceived, that it loses its fabulous character. Though it knows no counter- part in the discoveries of science, one involuntarily accepts the Hippogrifif as a perfectly possible speci- men that might have lived or that may still exist. Qiarles DeKay, in his life of Barye, describes it as a " horse bird, upborne on the spray which a dolphin has cast skyward, from the sea, as it cutis itself in a spiral. The ocean s)rmpathizes with the lovers, and the Hippogriff skims the waves with an eager look. Secure on its broad back rides the confounder of magicians, Roger the Paladin, pressing to his steel corslet the bare bosom of the maid he has rescued. . . . The whirling spray, and the hard riding attitude of Roger, as well as the direction of Angelica's limbs, aid the impression of a tremendous rush through the air." The Candelabras, composed of nine figures, are amongst the choicest things in the Barye room. As Genevay said, they might well have been signed Jean Goujon or Germain Pilon, and indeed they 184 Ube art XTreasures ot Wa^bittdton seem to be more Renaissance than modern. At the base are the three goddesses, Juno, Minerva, and Venus; half way up are three imaginary chi- meras, and the top is surmounted by the three graces, with arms intertwined. From beneath the platform at their feet, spread the tyvelve branches delicately wrought and terminating in blossoms, which form the cups for the candles. The god- desses may be identified by the symbols which they bear. With Juno is the sceptre and the peacock; with Venus the dolphin in memory of her birth from the foam of the sea; and Minerva is accom- panied by the owl and the scroll. The revolution of 1848 abolished the jury for the Institute, and the Salon of 1850 had a jury composed of artists. It was this jury which ac- cepted the group of " Theseus Slaying the Centaur Bianor" or "Centaur and Lapith" (3097), as it was first called. Begun in 1846 it was finished in 1848. The government bought it and deposited it at the provincial museum at LePuy, to the despair of those who thought it worthy to stand on some public spot in Paris. The Centaur Barye modelled from the Greek myth, but, as DeKay neatly puts it, he did not " work from some classical precedent down to modern times, but wrought his modern ideas into forms that assumed classical shapes, in order to tCbc JBatBC Collection 185 please the taste of his educated fellow countr)mien." Hence the Centaur, succumbing to the blows of one of the Lapithse, or of their friend Theseus, is a fresh creation worked out from original ideas. An earlier variant of the group preserved by the Corcoran Gallery (3014) differs in certain partic- ulars from its secondary form, just described. In "Theseus and the Centaur" the action of the raised fore foot and tail of the Centaur indicates a scarcely arrested movement. Barye altered his group by advancing from an earlier stage of the combat to the crisis. The earlier group may be detected, at a glance, by the absence of a clump of cactus, which in the second modal replaces the rock in the first. The Salon of 1851 accepted another mytholog- ical group, upon the idea of which Barye had worked for years. It is " Theseus Slaying the Minotaur" (3013), which has been described as typifying a combat between two religions, Theseus representing the sun-god humanized, who makes war upon the monster and subdues him; while Minotaur is a variant upon the moon god, a crea- ture with human form and a bull's head — the horns recalling the moon when at the crescent. The Centaur is the horseman poeticized, the Turkoman who lives on horseback and who terror- ized Northern Persia until Russia overran his land ; 186 Ube Hrt Ztcasmcs ot Wnsbimton or the Hun, who caused all Europe to tremble. The Minotaur represents the evil spirits of the grave, who rise and prey upon the living. In re- ligious history he stands for the early Semitic faiths with their gorgeous rituals and ceremonies, and attendant cruelties, rife a:mongst the Phoeni- cians and Jews. The Minotaur occurs on the coins of Cnossus, once a flourishing city on the north coast of Crete. DeKay eulogizes the group as " calm and noble without pushing nobility to the point of superhu- man power. Thus the hero is not a magician or a god, from the point of whose sword issues a force that slays the demon, neither is he a man, doing easily what no man could. He is a powerful hero by reason of his mind, which has trained his body so that it can defeat untrained brawn and muscle, mind which has dug the copper and tin, and cast the bronze sword to aid him in the strug- gle against the brute forces of nature. His stride keeps him erect against the heavy onslaught of the bull man, and he prevents the latter from throwing him, by seizing one great bovine ear and forcing the monster back of the perpendicular. In vain does the latter strike with his left leg behind the hero's right knee, at the spot the wrestler tries to hit, in order to bring his opponent down. In vain Ube JSarse Collection 187 he clutches the latter's body with both hands, in the efifort to get a lock round the torso. Theseus holds him oflf where he wants him, and pauses coolly to select the exact spot where he will bury his blade half way to the hilt. " As in the Centaur group, so here, the hero wins with his brains, not his brawn, having mastered his foes before administering the fatal stroke." "The Jaguar Devouring a Hare" (3098) is another chef d'ceuvre. It was first shown in bronze at the Universal Exposition, from which it was bought by the government for the Luxembourg collection, and has been transferred to the Louvre. The great cat is intent upon his prey, which lies limp and tragic in strong contrast to the pow- erful jaws which break its back. Every muscle is tense with the operation of eating ■ — the tail stiffens, the spine undulates, the ears flatten, the nostrils dilate with ferocious energy. " ' The Jaguar and the Hare ' represents the whole family of felines at thedr repasts, with the possible exception of the lion; especially of their constant watchfulness, both for the inroads of other animals, and their own species, and for an- other chance to seize a prey. . . . The jaguar has commenced, as all the carnivora do, at the entrails of the hare, and eats the softer parts first. But meanwhile it watches keenly for another victim, 188 tCbe Hrt tcreasures of Masbington laying its ears well back, in sign of readiness to dispute its meal with anything that comes near. " In many parts of America the jaguar at its meal is surrounded by birds that feed on carrion and will sometimes venture very close in hopes to steal a bit. In this jaguar Barye has caught that alert look, in addition to the ecspression of head and tail which betokens enjoyment of a prey "stiU hot with its life-blood." ^ The history of this group in the auction room shows the rapid advance in the cost of Barye's works. At the sale of the sculptor's models and statuettes, after his death. Monsieur Sichel bought the copy now in the Walters Gallery for $580. Ten years later, at the SicheJ sale, Mr. Walters paid for it $1,880, and in 1888, Monsieur Bonnat paid for a copy, no better than this, $5,000. In 185s, at the Universar Exposition, Barye re- ceived the Grand Medal of Honour for artistic bronzes; and, in the same year, he was awarded the officers' cross in the Legion of Honour. He lived at the time in the rue Montagne Sainte Gene- vieve, but kept his old residence in the Marais quar- ter, rue Sainte Anastase, for a workshop and store. He did his own casting and devoted great care and attention to the development of the patine. In 1855 he had for sale more than a hundred different * " Life and Works of Antoine Louis Barye," by Charles DeKay. Ube asarsc Collection 189 bronzes, and at this period sold a small rabbit, without a base, for two francs fifty; a little turtle for three francs ; and the Hippogriff for seven hun- dred francs. No single piece cost more than this, though for the pair of candelabra with nine figures he got one thousand francs, and for a second pair with ten figures, fourteen hundred. It was not possible for him to raise his prices much during the twenty years that remained to him. Yet that he did make sales is gratifying, and it is pleasant to record that some of his best patrons were Americans. This was largely due to Lucas, who started the cult for Barye bronzes in this locality. The painter, William Morris Hunt, was also an admirer of Barye and bought many pieces, urging his friends, from Boston and New York, to do the same. Mr. Walters visited the dingy little shop in the Quai des Celestines as early as 1859, and often shipped a bronze as a present to a friend at home. Mr. McGuire, the present director of the Corcoran Gallery, was alsp an eariy patron of the sculptor, buying four pieces from Barye in 1864, and afterwards sending to Paris for others. The command for public monuments came to Barye after hp had passed his prime. In 1862 he was commissioned to make an equestrian statue of Napoleon in bronze, to be erected at Ajaccio, in Corsica, a spot he had never seen and indeed never 190 JLbc Hrt XCrcaswres ot Masbtngton did see, as the monument was erected without his presence or care. In 1866 he made a draped female Saint Clotilde in marble for a chapel in the Made- leine. The character of these commissions was ill suited to Barye's ability, and showed little intelli- gent sympathy on the part of the administration which bestowed them. Lefuel, the successor of Visconti as architect of the Louvrei, had shown a juster appreciation of the sculptor's prowess, in commissioning him, in 1854, to make the four groups of War, Force, Peace, and Order, for the Pavilions Mollien and Denon for the Louvre. Though they are placed at such a height that they are scarcely distinguishable, they show invincibly Barye's true sentiment for decora- tive sculpture. While it is impossible to examine the stone orig- inals without a scaffolding, they may be admirably studied in the bronze reproductions presented to the city of Baltimore, by Mr. Walters, and placed on Mount Vernon Square. Each is composed of a man, a boy, and an animal. War, which is con- sidered the finest, is represented by a stalwart man who lays his hand upon a sword, while a boy blows a trumpet, and beside the two figures crouches a horse — man's chosen comrade in war, in an atti- tude at once reposeful and strong, his nose scenting battle from afar. In each group the animal is Ubc asarse Collection i9i recumbent, giving sculptural mass to the base of the statue. Besides these four bronzes, Baltimore has, also through the liberality of Mr. Walters, a superb copy in bronze of the " Lion in Repose " from the river gate of the Louvre. This is from the Barbe- dienne factory and duplicates the size of the orig- inal. In 1868, Barye was elected to the Institute. The commission from the Corcoran Gallery Was one of the last that the sculptor received, coming as it did in 1873, and was executed before he died. The order was for one specimen of every bronze he had designed throughout his life. Barye was already seventy-seven, but he set to work to fill the commission, and managed to send one hundred and sixteen pieces before the weakness of age overtook him. The collection, now so handsomely disposed in a room dedicated to the master, was originally kept upon one long table, until a number of thefts, of the smaller portable bronzes, had reduced the num- ber to one hundred and six, when steps were taken to insure a more prudent installation. The " Bear Erect" (3106) was one of the stolen pieces, and years afterwards it was returned anonymously to the Gallery, but no clue as to the whereabouts of the other nine pieces has ever been revealed. CHAPTER Xll CASTS AND THE GREEK SLAVE Casts from masterpieces of antique and Renais- sance sculpture form an important feature of the collections of the Corcoran Gallery, and are efifect- ively displayed in the spacious atrium, where they serve a double purpose of use and decoration. Around the cornice of the south end of the Stat- uary Hall are placed about three-fifths of the casts from the original marbles of the Frieze of the Parthenon. The reliefs, commencing with that nearest to the main entrance, present an unbroken line of young horsemen sweeping along, with here and there a dismounted group, varying the action of the cavalcade, following the arrangement of the originals. After these, and extending to the main staircase on the west, are broken groups represent- ing seated deities, virgins with sacrificial oxen and charioteers. Casts of the famous so-called Elgin Marbles, preserved in the British Museum, are displayed as nearly as possible in the relative positions which these fragments, designed by Phidias, occupied in 192 Casts ant) tbe (3teeft Slave 193 the pediments of the immortal structure. The marbles take thair name from Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Porte, who brought them to England after years of greatest vicissi- tudes, occasioning him vast expenditures of money. He sold them to the British Museum for £35,000, a sum less than half what the collection had cost him, and it is now regarded as the chief treasure of that institution. Eight slabs of the Metopes of the Parthenon, from the original marbles in the British Museum, portray the contest between the Centaurs and La- pithae at the marriage feast of Peirithoos. The collection of casts of single figures is com- prehensive, including the Venus of Melos, the Dis- cobolos of the Vatican, the Capitoline Venus, the Venus de Medici, Germanicus, Antinous of the Cap- itol, Silenus Holding the Infant Bacchus, Apollo Belvidere, the Torso of Hercules, Diana Huntress, Nike from Samothrace, and many other famous examples of the sculpture of antiquity. The col- lection numbers about one hundred and thirty-five casts. The collection of casts from Renaissance sculp- ture has been well chosen, and includes many im- portant examples of the French and Italian sculp- ture of that prolific period. It includes a repro- duction of the famous wast gate of the Baptis- 194 ube Hrt Urcasures of TRUasbtngton try at Florence, made by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378- 1455), and interesting as representing, with its mate, the chief work of a distinguished artist's life. Ghiberti commenced these gates at the age of forty- six years and finished them when he was an old man of seventy-four. They have served as models for all the gates that have been made since, and have never been equalled or even approached. A fair idea of the extraordinary genius of Jean Goujon (1530-1572) may be gleaned from the casts of many of his masterpieces hare preserved. The Gallery owns reproductions of the nine bas- reliefs of nymphs from the Fountain of the Inno- cents, which still ornament that famous fountain on an old market place in Paris ; reliefs of the four evangelists from the roodloft of the Eglise Saint Germain de I'Auxerrois (now in the Louvre) ; reliefs of sea nymphs and from the tomb of Car- dinal and Chancellor Duprat. " The Three Graces," by Germain Pilon, was exe- cuted at the command of Catherine de Medici, as a memorial to her husband Henry II of France. His heart was to have been placed in the urn, sup- ported on the heads of the three female figures, who stand back to back, with linked hands, upon a triangular • pedestal of great beauty. These fig- ures represent the Queen herself, the Duchesse d'Etampes and Madame Villeroy, three of the fair- Casts an5 tbe ©reeft Slave 196 est women of that time. The monument formerly stood in the Chapelle d'Orleans, in the Church of the Celestins. Of Michael Angelo, the most famous of the sculp- tors of the Italian Renaissance, there is his colossal head of David; the two slaves for the tomb of Julius II, preserved in the Louvre ; the Cupid, from the South Kensington Museum; the sitting statue of Lorenzo de Medici from the Capella Medici, in the Church of San Lorenzo, in Florence ; the Pieta, from Saint Peter's, in Rome, and other fragments. Other fine and useful casts include the " Flying Mercury " of Gian Bologna, " David with Head of Goliath " by Donatello, various fragments of Mina da Fiesole, Luca della Robbia, and Banvenuto Cel- lini. The whole collection numbers about fifty good examples. The Greek Slave The general collection of sculpture at the Cor- coran Gallery is inconsiderable. The nucleus was received with the original gift and consisted of three pieces by Hiram Powers, one by Rinehart and another by Alexander Gait. The clou of the collection is, of course, the "Greek Slave" of Hiram Powers (1805-1873), which has always been one of the leading popular 196 zbc Htt treasures of Masbington attractions of the Gallery. The original was made in 1843, but despite the fact that many copies were made of it, this is the only one in the United States accessible to the public to-day. It was made in his studio in Florence, where Powers resided the last half of his life, and where he became the friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, taking his place in the cultured foreigli life of the city. Hawthorne's " Italian Notes " are full of kindly references to the sculptor, while Mrs. Browning apostrophized his statue in a few fervid lines. Public sympathy in the contemporary struggle of Greece for independence was the all important factor in the immediate success of the " Greek Slave," which was received by an emotionally sym- pathetic public as s)mibolic of the oppressed coun- try from which it took its name. Its fame preceded its exhibition at the great international exposition of London, in 185 1, where its success was over- whelming, and where it was regarded by the Brit- ishers as the one work of art by an American cred- itable to the country. Two years later, it was again the centre of interest at the first World's Fair, in New York, and was enthusiastically be- lieved to be the most remarkable work of art known to history. Some six or eight copies of the figure came from GREEK SLAVE By Hiram Powers Casts an^ tbc Oreeft Slave 197 Powers' studio : the first was sold to Captain Grant for $4,000, and is now in the possession of the Duke of Cleveland. The second is the replica owned by the Corcoran Gallery. It was brought to this country in 1847. The third copy belongs to the Earl of Dudley, while the fourth, purchased by Prince Demidoff for $4,000, was sold at that nobleman's death for $11^000 to A. T. Stewart of New York. CHAPTER XIII THE SAINT MEMIN COLLECTION Amongst the treasures of the Corcoran Gallery is preserved one of the two original collections of engraved portraits by Saint Memin, presented to the institution by W. W. Corcorah. The collection numbers eight hundred and eight- een portraits, of the regulation size and shape, many of them lettered with the name of the sitter and the date, in the artist's own hand ; five silhou- ettes and some small portraits, a plan of the siege of Ticonderoga, the central part of Raphael's " Madonna of the Chair," and a bridge. It is bound in four volumes, composed of thick leaves with depressed centres, in which the prints are mounted. Fevret de Saint Memin (1770- 1852) presents to the student of Americana a fascinating field of interest. He was one of several distinguished for- eigners, including James Sharpies and Robert Edge Pine, who oame to this country, in the early days of the Rqmblic, to profit by the stimulus to patriot- ism inspired by the great war and its consequences. 198 Ube Saint /TDemin Collection 199 Even our own native painters, Trumbull, Charles Willson Peale, etc., were not indifferent to the opportunities presented by the awakening of con- sciousness in a newly emancipated people, with its line of heroes; though they may be supposed to have been actuated largely by motives of' patriot- ism, in their desire to perpetuate the fathers of their country. Saint Memin, a member of a family of rank and fortune, was born in Dijon in the year 1770. He became an officer of rank in the French Guards, attached to the court of Louis XVI, and after the outbreak of the Revolution, joined the army of the Princes, where, although his time was short, he received the title of lieutenant colonel. The hor- rors of this war, and the necessity of fortune, drove the family out of France, and the young soldier and his father started for the West Indies, where his mother had large estates, from Holland, by way of Canada. On their arrival in New York they were greeted by the news that a revolution had taken place in San Domingo, and that the planters had-bean driven from the island. Deprived of all wealth. Saint Memin turned to his artistic accomplishments as a means of liveli- hood, and began his artistic career by making views of New York, which were well received. At the time of his student days in France, mezzotint pro- 200 Ube Hrt treasures of TKHasblneton file portraits were very popular in Paris. The engraver Chretien had invented a mechanical de- vice for making profiles or silhouettes, called a physiognotrace, by means of which portraits of the greatest accuracy in the detail of features, dress, and fashion, were reproduced. Developing his compatriot's idea. Saint Memin succeeded in pro- ducing artificial aids to drawing much less ponder- ous and easier of manipulation. He invented an- other machine to reduce the portraits to a small size for engraving; and next undertook to engrave them himself. With nothing but an encyclopaedia at hand, and with instruments of his own inven- tion, his mechanical genius enabled him to engrave on copper, in the beautiful, sharp, and finished style his works display. With the first instrument he drew upon pink paper a life size outline of the head and shoulders of the sitter, finishing it, by hand, in crayon. The second machine was used to reduce the figure to a size small enough to be engraved within a perfect circle, two inches in diameter. The plate was pre- pared to receive the ink by engraving and by in- denting it by means of steel rollers, or roulettes; and the result was a mezzotint of remarkable clear- ness of character and accuracy of lina These extraordinary portraits show, in Saint Memin, a highly developed artistic sense. As his Ube Saint nDemin Collection 201 skill increased, he reduced the time spent upon his portraits from two weeks to three days, and the number of his patrons grew until his books were filled for weeks ahead. The drawing and engraved plate, with a dozen proofs, became the property of the sitter for the price of $33, the artist reserving only a feiw proofs of each portrait. Having prosecuted this business in New York from 1796 to 1798, Saint Memin, after a short stop in Burlington, went to Philadelphia, remaining there busily employed until 1803. He then con- tinued his portrait work in Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, Richmond, and Charleston, South Carolina. In October, 18 14, after twenty years' exile, he returned to France and, in 181 7, was appointed director of the museum of Dijon, where he remained until his death. The best known collections of these portraits were made by the artist from proofs which he took back to France with him. One little group of sixteen pieces he had bound at Dijon and presented to his friend Monsieur Peignot. Inscribed upon the title page is the following : " Gagne pain d'un exile aux Etats Unis d'Amerique, 1793 a 1814." This book brought at the Carson sale, in Philadel- phia, in 1904, $330. Two great collections were made of his other proofs, and, after Saint Memin's death, about i860, 202 Ube Hrt treasures of Wasbtngton one of them was brought to this country by J. B. Robertson, an English print seller. This was bought by Elias D'eixter, of New York, who pub- lished, in 1862, a volume of photographs of the collection, with a multitude of biographical mate- rial concerning most of the persons represented. A copy of this volume is also owned by the Cor- coran Gallery, greatly enhancing the value of the original collection, to which it acts as com- mentary. This collection became the property of Hampton L. Carson, and at the sale of his treasures, it was described as consisting of seven hundred and sixty- one mezzotints and brought $4,800. The other, and larger collection, was offered to the Library of Congress, in 1874, by the noted col- lector of Americana, Henry Stevens, of London; and from him it was secured for the Gallery. Amongst the portraits are a few of children, and about a hundred of women. The earliest date is 1796, and some of the first plates are signed by both Saint Memin and his compatriot and fellow exile, Valnuit, who was associated in the enterprise for about two years. In the list of sitters one finds names prominent in political, social, and business circles of the period. One of the rarest and most valuable is a tiny mezzotint profile, smaller than a postage stamp, depicting Washington. Zbc Saint ^Dentin Collection 203 The collection is remarkably varied and spon- taneous, containing a wealth of interesting detail concerning the faces, costumes, and character of these personages of a century ago. CHAPTER XIV THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART As far back as sixty-six years ago the Congress of the United States directed the formation of a gallery of art for the nation, and even at a some- what earlier date it gave encouragement to such a project by granting an act of incorporation to a private society, whose collections were eventually to be ceded to the United States. The assembling of art objects under the chartered association began in 1840, and under the specific provision for a gal- lery, in 1849. The two collections were united in 1862, since which time the subject of art, as a museum feature under the government, has con- tinued in charge of the Smithsonian Institution, in accordance with the terms of its establishment in 1846. However slow may have been its progress in this field; however lacking in merit the majority of its acquisitions; the Institution fulfilled its obli- gations to provide a place for the art collections of the nation, has made such efforts as were pos- sible within its limited means and opportunities to 204 tCbe laational Gallers of Hrt 205 gather suitable material, and, what is more impor- tant, has kept the subject alive in the expectation of ultimately awakening an interest that would justify its course, and realize the intent of Con- gress. The cultivation of art, even in directions prom- ising practical benefits to the people, has never re- ceived encouragement from the national govern- ment, except in the privilege of copyright and patent. The erection of public buildings and mon- uments, the decoration of interiors, the portraiture of prominent officials, and the designing of medals, coins, currency, and stamps have furnished, essen- tially, the only opportunities for the recognition of artistic talent; while, on the other hand, the active part taken by the government in developing the material resources of the country has caused its collections in natural history and ethnology to grow rapidly. There has, therefore, been very little of art in the ownership of the government to which the In- stitution could claim right of possession; and the interests of the private benefactor have been di- rected elsewhere. Fortunately, popular sentiment is now developing a broader national spirit whose effect has already been manifested in such a manner and to such an extent as practically to insure the assembling at Washington, at a time not far distant. 206 xcbe Htt tCreasures of Masbington of a public collection of the fine arts worthy of the country. For the initial steps toward the creation of a national gallery of art credit must be given to the National Institute, whose name is now scarcely remembered, though its short life was historically important, and its activities were fruitful in both a material and an educational way. Organized in Washington in 1840 and two years later incor- porated by Congress for a period of twenty years — nominally for the promotion of science, it es- tablished a department of literature and art, and accumulated a museum of considerable size, lo- cated in the Patent Office building, in which the collections of the government, made prior to 1850, were also deposited. Both its constitution and its charter provided that, upon the dissolution of the society, its collections should become the property of the United States. While the number of art objects in the museum of the Institution was not greats it included exam- ples of the work of several prominent artists, all of which, with the exception of a few loans, should now be in the possession of the National Museum, though the location of some of them remains to be ascertained. Of portraits in oil there were seventeen, inclu- ding Washington, by the older Peale; Guizot, Ube "ilational Oallcvs of Hrt 207 Tyler and Preston, by Healy; Captain Evans, by Copley; Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Mon- roe, by Gilbert Stuart; one of Jackson, by Sully and another by R. E. W. Earl; and Corwin by J. M. Stanley. Among the miscellaneous subjects, numbering at least ten, may be mentioned "Job and his Comforters," by Ribera, still preserved in the National Museum. The notable collection of Indian portraits and scenes, painted for the government by Charles B. King and others, had been deposited with the In- stitute by the Secretary of War in 1841. The cata- logues also enumerate about thirty-five busts, mod- els, etc., a few in marble, and the remainder in plaster. In the majority of cases the artists' names were, unfortunately, not recorded; but there were a marble head of Saint Cecilia, by Thorwaldsen, a bust of Cuvier, by Merliaux, and a number of pieces by Ferdinand Pettrich and Clark Mills, besides sev- eral antiques. While the art side of the Museum was not des- tined to prosper for many years, it is interesting to note that the first collection purchased from the Smithsonian fund, even before the completion of the building, was a large series of engravings and etchings, know as the Marsh Collection of Prints; the finest of its kind which, up to that time, had been brought to the country. 208 Zbc Hrt TTreasutes of TKIladbfngton In planning the Smithsonian building, the Board of Regents accorded to the gallery of art its pro- portionate share of space, setting aside for this purpose two rooms measuring respectively sixty- six by thirty-four, and sixty by thirty-seven feet. The completion of the Smithsonian building in 1857, followed by the fitting up of certain exhibi- tion halls under a special act of Congress, made it possible for the Institution to accept the gov- ernment collections at the Patent Office in the suc- ceeding year. At the beginning of the year i8$5 a disastrous fire burned out the large upper hall and the main towers of the Smithsonian building, destroying the collection of Indian paintings and much other art material. This calamity led to the scattering, for over thirty years, of most of what remained; a part of the collection, mainly prints, being deposited in the Library .of Congress, and a part in the Cor- coran Gallery of Art. In 1896 most of the objects of art which had been thus deposited were recalled, and the art department took, on a new lease of life. Mrs. Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President Buchanan, and mistress of the White House dur- ing his term of office, assembled at her home in Washington a small collection, mainly of paintings, including several examples of the work of a few distinguished masters, which, upon her decease in Ube mational Gallers of art 2og 1903, were found to have been bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art, when one should be estab- lished by the government. In ignorance of the fact that the necessary means for carrying out her wishes were already in existence, Mrs. Johnston named a temporary custodian; but under condi- tions that were not acceptable. In a friendly suit which followed, to settle some doubtful clauses in the testament, it was decreed by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, that the collection of art contemplated in the act of establishment of the Smithsonian Institution was, within the meaning, and intent of the law, the National Gallery of Art, and the collection of Harriet Lane Johnston was accordingly awarded to the Institution, being re- ceived at the beginning of August, 1906. Influenced by the attention attracted to the Smithsonian by the bequest of Mrs. Johnston, but before its disposition had ibeen decided by the Court, Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, Michigan, made a deed of gift to the Institution of his notable, though still unfinished collection, then consisting of over two thousand two hundred and fifty pieceSi Unique in its character and choice in its selection, it com- bines the work of a few American artists, headed by James McNeill Whistler, with that of the mas- ters of the far east. So large is this collection, and so complete its lesson that the donor will provide 210 Ubc Hct ZvcaerxKCS of imiasbington for it a special building near the new National Museum. In the course of another eight months Mr. Will- iam T. Evans, of New York, presented to the nation a collection of fifty paintings by contemporary American artists, which, through frequent addi- tions, has been increased to one hundred and thirty- six examples, while others are to be expected. There have also been several separate gifts of value. With the removal of many departments of the Museum's activities to the new building, in 1910, the art collections were temporarily installed in the central part of the middle hall on the main floor, directly below the skylight well, and included be- tween two rows of nine large, rectangular piers serving as supports for the second floor. In these new quarters the Gallery was formally opened to the public from noon until five o'clock on the afternoon of March 17, 1910. Admission was by card, partly to prevent undue crowding, and partly to bring the event specially to the attention of Congress, the official body in Washington, and all other persons known to be interested in the promotion of art at the nation's Capital. CHAPTER XV THE HARRIET LANE JOHNSTON COLLECTION The collection of Harriet Lane Johnston, who died on July 3, 1903, was received and placed on exhibition in August of that year. It contains the following paintings : " Madonna and Child," by Bernardo Luini ; " Portrait of Mrs. Hammond," by Sir Joshua Reynolds ; " Portrait of Miss Kirk- patrick," by George Romney; "Portrait of Lady Essex as Juliet," by Sir Thomas Lawrence; " Por- trait of Mrs. Abington," by John Hoppner; " Por- trait of Miss Murray," by Sir William Beechy; " Portrait of the Prince of Wales (King Edward VH)," by Sir John Watson Gordon; "The Val- ley Farm," by John Constable ; " Madonna and Child," after the manner of Correggio ; " Portrait of Madame Tulp," by Cornells van Kuelen (Jans- sens) ; " Portrait of Josepha Boegart," by Francis Pourbus, the Younger ; " Independence," by Klaus Meyer; "A Street Scene in the East," by Edwin Lord Weeks; "The Prince of Wales and Presi- dent Buchanan at the Tomb of Washington, Mount Vernon, i860," by Thomas P. Rossiter; " Portrait 211 212 Ube Hrt treasured of Wasbfitdton of President Buchanan," by Jacob Eichholtz; " Miniature of President Buchanan," by John Henry Brown ; and " Portrait of James Buchanan Johnston," by Harper Pennington. The collection also includes several articles of historical interest, and three pieces of sculpture; namely, a bust of President Buchanan, by Henry Dexter, and a bust of Henry Elliot Johnston and a full-length of Henry Elliot Johnston, Jr., at the age of two years, by William Henry Rinehart. The collection is largely one of English masters of the eighteenth century, and bears the natural traces of Mrs. Johnston's public life as the compan- ion of her illustrious uncle. The clou of the col- lection is the handsome portrait of Miss Kirkpat- rick, by George Romney, purchased from the fam- ily of the sitter. The portrait is a graceful and simple delineation of a young woman of great per- sonal charm. The pose is easy, and characteristic of Romney, who ddighted in painting the beautiful women of the British aristocracy, as well as famous actresses of the period, imparting to their counte- nances an almost ideal feminine quality of naive loveliness: This canvas contains some very clever painting and beautiful colour. The lady wears a drab costume, verging on mauve; while about the neck are some exquisite touches where the fabric melts into the flesh tones. The whole is technically PORTRAIT OF MISS KIRKPATRICK By George Romney Ube Darrfet %nnc Jobnston Collcctfon 213 brilliant; the mouth masterly in its simple treat- ment, especially the lower lip. Jdm Hoppner's portrait of Mrs. Abington is an interesting canvas, painted with style and elet- gance. The sitter is a fresh faced, brown-eyed woman, wearing the powdered wig of the period. " Lady Essex as Juliet," by Sir Thomas Law- rence, is a three-quarter length portrait of a beau- tiful woman in character, exhibiting much masterly handling, with due respect paid to the Shakespear- ean text. The scene is ea,rly evening with the crescent moon in the sky; and Juliet, upon the balcony, leans her oheek upon her hand in the traditional manner. The pose is a little stiff and theatrical. Sir John Watson Gordon's portrait of the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII), is more interesting for its history than its artistic value. The portrait was presented to Mr. Buchanan, by the young prince, as a souvenir of his visit to the United States, in i860. The collection preserves two let; ters from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan relative to the royal visit, arid also the prince's let- ter which accompanied the portrait. The latter, under date of March 29, 1862, begs that Mr. Bu- chanan will accept " the accompanying- portrait as a slight mark of my grateful recollection of the hospitable reception and agreeable visit at the White 214 tCbe art treasures of TOdasbington House on the occasion of my tour in the United States." The portrait of President Buchanan by Jacob Eichholtz, represents the sittar at about the age of forty years, having been painted just before his departure as American Minister to Saint Peters- burg. It is strong in character, and typical of the painter's smooth manner. The portrait of Madame Tulp is by Janssens, a Dutch painter of the seventeenth century, who achieved some distinction in England, where he ' painted many portraits, including several of James 'I, into whose service he was taken. The canvas is a spirited example of the portraiture of the period. The Pourbus bequeathed by Mrs. Johnston has been liberally restored, if not completely repainted, and would be difficult of identification. It purport^ to be a portrait of Josepha Boegart, who was lady in waiting to Marie de Medici, wife of Henry IV of France. The costume and style of the picture carries out the period and rank of the sitter. " Madonna and Child " is a beautiful canvas, done in the graceful manner of the school of Leo- nardo da Vinci, and attributed to Bernardo Luini. Amongst the miscellaneous paintings acquired by the National Gallery are two portraits by George P. A, Healy, an American portrait painter, which came to the nation in the early history of the Smith- PORTRAIT OF MRS. ABINGTON (see page 213) By John Hoppner XEbe 'Darriet Xane Jobnston Collection 215 sonian Institution. The first is a full-length por- trait of F. P. G. Gudzot, the celebrated author and minister of Louis Philippe, which was presented to the government by the American citizens residing in Paris, in 1842. It was intended as a memorial of their gratitude to the distinguished historian of the great progress of civilization, for his French translation of the life and writings of Washington. The subscribers to the fund for the purchase of the portrait desired it to be placed in one of the public edifices in the capital of the United States, where it could be seen by the largest number of its people. It cost about two thousand francs, each subscrip- tion being limited to fifty francs. It was brought to this country by Captain Frantk, of the ship Oneida, who declined to receive any compensation for freight and other charges. » The disposition of the portrait was left to Pres- ident Tyler, who turned it over to the National In- stitute, June 21, 1842. It was painted in 1841, and, together with the portrait of President Tyler, executed by Healy, is one of the most distinguished canvases ever painted by this most prolific artist. George Peter Alexander Healy (18 13- 1894) was a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He went to Paris in 1836 and remained there several years, with occasional visits to the United States; and there he painted many distinguished people, inclu- 216 Ube Hrt treasures ot TRttasbington ding the French monarch, Louis Philippe. His large historical composition of " Webster's Reply to Hayne," which contains one hundred and thirty portraits, was completed in 185 1, and now hangs in Faneuil Hall, Boston. At the Paris International Exposition of 1855 he exhibited a series of thirteen portraits, and a large picture representing Franklin urging the claims of the American colonies before Louis XVI. He has been characterized as " one of the best American portrait painters of the French School," but the virtue of his inherent talents has been much obscured by the quantity of perfunctory work that is signed with his name. In twenty years he painted nearly six hundred portraits, with results that can well be imagined. At his best Healy was a painter of vigorous parts, but without subtlety or much refinement of colour. In the portrait of President Tyler he reveals much strength of drawiilg and firm character throughout. - It was presented to the government with that of William C. Preston, Unitfed States Senator from South Carolina, 1833- 1843, ^Jso by Healy, in 1842. The circumstances of this gift are described in the records of the Institute, of which the follow- ing is an extract : " At a meeting of the Insti- tute on December 12, 1842, Col. J. J. Abert made the following announcement : ' During the PORTRAIT OF PRESIDEXT BUCHANAN (see page 214) By Jacob Eichholtz Ubc f)arriet Xane Jobnston Collection 2i7 last spring, Mr. Healy, a distinguished American painter, who had been many years occupied in Eu- rope in the study of his art, was deputed by the King of France to visit our city for the purpose of taking a copy of Stuart's Washington, a painting in the house of the president.^ On his arrival it occurred to several of us to take advantage of this opportunity for obtaining specimens of his art from Mr. Healy in the portraits of some of our distin- guished citizens, known friends of the Institute, to be presented to the Institute. We accordingly proposed a subscription for two portraits, one of the president of the United States, a patron of the Institute, the other of the Honourable Mr. Preston, its ardent, intelligent, and efficient friend. Having obtained the consent of these gentlemen, and hav- ing engaged Mr. Healy for the work, the portraits were made, and are now presented to the Institute in the names of those on the annexed list.' " There were thirty-six subscribers, whose names were appended, of whom thirty-five paid ten dollars each, and one five, making the entire amount con- tributed $355. The sum of $300 was paid to the artist for the two pictures, while the remainder was expended for frames and other incidentals. ' ' The painting referred to is a copy of the Lansdovme Portrait of Washington, made by Jane Stuart, from the original by her father, in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 218 Zbc Hrt treasured of Masbington " Job and his Comforters," attributed to Jose de Ribera (Lo Spagnoletto), was presented to the National Institution by Dr. Robert W. Gibbes, of Columbia, South Carolina, in December, 1841. The subject is Job in his aiHiction surrounded by his comforters. The National Gallery owns the full-length por- trait of Washington, by Charles Willson Peale, whith hangs in the Capitol. It is one of the repe- titions of Peale's original portrait of the president, painted for the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, from sittings in Philadelphia in 1778, and now in the possession of Mr. Thomas McKean. The canvas in the Capitol bears the date 1779, and the signature of the artist. Its early history has never been satisfactorily explained; but it was evi- dently sent to Europe to be sold, probably in tihe same year that it was painted. It was brought back to this country from France by Julius, Count de Menou, from whom it was purchased, in Octo- ber, 1841, by Mr. Charles B. Calvert, of Prince George County, Maryland, for the sum of two hun- dred dollars. The latter placed it in the National Institute in Washington, and in 1862 it was turned over to the Smithsonian Institute. It was sent to Philadelphia in 1876 for the Centennial Exhibi- tion; and remained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts until i88i, when it was recalled PORTRAIT OF ,F. P. G. GUIZOT (see page 215) By George P. A. Healy XEbe ftarrict %mc Jobnston Collection 219 to the Smithsonian, and lent to the Corcoran Gal- lery of Art. A claim to ownership of the picture by Titian R. Peale, a son of Charles Willson Peale, was decided adversely by the Board of Regents in 1873; but in 1882 Congress appropriated $5,000 in settlement of the claim, and the portrait was transferred to the Capitol. Among other paintings 'belonging to the Gallery are F. E. Church's " Aurora Borealis," presented by Miss Eleanor Blodgett; Adrien Moreau's " Crossing the Ferry," the gift of Mrs. James Lowndes ; Lucien W. Powell's " Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone," contributed by the Honourable J. B. Henderson ; and Max Weyl's " Indian Sum- mer Day," presented by thirty of his friends. CHAPTER XVI THE WILLIAM T. EVANS COLLECTION The William T. Evans Collection of paintings by American artists numbers, at the present writing, one hundred and thirty-six pictures. It dates from the month of March, 1907, when Mr. Evans an- nounced to the Institution his desire to contribute to the National Gallery a number of paintings by contemporary Americans of established reputation, naming thirty-six pictures in his personal collection which he had selected for the purpose. The ac- ceptance of this offer made it necessary to secure a place for the temporary installation of the col- lection outside of the Museum and Smithsonian buildings, since neither of these contained, at that time, any available or suitable space for an exhibi- tion of this character and extent. Accommoda- tions in the atrium of the Corcoran Gallery of Art were at once tendered by the trustees of that insti- tution, and the pictures were installed there until they were removed to the old Museum building in June, 1909. When the first installment of pictures arrived 220 PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT TYLER (see page 216) By George P. A. Healy Ube Milliam U. Evans Collection 221 it was found that Mr. Evans, in order to make a creditable showing in the Corcoran Gallery, had increased his initiail gift to the nation to fifty paint- ings. Placed in a single line, they occupied the entire eastern and southern walls, and part of the western side of the atrium. Additions have 'been made at frequent intervals, and a few of the orig- inal pictures have been replaced by more satisfac- tory examples of the work of the same artists. The collection must be understood to be always, during the lifetime of the donor, in a plastic condition, and subject to many and frequent changes, addi- tions, and improvements. It is therefore impossible to speak with finality of its compass or even of its intention. The collection begins with the distinguished co- terie of recently deceased artists who link the mod- ern painters with their forebears. Inness, Homer Martin, Wyant, La Farge, Twachtman, George Fuller, Robinson, Hunt, and Winslow Homer are all more or less ably represented. Of George Inness there are four examples : " Ni- agara," " Sundown," " Georgia Pines," and " Sep- tember Afternoon," of which the first named is the most unusual and beautiful. Inness' " Niag- ara " expresses more of the fleeting impression of the gigantic force of nature, and less of photo- graphic accuracy than do any of the few great 222 Ubc Brt XEteasures of xmiasbindton representations of this difficult theme. Church's " Niagara Falls " is a much more descriptive pic- ture — more historically correct, more objective in its feeling. Inness' presentation is a generalization. Everything is suggested in this idealistic impression of the falls. The colour is opalescent, ethereal, and lovely; the misty envelopment contains a sense of fine spray and seething foaminess, in which the eye recognizes no locality, but comes into the very presence of the misty rush of the mighty cataract, and all else grows hazy and indistinct. Far off, through the envelopment of the picture, a factory chimney discharges a rich column of brown, whirl- ing, roseate smoke, which curls and spreads and mingles with the atmosphere. Technically nothing could be less direct than this painting by Inness. It appears to have been done by the most involved of systems; to have been finally scraped out, and again scumbled with the palette knife, until what remains is only the spirit of the picture — a dream of Niagara — the very antithesis of Church's literal rendering. How much of this effect was gained through intention and how much through accident it would be diffi- cult to determine. The picture was painted in 1889. The other landscapes by Inness are more in ac- cordance with the traditions. " Sundown," painted XCbe TOlilUam TT. Evans Collcctiott 223 in 1894, is a large pastoral scene under the effect of a colourful sunset. There are farms in the dis- tance, and across the middle plane a woman passes, calling to cows that are coming, grazing, toward her. A big red sun sinks into the smoky horizon. The canvas has less distinction than the other, while it is at the same time, perhaps, more char- acteristic. " Georgia Pines " is even richer in col- our, and shows all the painter's mannerisms. The Wyants and Homer Martins are early and immature. Wyant's "Flume" ties in with the work of the Hudson River painters, though it is richer and fresher ; in " Housatonic Valley," also, Wyant has not yet shaken off the obsession of scenery. The collection catalogues three canvases attributed to Homer Martin (1836-1897), of which the " Iron Mine : Port Henry, New York," was concerned in the famous suit brought by Mr. Evans against the dealer from whom the picture was pur- chased. The suit was settled legally in favour of the dealer, but never to the satisfaction of the pro- fession. The two canvases by Winslow Homer, represent two antipodal phases in the development of this artist. " High Cliffs : Coast of Maine " was painted in 1894, after Homer had established him- self in his isolated life on the Maine coast, where he studied the sea in its dramatic relation to its Zbc MtUiam Z. iBvans Collection 225 , figures in the history of American art, Homer's early experiences were of the most normal. He was born in Boston in 1836 and his trend of thought manifested itself in his childhood. His natural attainments were such that when, at the age of nineteen, he went into a lithographer's of- fice, he could undertake the more artistic part of the work, making titles for sheet music, and a series of portraits of the Massachusetts Senate. After a few years he set up for himself and made drawings for Ballou's Monthly and for Harper Brothers. With the breaking out of the war he went to the front as special correspondent and artist for Harpers, and later made a second and inde- pendent trip to the Army of the Potomac. At this time his paintings begin with a series of army scenes, including " Prisoners from the Front," which was exhibited in 1865, and has be- come a milestone in his career, since at the Paris Salon of 1867, it was one of the few pictures by Americans that received favourable comment. Then came studies of negro life and character, fol- lowed by subjects taken from the life of the coun- try and the little villages. Later came trips to the Adirondacks, whose rugged scenery and guides fur- nished material of which he has left abundant rec- ord. Homer went several times to Bermuda, making a wonderful series of water-colours of the 226 Zbc Hct Uteasures of Masbington life and character of the southern sea with its strange wildness, its magnificent sports. While his subjects show an unusual variety, the sea appears as the dominant influence, which to- ward the close of his life completely absorbed the painter. However sinqde and elemental Homer's little canvas depicting the Old Mistress, who visits her former slaves, may appear in the light of our pres- ent sophistication, the picture makes a strong ap- peal by reason of the humanity of the types pre- sented and the appreciation of their inherent beauty. The story of the picture is unobtrusive, serious, earnest, and human, without galley play; and as one studies it one realizes that thus, and not other- wise, the reality must have been. The collection contains " The Spouting Whale," a charming trifle from the brusih of William Mor- ris Hunt (1824-1897), a mere fragment of open sea and expanse of sky, dominated by a large white cloud. There is, in this small canvas, something of massive conception indicative of the power of this unique and forceful figure in the history of Amer- ican painting. The sketch has big quality com- bined with exquisite subtleties of colour and value. Brattleboro, Vermont, has the proud distinction of having been the birthplace of Hunt. His father was a member of Congress. The boy was college THE SPOUTING WHALE By William Morris Hunt Ube Milliam Z. i£vms Collectton 227 bred, having been sent to Harvard at the age of sixteen; but he never completed the course, and owing to ill health was taken by his mother to live abroad. Hunt belongs to a kind of aristocracy in art, and had all the advantages that means and culture could procure for him. His artistic life began at Rome, where he studied sculpture with Henry K. Brown. Talented in various directions, he was attracted to Diisseldorf to study painting, but his individu- ality soon revolted against the mechanical training of that school, and he escaped to Paris, where he is said to have already worked a short time at sculpture under Barye. In Paris he was so fortu- nate as to be deflected from his course, and entered the atelier of Couture, where he stayed five years, be- coming one of the most favoured pupils, and work- ing in the private studio of the master. Later he was attracted to the leaders of the Bar- bison School, and became an ardent disciple of Millet, with whose faith he had everything, in com- mon, and by whom he was most wholesomely in- fluenced. After a few years of this life he returned to America, in 1855, settling first in Newport, but taking a permanent studio in Boston, in 1862. He painted many portraits and figure pieces, became a well-known figure in the art world of his epoch. 228 Zbe art XTreasures ot Masbington not only as a painter, but as a liberal and intelli- gent patron. Hunt's greatest work, the decorations for the assembly room of the Capitol at Albany, became seriously damaged and was finally oblit- erated in 1888.* He died at the Isles of Shoals, in 1879. Every influence to which Hunt was subjected operated to his ultimate advantage. In his work one may trace the wholesome effect of his study of modelling, for he treats form like a sculptor, with an invariable sense of the solidity of things. Couture gave him drawing ; from Millet he learned to appreciate the depth of beauty in simplicity of thought and of subject. His digestion was perfect and he assimilated what "he took from these mas- ters, without being in any sense a copyist. Hunt's work is unmistakably individual in its simplicity, its nobility, and its colour. John La Farge (1835- 19 10), another typical fig- ure in the history of American art is represented in the collection by a rather unimportant work en- titled "Visit of Nicodemus to Christ." Trained by Hunt, his work ties in with that of his master more by historic association than by actual simi- larity. La Farge achieved his great work in dec- ' The original sketches for these decorations, in both plaster and paint, are preserved in the permanent collection of the Pennsyl- vania Academy of the Fine Arts. Ube TPaifUiam Z. Ef and Collection 229 oration and in stained glass, in which field he was widely known and recognized during his life. Two heads by George Fuller are but fragmen- tary. That of his son, Henry B. Fuller, done in 1873, is of some historic interest. " Etre maitre," says Burger, " c'est ne ressembler d personne." In Twachtman (1853-1902) again we feel the seer, the individualist — that exquisite personality, whose work seems all soul, all emotion and inner consciousness. John Henry Twachtman was the most delicately sensitive of the group of American painters affected by the impressionistic movement of the early eighties. The Evans Col- lection represents him fairly well with four can- vases, in which the landscape is used as a vehicle for the profound analysis of the subtle nuances of tone, in the mastery of which Twachtman has, not inaptly, been compared to Whistler. Twachtman died all too young — the inevitable consequence of his intense life, which must have consumed his nervous forces and drawn upon his emotional reserves with an extravagance that far exceeded nature's power to reconstruct. His genius, rare as it was, did not reach its full fruition; and he never attained, — probably, with his tempera- ment, never would have attained, — a masterly, professional style. This to his credit be it said. His canvases express the spirit of investigation, and 230 trbe Hrt XCreasutes ot Masbfndton there is not one, so far as the writer has observed, that betokens, in the smallest degree, the fatigue that at times slips into the production of even the strongest of painters. Twachtman never lost in- terest, and each canvas from his brush awakens in the spectator a corresponding thrill of enthusiasm. " The Torrent," all things considered, may be counted the most interesting of the canvases in the Evans Collection. It has to a degree the quality of air and motion, and yields the essential sensa- tion of this most difficult of themes. The subject he has attacked with even greater interest in his vision of Niagara, one of the most complete and extraordinary of his canvases. His " End of Win- ter " has qualities like Mr. Glover's Inness, but is more poetic, more changeful in colour, more tem- peramental. In " Round Hill Road " are found those sensitive gradations of value, imperceptible save to the most acute eye, which Twachtman manipulated so skilfully, especially, as in this in- stance, in an effect of snow covered country. The two examples of Theodore Robinson, a sec- ond disciple of the impressionist school, are charm- ing, though fragmentary. " La Vachere " has big qualities of both character and colour. " Old Church: Givemy" is a beautiful sketch in which the subject is treated as it appears above the trees in the little French town in the province of Eure, J3 1-1 " s >> H c w K o 1— > pq Zbe MllUam Z, Evans doUectfon 231 where Robinson spent some years toward the close of his life. The collection boasts a masterpiece by Julien Alden Weir, a contemporary and associate of Twachtman and Robinson, and one of the most personal and individual of the group of men that has survived them. Weir was born at West Point, New York, in August, 1852, two months after Robinson and a year later than Twachtman. His father, Robert W. Weir, succeeded Leslie as pro- fessor of drawing at the Military Academy of West Point, in 1832, and continued instructor of that department for forty-two years. Julien commenced his studies at the Academy, under his father, enter- ing later the atelier of Gerome, in Paris. Weir's personality stands apart and distin- guished. Strongly indifferent to style in painting, he produces his results by means of a laboured tech- nique, involving a thick use of the pigment wherein one colour is laid upon another until the whole surface of the canvas is obliterated. His greatest force and charm lie in his ability to concentrate upon the point of interest in the picture, and to paint the accessories of the canvas in their relation to it, making constant compromise and sacrifice to the attainment of the one big end for which he strives. If art be indeed the expression of emo- tion, then Weir, before many of his generation of 232 UM art Ureasuces of XKnasbington paintets, seems most justly to deserve the title of artist. " The Gentlewoman " is one of his successful portraits. The canvas has rare distinction and quality. The figure is beautifully placed, and is rendered with keeo appreciation of the woman's beauty of face and character, her dignity and re- pose. The colour is wonderfully handsome in its subtle gradations and nuances. The refinement of the sentiment, the charming way in which every- thing leads up to the head, with its wealth of ex- pressive hair, the quality and relation of the back- ground, and the generalized treatment of the hands and bodice, excite warmest admiration and enthusi- asm. Weir's treatment of landscape is not to be prop- erly estimated by the "Upland Pasture," in the present collection, in which mannerism persists to the detriment of interest in his theme. In this can- vas less than other landscapes by Weir, may be studied those subtle and just relations of tone that so ably hold the canvas, in its enveloping atmos- phere, within the frame, imparting an almost dec- orative flatness. The collection contains less fortunate examples of Childe Hassam, whose " Georgian Chair " and "Spring: Navesink Highlands" are of indifferent interest; and of Willard L. Metcalf, whose " Fam- THE GENTLEWOMAN By Julien Alden Weir Ube TDEntlliam U. JEvans Collection 233 ily of Birches " is one of his slighter canvases. " Shinnecock Hills," by William M. Chase, belongs to the painter's least powerful type of picture. Emil Carlsen's " South Strand " exhibits refine- ment and beauty of design, and is an interesting study in degrees of value and colour. The division of the composition leaves a great expanse of blue sky, upon which cumulous clouds are piled. This blue is largely the note of the water, upon which several row boats ply, and a white sail gleams upon the near horizon, for the spectator is low upon the shore. Four examples of Ralph Albert Blakelock are included in the collection. Of these, " Sunset " has a fine quality of light and is a rich example of the painter's generalized style of working. " Na- ture's Mirror " is a cool, pretty wood interior with a nude figure. The canvas is roughly done, with a palette knife, but shows much delicacy of thought and feeling in the supple form of the figure seated upon the bank. Amongst the chef d'ceuvres of the collection must be mentioned " Caresse Enfantine," by Mary Cas- satt, an admirable example of the most mature period of the work of this robust American woman painter, an associate of the impressionist movement in France, her country by adoption. There is in this canvas vigorous painting, handsome composi- 234 Zbc art ZCrcasures of THasbington tion, and great beauty of expression. The infant, which stands upon its mother's lap, is a powerfully- drawn nude, and makes a strong mass in the ar- rangement, giving also play to the painter's skilful flesh painting and her clever manipulation of con- trasting values and textures. " The Moose Chase " is a very early eixample of the work of George DeForest Brush, in a style that he has completely outgrown. The picture was painted in 1885 before he 'had shaken off the tradi- tions of Gerome. Elihu Vedder's " Cup of Death " is a recant accession, characteristic of the painter's classic style and decorative treatment. The collection includes two marines and a large decorative canvas by Frederick J. Waugh, which represent the later development of an artist who has lived many years in England. Waugh is a skilful technician and a very thorough workman. His attitude toward the sea is a literal one, showing careful drawing of its superficial character, with a penchant for the grandiose in subject which might be the result of his association with English paint- ers. In his " After a Northeaster," one feels a sense of arrested motion, as though the ocean had posed for the artist in a state of static fury. Waugh stops the northeast gale at the moment which he wishes to record, and studies for effects which as- ' CARESSE ENFANTINE ' By Mary Cassatt Ube MtlUam U. ]Evans Collection 235 tonish rather than convince. His foam, his spray, his drawing of a wave, all suggest the accuracy of the camera. The weight of the sea is not that of the heavy, living ■body of water, but relates more closely in substance to metal, while even the colour suggests the patine to be found on bronze. His painting of the sea is the antithesis of that of his clever young compatriot, Paul Dougherty. Where Waugh leans hard upon his crutches, Dougherty, with the impatience of youth, paints from chic, achieving brilliant brush work, and a suggestion of realities that is in its way very amu- sing. Waugh's " Knight of the Holy Grail " was pur- chased from the Eighty-seventh Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design. It illustrates upon a large canvas Tennyson's poem : Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres I find a magic bark, I leap on board; no helmsman steers; I float till all is dark. A gentle sound, an awful light. Three angels bear the Holy Grail. With folded feet, in stoles of white, on sleeping wings they sail. Ah, blessed vision, blood of God! My spirit beats her mortal bars As down dark tides the glory slides and starlike mingles with the stars. 236 Ube Hrt Ureasures ot Masbington The subject is an ambitious one in its attempt to realize upon canvas the grandeur and sublimity of a mental picture, which the poeit, in his lines, conjures up for us. It would seem to have been better suited to a genius less hampered, more imag- inative and sympathetic. John W. Alexander's " Toiler " is a pleasing note from this artist, whose contribution to the century is his graceful, decorative composition, and his flowing line. In colour and design his work relates to the art nouveau movement. With Alex- ander manner dominates; he is a masterly draughtsman, a brilliant technician, working in a professional, accomplished way that commands ad- miration. " Summer " is fairly characteristic of Dew- ing's refined style. Robert Blum's (1857-1903) " Canal in Venice : San Trovaso Quarter " com- memorates the memory of an able painter whose light was early extinguished. James Henry Moser, a Washington artist, is represented by an oil painting — " Evening Glow : Mount Mclntyre " — a charming example of Mo- ser's treatment of landscape, dominated by poetic feeling. The collection includes a portrait of the donor, by Alphonse Jongers, painted in 1902 ; figure pieces by Sergeant Kendall, Robert Reid, Irving R. Wiles, xrbe Milliam XT. Evans Collection 237 F. S. Church, E. Irving Couse, Kenyon Cox, Henry B. Fuller, Henry Oliver Walker, and Douglas Volk; landscapes by Ernest Lawson^ W. L. La- throp, Charles H. Davis, Albert L. GroU, Will Robinson, Cullen Yates, George Elmer Browne, F. A. Bicknell, George H. Bogert, William Gedney Bunce, W. A. Coffin, J. Foxcroft Cole, Charlotte B. Coman, Bruce Crane, Henry Golden Dearth, Charles Melville Dewey, Charles Warren Eaton, Ben Foster, Edward Gay, Robert Swain Gifford, Robert C. Minor, J. Francis Murphy, Leonard Ochtman, Albert P. Ryder, Henry W. Ranger, Abbott H. Thayer, Roswell Morse Shurtleff, Diwight William Tryon, Alexander T. VanLaer, Horatio Walker, Wofthington Whittredge, Carle- ton Wiggins, and Guy C. Wiggins. An unusual canvas is " Entrance to the Har- bour," by Henry W. Ranger, painted in 1890, which in its charming grays, its atmosphere and movement, resembles a Boudin (1825-1898) — that early French painter, .before the Barbison School. The canvas is full of beauty, based upon close observation of nature, and unlike the painter's later work, which appears to be the product of cool calculation of cause and effect, seems to proceed quite simply from inward conviction and subcon- scious vision. If indeed Boudin influenced Ranger at this early period, the effect upon the younger 238 XCbe art ^treasures of TlBlasbinQton painter was wholesome. Boudin taught him to see, and he has seen here a little lyric. The Evans Collection preserves, and is, in fact, largely dominated, by the work of that type of artist bred by the exigencies of the American life, with its thirst for wealth, and its impatience of delay. In the work of many of these men, the inherent muse has been early extinguished, while the painter has pursued the thing successfully seen by others at the sacrifice of his own personality. That large class of work built upon the achievement and discoveries of the old masters, or upon the later methods and subjects of the Barbison School — which has still many followers — even where the imitation is most clever, is to be regretted for its meretricious tendency and the fact that, separated from its natural environment, it loses all raison d'etre. CHAPTER XVII THE FREER COLLECTION " There are, at the present time, two living men at least whose minds are wide-awake to the his- torical importance of oriental art in its bearing on our cultural development, and in its immense fruit- fuJness to our own art life — Dr. Bode, who is planning to found an Asiatic museum in Berlin, and Mr. Charles L. Freer, who has made the Amer- ican people heirs to the finest existing collection of Chinese art. It is a collection broad and universal in scope, but, at the same time, one of harmony and unity of thought, the same leading motive and per- sonal spirit pervading the magnificent specimens of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Persian, and far eastern pottery, ancient Egyptian coloured glass, Persian and Hindu miniature paintings, and the painting', bronze, and sculpture of China and Japan. And the genius of Whistler, a reincarnation of one of the ancient masters of the East, soars above these emanations of the oriental world as the spiritual link connecting the Orient and the Occident. " Mr. Freer occupies an exceptional place among 239 240 Ube act Ureasurcs of xraiasbinflton collectors. He has never been accumulative, but rather selective in his methods; with a sincere ap- preciation of all manifestations of art, and delib- erate judgment, he has himself visited the East many times, and in full sympathy with oriental peoples, imbibed a profound understanding of their artistic sentiments and aspirations. Mr. Freer is the only great collector in our country who has sought and seized opportunities in China. He was privileged to enter the sanctum of many Chinese collectors and connoisseurs of high standing, and he was fortunate in securing masterpieces of the most indisputable artistic value. It is in the Amer- ican national collection that, for the first time, our eyes are opened to the choicest specimens of an- cient Chinese painting, and the nation has every reason to look up with pride to this treasure house and to feel grateful to the man who has become a national benefactor by bringing within the reach of all the message of the great teachings of eastern art. In their works of the brush the Chinese have inculcated their finest feelings, and no better means could be found for an appreciation of the true spirit of China than a study of her ancient masters. The American national collection now takes the lead in Chinese art and will form the basis for important research work to be carried on in this line. What- ever the future results of such research may be, Ube jFreer Collection 241 whether the evidence in favour of the authenticity of individual pieces will be strengthened or to a certain extent modified, this will not detract from the intrinsic value of these precious documents, greater than which no other period in the history of art can boast. The grand old masters of the T'ang and Sung periods are restored to life before our eyes and speak to us their suave language of murmuring brooks, splashing cascades, glistening lakes, and rustling firs and pines. China thus is more awake for us than ever before, and she is awa- kened to full life in the displays of the National Gallery." — Berthold Laufer. The Charles L. Freer Collection became the prop- erty of the nation, by deed of gift, dated May 5, 1906. The terms of the gift provide that the col- lections are to be retained by Mr. Freer during his life, subject to additions and improvements. With this munificent gift is promised a bequest of five hundred thousand dollars, to be paid to the regents of the Smithsonian Institution, upon the death of the donor, and to be used for the erection of a fireproof building, connected with the National Museum, or reasonably near thereto, according to plans and specifications to be agreed upon. This building shall be used solely and exclusively for the installation of the Freer Collection, and must be planned and equipped with regard for the con- 242 Ube Hrt ^Treasures of Masbtngton venience of students and others desirous of an op- portunity for uninterrupted study of the objects enumerated in the gift. The deed further provides that the building shall bear the donor's name ; that it shall be permanently maintained without eccpense f o his estate ; and that after his death the collections shall be neither in- creased nor diminished. The original collection, conveyed by deed of gift, comprised about two thousand two hundred and fifty objects; but the additions since made, have increased the number to over four thousand. Roughly, the collection contains the following speci- mens : paintings in oil, water colour, and pastel, by living American painters, eighty-five; painting's in oil, wateir colour, and pastel, and drawings and sketches, by James A. McNeill Whistler, about two hundred and fifty; etchings, dry-points, and litho- graphs, by James A. McNeill Whistler, about eight hundred and fifty; the decorations of the Peacock Room complete; Chinese and Japanese paintings, scrolls, screens, panels, kakemono, and albums, over nine hundred; pottery, including Chinese, Corean, Japanese, Persian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian, over fifteen hundred; Chinese bronzes, over one hundred; and a collection of Egyptian glass, pre- sumably the largest known. In number and quality of early works of the Zbc iPreer Collection 243 oriental masters the collection stands unrivalled in America and Europe, and several of the finest works included were obtained from their imperial owners direct. Each object was gathered by Mr. Freer personally; and so great is his knowledge of the subject that Fenollosa considered him " the greatest living expert in artistic pottery, and of Chinese and Japanese painting the most inwardly appreciative." The collection consists largely of oriental art, many of the specimens having come direct from China. As yet little opportunity has been afforded experts to study the exhibits ; and until inscriptions, signatures, seals, and other details can have the attention of scholars, little of real interest concern- ing the individual objects can 'be written. The collection represents the labour and undi- vided attention of the donor during a period of over twenty years. It begins with the work of Whistler, runs back through the greatest Chinese and Japanese artists to the Christian era, and in- cludes seven modern painters. It was in 1888 that Mr. Freer first met Whistler, whose work sounds the keynote of the collection, becoming an intimate friend and liberal patron of the artist. His collection of Whistler's work alone constitutes a rare treasure for the National Gallery, containing, as it does, many masterpieces and a 244 trbe Hrt treasures of magbington compt-ehensive survey of the various phases of the master's art. Mr. Freer was the purchaser of the famous Pea- cock Room, called a " Harmony in Blue and Gold," that marvellous creation of Whistler, made for the London residence of the late Mr. F. R. Leyland. While the British government was discussing the propriety of acquiring this superb trophy for the nation, the American collector quietly paid the price demanded and became its proud possessor. This room will be reconstructed in its entirety and will be one of the most prominent features of the gal- lery. Whistler was commissioned to paint Leyland's wife, his four children, and himself. The oil paint- ing of the shipowner was the only one completed. Whistler painted him, standing, in evening dress, and this canvas is included in the Freer Collection. The portrait is not so familiar as others of the full- lengths, and it was not shown until the London Memorial Exhibition of Whistler's works brought it to light. It is one of his many arrangements in black, and it marks the painter's breaking away from the purely decorative treatment, as instanced in the portrait of the artist's mother, the Carlyle, and Miss Alexander, to broader atmospheric effects which absorbed him in later portraits. The can- vas was completed under difficulties, which are PORTRAIT OF F. R. LEYLAND By James A. McNeill Whistler Ube iprecr Collection 245 thus described in the Pennells' " Life of Whis- tler : " " Leyland told Val Princep that Whistler nearly cried over the drawing of the legs. Mr. Greaves says that ' he painted them out again and again, and finally had in a model to pose for it nude.' It was finished in the winter of 1873. He also painted a study for it, shown in the London Me- morial Exhibition. In the portrait of Leyland he began to suppress the background, to put the figures into the atmosphere in which they stood, without any accessories. The problem was now the atmos- pheric envelope, to make the figures stand in this atmosphere, as far within their frames as he stood from them when he painted them, and at this prob- lem he worked as long as he lived." Another interesting full-length included in the collection is " Jeune Femme, dite I'Americaine — Arrangement in Black and White. No. i." This is a portrait of Maud Franklin, Whistler's model for many years. It is of about the same period, though much less famous than the portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell — " The Yellow Buskin." Shown at the exhibition of British Artists in the eighties, it passed into a private collection in Ger- many, where it remained in obscurity until a few years after Whistler's death. While these two portraits are less notable than 246 Zbc art treasures of XDlasbfnston the several disputed masterpieces of the painter, both have the unmistakable quality which is Whis- tler. In the portrait of the wealthy shipowner, one notes the compelling personality and dramatic sim- plicity of observation and portrayal, which mark a rare work of art ; while the " Jeune Femme " is treated with a classic feeling for movement and ac- tion, not far removed from the Tanagra sculptures. The black and white scheme is well carried out, the envelopment of the canvas convincingly felt and the modelling, and rich colouring of the face, subtly expressed. The picture hangs in the original frame, designed and decorated by the artist. Mr. Freer was also the purchaser of that famous full-length " Rose and Silver : La Princess du Pays de la Porcelaine," shown in a group of the painter's works at the World's Fair, Chicago, and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and amongst other portraits the collection includes a sketch of the artist and a portrait of Major Whis- tler. Nocturnes, landscapes, and a multitude of those wonderful canvases that Whistler called arrange- ments, are included in the collection. The noc- turnes form a group of unusual interest, and com- prise the memorable " Blue and Gold : Valparaiso," from the McCuUough collection, the result of Whis- tler's visit to South America. "Blue and Silver: 'JEUNE FEMME, DITE L'AMERICAINE ' Arrangement in Black and White, No. i By James A. McNeill Whistler XCbe freer Collection 247 Batter sea Reach " is one of the most beautiful, with its sense of distant objects, felt, rather than seen, through the melting, mysterious envelopment, the long line of lights on the far bridge stretched like a string of jewels across the shadowy water. " The Little Green Cap " is typical of Whistler's latest period, and is one of those charming impres- sions of children which so much interested the painter toward the end of his life. " The Little Blue and Gold Girl " and " Rose and Gold : The Little Lady of Soho " are amongst the chief treas- ures of the collection. The collections of drawings and sketches, etch- ings and dry-points, lithographs, and original cop- per plates are comprehensive and fine. Amongst the rarest is the famous Thames set, of sixteen copper plates, of which there is an impression from each platei, printed after the plates had been defaced. The transition from Whistler to the orientals is a natural and logical one. The collection is rich in oriental paintings, especially Chinese. Two Bud- dhist paintings of Kwan-yin, male and female dei- ties, are amongst the most ancient and remarkable. The female goddess is attributed to Chang Seng-yu, an artist who flourished in the Liang dynasty, or about the sixth century. It is a masterpiece of beauty of conception and charm of rendering. The figure of the god is by an unknown artist of the 248 Zbe Hrt TTreasures of TOIlasbington school of W« Tao-tzu. In both the motive of the picture is the same, and refers to a religious myth of these ancient peoples. The painting is on silk and the colour wonderfully preserved. A portrait of an emperor of China stands for a typical national figure — bold, liberal, gifted, and considerate. The philosopher Lao-tze, by Chou Fang, who flourished from 780 to 805, is the only authentic portrait of this, the greatest thinker of China. This artistic and historical document rep- resents the sage absorbed in meditation created by the music of a curious stringed instrument, upon which he plays. He is surrounded by objects of religious significance; while, in the background, a young woman prepares the tea. This work once belonged to an imperial collection and is now one of the chief treasures of the Freer gift. The gem of the collection, according to experts, is a long, symphonic composition, or epic narrative, catalogued "Landscape," and signed Li Ssu-hsn, an artist of the T'ang dynasty. This is also from an imperial collection. The landscape is one long, continuous panorama, depicting, in blue, green, and gold, the incidents of a mountainous country, as they were revealed to an imaginative and highly religious mind. Many handsome screens representing the work of Honnami Koyetsu, Tawaraya Sotatsu, Ogata a o < M W i-< u < rn J3 is H ^ < ^ V-H ^ la w < s 5J M i-l H U O Zbc ffreec Collection 249 Korin, Ogata Kanzan, Yeitoku Kano, and Mori Sosen are included in the collection, as well as a great variety of pottery, bronzes, sculpture, glass, and illuminations, all of great beauty and rarity. In presenting the collection to the nation, Mr. Freer makes the following explanation of its scope : " These several collections include specimens of widely separated periods of artistic development, beginning before the birth of Christ, and ending to-day. No attempt has been made to secure speci- mens from unsympathetic sources, my collection having been confined to American and Asiatic schools. My great desire has been to unite mod- ern work with masterpieces of certain periods of high civilization, harmonious in spiritual and phys- ical suggestion, having the power to broaden aes- thetic culture, and the grace to elevate the human mind." The jump from the orientals to the seven mod- ern painters is thus explained. The collection con- tains beautiful paintings by Twachtman and Wins- low Homer. A water colour, by the latter, in- cluded in the preliminary exhibition of a small sec- tion of the collection, installed in the National Museum, from April 15 to June 15, 1912, and entitled " Waterfall in the Adirondacks," is one of the most admirable of the great series of works in this medium, which Homer left to posterity. The 250 Ube art Ureasutes o{ Kaasbirtdton composition occurs immediately before the fall, which makes, as it were, the background for the minor incident. To the left, a mass of wreckage has been cast up by the whirl of the water, and upon these rough logs, a hardy fisherman, clad in oil skins and a sou'wester, is seated, fishing. He holds his rod, bent double with the weight and strain of a huge salmon, which he has just pulled from the water, and whose pink body makes a joyous note of colour on the opposite side of the waterfall. The moment is intensely dramatic, the situation hazardous and stimulating; while the whole is a true and glorious impression of na- ture. Abbott Handerson Thayer is handsomely rep- resented in the Freer Collection, by both land- scapes and figure pieces. " The Virgin," a well- known composition of three figures, is one of the painter's most interesting canvases, while " Diana," painted from one of the artist's children, is a Juno- like figure, statuesque in pose, and of a simplicity of modelling eminently satisfying. Of Thomas Wilmer Dewing there is a larger series, including many of the same general theme, carefully selected, and of the painter's best. " A Lady playing a Violoncello " is a superb example of Dewing's tender and sympathetic drawing, and exquisite finish. •^1, rxi. "^rl, -n'". ~j'--. *l-t, Ti, ''■^ri,""^'fe'^ KWAN - YIN (see page 247) Attributed to Chang Seng-Yu TLbc jfrecr Collection 25i Gari Melchers is represented by a portrait of a former president, and Dwight W. Tryon by a long series of oil paintings, water colours, and pastels. CHAPTER XVIII THE NATIONAL MUSEUM : CHIRIQUI POTTERY The Congress of the United States, in the act of August ID, 1846, founding the Smithsonian Insti- tution, recognized that an opportunity was afforded, in carrying out the design of Smithson, to provide for the custody of the museum of the nation. To this new establishment was therefore intrusted the care of the national collections. In the beginning the cost of maintaining the museum side of the Institution's work was wholly paid from the Smithsonian income; then, for a number of years, the government bore a share; and, during the past three decades, Congress has voted the entire funds for the expenses of the Mu- seum. The museum idea was inherent in the establish- ment of the Smithsonian Institution, which, in its turn, was based upon a ten years' discussion in Congress, and the advice of the most distinguisihed scientific men, educators, and intellectual leaders of the nation of seventy years ago. It is interesting to note how broad and comprehensive were the 262 KWAN-YIN Csee page 247) Artist unknown. School of Wu Tao-tzu ■national /iDuseum: Cbtriqui potters 253 views which actuated our lawmakers in determin- ing the scope of the Museum; a fact especially remarkable when it is recalled that at that date no museum of consideraWe size existed in the United States, and the museums of England and of the continent of Europe, were still, to a large extent, without a developed plan, although contain- ing many rich collections. The Congress which passed the act of founda- tion enumerated, as within the scope of the Mu- seum, " all objects of art and of foreign and curi- ous research, and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens belonging to the United States," thus stamping the Museum, at the very outset, as one of widest range and, at the same time, giving to it a distinctly na- tional flavour. The development of the Museum has naturally been greatest in those subjects which the condi- tions of the past sixty years have made most fruit- ful — the natural history, geology, ethnology, and archaeology of the United States, supplemented by many collections from other countries. The oppor- tunities in these directions have been mainly brought about through the activities of the eco- nomic and scientific surveys of the government, many of which are the outgrowth of earlier ex- plorations, stimulated or directed by the Institu- 254 Zbc Htt Zxcusmcs of Wasbtngton tion. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 afforded the first opportunity for establishing a department of the industrial arts on a creditable basis, and of this the fullest advantage was taken. The Museum owns a remarkable collection of American aboriginal pottery — the largest, most comprehensive general collection in the world. " It is hardly possible to find within the whole range of products of human handicraft a more attractive field of investigation than that offered by aboriginal American ceramics, and, probably, no one that affords such excellent opportunities for the study of early stages in the evolution of art and especially of the aesthetic in art. The early ware of the Mediterranean countries has a wider inter- est in many ways, but does not cover the same ground. It represents mainly the stages of culture rising above the level of the wheel, of pictorial art, and of writing, while American pottery is entirely below this level and thus illustrates the substratum out of which the higher phases spring." But the story is not confined to elements of the art. Progress may be traced to the very verge of civilization. Between the groups of products be- longing to the inferior tribes, scattered over the continent from Point Barrow to Terra del Fuego, and those representing the advanced culture of U " Pottery of the Ancient Pueblos," by William H. Holmes. 270 Zbc art Uveasures of Madbiitdton room for our beds, by the side of the sluggish stream. " The two finest houses were set in shallow, wind worn caves, seveiral feet above the valley. One was almost directly above the other, the upper being reached by a number of notches picked in the nearly vertical rock face. " I had ascended alone and was busily engaged in studying the upper house and tracing the plans of its fallen walls, when I heard a voice echoing among the cliffs. Descending in haste to the lower house, I found that one of my men had followed me, and was excitedly scratching with a stick among the debris of fallen walls. He had just discovered the rim of a buried pot and was fairly breathless from the anticipation of a ' pile of moons.' By the aid of my geological hammer, we soon had the upper part of the neck uncovered; but hesitated a moment, with bated breath, before venturing to raise the rough stone lid. But there was no treas- ure — only a heap of dust. I was content, how- ever, and when, by a little further search, we came upon a second vessel, a mate to the first, the mo- mentary shades of disappointment had vanished. " These vessels had been placed in a small re- cess, where the falling walls had not reached them, and were standing, just as they had been placed by their ancient possessors. The more perfect one, Hrtfstic liotterg of tbc pueblos 271 which had lost only a small chip from the rim, I determined to bring- away entire. This I succeeded in doing by wrapping it in a blanket, and, by means of straps, slinging it across my back. I carried it thus for a number of days over the rough trails of ■the canyons and plateaus. The other, which was badly cracked when found, was pulled apart and packed away in one of the mess chests. It is now, with its mate, in the National Museum, perfectly restored." The capacity of these jars is nearly four gallons each, but the entire weight hardly exceeds that of a common wooden pail of the same capacity. Two small conical bits of clay have been affixed to the neck, in the more perfect piece, as if to represent handles; while in the companion vessel, a small cord of clay was neatly coiled into a double scroll, and attached to the narrowest part, corresponding in position to the knobs in the other example. This ornament while small, is, nevertheless, effective. The most notable collection of this coiled ware ever yet made in any one locality is from a dwelling site tumulus, near Saint George, Utah, nearly three hundred miles west from the Rio Mancos. About the year 1875, the curator of the National Museum obtained information of a deposit of an- cient relics at this locality, and, in 1876, a collector was sent out to investigate. The mound was found 272 TLbc Hrt Uteasures of TKnasbfttdton to be less than ten feet high, and covered half an acre. The work of excavation was most success- fully accomplished by water, a small stream being made to play upon the soft alluvial soil, of which the mound was chiefly composed. The sensations of the collector as sikeleton after skeleton and vase after vase were disclosed must have been keenly delightful. It is supposed that the inhabitants of this place, like many other primitive peoples, buried their dead beneath their dwellings which were then burned down or otherwise destroyed. As time passed, the dead were forgotten; other dwellings were erected upon old sites, until quite a mound was formed, in which all the less perishable remains were preserved in successive layers. The belongings of the de- ceased were buried with them, and sometimes as many as eight vases were found with a single body. As a result of this expedition the Museum pre- serves a fine collection of about sixty vessels, of which the majority are either plain or decorated in colour, but many of the larger specimens were of the coiled variety. From the same source are two bowls of especial interest, as they have coiled exteriors and polished and painted interiors. They form an interesting link between the two varieties of ware, demon- Hrtisttc potters of tbc ipueblos 273 strating the fact that both styles belong to the same age and' to the same people. The collection contains specimens of plain ware, rudely finished and heavy as if intended for the more ordinary domestic uses, such as cooking and storing provisions and water. The designs of the painted ware of the Pueblos are characteristic, consisting of elaborate mean- dered or fretted lines, bands of fretwork dashed boldly across the inner surface of the bowls in a striking way. These designs are all executed in black and are, for the most part, nicely drawn. The decoration of bowls is confined to the inte- rior, and consists generally of a belt of figures, encircling the inner margin. In its simplest form it is only a single broad line, but more frequently it is elaborated into a tasteful border so wide as to leave only a small circle of the plain surface in the bottom of the vessel. The forms are rectilinear, modified by the shape of the bowl. The rarity of life motives in the art forms of the primitive Pueblos has been often remarked. One example only has been discovered in this region, and is preserved in the Museum. The subject is painted on the inner surface of a rather rude bowl from the Saint George tumulus. A checkered belt in black extends longitudinally across the bowl and at the sides of this are two human figures in prim- 274 Ube Hrt Ureasures of Wasbington itive style, their angular forms indicative of textile influence. The district of the Rio San Juan, unknown and undisturbed until the latter half of the nineteenth century, furnished a series of ceramic remains more uniform in character and more archaic in decora- tion than any other district. The art of this dis- trict is unmistakably free from foreign invasion, and the early Spanish explorations are not known to have penetrated its secluded precincts. The Museum collection preserves many fragments about which the entire object has been reconstructed. Among the novel works of the ancient potter are the flat bottomed mugs, with upright sides and vertical handles, which extend the whole length of the vessel, on the principle of a German beer mug. Besides the archaic white ware, and its closely associated red ware, the province of Tusayan fur- nishes two or three distinct varieties. Many pieces of the white ware are of large size and elegant shape and finish. Some of the ollas and bottles are masterpieces of art. The texture of the paste is fine and the colour is often quite white. The de- signs are uniformly in black, and are superior in execution and conception to those of the north. The Pueblo ware is characterized, in a general way, by great simplicity of form. There is, how- ever, one small group of eccentric forms exhibiting artistic potters of tbe pueblos 275 a wide diversity. Some of the more unusual sug- gest the skin vessels so often used by primitive peoples, and their origin in this manner would be consistent with the laws of natural growth. One variety is shaped somewhat like a shoe or moc- casin; while another takes the form of a bird. Two great groups of ceramic products are fea- tured in the Museum collections; the coiled ware, and the white ware. These groups belong to the first great period of the Pueblo art in clay. The coiled ware is to all appearances the most archaic, is simple in form and rude in finish, and without painted ornament. It was relegated to the more ordinary usage. In his paper on the subject, already largely quoted, Mr. Holmes discovers an interesting rela- tionship between the textile art of the aborigines and the potter's handiwork. He says in part : " The more closely the ceramic art of the ancient peoples is studied, the more decidedly it appears that it was profoundly influenced by the textile arts, and especially basketry. The latter art was practised from remote antiquity, and, within his- toric times, the manufacture of baskets has been the most important industry of the tribes of the Pacific slope of temperate North America. " Ceramic shapes, wherever found within this region, coincide closely with textile outlines, and 276 Ube Hct treasures ot Masbindton the geometric ornamentations can be traced to tex- tile prototypes originating in the technical peculi- arities of construction. " There are in the Pueblo country no primitive forms of earthenware — this may lead to the in- ference that the Pueblo tribes migrated from other regions in which the earlier stages of the art had existed. Besides basketry it is probable that the early Pueblos made use of gourds and of tissue vessels, traces of their influence occurring quite frequently. " The Pueblo ornament utilizes to a great extent the meander as a unit of design. Beginning with the simple waved or broken line we pass up through all grades of increasing complexity to chains of curvilinear and rectilinear meanders in which the links are highly individualized. The typical inter- secting Greek fret does not therefore occur, nor is it found anywhere in native American art." CHAPTER XX SIKYATKI POTTERY One of the most extraordinary, as well as one of the most beautiful, of the collections of pre- historic pottery preserved in the National Museum is the collection of Sikyatki ware, acquired by Jesse Walter Fewkes, who spent three months in collecting objects for the National Museum, to illus- trate the archaeology of the Southwest, especially that phase of Pueblo life, pertaining to the so- called cliff houses. The material brought back by the expedition was catalogued under nine hundred and sixty-six entries, numbering over a thousand specimens. The majority of the objects are fine examples of mortuary pottery, of excellent character, fully five hundred of which are decorated. In his archaeo- logical investigations at Sikyatki, Dr. Fewkes ac- knowledges, in his excellent and comprehensive paper,^ the valuable assistance of Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Bureau of Ethnology. ■ " Archaeological Expedition to Arizona in iSgs," by Jesse Walter Fewkes. lytb Annual Report Bureau of Ethnologyi Part II. 277 278 XTbe art tCteasures of Masbtngton The mounds in which these relics were discov- ered are situated near the modern Tusayan Pueb- los of East Mesa, and not far from Kean's Canyon. Legendary lore amongst the Indians preserves several versions of a romantic history concerning the destruction of Sikyatki by the Walpians, pre- vious to the advent of the Spaniards. Writers speak of the locality as two prominent knolls about four hundred yards apart, the summits of which are covered with house walls. Sikyatki appears to have been inhabited by the Kokop or Firewood people of Tusayan. The expedition prosecuted excavations at Sik- yatki for about three weeks. Indian workmen were employed at the ruins and proved efficient helpers. Dr. Fewkes gives the following vivid description of them : " The zeal which they (the Indians) manifested at the beginning of the work did not flag, but it must be confessed that, toward the close of the excavation it became necessary to incite their en- thusiasm by prizes and, to them, extraordinary offers of overalls and calico. They at first ob- jected to working in the cemeteries, regarding it as desecration of the dead; but several of their number overcame their scruples, even handling skulls and other parts of skeletons. The snake chief, Kopeli, however, never worked with the Sitiisatbi ipottecs 279 others, desiring not to dig in the graves. Respect- ing his feelings, I allotted him the special task of excavating the rooms of the acropolis, which he performed with much care, showing great interest in the results. At the close of our daily work, prayer offerings were placed in the trenches by Indian workmen, as conciliatory sacrifices to Mas- auwuh, the dread God of Death, to offset any ma- lign influences which might result from our des- ecration of his domain. A superstitious feeling that this god was not congenial to the work which was going on, seemed always to haunt the minds of the labourers, and once or twice I was admonished by old men, visitors from Walpi, not to persist in my excavations." The pottery exhumed from the burial places at Sikyatki consists of coiled and indented ware; smooth and undecorated ware; and polished and decorated ware. The latter group is in three col- ours, red, yellow, and black and white. By far the largest collection of ancient pottery objects from this locality belongs to the yellow ware group which is the characteristic pottery of the Tusayan, though coiled and indented ware is well represented in the collection. The Sikyatki pottery, preserved in the Museum, shows little or no duplication in decorative design, and every ornamental food basin bears different 280 Ube Hrt tCreasures of tOlasbinaton symbols. The decoration of these food basins is mainly on the interior, but there is almost invari- ably a geometrical design of sorne kind on the out- side, near the rim. Ladles also are ornamented on the interior and handles. When the specimens were removed from the graves, according to Dr. Fewkes, their colours, as a rule, were apparently as well preserved as at the time of burial — nor do they seem since to have faded. The Museum at present offers two cases filled with the choicest specimens culled from the graves of this ancient people, the striking feature of which is the decoration and colour. Most of the vessels are light yellow or cream colour. The articles pre- served are vases, jars, bowls, square boxes, cups, ladles, and spoons. -The pottery of Sikyatki is especially rich in pic- ture writing; and important lessons, indicative of beKefs and practices current at the time it was made, are to be drawn from a study of the symbols used in decoration. The ancient inhabitants of Sikyatki have left no written records ; but the pic- ture writing or paleography inscribed upon their mortuary pottery reveals many important phases of their former culture. S)mibolism, rather than realism, was the control- ling element of archaic decoration. Thus, while objects like flowers and leaves were rarely depicted, SiftsatFsi pottcrp 28i and human forms are most absurd caricatures, most careful attention was given to minute details of symbolism or idealized animals unknown to the naturalist. Very few figures of men and women are found on the ancient pottery, and such as are found are roughly drawn and appear to have been a late de- velopment of Tusayan art. The human hand, how- ever, figures in the decoration of the pottery to a considerable extent. Figures of quadrupeds are sparingly used on food bowls or basins, but the collection shows several fine examples on which appear some of the mammalia with which the Hopi are familiar. Snakes and other reptilian forms were repro- duced by the ancieait potters, and closely correspond to the conceptions still current in the locality. Fig- ures of apodal reptiles, with feathers on their heads occur in Sikyatki decoration; and one basin in the collection is ornamented with the conventionalized representation of a serpent with a curved body, the tail being connected with -the head, like a sym- bol of eternity. The body is covered with cross hatching in black lines. The head bears two tri- angular markings, which are regarded as feather s)Tnbols. The eyes are represented both on one side of the head, according to primitive custom. The zigzag line terminating in a triangle, which 282 trbe Htt Ureasnces of Tmasbitidton stands for the tongue, is a lightning symbol, with which the serpent is still associated. The tadpole, which appears as a decorative fea- ture on this pottery, is typical of the water animals which, amongst the, inhabitants of the arid region, where rain making forms a dominant element in their ritual, are eagerly adopted as symbols. One of the most elaborately decorated of the whole series of vases from Sikyatki, and indeed the chef d'ceuvre of the collection, is a large, hand- somely conceived and finely finished vase with a butterfly design. The vase has a flattened shoulder and six butterfly figures are represented flying towards the orifice. From the number of these pictures Dr. Fewkes concludes a possible relation- ship with the six world quarters, north, west, south, east, zenith, and nadir. The insects closely resemble one another and are divided into two groups readily distinguished by the symbolism of the heads. The butterflies are separated by rectangular figures of two alternate patterns; and the zone outside contains a wealth of ornament. -Dragon flies are amongst the most constant de- signs employed, and with them are associated many legends. But birds and the feather far exceed all other motives in the decoration of ancient Tusayan pottery, and undergo a process of conventionair- Stftisatfti ©otteri? 283 zation until the resemblance is to be traced only- through a close observation of the series in which, one by one, familiar traits are reduced to the sim- plest symbols. ^ " By far the most beautiful of the many food bowls from Sikyatki and I believe the finest piece of prehistoric aboriginal pottery, from the United States, is that figured in plate d (page 284). This remarkable object found with others in the sands of the necropolis of this Pueblo, several feet below the surface, is decorated with a highly conventional figure of a bird in profile, but so modified that it is difficult to determine the different parts. The four appendages to the right represent the tail, and the two knobs at the left the head ; but the remain- ing parts are not comprehensible. " The delicacy of the cross hatching on the body is astonishing, considering that it was drawn free hand and without pattern. The colouring is bright and the surface glossy. " The curved band from which this strange fig- ure hangs, is divided into sections by perpendicular incised lines, which are connected by zigzag diag- onals. The significance of the figure in the upper part of the bowl is unknown. While this vessel is unique in the character of its decoration, there are others of equal fineness, but less perfect in de- sign. Competent students of ceramics have greatly 284 Zbc art Uteasurcs of masbfneton admired this specimen; and so fresh are the colours, that some have found it difficult to believe it of ancient aboriginal manufacture. " The specimen itself, now in the National Mu- seum, gives a better idea of its excellence than any figure which could be made. This specimen, like all the others, is in exactly the same condition as when exhumed, save that it has been wiped with a moist cloth to clean the traces of food from its inner surface. All the pottery found ia the same grave is of the finest character, and although no two specimens are alike in decoration, their general resemblance points to the same maker." * The most beautiful ladle in the collection is dec- orated with a figure of an unrecognized animal, bird, or insect, with a single feather in the head. The star emblems on the handle are in harmony with known pictures of birds. ■ " Archaeological Expedition to Arizona, in 1895," by Jesse Walter Fewkes. BOWLS AND POTSHERD, WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS, FROM SIKYATKI GRAVES, ARIZONA Fewkes Collection CHAPTER XXI POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS One case in the Museum contains selections from the prehistoric pottery of the Eastern United States — that is the vast region extending from the Great Plains on the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Within this area are two well localized and dis- tinctly marked varieties of earthenware; the first includes primitive pottery of the Middle and North- ern Atlantic States, the region of the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley; the second comprises the more advanced artistic pottery of the middle Mississippi Valley and the Gulf States. The primitive variety is but slightly represented in this series, since the specimens are usually found in a fragmentary state. Vessels are of varied shape and were devoted largely to culinary uses, and to mortuary purposes. In some sections, notably the Iroquoian area, numerous well wrought tobacco pipes are found, examples of which are shown in another series. 286 286 Zbc Hrt Ureasutes of Masbindton The great body of the Museum collection is from the middle province, and includes especially note- worthy examples of large upright vases decorated with stamped designs and used for burial usage. They occur mainly in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. The method of manufacture has evidently been of a primitive character, and the wheel or lathe has not been used. The paste of this ware presents two marked varieties of colour, a dark and a light hue. In the majority of cases it is dark, ranging from a rich black to all shades of brown and gray. The ware exhibits a variety of forms, many of which are extremely pleasing. The shapes are as varied and elegant as those of the ancient Pueblo pottery, but are inferior to those of Mexico, Central America, and Peru. The finish is comparatively rude, and the devices used for ornament, by the ancient potter of the middle province, are varied and interesting. Many of the bowls found represent animals, and the use of life forms in clay was very general. Grotesque heads are modelled with freedom and spirit. An admirable example of the dark ware was obtained at Pecan Point, Arlcansas, and has an extraordinary resemblance to life, being furnished with the head of some grotesque beast with horns, expanded nostrils, and a grinning mouth. The pottetg of tbc /Mississippi Dalles 287 opposite point is elongated and looped, forming a tail; while the base of the body is supported on four feet. A quaint and characteristic example from Arkansas is modelled in imitation of a sun fish. The Museum preserver several admirable exam- ples of the curious head shaped vases/ all of which were obtained from the vicinity of Pecan Point, and were found with human remains in graves or mounds. The finest of these is a simple head, five inches in height, by five in width, from ear to ear. The . aperture of the vase is the crown of the head, and is surrounded by a low, upright rim slightly curved. The bottom is flat and takes the level of the chin and jaws. Authorities differ in describing this vase. F. S. Dellenbaugh, in his " Death Masks in Ancient American Pottery," is of the opinion that these vases were death masks and claims that the fea- tures are those of death reproduced in a manner that no aboriginal potter could possibly accomplish by the free hand method. He says : ' These head shaped vases have been discovered in comparatively small niunbers, so that the vessels are as rare as they are interesting. Less than thirty are known. Of these there are eight in the National Museum, one in the Peabody Museum, three in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and eight in the Davenport Academy of Sciences, Iowa. 288 Ube Hct treasures of (Kaasbingtoti " Here we look upon a face perfect in its pro- portions, accurately modelled, and, above all, de- picting death with a master hand — yes, more — presenting to the spectator death itself as it seized this personage, in the long forgotten past. Here is death present with us as plainly as it is in the well preserved features of an Egyptian mummy. . . . Soft clay was pressed upon the dead features and when sufficiently tiry, it was removed and other soft clay thinly pressed into the mould obtained. The mask thus made was built upon till the jar before us was completed. . . . The features are ap- parently those of an Amerind ^ boy of fourteen to sixteen years of age." Mr. Holmes, on the other hand, inclines to the belief that the head is a free hand modelling of a young person, perhaps a female. High neck, full bodied bottles form a decided feature of the pottery of this province. The best work occurs in the middle and lower Mississippi Valley, and in the Gulf States, and pertains largely to the culture of the mound building tribes. A most fascinating department of the aboriginal pottery section is an unique collection of musical instruments, carefully modelled to represent vari- ous birds and animals and other arbitrary forms. " A contraction of the words American Indian, employed by the author throughout his book. HEAD SHAPED VASE, PECAN POINT, ARKANSAS IPotters ot tbe /iDisstssfppi tPaUep 289 Many of these were found in the graves of the ancient Chiriquians, and belong to the class of dec- oration peculiar to alligator ware. The collection embraces instruments of both per- cussion and wind; the former class embracing drums and rattles; and the latter, whistles and clarionette like pipes. Earthenware wind instruments are found in quantities associated with other redics in tombs. Nearly all are simple in construction; but a few are more pretentious and yield a number of notes. These, if operated by a skilled performer, and prop- erly concerted, are capable of producing pleasing melodies. In material, finish, and decoration these objects do not differ from ordinary pottery. A majority belong to the alligator group. The size is generally small, the largest specimen, representing an alli- gator, being about eight inches in lengfth. The shapes are wonderfully varied and indicate a lively imagination on the part of the potter. Animal forms prevail, that of the bird being a favourite. In the collection have been identified men, pumas, ocelots, armadillos, eagles, owls, ducks, parrots, alligators, <:rabs, scorpions, and several varieties of small birds. The simplest form of whistle produces two shrill notes, identical in pitch. The shape is double, sug- 290 Zbc art XTreasures of Tmasbington gesting a primitive condition of the tibae of the Romans. The note produced is pitched very high, and is fextremely penetrating, making an eixcellent call for the jungles and forests of the tropics. The collection contains several dozen three-note whistles or pipes; most of these represent animal forms, more or less realistic. There are three fin- ger holes of equal size, producing identical notes. The capacity is therefore three notes ; the lower produced when all the orifices are open, the higher when all are closed, and the middle when one hole, no matter which, is closed. Mammals are often reproduced in these instru- ments. What appears to be an ocelot or jaguar is a favourite subject. A representative specimen has- the mouthpiece in the tail, one of the sound holes in the left shoulder, a,nd the others beneath the body. The head is turned to one side, and the face is decidedly ca,t like in expression. The decoration, in black and red, may be taken as a typical example of the conventional treatment of the markings of the bodies of such animals. The tips of the ears, feet, and tail are red. The prevalence of bird forms is probably due to the resemblance between the notes of these whistles to the notes of birds. The shape of the bird is also very convenient, as the body accommodates the air chamber, and the tail serves as mouthpiece; while BIRD WHISTLE, ALLIGATOR WARE, CHIRIQUI ^i^ K ,4 1 L L^ >g^^«^^'9>7 .'K'^ y^TariM^BBWIIWBWKSBBE L isi^SkS ^ ^ ", < '•^^ib:?^^./ ; 1 J^^^^M^ :-^.;iii s^^ " V 4iMSHhikZ!l_*'*^"*^B^^^^H ^ B '' ■ ■'*'*''^*^S^i^^- T ;« Jk**!! ;:'! «K^ ■ ^H '^ ' ^ *• 1 1 WHISTLE IN FORM OF A JAGUAR, ALLIGATOR WARE, CHIRIQUI potters of tbe Aississtppf IDalley 291 the head is convenient for the attachment of a cord of suspension. The theory that the whistles were modelled and pitched to imitate the songs of certain particular birds is especially appealing, and stirs the love of romance. At all events, it is possible for practised performers to reproduce the simpler songs and cries of birds with a good deal of accuracy. The field is rich in suggestive possibility. The human figure was ocasionally utilized; thfe treat- ment being rude and conventional. An unique form consists of an oblong body, to which four ocelot heads are fixed. It rests upon four feet, one of which contains the mouthpiece. The whole collection is exhaustively treated in a work on " Prehistoric Musical Instruments," by Thomas Wilson, in which much of the material descriptive of prehistoric musical instruments, and their scales in the Western Hemisphere, was pre- pared by Mr. E. P. Upham, assistant in the division of prehistoric archaeology, and from which the ma- terial contained in this chapter is largely drawn. CHAPTER XXII THE CAPITOL: SCULPTURAL DECORATION The Capitol, considered as an architectural ob- ject, ranks amongst the noblest buildings in the world. From its commanding situation on Capitol Hill, ninety-seven feet above the river level, it overlooks the amphitheatre of the Potomac, and is the dominant feature of the landscape for miles around. Its majestic proportions, its dignity, its grace and beauty of design, its spacious setting, touch and satisfy the aesthetic sense; while its his- tory, as the pivot about which the fortunes of the nation have, for more than a century, revolved, gives it a special and intimate appeal, to which every heart responds. Its growth and development, its decorations, within and without, so faithfully and frankly reflect the spirit of the times which they mark, the degrees of culture which they typify, for better or for worse, that the building becomes an eloquent document upon the history of our post- revolutionary civilization. The building faces east, for in that quarter the 2S2 iCbe Capitol: Sculptural Decoration 293 projectors assumed that the city would grow.* But the development of Washington has been toward the west, and it is from that direction that the Capitol is usually entered. From the main western entrance to the grounds, near the Peace Monument, the approach leads across gently rising lawns to flights of steps, which give ascent to the upper terrace or open court, extending the entire length of the west front, and around the north and south ends. Here a beautiful view of the city and its encircling hills is afforded — a view particularly significant at sunset, when, the activities of the city * The most prominent proprietors of the land taken for the city were Daniel Carroll, David Bums, Notley Young, and Samuel David- son. The Carroll estate covered nearly all of that part of Washington known as Capitol Hill, and was called Duddington Manor. Daniel Carroll was a gentleman of culture and high social standing in Mary- land. He had been a delegate to the Philadelphia convention that framed the Federal Constitution and a member of the first Congress of the United States. (Charles Carroll of CarroUton, signer, was his cousin.) As the Capitol was to be located adjacent to his estate, he believed that that section would become the most desirable part of the city, and demanded exorbitant prices for building lots. Specu- lators possessed with the same idea, bought a number of his acres, and Stephen Girard even offered Carroll $200,000 for a central por- tion of his estate; but the offer was refused. The result was far other than Carroll dreamed. Fabulous prices for lots on Capitol Hill turned the tide of population in a contrary direction, and resulted in the development of its northwest side, which is now the most populous and fashionable district of the city. Carroll died in embarrassed circumstances, and his estate wa& heavily encumbered. In the early eighties, six acres of the Carroll tract, upon which his descendants had paid $16,000 in taxes during eighty years, was finally disposed of for $3,600. 294 XLbc Htt Uxeasnvcs of Masbindton subsided, the solitary spectator may feel that the world is his. At this hour these long avenues of sycamores, that radiate from the centre, take on a ghostly semblance, and a delicious enchantment seems to reanimate those quiet halls, the spectral rotunda reechoing the fervid footsteps of our fore- fathers. The Capitol and President's House were built according to plans submitted in a general competi- tion. Thomas Johnson, David Stuart, and Daniel Carroll were appointed commissioners in charge of laying out the Federal city. One of their first duties was to obtain plans for the new buildings, and upon the recommendation of President Wash- ington and Thomas Jeflferson, Secretary of State, they decided to announce a public competition for the two principal structures. To this end an ad- vertisement, prepared by the Commission, and ed- ited by Washington and Jefferson, appeared in the Philadelphia papers and others, for what was, probably, the first architectural competition inau- gurated in this country. It read as follows : " A Premium of a lot in the city, to be desig- nated by impartial judges, and $500, or a medal of that value, at the option of the party, will be given, " by the Commissioners of the Federal Buildings, to persons who, before the 15th day of July, 1792, shall produce the most approved plan, if adopted Ube Capttol: Sculptural Decoration 295 by them, for a Capitol to be erected in the city; and $250, or a medal, for the plan deemed next in merit to the one they shall adopt; the building to be of brick and to contain the following com- partments, to wit: A room for Representatives 1 to contain 300 A conference room J persons each. A lobby or antechamber to the latter. A Senate room of 1200 square feet of area. An antechamber and lobby to the latter. Twelve rooms, of 600 square feet area each, for committee rooms and clerks, to be of half the ele- vation of the former. These rooms to be of full elevation. Drawings will be expected of the ground plots, elevations of each front, and sections through the building in such directions as may be necessary to explain the material, structure, and an estimate of the cubic feet of the brick work composing the whole mass of the wall. Thos. Johnson, (Signed) Do. Stuart, Dan'l Carroll, Commissioners. March 14, 1792." In response to this advertisement plans were re- ceived from architects and amateurs, and with few 296 TCbe Hrt treasures of Wasbindton exceptions were quite impossible. James Hoban's design for the President's House was selected with- out hesitation. But no one sent satisfactory draw- ings for the Capitol. Washington took the keen- est interest in the selection of the design, and the decision seems to have rested almost entirely with him. In October, 1792, Dr. William Thornton,^ of the Island of Tortola, in the West Indies, wrote, re- questing permission to submit drawings, and his design was ultimately accepted. Thomas Jefferson said of it : " Thornton's plan has captured the eyes and the judgment of all. It is simple, noble, beau- tiful, excellently arranged, and moderate in size. . . . Among its admirers none are more decided than he (Washington) whose decision is most im- portant." The whole complex story of the building of the Capitol, with its numerous vicissitudes, may be fol- lowed, in all its detail, in that massive and admira- ble work — "The History of the United States Capitol," by Glenn Brown, an exhaustive compila- tion of facts and statistics concerning every de- partment of the building since its inception till 1902, the date of publication. * In 1873 Mrs. Adelaide Talbot, a half niece of William Thornton, presented to the Patent Office a portrait of Thornton, by Gilbert Stuart. It hangs in a place of honour in the commissioner's room. XEbe Capitol: Sculptural Decoration 297 When Thornton retired from the post of archi- tect of the Capitol, the north wing was completed and the foundations for the central rotunda and dome were in place, while the foundation and base- ment story of the south wing were partially built. On Thornton's retirement, in 1803, Benjamin Henry Latrobe took charge ats architect, and under Latrobe the decoration and ornamentation of the building were commenced. The elaboration of the architect's plans by paint- ing and sculpture had been provided for since the beginning of the work. Thornton indicated sculp- ture on his earliest drawings, and advocated finish- ing, or decorating, the interior of the building with foreign marbles. Such treatment was beyond the pecuniary resources of the government at the period, but, as the wings neared completion, un- der Latrobe, we find that he sought assistance of sculptors to do the decorative carving, and to model the statuary which he thought appro- priate. As the work on the House advanced, Latrobe sent to Italy for sculptors, securing the services of Giuseppe Franzoni and Giovanni Andrei, who ar- rived March 3, 1806. The first work of Franzoni was the eagle on the frieze of the House of Rep- resentatives. In August, 1807, a model of the statue of Liberty, by Franzoni, was placed between 298 XLbc Bet XTrea^ures of TKRasbtngton two columns in the colonnade, over the speaker's chair. Andrei's first work was on the capitals of the columns in the House of Representatives. All this work was destroyed when the Capitol was burned, by the British, in 1814. The Hall of Representatives was considered, in its completion, a very handsome room. The Brit- ish officer who burned it said that " it was a pity to burn anything so beautiful." Jefiferson, in a letter to Latrobe, said : " The Representative Cham- ber will remain a durable monument to your talents as an architect." Latrobe designed it after a Greek theatre. On the north side it has a colonnade of Potomac mar- ble with white capitals; and a screen of similar columns, on the south side, supports a noble arch. The domed ceiling, decorated after that of the Roman Pantheon, springs fifty-seven feet to a cupola, by which the room is lighted. When work was resumed after the war and re- pairs were undertaken Andrei was sent to Italy, in August, 18 1 5, to secure capitals for the Halls of Congress, and was authorized to engage sculp- tors proficient in modelling figures. Andrei prob- ably at that time engaged Francisco lardella and Carlo Franzoni, who came over in 1816, the latter 'being a brother and the former a cousin of Giu- seppe Franzoni. CLOCK WITH FIGURE OF HISTORY By Giuseppe Franzoni Ube Capitol: Sculptural Decoration 299 The old Hall of Representatives/ as it now stands, contains some interesting souvenirs of this early epoch. The model for the clock, placed above the door leading- to the rotunda, and opposite the speaker's desk, in accordance with Latrobe's de- sign, was the work of Giuseppe Franzoni. The design is of History with a recording tablet, borne in the winged car of Time, its wheel passing over a globe circled by the signs of the zodiac. The exposed wheel of the car forms the face of the clock. The classic figure is said to have been mod- elled from Franzoni's daughter. The sculptor died in 1816, before the clock was completed, and the work was finished by Francisco lardella, who mar- ried his widow. The simple elegance and crisp workmanship of this clock, as well as the skilful elaboration of all jts details, are reminiscent of the sculpture of the French Renaissance. There is something very beautiful about it, in its relation to the harmonious room. The quaint and highly decorative eagle on the frieze of the south colonnade, in this room, was made by another Italian sculptor, Valaperti, a man of some prominence in his profession, who came over to this country in 1823 or 1824. This work was ridiculed to such an extent, owing to its con- ' Now Statuary Hall. 300 JLbc Brt Ureasutes ot iRllasbfngton ventionalized treatment, that the author was sup- posed to have drowned himself, in chagrin. He disappeared, at all events, and the eagle is his unique work in America. Above the eagle of Valaperti, resting upon the cornice of the colonnade, in the centre of the arch, is a plaster statue of Liberty, by Enrico Causici, the most satisfactory piece of work left by him. He died before putting the group in marble. This room was the Hall of Representatives, and was the forum of the debates by Webster and Clay, Adams, Calhoun, and others, whose names are in- delibly associated with the history of Congress. A plate set in the marble floor, southwest of the cen- tre, marks the spot where John Quincy Adams fell, stricken with paralysis, during a session of the House. In the room of the clerk of the House, opening off the Hall, is a memorial bust with this inscription : " John Quincy Adams, who, after fifty years of public service, the last sixteen in yon- der Hall, was summoned thence to die in this room, 23 February, 1848." The group of figures in high relief on the north side of the old Supreme Court room, facing what was formerly the judge's bench, was probably done by the Franzonis. The group consists of Justice in the centre with a winged figure on the right, calling her attention to the Constitution, a youth presume trbe Capitol: Sculptural Dccotatton 30i ably typifying the young nation ; and on the left an eagle guarding the laws. As the Capitol neared completion, many artists were needed, and again Italy was drawn upon. In 1823 Enrico Causici and Antonio Capellano of Italy, and Nicholas Gevelot, a Frenchman, com- menced work. Capellano and Causici were pupils of Canova. They made the four panels, with fig- ures in low relief, over the principal entrance door- ways in the rotunda. Over the west entrance is represented the " Pres- ervation of Captain John Smith, by Pocahontas," by Capellano ; over the east entrance, the " Land- ing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock," by Causici, who made also the " Conflict between Daniel Boone and the Indians ; " " Penn's Treaty with the In- dians," over the north door, is by the Frenchman, Gevelot. In the treatment of these groups, the sculptors hardly sized up to the requirements of the situation, and' we feel their work very much hampered by the traditions upon which they had been trained. The figures and grouping are treated conventionally in an effort to make them part of the decorative scheme of the rotunda. The last of the Italians to work upon the sculp- ture of the Capitol was Luigi Parsico, who came to this country from Naples, in 1826, and secured 302 ubc Hrt treasures of Kaasbtngton commissions under the administration of John Quincy Adams, to model most of the statuary placed upon the exterior of the rotunda portico. He made the pediment, the two figures of Peace and War, which stand in the niches on the eastern portico, on each side of the entrance door to the rotunda, and a group for one of the cheek blocks before the colonnade. Persico's first work upon the Capitol was the decoration of the pediment of its eastern front, upon which he was employed by the government, at a salary of $1,500 a year, and created that curi- ously bare and archaic high relief which protrudes upon the centre of the triangular space. The group of figures includes America, in the centre, her right arm resting on a shield, supported by an altar or pedestal, bearing the inscription, " July 4, 1776." Her left hand points to Justice, who, with unveiled face, is viewing the scales, while her right hand presents an open scroll, inscribed : " Constitution, September 17, 1787" — the date of the signing of the Federal charter. On the left of the principal figure is the eagle and a figure of Hope, resting on her anchor, with the face and right hand uplifted — the whole intended to convey that while we cul- tivate justice, we may hope for success. The group for the pediment was designed by John Quincy Adams himself, after some thirty-six Zbc Capitol: Sculptural ©ecoratfon 303 designs had been reviewed and rejected as unsuit- able decoration for a legislative building. " He disclaimed all wish to CKhibit triumphal cars and emblems of victory, and all allusion to heathen mythology, and thought that the duties of the na- tion, or of the legislators, should be impressed in an obvious and intelligible manner." Hazleton's " National Capitol " notes that the cost of this work to the government, though the design of the President was gratuitous, was $15,000. Soon after its coniipletion, a part of tha arm of the figure of Justice, together with the Con- stitution, fell, from the action of frost, to the steps of the portico, and was shattered into fragments. The material is Virginia sandstone. The group was finished just before the meeting of Congress in 1828. In his diary Adams makes the following entry for June 30 of that year : " Overtaken by a storm near the Capitol, and took shelter under one of the arches. Found Mr. Persico, the Italian sculptor, there, and went up to view his work at the pediment, of which I furnished him the design. He is now upon the last figure, Hope; and thus far his execution is very satisfac- tory. His eagle had been indifferent in drawing; batter, but not good, in the model. In the work itself, it is a pouncing bird. He called my attention to the anchor; he had, therefore, gone to Commo- 804 Ubc Hrt TCreasures of Masbfttdton dore Pingey and taken for his model a true anchor of a ship of war ; ' and so now,' he said, ' whenever a sailor looks at this pediment he will say, " How exact the anchor is ! " ' He said he would paint the scales in the hand of Justice white, to prevent them from taking the rain, making verdigris, and dropping it upon the stone figures." The last official act of the younger Adams, as president, was his contract with Persico for the execution of the two statues for the east front of the Capitol, authorized by the appropriation bill of March 3, 1829. Each of them cost $12,000. They were completed in 1833 and placed in the niches they now occupy in 1837. Mars, or War, to the left of the central bronze doors is garbed in Roman mail, with sword and shield. Ceres, or Peace, on the right, is, of course, a female figure, bearing the fruitful olive branch and ripe cluster of grapes, insignias of peace. The two groups of statuary which were intended as capping for the blocking-courses, on the eastern central portico, were ordered from Luigi Persico and Horatio Greenough, after a wordy senatorial debate. Persico had been brought forward by James Buchanan, then a United States senator from Pennsylvania, and who for a long time had been a citizen of Lancaster, tTie first stopping place of Persico in this country, in 18 19. His proposi- TCbe Capitol : Sculptural 2)ccoratton 305 tion was that the Italian sculptor should be awarded the commission for both groups and so keen was he in Persico's behalf that he secured thirty-eight of his colleagues in the Senate to join him in rec- ommending this artist to President Jackson's fa- vour. Other interests intervened, however, and for nearly a year the issue was doubtful. Persico, ap- prehensive of losing both statues, writes at one time that he would be quite content to accept the com- mission for one group, and let the other be under- taken by Thorwaldsen, the great Dane, then rising into prominence. Finally he writes exultingly, under the date of March 31, 1837, that the pres- ident had ordered the secretary of state to con- tract with him for the Columbus group; and from Philadelphia, April 10, 1837, he writes Mr. Bu- chanan of his intention to leave for Italy at the end of the month to begin the work. The group was placed where it now stands in 1846. The central figure is that of Columbus tri- umphantly holding aloft in his hand the globe. By his side cowers an Indian girl, awed by the sight of the white man. The artist is said to have cop- ied the armour from that still preserved in Genoa, and the head and face were taken from an authentic portrait. " It is somewhat to the nation's discredit that time and exposure, neglect and vandalism, after 306 zbc art TTreasures of TKnasbtngton long years, have mutilated, in a degree, the beauty of Persico's work. On close inspection Ceres pre- sents a rueful aspect — her eyelids chipped, both hands broken off, and her luscious grapes crushed and wineless at her feet. The blade of the short sword, in the hand of the God of War, is broken, and he grasps only the hilt, while the missing tip of his marble nose mars his Roman beauty. The material of the Columbus group seems to have been too delicate to stand all the ravages of exposure, and the garment that swathes the limbs of the Indian girl has a moth-eaten look. Viewed from below, the elaborate Adams- Persico pediment seems to be intact; the arm of Justice apparently has been mended with a skill that should satisfy the most exacting censor of the courts." The first American sculptor to work for the Cap- itol was Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), of Bos- ton, Massachusetts. Congress gave him a commis- sion, in 1832, for the ill-fated statue of Washing- ton, which, after a career of unusual vicissitude, has been rekgated to the obscurity of the old Smithsonian building. " The history of Greenough's ' Washington ' is one of bitter disappointments, and it ended — so far as the artist was concerned — in tragedy. This final blow was not the rejection nor the destruction of the work, but its sentence to stand forever in Ube Capitol : Sculptural 2)ecoratton 307 the pillory of public ridicule. It was and is worthy of a better fate. The city of Washington has many worse figures which escape censure through their mediocrity. Few indeed of the sculptures of the Capitol reveal so noble an intention as does this much maligned work. Greenough conceived it on a very high plane; he laboured on it for nearly eight years, and the workmanship is dignified and workmanlike, if not masterful. Of it the artist wrote in words freighted with an emotion, which to-ecoration 3ii sculptor's death, in London, in October, 1857. At the time of his death, the work was so far ad- vanced that it could easily be given to others for completion, in bronze or marble. Crawford's work on the Capitol includes the pediment and the figures of Justice and Freedom over the doorway of thei Senate wing; the bronze doors for the north and south wings, and the fig- ure of Freedom, the crowning feature of the dome. The dome of the Capitol springs from a peri- style of fluted Corinthian columns above the cen- tral building, and terminates in a lantern, which is surmounted by Crawford's statue, towering over three hundred feet above the esplanade. In the original model she wore a liberty cap, to which Jefferson Davis, secretary of war, objected, as being an emblem of emancipated slaves, while Americans were free born. He also objected to the bundle of rods she carried, symbolizing the functions of a Roman victor, and Crawford dis- pensed with the cap, and used a helmet, with a crest composed of an eagle's head, and an arrange- ment of feathers, suggested by the costume of the Indian tribes. Crawford named the group Armed Liberty, but its official title is Freedom. The statue stands complete upon a tholus. The right hand rests upon a sword while the left holds 312 Zbe Hrt treasures ot TRnasblngton an olive branch. The drapery is held in place by a brooch with a monogram, U. S., upon its face. The head is crowned with a freely treated helmet, encircled with stars. A life-size plaster model of the statue occupies a central position in the old National Museum. The bronze statue of Freedom was cast in Clark Mills' foundry near Bladensburg, Maryland, in i860, and the fragments were lifted one by one and put together on that aery height, to the boom- ing of cannon and the shouts of soldiers. Crawford gave his Freedom a simple, concen- trated pose, and the rude, blocked in modelling ap- parent on the plaster model, comes out effectively when viewed, as intended, from a vast height. The sword and shield not only support the hands in turn, but contribute their straight lines to the ar- chitectural mass and effectiveness of the silhou- ette. The fortunes of the American Indians furnish a theme which constantly recurs throughout the dec- orations of the Capitol. The marbles and bronzes of the rotunda portico are suggestive of the first contact of the white race with the red. The mar- ble group in the pediment of the Senate portico is significant of what the coming of the new race was to mean for the old. The subject contrasts the progress of civiliza- FREEDOM By Thomas Crawford Ube Capitol: Sculptural Decoration 313 tioti, in America, with the attendant decadence of the aborigine. The central figure of the group is that of America. On the right of this figure are the elements of strength on which the country re- lies — the Soldier, the Merchant, the Schoolmas- ter, Youth, and Mechanics, ending with a wheat sheaf and anchor, as emblems of prosperity and stability. On the left of America are the forerunners of civilization : the Pioneer, the Hunter, the Indian Warrior, a Mother and Child, and, finally, an In- dian grave. The sculpture is in full relief, made from Crawford's models in shops on the Capitol grounds, by skilled Italian artisans, and placed in 1860-64. Crawford attempted too much and too literally. He crams the space with detached incident, held together by no unity of feeling or of idea. Of light and shade in sculpture, he was apparently ignorant ; his figures though robust present lean masses to the eye; certain accessories, like the stump, the reeds, the rising sun, are almost ludicrous. Yet tiie pediment roused its share of contemporary admiration. Tuckerman tells us that the English sculptor, Gibson, proposed, at a meeting of the artists at Rome called, to pay a last tribute to Craw- ford's memory, that the fragment representing the Indian chief should be cast in bronze and set up 314 Ube Ert treasures of Timasbington as a permanent memorial of the sculptor's na- tional fame, in one of the squares of the Eternal City. Though this was not accomplished, a replica of the figure is preserved in the collection of the His- torical Society of New York. Crawford designed the bronze doors for both wings of the Capitol. Those for the entrance to the Senate vestibule, he completed himself; those for the portico of the Hall of Representatives were executed by William H. Rinehart, and were not placed until after 1900. The scheme for the two doors is in a general way very similar. Each leaf is divided into four panels and a medallion. The top of each leaf is treated with a wreath, which in the Senate door encircles a star. The subjects chosen by the sculptor for the Sen- ate doors are illustrations of Revolutionary and Federal history. The right hand door commem- orates War and its terrors, and the left. Peace and its blessings. The sculptural panels on the north leaf, beginning at the top, depict " The Death of Warren at Bunker Hill," " General Washington rebuking Lee at the Battle of Monmouth," and " Alexander Hamilton storming the Redout at Yorktown ; " while the medallion shows the con- flict between a Hessian soldier and a farmer. The panels on the south leaf represent " The Laying of Zbc Capitol : Sculptural Decoration 315 the Corner Stone of the Capitol," "Washington taking the Oath of Office," " Washington passing through New Jersey on his way to be Inaugu- rated," and, in the medallion. Peace and Agricul- ture. The doors for the House Wing contain scenes representing important events in the Indian and Revolutionary wars and civil events in history. Randolph Rogers (182 5-1892) made the bronze doors for the eastern entrance of the rotunda, and this is his one contribution to the sculpture of the Capitol. He and Crawford were engaged upon the doors at about the same time, but the death of the latter arrested the work upon his, and they were not hung until some years after the Rogers doors were in place. Both sculptors were bred to their art in Rome, subject all their lives to Italian influ- ences. They attacked their problem where it pre- sented least resistance, frankly adapting the gen- eral plan of the famous Ghiberti Gates of the Flor- entine Baptistry, without understanding their real merit — their symmetry, their wealth of sculptural colour, their charm of handling, the rhythm of their grouped figures. Of the two, Crawford's design possesses more spontaneity and vigour than does Rogers' effort; while Rogers shows himself a better if more commonplace workman. " Among the famous examples of bronze doors 316 Ubc art treasures of lOlasbfngton — the Ghiberti Gates, the Pisano portal, the Rodin ' Inferno ' — there is no question, from a decora- tive standpoint, of the humble rank of the Ameri- can contributions, . . . Ghibarti's doors have been a mine of jewels for all the artists who have fol- lowed. Michael Angelo did not disdain to borrow from them. Each of those tiny statues is poten- tially a great statue. As has been said by the author of Italian Sculpture of the Renaissance: ' So gracefully posed are they, so elegantly draped, so exquisitely wrought, that one longs to take them in one's hands, to finger them, examine each perfect little whole on all sides.' It may be safely ventured that no one has ever desired to handle the Wash- ington bronzes for the mere sensuous pleasure of touch. The sculptors of the Capitol have succeeded in eliminating all charm of flowing forms and of delicate gradations. Every figure is sharp cut, and strikes the inexorable background with a bump. Over all is the harsh finish of the foundry, instead of the loving caress of the sculptor's hand." ^ The Rogers doors are set in a deep frame which is arched at the top. The faces of the frame are ornamented with an egg and dart and astragal moulding, setting oflf a shallow and narrow panel, in which is placed a low relief, which represents a series of groups of weapons, flowers, fruits, and 1" History of American Sculpture," by Lorado Taft. Zbe Capitol: Sculptural Decoration 3i7 implements, more or less conventionalized, and broken at the apex of the arch by a round panel, in which is placed a bust of Columbus. The inside jambs have as decoration a raised moulding re- sembling a cord or band plaited and crossed. The doors are surmounted by a lunette, at the top of which is an eagle perched upon the folds of two national Hags. The lunette contains the largest of the reliefs, which represents the landing of Colum- bus and the raising of the Spanish flag upon the soil of the newly discovered world. This scene is the culminating point of the life of the explorer, whose story is depicted in the se- ries of eight panels forming the body of the doors. This series begins with the lowest panel, at the left hand of the spectator. In the order of the series the scenes are as follows : Columbus presents the plan of his proposed expedition before a company of learned monks, in the monastery of Saint Ste- phen at Salamanca; Columbus receives hospitality at the convent of Saint Maria de la Rabida, near Palos, and enlists in his cause the prror Perez, the former confessor of Queen Isabella; Columbus re- ceives his commission as admiral from the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Granada; the depar- ture of the fleet from Palos, for the first voyage; voyages among the islands of the New World, and capture of the natives; triumphant return of Co- 318 XCbe Srt Ureasutes of TKHasbington lumbus and honours at Barcelona; arrival of Co- lumbus, in chains, at Cadiz, after the third voyage, and in consequence of malicious reports sent to the court by his enemies; the death of Columbus. The stiles, on each side of the panels, are divided by small niches, in which are placed sixteen statu- ettes representing the personages who were con- nected with the early history of the New World: the sovereigns — Alexander VI of Rome, Ferdi- nand and Isabella of Spain, Charles VIII of France, John II of Portugal, Henry VII of England; the friends and patrons of Columbus — Cardinal Men- doza. Lady Beatriz de Bobadilla, Juan Perez de Marchena, prior of La Rabida; the companions of the discoverer and conquerors of the New World • — Pinzon, captain of thei " Pinta," Bartholomew Columbus, Ojeda, Vespucci, Cortez, Balboa, and Pizarro. The bronze frame contains emblematic figures of Asia, Europe, America, and Africa. The bronze doors for the west entrance of the Capitol were made by Louis Amateis, professor of the Columbian University, of Washington, D. C. The actual doors, which have never been placed, are deposited in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The ensemble presents a feebler variation upon the Ghi- bertian theme, and is intended to picture, in its nine panels, statuettes, and medallions, the " Apotii- eosis of America." FRAGMENT OF PEDIMENT FOR THE HOUSE PORTICO OF THE CAPITOL. — NO. I By Paul W. Bartlett Ube Capitol : Sculptural 2>ccoratfon 319 The Senators' private bronze stairways, which were erected during the construction of the build- ing, are well worthy to be classified with the sculp- ture of the Capitol. These stairways were designed by T. U. Walker, the fourth architect of the Cap- itol, and modelled by Baudin. The design is a charming one, composed of cupids and eagles in- troduced in an elaborate scroll motive. The mod- elling is rich and varied in colour. The House of Representatives contains one in- teresting sculptural rdic. It is the clock attached to the middle of the gallery, opposite the speaker's desk. The dial is surrounded by a wreath of fl-uits, and surmounted by an eagle and a shield, while at the sides stand figures of an Indian and a Pioneer. This is the work of William H. Rine- hart (1825- 1874), and was done when he re- turned to this country, after a sojourn in Rome, in 1857. Rinehart identified himself with Baltimore, which city preserves a very complete record of his work. He immortalized his name by the founding of a scholarship for the education of American sculp- tors. The decoration of the east portico of the House was unprovided for until 1909, when Congress commissioned Paul Wayland Bartlett to make the group of sculpture for the pediment. The pre- 320 Zbc Htt Ureasutes of Masbindton liminary design showed a central figure of Peace, surrounded by groups of figures symbolic of the industries. The work is 'being done by Mr. Bart- leitt in his Paris studio, and promises a rich achieve- ment, 'i "fragment of pediment for the house portico of the capitol. — no. ii By Paul W. Bartlett CHAPTER XXIII MISCELLANEOUS SCULPTURE Preserved in the interior of the Capitol is a variety of sculpture of various periods. The earli- est American sculptor represented is John Frazee (1790-1852), a descendant of Scotch emigrants who landed at Perth Amboy among'st the first set- tlers of that place. The sculptor was born in Rah- way. New Jersey, and began life as a stone cutter, carving his first bust in 1824 or 1825. The sub^ ject of his first effort at portraiture was John Wells, a prominent lawyer of New York, and the monu- ment stands in old St. Paul's Church on Broadway, It was made from a death-mask, and modelled and put into marble without instruction. This was probably the first marble bust chiselled in this coun- try, undoubtedly the first carved by an American citizen. What labours intervened are not recorded, but, in 1831, at the instance of the Honourable G. C. Verplanck, Congress appropriated $500 for the bust of John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme 322 ube art XTreasures of Wasbinflton Court of the United States, by John Frazee. It stands in the Supreme Court room, a semicircular hall, designed by Latrobe, after Greek models, for the original Senate Chamber. The rotunda houses a miscellaneous collection of marbles and bronzes. One of the most interesting statues in the Capitol is that of Thomas Jefferson, in bronze, by Pierre Jean David d' Angers (1789- 1856), presented to the government by Lieutenant Uriah P. Levy, of the United States Navy, in 1833. The statue was accepted in 1834, and stood for years in the north garden of the White House, where it remained until, in 1874, during Grant's administration, it was removed, to make way for the fountain, erected in the centre of the grounds, and placed in the rotunda of the Capitol. The statue presents Jefferson in an imposing and impressive attitude, holding in his left hand the freshly written Declaration, while his right hand, whose fingers retain the quill, lies upon his heart. The moddling is fluently French in spirit and facil- ity of execution. The statue is inscribed with the signature of the artist, the date, 1833, the name of the founder, and the presentation in- scription. A second contribution to the sculpture of the rotunda is a virile, marble bust of Lafayette, by the same artist. flDisceUancous Sculpture 323 The rotunda contains an interesting relic in one of the two original plaster casts of Houdon's fa- mous statue of Washington, for which appropria- tion was made in 1870. The original marble is in Richmond, Virginia, and its history is well known. It was made from life in 1785, by Jean Antoine Houdon, who came to this country for the purpose. Washington was fifty-four years of age at the time, and wears the costume of the Commander in Chief of the American army. The statue was made life size — six feet two inches — and arrived in the country May 4, 1796. For the studies for the statue of Washington, Hou- don crossed the ocean, at the solicitation of Frank- lin and Jefiferson, and spent two weeks at Mount Vernon, making studies of the future president and a life mask of his features. It is said that he even made a cast of his entire person. Houdon sailed with Franklin from Havre on July 22, 1785. He spent fifteen days with Washington, and returned to France direct, reaching home on January 4, 1786. W. J. Hubard, a sculptor of Richmond, Virginia, was accorded the exclusive rights, for seven years, of making three casts of the original. He made two, refraining from making the third, fearing to injure the statue. From the plaster, bronze replicas were made, and are preserved by the states of Vir- 324 ube Hrt XTreasuces of Masbtngton ginia. North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, and Missouri. The first one was purchased for the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington for $10,000. Hubard was killed in the Civil War, and the government purchased one of the two original plaster casts from his widow for $2,000. In 185s Hiram Powers was commissioned to make the statues of Thomas Jefferson and Ben- jamin Franklin, which occupy corresponding posi- tions in nidhes apposite the eastern stairways of the House, and the Senate wings of the Capitol. Powers' conception of Jefferson is curiously weak in comparison with the vigorous figure of the statesman, by the French sculptor, in the rotunda. Its fine, soft modelling recalls the contour of the Greek Slave, and Jefferson appears a rather effem- inate person, in gentle pose, with all the vigour and enthusiasm smoothed out of him. The Benjamin Franklin is equally inadequate. About 1864 the old Hall of Representatives was set apart for a national Hall of Statuary, and the president Was authorized to invite each state to contribute statues, in bronze or marble, of two of its most distinguished citizens, as the nucleus of a Hall of Fame. The effect of the execution of this apparently desirable proposition exceeds the wildest imagina- /iDisccUancotts Sculpture 325 tion. About forty-three statues have been contrib- uted and accepted, representing twenty-seven states — an extraordinary collection, grotesquely ill as- sorted, in which no effort has been made to obtain either uniformity or harmony in material, size, pose, or pedestal. The arrangement, it is true, is only provisional, but the painful incongruity of these mediocre and often amateurish attempts with the quiet, tasteful room, is a sad commentary upon official taste and judgment. It is the fashion to regard the statue of Lewis Cass, an early work (1888) of Daniel Chester French, as an interesting exception. It is true that the figure has dignity, strength, and character. At the same time there is a clumsiness, a lack of sculp- tural line, a surface much broken with flapping coat tails, unbuttoned coat, papers, and books ; and a heaviness of modelling, characteristic of the sculp- tor, which, taken together with the unsympathetic, bombastic personality of Cass, detract from the unity and simplicity of the ensemble. Here is rough and ready realism, grateful enough in its revolt against its hard, conventional companions, yet its exaggerated character verges toward cari- cature. Lewis Cass represents the State of Michigan. He was a general in the war of 1812, governor of Michigan Territory, Secretary of War, under Van 326 zcbe Hrt Uteasures ot Masbfngton Buren and of State under Buchanan, Minister to France and Senator. Two bronze statues by Richard E. Brooks, of the two heroes from the State of Maryland, are amongst the more recent accessions. CHAPTER XXIV PAINTINGS The paintings in the United States Capitol may be generally classified in four groups : frescoes, historical subjects, landscapes, and portraits. The decoration proper of the interior was under- taken in 185s, when Brumidi, an Italian painter, was employed upon the frescoes of the rotunda, the president's room, the public reception room of the Senate, and numerous committee rooms and corridors. Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880) was born in Rome, of an Italian father and a Greek mother. He studied his profession in the Accademia di San Luca, of which he is said to have become a member at the age of thirteen years. He painted frescoes in several palaces in his native city and worked for three years in the Vatican, under Gregory XVI. Brumidi was captain in the Papal guards during the Italian Revolution. Just before Rossi was as- sassinated, refusing to execute commands to turn the guns of his company upon the oppressed, he was arrested and thrown into prison, from which 827 328 Zbc Hrt treasures ot xmiasbindton he was only released, at the intervention of the Pope, upon condition that he would immediately leave Italy. He landed in New York in 1849, and became a naturalized citizen in 1852. Brumidi spent three years in Mexico, after which he re- turned to Washington and spent the rest of his life upon the frescoes of the Capitol. His Apothe- osis of Washington and scenes from American his- tory, and allegories, which adorn the historic halls of this edifice, were the first frescoes painted in America. The room of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, in the subterranean floor of the House wing, contains his first decorations, made by Bru- midi as a test, so to speak, of his ability. The prin- cipal paintings are contained in two lunettes; on the east wall is pictured the Roman legendary hero, Cincinnatus, called from the plow to defend Rome, while on the west wall history repeats itself, some twenty-two centuries later, when Putnam, the American Revolutionary general, abandons his farm at Pomfret, Connecticut, to lead the American army. In the ceiling of the room is an allegorical repre- sentation of the seasons, while on the north and south walls are portraits of Washington and Jeffer- son, with symbolic landscapes. These frescoes are signed and dated, C. Brumidi, 1855, and were patntinfls 329 so well liked by the authorities that the painter was given carte blanche on the remainder of the work. Brumidi was employed at the Capitol from 1855 to 1880, and did all the frescoing between these periods. The greater part of the work was done at the rate of ten dollars a day, but contracts were made for several of the large pieces, such as the panel on the wall of the House, and the canopy and frieze of the rotunda. The latter was the last upon which the painter worked and he died before it was finished. Filippo Costaggani took up the work from Brumidi's sketches and worked upon the frieze until 1889. Besides those already mentioned, Brumidi deco- rations are to be found in the president's room, the public reception room. Senate side; the sergeant- at-arms room, the ground floor corridor, the rooms of the committees on Military AfiFairs, on Naval Affairs, on Foreign Affairs, on Indian Affairs, on the District of Columbia, and in the Senate Post Office. The president's room is decorated with portraits of President Washington and his first cabinet — Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, Randolph, and Osgood ; with allegories of Religion, Liberty, Legislation and Executive authority; and portraits of Columbus, with emblems of discovery; Americus Vespucius 330 Ube art Ureasures ot Masbfndton (Exploration), William Brewster (Religion), and Benjamin Franklin (History). The rotunda canopy represents the Apotheosis of Washington. In the centre is Washington, seated in majesty, like Jove on 01)rmpus, with super- natural beings attending him. On his right sits Freedom; on his left Victory; and about him float thirteen aerial figures, representing the original states, their banneret inscribed " E Pluribus Unum." Beneath and encircling the base of the canopy, runs an allegory of the Revolution. The group in line directly below Washington represents the Fall of Tyranny, or Liberty conquering Royalty, in which Freedom with her eagle puts to rout the forces of War, Tyranny, Priestcraft, Discord, An- ger, and Revenge. Following, to the right, are de- picted in succession : America, Ceres, Flora, and Pomona, representing Agriculture; Vulcan as Mechanics; Mercury as Commerce (with portraits of Alexander Hamikon, and of Robert Morris) ; Neptune and Aphrodite with the Atlantic cable, tjrpifying the sea; and Minerva (with portraits of Franklin, Fulton, and Morse), representing the Arts and Sciences. At a heig-ht of sixty-five feet from the floor, and encircling the wall, which is, at this height, three hundred feet in circumference, runs the fresco in imitation of high relief, illustrating periods of the paintinds 331 history of the continent. The frieze begun by Bru- madi, and carried on by Costaggani, lacks still several feet of completion. In 'this frieze America is depicted, with an In- dian and an eagle, standing with History, who re- cords on her tablet the progress of events. The subjects are: Landing of Columbus, Cortez, and Montezuma in the Temple of the Sun, Pizarro in Peru, Burial of De Soto, Rescue of Captain John Smith, Landing at Plymoutii Rock, Penn's Treaty with the Indians, Settlement of New 'England, Ogle- thorpe and the Muscogees, Battle of Lexington, Declaration of Independence, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Death of Tecumseh, the American Army Entering the City of Mexico, and Cailifornia Gold Mining. " Brumiidi was a decorative painter. Not only did he know the technical side of the craft, how to draw and paint large figures in distemper on the curved plaster surfaces; but he was the inheritor of the great Italian traditions which started with Raphael and Correggio, and were harmonized and codified by the later eclectic schools. He knew all the gods and goddesses of classical antiquity, their attributes and accessories, their floating, formless draperies, the way in whieh they should be grouped together, the scale on which they should be drawn to fit a given space, the architectural details neces- 332 Ube Hrt treasures of Xiaiasbfnaton sary to bind the whole together, and when to paint in colour, and when to give variety by working in monotint. While thus certainly a decoradve painter, Brumidi was with equal certainty a very bad one. Even in Italy the school to which he belonged was worn out and every particle of life and inspiration had departed from it. Its practi- tioners put together the old materials according to the old formulas with no feeling, but wiith some skill. Brumidi and his Compatriots who were as- sociated with him — Gapellano, Causici, Castigini, and the rest — lacked even this skill, being, accord- ing to the Italian standard, but indifferent work- men, and yet it is difficult to see what better coulcf have been done at the time. The art commission appointed by Buchanan . . . criticized the work of the Italians and recommended the employment of native talent. But native artists would probably have done still worse, if they had been able to work at all, which is doubtful." " American Painting " by Samuel Isham. The system of acquiring statues and paintings, inaugurated by the early Congress, has continued till the present day. When the wings of the Capitol extension were completed, their decoration was carefully considered by T. U. Walker, the archi- tect and M. C. Meigs, the superintendent. The de- termination to employ native talent, shown in the paintings 333 later commissions for sculpture, prevailed also in the department of mural painting, and William H. Powell and James Walker were selected to make the battle scenes which are to be found on the east and west stairways of the Senate wings. Not very long after the extension was ready for decoration, Congress provided for the appointment of a committee of artists to select and supervise the character and installation of the paintings and statues. This resulted in the appointment of the first art commission created by the government. It was appointed by President Buchanan and cx>nsiste Frank Edwin Elwell. 380 Ube Hrt Utcasntcs of Masbindton The well known " General Winfield Scott " erected in 1874, in Washington, is, however, a dig- nified figure, well seated upon a quiet and realistic steed. As a whole it is not happy as a work of art. The horse does not possess the points usually looked for in a commander's charger, and this might well be expected when it is understood that it was mod- elled from a thoroughbred mare. The animal is not only of too light and delicate a style for the pur- pose indicated, but also too slight in form and size to support the ponderous figure that mounts it. It has also been thought that the artist made a mistake in representing the general so late in life, when his form had lost the proportions of young manhood, instead of portraying him as he appeared at the culmination of his military career, the close of the Mexican War. This statue must be counted, how- ever, one of the best of the equestrian groups in Washington. It was cast from the cannon captured in the Mexican War. The equestrian statue of General George H. Thomas, by John Q. A. Ward (1830-1910), is the most spirited of its class in Washington, and has few rivals throughout the country. The artist's idea was to represent his subject as having sud- denly checked the movement of his horse on the summit of a slight acclivity for the purpose of making an observation or overlooking the field of public Statuary 381 action. This conception is admirably realized in the pose and expression of both horse and rider. The statue suffers from being placed upon so high a pedestal; but its effect is striking, with something fine and free in the pose, as seen in silhouette against the sky. The statue has grace, elegance, and strength; it builds up and composes well; the sympathetic movement between the horse and rider is well understood, and the group is admirable in its freedom from the extravagant action noted in many of the statues of the character in the city. While it does not equal the sculptor's " Washington," in New York, it is yet a distin- guished work, characteristic of the best of which Ward was capable. Ward's monument to President Garfield, erected in 1887, stands in the grounds of the Capitol, and contains some of the sculptor's most accomplished work. The monument consists of a portrait statue of Garfield surmounting a tall base, about which are reclining three semi-nude figures representing the Student, the Statesman, and the Warrior. The figure of the president is perfunctory, and interest centres upon the three symbolic figures at the base, which are boldly conceived and powerfully mod- elled. The four corners of Lafayette Square are dedi- cated to the memory of four foreign heroes of the 382 Ube Hrt Ureasuces of TRnasbittdton Revolutionary War: Rochambeau, Lafayette, Kos- ciuszko, and Baron Steuben. The most interesting is that depicting Lafayette and his companions, by Mercie and Falguiere, two of the most famous French sculptors of their generation. The statue was erected by Congress, in 1890. Lafayette is represented in the costume of the Continental Army. America extends to him a sword. The other figures of the group are Rochambeau, Du- portail, D'Estaing, and De Grasse. The modelling is fluently French, and the design and grouping suave and graceful, according to the foreign tradi- tions. Frederick MacMonnies' equestrian statue of General George B. McClellan occupies a superb situation at the highest point of Connecticut Avenue, and was erected in 1907, by the Southern Army of the Potomac and Congress. Augustus Saint Gaudens (1848-1907) is repre- sented in Washington by the famous Adams Monu- ment, erected in Rock Creek Cemetery, to the mem- ory of a woman who died, it is said, under tragic circumstances. This is one of the sculptor's works which reveals the development of his idealized figures of draped women. The Adams Monument consists of a heavily draped figure, which might be symbolic of Sleep or Eternity, but which has been called Grief and Death, seated upon a rough hewn ADAMS MONUMENT: ROCK CREEK CEMETERY By Augustus Saint Gaudens public Statuars 383 block of granite, and leaning against a large, pol- ished slab of the same material. This slab forms the centre of an hexagonal plot, about twenty feet in diameter, while opposite, and occupying three sides of the hexagon, is a massive stone bench. The whole is placed within a dense growth of ever- greens, which completely screen the monument from view; an effective, if rather gruesome set- ting, which accentuates the mysterious and awe- some character of bhe sepulchral figure. Saint Gaudens has embodied his emotional idea in the form of a woman's figure, wrapped about in coarse drapery that shrouds her head, and falls in long, loose, heavy folds at her feet. The figure is in bronze, vigorous in modelling and compel- ling and forceful in its illusion of suspended anima- tion. The effect is profoundly realistic. The the- atrical setting detracts from serious consideration of the figure, and too much stress has been laid upon its literary and emotional side. Upon delib- erate inspection, however, the statue reveals much sculptural strength and beauty of construction, under its heavy drapery, while the exposed arm and face are rugged and true in their relation to the whole. The bust of Henry Lorenz Viereck, entomologist, is the unique work of Charles Grafty, in Washing- ton. It is owned by the sitter. This bust, made 384 xcbe Hct TTreasures ot Masbington about 1908, is one of the most successful of that series of portrait busts commenced by the sculptor a few years ago, and including at the present time, many distinguished artists, doctors, and specialists in other fields. A collected group of these busts, shown recently^ at the Saint Botolph's Club, in Boston, included portraits of the painters, DeCamp, Redfield, Schofield, Paxton, and Clymer, Dr. Louis Starr, Dr. Joseph Price, Mr. Viereck, and others. In the department of portrait busts Grafly stands unrivalled in his generation. The head of Viereck is extremely typical of the quality and character of the sculptor's achievement. Founded upon the sound principles of construction, the bust is fas- cinating in the suggestion of colour ; in the delicacy of the surface modelling; the unity of its forms, both structural and superficial; while the character of the sitter is given with sympathy and apprecia- tion. 'February, igii. THE END BUST OF HENRY LORENZ VIERECK By Charles Grafly Btbltograpb^ GENERAL Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York, 1887. Beown, Glenn. — History of the United States Capitol. Wash- ington, igo2. Bryan. — Dictionary of Painters. New York, 1903. Clement and Hutton. — Artists of the Nineteenth Century. Boston, 1880. Caffin, Chasles H. — American Masters of Sculpture. New York, 1903. The Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting in the New Library of Congress. In Handbook of the New Library of Congress. Her- bert Small. Boston, 1897. Coffin, Whxiam A. — Decorations in the New Library of Congress. Century, March, 1897. DuNLAP, William. — History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States. New York, 1834. Hartmann, Sadaeichi. — A History of American Art. 2 Vols. Boston, igo2. Modem American Sculpture. Plates edited by Sadakichi Hart- mann, New York. Henderson, Helen W. — The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Boston, 1911. ' Isham, Samuel. — The History of American Painting. New York, 1905. Jarves, James Jackson. — The Art Idea. New York, 1877. Michel, Emile. — Great Masters of Landscape Painting. Phila- delphia, 1908. Moore, Joseph West. — Picturesque Washington. Providence, 1884. 386 386 Biblfogtapbs Taft, Lorado. — The History of American Sculpture. New York, 1903. TucKEKMAN, Henry T. — Book of the Artists. New York, 1867, Vandyke, John C. — A Text Book of the History of Painting. New York and London, 1894. Van Rensselaiik, Mrs. Schuyuer. — Six Portraits. Boston, 1889. (Included George Fuller and Winslow Homer.) PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS Barye, Antoine Louis. — Life and Works of, by Charles DeKay, New York, 1889. From the French of Various Critics. Edited by W. T: Walters. Baltimore, 1885. Cole, Thomas. — Life and Works, by Louis L. Noble. New York, i8S3- Constable, John. — Memoirs of, by Charles Robert Leslie. Lon- don, 1843. Copley, John Singleton. — Domestic and Artistic Life of, by Martha Babcock Amory. Boston, 1882. Durand, Asher B. — Life and Times, by John Durand. New York, 1894. Fuller, George. — Life and Works. Boston, 1886. Homer, Winslow. — Life of, by W. H. Downes. Boston, 1911. Hunt, William Morris. — Art Life of, by Helen M. Knowlton. Boston, 1899. Morse, S. F. B. — Life, by S. Irenaeus Prime. New York, 1875. Stuart, Gilbert. — Life and Works of, by George C. Mason. New York, 1894. Gilbert Stuart's Portraits of Women, by Charles Henry Hart. Century Magftzine. Vols. 33 to 37. Original Portraits of Washington, by Charles Henry Hart. Cen- tury Magazine. Vols. 15, 18, and 21. Trumbull, John. — Autobiography, Reminiscences, and Letters. New York, 1841. West, Benjamin. — Lite and Studies of, by John Gait. London, 1816. Whistler, James A. McNeili. — The Life of, by E. R. and J. Pennell. Philadelphia, 1908. Sibliograpbs 3S7 Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et son (Euvre, by TModore Duret. Paris, 1904. WsiGHT, Joseph. — Porfxait of Franklin belonging to the Royal Society, London, by Charles Henry Hart. Philadelphia, igioS. ABORIGINAL POTTERY CusmNG, FsANE. — A Study of Pueblo Pottery as illustrative of Zuni culture growth. Fourth Annual Report, Bureau of Eth- nology. Deixenbaugh, F. S. — The North Americans of Yesterday. New York and London, 1901. Death Masks in Ancient American Pottery. American Anthro- pologist, February, 1897. Fabric Marked Pottery. Popular Science Monthly, March, 1898. Fewkes, Jesse Waiter. — Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895. Seventeenth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology. Part 2. HoLUES, WnuAM H. — Ancient Art of the Province of Chiriqui. Sixth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology. Pottery of the Ancient Pueblos. Fourth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology. Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley. Fourth Annual Re- port, Bureau of Ethnology. Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art. Fourth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology. Aboriginal Pottery of the Eastern United States. Twentieth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology. Prehistoric Textile Fabrics derived from Impressions on Pottery. Fourth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology. Jones, Joseph. — Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Ten- nessee. Washington, 1896. Moore, Clarence B. — A series of papers published in the Journal tj the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1892-1908; and in the American Naturalist, and the American Anthropologist, with elaborate illustrations and colour plates, treating of the pottery of the Mississippi Valley. WiisoN, Thomas. — Prehistoric Musical Instruments. Washing- ton, 1898. Much of the material descriptive of musical instru- ments was prepared by E. P. Upham. 388 JBfbltograpbs WASHINGTON, D. C. Bkown, Glenn. — The Development of Washington, with special reference to the Lincohi Memorial. Chamber of Commerce. Washington. Report of the Park Commission to the Semite Committee on the Dis- trict of Columbia. Washington, 1902. finbcx Abert, J. J., 216. Achenbach, Andreas, 80, 97, 169. Achenbach, Oswald, 169. Adams, Herbert, 367, 368. Adams, John, 29, 31, 33, 207, 33(^-339- Adams, Mrs. John, 30. Adams, John Quincy, 33, 138, 300-306. Adams Monument, 382 Alexander VI, 318. Alexander, John W., 236, 365. Alexander, Miss, 244. Aligny, 162. Allen, Thomas, 49. Allston, Washington, 100, 122, 123, 138, 139. Amateis, Louis, 318. Anderson, Mary, 363. Andrfi, Major, 335. Andrei, Giovanni, 297, 298. AngouUme, Duchesse d', 176. Anshutz, Thomas P., 49. Ariosto, 182. Arlington, 10, 11, 18. Arnold, Benedict, 102. Avery, Samuel P., 106, 17s, 339. Babcourt, Monsieur de, 33. Bacon, 368. Balboa, 318. Banks, Nathaniel P., 353. Barbison School, 21, 56, 88, 90, 9S, 160, I7S, 227, 237. 238. Barbedienne, 191. Barse, George R., 366. Bartholomew, 82. BarUett, Paul W., 319, 320, 339, „ 3S9, 368, 370-374, 379- Bartlett, Truman H., 372. Bartolozzi, 64. Barye, Antoine Louis, 21, 174 et seq., 227. Baur, Theodore, 368. Bedford, Gunning, 353. Beechy, Sir William, 211. Beethoven, 368. Benson, F. W., 49, 366. Berkeley, Bishop, 345. Berrett, James G., 28. Berlin, Victor, 162. Bicknell, F. A., 237. Biennais, 176. Bierstadt, Albert, 77-81, 89, 346, 347- Binn, J., 135. Bismarck, 167. Bissell, George, 368. Blakelock, Ralph Albert, 96, 233. Blashfield, Edwin H., 361-363. Blodgett, Eleanor, 219. Blum, Robert, ?36. Bode, Br., 239. Boegart, Josepha, 211, 214. Bogert, George H., 237. Bonheur, Rosa, 166. Bois de Boulogne, 18. Bologna, Gian, 195. Boimat, 157, 188. Boone, Daniel, 301, 346. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 36, 51. 99- Bosworth, W. W., 11. Bosio, 176. Boudin, 237, 238, 319. 389 390 fnoci Boulanger, 151. Boydell, 112. Boyle, John J., 368. Braddock, General, 2. Breckenridge, Hugh H., 49. Breton, Emile, 170. Breton, Jules, 160, 165. Brewerton, George Douglass, 99. Brewster, William, 330. Breyesse, 160. Brooke, Richard N., 49, 156, 157- Brooks, Richard E., 326. Brown, Glenn, x, 11, 12, 15, 296. Brown, Henry K., 227, 333, 378- 380. Brown, John Henry, 212. Browne, George Ebner, 237. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 196. Bruen, 69. Brumidi, Constantino, 327, 333, 345- Brush, George De Forest, 142, 234- Bryant, William Cullen, 116, 12S- Cabanel, Alexandre, 173. Calhoun, John C, 300, 354. Calvert, Charles B., 218. Campbell, Lady Archibald, 245. Capellano, Antonio, 301, 332. Canova, 39, 45, 301, 307. Carlisle, Calderon, 43. Carlisle, James M., 28. Carlsen, Emil, 233. Carlyle, Thomas, 244. Carroll, Charles, 293, 353. Carroll, Mrs. Charles, 348. Carroll, Daniel, 8, 9, 293, 294, 29S- Carroll, Dudley, 31. Carson, Hampton L., 202. Carson Sale, 201. Casey, Edward Pearce, 360. Casey, Thomas Lincoln, 360, 363- Casilaer, John W., 73, 75. Cass, Lewis, 117, 325. Cassatt, Mary, 155, 233, 234- Castigini, 332. Causici, Enrico, 300, 3or, 332. Cazin, Jean Charles, 167. Cellini, Benvenuto, 179, 195. Centennial Exhibition, 26, 36, 39, 96, 254. Chandos, portrait of Shake- speare, 369, 370. Chang S6ng-yu, 247. Chapman, John G., 343, 344. Charles VI, 178. Charles VIII, 318. Chase, Salmon P., 358. Chase, William M., 141, 142, 233- Chenavard, 179. Chestnut, Thomas, 354. Chou Fang, 248. Chretien, 200. Church, Frederick Edwin, 80- 84, 88, 89, 106, 219, 222. Church, F. S., 237. Cincinnatus, 328. Clark, Edward, 43. Clark, W. A., 49, 50. Clark, William, 346. Clarke, Thomas B., 95. Clarkson, Ralph, 49. Clay, Henry, 125, 300, 351-354- Clement XIII, 45. Cleveland, Duke of, 197. Cleveland, Grover, 43. Cleveland, Mrs. Grover, 43. Cljoner, Edwin Swift, 384. Coates and Co., 129, 130. Coffin, W. A., 237. Cole, J. Foxcroft, 237. Cole, Thomas, 55, 58, 62, 65- 72, 82, 83. Coleman, Mrs. C. T. B., no. Coleridge, 123. Collin, Raphael, 156. Columbus, Bardiolomew,3i8. Columbus, Christopher, 305, 317, 318, 329, 331, 343, 368-372. Coman, Charlotte B., 237. Constable, John, 21, 56, 70, 88, 164, 211. irnoca: 391 Constant, Benjamin, 157. Cooke, Henry C, 28. Cooper, J. Fenimore, 138, 310. Copley, John Singleton, 335. Corcoran Gallery of Art, viii, 20 a seq., 318, 343, 345. Corcoran, Thomas, 22. Corcoran, William Wilson, 20- 28, 36-41, S2, 62, 72, 75, 81, 8s, 99, no, IIS, "7. iS9i i70i 198. Comwallis, Lord, 331, 338, 340, 3S7. Corot, J. B. C, 21, 90, 160-164. Correggio, 211, 331. Cortez, 318, 331. Corwin, 207. Costaggani, Filippo, 329, 331. Couder, E. Gustave, 170. Courbet, Gustave, 21, 56, 163. Couitois, Gustave, 156. Couse, E. Irving, 237. Couture, Thomas, 21, 166, 167, 227, 228, 354. Cox, Kenyon, 237, 366. Cox, Walker S., 43. Crane, Bruce, 237. Crawford, Thomas, 39, 310-315. Crome, Old, 88. Cromwell, Oliver, 85. Cropsey, Jasper F., 76. Cuvier, 177, 207. Cuyp, 164. Daggett, Alfred, 73. Dallin, Cyrus, 368. Dante, 182. Darby, H. F., 354, 3SS- Daubigny, 75, r6o. David (King), 195. David, 166, 177. David d'Angers, P. J., 322. Davidson, Samuel, 293. Da Vinci, Leonardo, 39. Davis, Charles H., 151, 237. Davis, Jefferson, 311. Dearth, Henry Golden, 237. De Camp, Joseph, 50, 384. De Grasse, see Grasse. De Kay, Charles, 183, 184, 186, 188. Delacroix, Eugene, 21. Delaroche, Paul, ii6, 384. Delficluze, 177. Dellenbaugh, F. S., 287. Demidoff, Prince, 197. De Neuville, Alphonse, 166. De Soto, 331. D'Estaing, 382. Detaille, Edouard, 165. Dewey, Charles Melville, 237. Dewing, Thomas Wilmer, 150, 151, 236, 250. Dexter, Elias, 202. Dexter, Henry, 212. Dexter, Samud, 31. Diaz de la Pena, Narcisse, 21, 96, 160. Dickinson, John, 339. Dielman, Frederick, 365. Digges Farm, 10. Dodge, R. L., 366. Dodge, W. L., 366. Donatello, 195. Donoghue, John, 368. Dougherty, Paul, 151, 235. Doughty, Thomas, 60-62. Droeshout, portrait of Shake- speare, 369, 370. Dudley, Earl of, 197. Dunbar, Paul Lawrence, 158. Dunlap, William, 61, 63, 66, 69, 70. Duplessis, III, 112. Duportail, 382. Duprat, Chancellor, 194. Dupr€, Jules, 160. Durand, Asher B., 58, 60, 62- 66, 69, 73, 129, 338. DUrer, Albrecht, 39. DUsseldorf School, 53, 76 et seq., 8s, 169, 227. Earl, R. E. W., 207. Eaton, Charles Warren, 237. Edmonds, F. W., 129, 130. Edward HI, 121. Edward VH, 211, 213. 392 fndex Eichholtz, Jacob, 212, 214. Elgin, Lord, 193. Elgin Marbles, 192. Ellicott, 7. Elliott, Charles Loring, 113-117, 352- Elwell, Frank Edwin, 379. Emerson, 367. Essex, Lady, 211, 213. Etampes, Duchesse d', 194. Eustis, William Corcoran, 43. Evans, William T., 97, 210, 220- 223. Evans Collection, 96, 158, 220 et seq. Evarts, Jeremiah, 125. Ezekiel, Moses, 38, 39. Fagnani, Giuseppe, 351. Fairfax, Lord, 2. FalguiSre, Jean Alex. Jos., 382. Fauconnier, 176. Faure Sale, 160. FenoUosa, 243. Ferdinand (King), 317, 318. Fewkes, Jesse Walker, ix, 277- 284. Fischer, Victor G., 49. Flagg, Ernest, 42. Flanagan, John, 368. Fleet, Henry, 3. Fortmiy y Carbo, Mariano, 169. Foster, Ben, 152, 237. Fourier, 176. Franck, Captain, 215. Franklin, Benjamin, 102, iii- 113, 216, 323, 324, 330, 33S, 367- Franklin, Maud, 245. Franz Josef, 172. Franzoni, Carlo, 298, 300. Franzoni, Giuseppe, 297-300. Frazee, John, 64, 321, 322. Freer, Charles L., 209, 239 et seq. Freer Collection, 239 et seq. Frfimiet, Emm., 372. French, Daniel Chester, 325, 368. Frieseke, Fred'k Carl, 50. Fuller, George, 97, 98, 221, 229. Fuller, Henry B., 229, 237. Fulton, Robert, 330, 368. Fuseli, 123. Gales, 132, 136. Galileo, 378. Gait, Alexander, 195. Gait, Matthew W., 43. Garber, Daniel, 50, 149, 150. Garfield, James A., 381. Gamsey, E. E., 366, 367. Gates, General, 335, 339. Gay, Edward, 237. Genevay, 183. George III, 121, 375. G6r6me, Jean L€on, 95, 170, 171, 231, 234- Gevelot, Nicholas, 301. Ghiberti Gates, 315, 316, 318. Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 194. Gibbes, Robert W., 218. Gibbon, 368. Gibert, 173. Gibson, 313 Gifford, Robert Swain, 237. Gifford, Sanford R., 76. Gignoux, Regis, 89, 348. Gilbert, Cass, 11. Girard, Stephen, 293. Glauber, Jean, 57. Glover, Charles C, 43, 49, 92, 144, 146, 230. Goethe, 367. Gordon, Sir John Watson, 211, 213. Goujon, Jean, 183, 194. Grafly, Charles, 383, 384. Grant, Captain, 197. Grant, Ulysses S., 17, 19, 35, 36, 322- Grasse, Comte Francois Paul de, 382. Graves, 112. Greaves, 245. Greek Slave, 38, 195-197. Greenough, Horatio, 304, 306^ 310, 345- Gregory XVI, 327, 328. fln&ex 393 GroU, Albert L., 237^ Gros, 176. Grundman, Otto, 151. Guizot, F. B. G., 207, 215. Gutherz, Cail, 365. Hall, James C, 28. Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 125. Hamerton, Philip Gilbert, 350. Hamilton, Alexander, 4, 314, 329, 330- Hancock, 339. Haiding, Chester, 107-110. Harrison, Alexander, 142, 143. Harrison, Joseph, 358. Harrison, Mrs. Joseph, 358. Hart, Charles Henry, 104, in, 112. Hart, James M., 76-78. Hart, William, 76, 78. Hartley, J. Scott, 367. Hasenclever, 79. Hassam, Childe, 50, 147, 148,232. Hawthorne, Nathanid, 196, 367. Hazelton, 303. Healy, George P. A., 207, 214- 217. Hearn Collection, 145. Henderson, Hon. J. B., 219. Henry H, 194. Henry IV, 214, 318. Henry, Joseph, 116-118, 368. Herodotus, 368. Hoban, James, 296. Hodge, F. W., 277. Hodgson, William, 112. Hohnes, William H., ix, 156- 158, 256, 258, 2S9, 266. 269, 27s, 288. Holslag, E. J., 365. Homer (poet), 368. Homer, Winslow, 140, 141, 221, 223-226, 249, 230- Hoppner, John, 113, 211, 213. Houdon, Jean Ant., 323, 358. Hubard, W. J., 323. 324- Hudson, Hendrik, 347. Hudson River School, S3 e« seq., 80, 88, 89, 96, 223, 347- Humphries, David, 342. Hunt, William Morris, 98, 189, 221, 226-228. Huntington, Charles R., 138. Huntington, Daniel, 117, 118, 131. 138, 3S2. Hyde, Anthony, 28. Hyde, Thomas, 43. lardella, Francisco, 298, 299. Ingres, J. A. Dom., 166. Inman, Henry, 115, 344. Inness, George, 88-94, 221-223, 348. Irving, Washington, 367. Isham, Samuel, 332. Isabella (Queen), 317, 318, 371. Israels, Josef, 169. Jackson, Andrew, 104, 105, 107, 207, 30S, 375-377- Jackson, John, 170. James I, 214. Janssens (Cornelius van Kueh- len), 211, 214. Japy, 170. Jarvis, 115. Jay, John, 321. Jeannin, G., 170. Jefferson, Thomas, 4, 6, 33, 207, 294, 296, 298, 322-324, 328, 329. 336. 338, 339. 341. 354- John II, of Portugal, 318. Johnson, Eastman, 86. Johnson, Henry Elliot, 212. Johnson, Henry Elliot, Jr., 212. Johnson, John Taylor, 84. Johnson, Ralph Cross, i6g. Johnson, Richard M., no, in. Johnson, Thomas, 294, 295. Johnston, Harriet Lane, 208, 209, 211. Johnston, Harriet Lane, Collec- tion, 211 et seq. Jones, H. Bolton, 49, 152. Jongers, Alphonse, 236. Jonson, Ben, 369, 370. Julius II, 19s. 394 fn&ei Kano, Yeitoku, 249. KauSman, Samuel, 43, 170. Kean's Canyon, 278. Keith, William, 96, 97. Kendall, Sergeant, 155, 236. Kennedy, James C., 28. Kensett, John F., 58, 72-75, 333. Kent, Chancellor James, 125, 368. Kenzan, Ogata, 249. King, Charles B., 207. Kopeli, 278. Korin, Ogata, 249. Kosciuszko, Tadeusz, 382. Koyetsu, Honnami, 248. Knox, Henry, 329. Lac€p£de, 177. La Farge, John, 221, 228, 229. Lafayette, s, 69, 125, 322, 349- 3SI. 372, 373. 382- Lamb, Charles, 123. Lambdin, James R., 333. Lambert, John, 49. Lander, General, 80. Lao-tze, 248. Lastejrie, 119. Lathrop, W. L., 237. Latrobe, Benj. Henry, 297-299, 322. Laufer, Berthold, 241. Laurens, Henry, 3SS-3S7- Laurens, John, 357. Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 64; 70, 211, 213. Lawson, Ernest, 237. Lee, Robert E., 314. Lee, William, 356. Lefebvre, Jules, 151. Lefuel, Hector Martin, 190. Lemmon, Hannah, 22. Lemon, George E., 166. Lenbadi, Franz, 167, 168. L'Enfant, Pierre Charles, 5-15. Lendtre, Andrfi, 6. Leonardo da Vinci, 214. Leslie, Charles Robert, 70, 122, 231. Lessing, 80. Leutze, Emmanuel, 80, 85, 86, 345- Levy, Uriah P., 322. Leyland; F. R., 244, 243. Lewis, Colonel, 340. L'hermitte, L6on Auguste, 166. Liang Djrnasty, 247. Library of Congress, 12, 15, 202, 359 et seq. Lincoln, Abraham, 363. Lincoln Memorial, 16-18. Li Ssu-hsn, 248. Lockwood, Wilton, 156. Loeb, Louis, 49. Lodge, Henry Cabot, 353. Lorraine, Claude, 57, 59, 71, 162. Louis XVI, 199, 216. Louis Philippe, 180, 181, 2x5, 216. Louise Home, 24. Lowndes, Mr^. James, 219. Lowndes, Hon. William, 137. Lucas, George A., 175, 180, 189. Luini, Bernardino, 211, 214. Lybrand, Elizabeth, loi. Lytton, Lord, 172. MacCameron, Robert Lee, 153. MacEwen, Walter, 153, 365. MacMonnies, Frederick, 367- 369. 382. McClellan, George B., 382, 383. McCuUough, Col., 246. McGuire, Fred'k B., 43, 189. McGuire, James C, 28, 113, 115, 116. McKean, Elizabeth F., 103. McKean, Thomas, 102, 218. McKenney, Thomas L., 113, ii6, 117. McNeil, J. A., 258, 260. Macaulay, 367. Macdonald, C. H. L., 49. Macfarland, 11. Mackay, W. A., 366. Madison, James, 15, 33, 64, 105, 107. ■ffn&ei; 395 Malbone, Edward Greene, 99, 100. Manahoacs, 2. Manet, Edouardj 21, 166, 167. Marsh Collection, 207. Marr, Carl, 97. Marshall, Ch. Jus.^ 31, 106, 107, 131, 3S8. Martin, Homer, 94, 181, 221, 223. Martiny, Philip, 368. Masauwuh, 279. Maverick, Peter, 62, 63. Maynard, George W., 361, 366. Medici, Catherine de, 194. Medici, Lorenzo de, 195. Medici, Marie de, 214. Meigs, M. C, 332, 34S. Meissonier, J. L. E., 165. Melchers, Gari, 50, 152, 251, 366. Mendoza, Cardinal, 318., Menou, Julius, Count de, 218. Mercifi, Antonin, 382. Merlieux, 207. Messer, Edmund Clarence, 156. Metcalf, Willard L., 49, 146, 147, 232. Metropolitan Museum, 36, 51, 86, 99, 14s, 17s. 373- Metsu, Gabriel, 154. Mettling, Louis, 169. Meyer, Klaus, 211. Michael Angelo, 39, 59, 123, 19s, 316, 3S9, 371, 372, 374. Michallon, 161, 162. Michel, Emile, 163. Mifflin, Thomas, 341. Miles, Samuel, 103, 104. Mills, Clark, 118, 207, 312, 376- 378. Miller, Richard, 155. Millet, Jean Frangois, 21, 58, 90, 98, 227, 228. Milton, John, 85. Minor, Robert C, 237. Mino da Fiesole, 195. Monet, Claude, 149, 150. Monroe, James, 124, 207. Montezuma, 331. Montpensier, Due de, 181. Moore, Joseph West, 9. Moore, Thomas, 32. Moran, Thomas, 79, 347, 348. Moreau, Adrien, 219. Morgan, Mary, 160. Morghen, Raphael, 64. Morland, George, 159. Morot, Aim€, 156. Morris, Robert, 330. Morse, Samuel F. B., 120-139, 310, 330, 344, 349, 350- Morse, Jedediah, 132. Morvan, 160. Moser, James Henry, 156, 158, 236. Moses, 368. Murillo, Bartolom6 Esteban, 39. Murphy, Herman Dudley, 49. Murphy, J. Francis, 95, 237. Muther, Richard, 167, 168. Napoleon Bonaparte, 107, 176 307- National Listitute, 206, 215. National Museum, viii, ix, 18, 252 et sea. Neagle, John, 21, 64, no, iii, 3S3- Newton, Sir Isaac, 368. Niehaus, Charles Henry, 368. Noble, Louis L., 68. North, Lord, 356. Norwich School, 88. Ochtman, Leonard, 152, 237. Ogden, (Jovemor, 64. O'Hara, General, 340. Ojeda, 318. Orleans, Due d', 178-180. Osborn, William Church, 62. Osgood, Samuel, 329. Otis, Bass, 69. Page, L. R., no. Paxton, 384. Peatej'C. W., 21, 199, 206, 218, 219, 3S3, 3S4- 396 fn&ex Peale Museum, 119. Peale, Rembrandt, 119, 358. Peale, Titian R., 219. Pearce, Charles Sfirague, 363. Peel, Sir Robert, 351. Peignot, 201. Peltz, Smithmeyer and, 360. Penn's Treaty, 301. Penn, William, loi, 331. Pennell's Life of Whistler, 245. Pennington, Edward, 354. Pennington, Harper, 212. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 99, ii8, 141, 143, I4S. 156, IS7, 166, 217, 218, 228, 246, 358, 373. Perez, Juan Perez de Marchena, 318. Perry, E. Hinton, 367. Perry, Oliver Hazard, 347. Persico, Luigi, 301-306. Pettrich, Ferdinand, 207. Phidias, 39, 192. Philip IV, 378. Phillips, General, 339. Pickering, Timothy, 353. Picknell, William Lamb, 95. Pilon, Germain, 183, 194. Pine, Robert Edge, 198. Pingey, Commodore, 304. Pinzon, 318. Pisano, 316. Pizarro, 318, 331. Planche, Gustave, 181. Plato, 368. Pocahontas, 107, 301. Pope, 3. Portaels, F., 170. Potemkin, 34. Potter, E. C, 368. Potter, Paul, 164. Pourbus, Francis, 211, 214. Poussin, Gaspar, 59, 7i. Poussin, Nicholas, S7, 59- Powell, Lucien W., 219. Powell, William H., 333, 343, 344, 346. Powers, Hiram, 38, 195-197, 324- Pratt, Bela, 367, 368. President's House, see White House. Preston, W. C, 207, 216, 217. Price, Dr. Joseph, 384. Pringle, Mrs., loi. Priou, Louis, 170, 173. Princep, Val, 245. Putnam, 328. Quidor, 113, 115. Randolph, Edmimd, 329. Randolph, John, 107, 109, no. Ranger, Henry W., 95, 237, Raphael, 39, 59, 123, 198, 331, 333. Redfield, Edward W., 49, 50, 143-14S. 384. Reed, Thomas B., 353. Reid, Robert, 50, 155. iS^i 236, 366. Rembrandt, 39, 355. Renwick, James, 25. Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 64, 211. Ribera, Jose de, 207, 218. Richards, Wm. T., 96. Rico, Martin, 169. Riggs, George W., 23, 28, 119. Rinehart, Wm. Hemy, 195, 212, 314, 319- Robault, Alfred, j6o. Robbia, Luca della, 195. Robertson, J. B., 202. Robinson, Theodore, 150, 221, 230, 231. Robinson, Will, 237. Rochambeau, 382. Rodin, Auguste, 316. Rogers, Randolph, 123, 315- 318. Rolfe, John, 107. Romney, George, 211, 212. Rossi, 327. Rossiter, Thomas P., 73, 211. Rousseau, Theodore, 21, 56, 90. Rubens, Peter Paul, 39, 182. Ruckstuhl, F. W., 367, 368. Ruskin, John, 84. ITn&ci 397 Rutledge, Edward, 339. Ruysdael, 71. Ryder, Albert P., 237. Saint Gaudens, Augustus, 368, 382. Saint Gaudens, Louis, 368. Saint Hemin, Fevret de, 198 et seq. Saint Pierre, Jacques, H. B. de, 119. Salmson, Hugo Fred'k, 170. Samson, Henry, 89. Sargent, John S., 353. Scheffer, Ary, 170, 172, 349, 350. Schiller, 172. Schofield, W. Elmer, 145, 146, 384. Scott, Irving R., 97. Scott, Winfield 380. Schreyer, Adolphe, 169. Seaton, 132, 136. Serra, Abb6 Oorrea de, 32. Shack, Baron, 169. Shakespeare, 368-370. Shannon, J. J., 132, 153. Sharpies, James, 198. Shaus, 160. Shepherd, Alexander, 35. Shippen, Edward (Ch. Jus.), loi, 102. Shippen, Edward, loi, 102. Shippen, -Joseph, loi. Shippen, Peggy, 102. Shirlaw, Walter, 366. Shirmer, 77. Shrady, Henry M., 17. Shurtlefi, R. M., 78, 237. Sichel, 188. Silliman, 132. Simmons, Edward, 365. Smith, Captain John, 3, 301, 331. Smith, John Cotton, 30. Smithmeyer and Peltz, 360. Sosen, Mori, 249. Sotatsu, Tawaraya, 248. Stanley, J. M., 207. Stark, General, 125. Starr, Dr. Louis, 384. Steuben, Baron, 382. Stevens, Alfred, 169. Stevens, Henry, 112, 202. Stevens, Williams and, 84. Stewart, A. T., 197. Stoddart, Benj., 31. Story, Ch. Jus., 131. Stuart, David, 294, 295. Stuart, Gilbert, 21, 54, 100-103, 109, no, 114, 115, 207, 217, 2961 342, 3SI, 354- Stuart, Jane, 217. Sumner, Charles, 310. Sung Dynasty, 241. Sullivan, John, 335. Sully, Robert, 106. Sully, Thomas, 21, 104-108, 207, ^349. 350, 353, 354- Symons, Gardner, 152. Taft, Lorado, 307, 309, 316. T'ang Dynasty, 241, 248. Talbot, Mrs. Adelaide, 296. Tarbell, Edmund C, 49, 50, IS3-ISS- Tayloe, Mrs. Benj. Ogle, 103, III. Tayloe, Col. John, 103. Taylor, Hon. J. W., 121. Taylor, Zachary, 118. Tecumseh, 331. Ter Borch, 154. , Terry, Ellen, 363. Thayer, Abbott H., 237, 250. Thiers, 181. Thomas, George H., 380, 381. Thompson, Garland, 106. Thornton, Dr. William, 296, 297. Thorwaldsen, 125, 207, 305, 307. Titian, 39, 123. Tocca, 378. Tomlinson, Gov., 132. Troyon, Constant, 21, 160, 164. Trumbull, John, 63, 66, 69, 113- iiS, 124, 199, 334-345- Tryon, Dwight W., 237, 251. Tuckerman, 73, 74, 114, 115, 313- Turner, J. M. W., 71, 83, 347. 398 fn&ei Twachtman, John Henry, 150, 221, 229-230, 249. Tyler, Jolui, 207, 215, 216. Upham, E. P., 291. Valaperti, 299, 300. Valnuit, 202. Van Berckel, 356. Van Buren, Martin, iii, 326. Vanderlyn, John, 63, 118, 343, 344, SSI- Van Ingen, W. B., 366, 367. Van Laer, Alexander T. 237. Van Marcke, Emile, 164. Van Rensselaer, Stephen, 132. Vamum, Joseph B., 352. Vedder, Elihu, 234, 364, 365, 367. Velasquez, 378. Venus de Milo, 21, 38. Ver Meer, 154. Verplanck, G. C, 321. Vespucci, Amerigo, 318, 329. Victoria (Queen), 213. Villeroy, Madame, 194. Visconti, 190. Volk, Douglas, 237. Vonnoh, Robert W., 353. VonThoren, O., 170, 172. Waldo, 64. Walker, Benjamin, 342. Walker, H. O., 237, 365. Walker, Horatio, 151, 237. Walker, James, 333, 346. \ Walker, Miss, 124. Walker, T. U., 319, 332. Walters Collection, 28, 17s, 180, 188. Walters, Wm. T., 28, 37, S3, 170, 171, i73-i7S> 188-191. Ward, J. Q. A., 368, 379-381. Warner, Olin L., 367. Warren, General, 314, 336. Washington, George, 2, 4-7, 12, 13, 38, 113. 21S, 294, 296. 314. 31S. 323, 328-330. 33S. 337, 338, 341, 342, 3S4- Portraits of, 103, 105, 119, 202, 206, 207, 217, 218, 349, 3SI, 3S7, 3S8. Statues of, 306-309, 323, 378, 381. Washington, Martha, 341, 342. Washington Monument, 8, 13- 18, 4S- Watts, George Fred'k, 168. Waugh, Frpd'k B., 234-236. Webster, Daniel, 300. Weeks, Edwin Lord, 211. Weir, Julien Alden, 231, 232. Weir, Robert, 231, 343, 344. Wells, John, 321. West, Benjamin, S4, 71, "3, I20-I23, 33S, 336, 342, 3SS. West, Benjamin, Jr., 121. West, Raphael L., 121. Weyl, Max, 49, 156, 157, 219. Whistler, James A. McNeill, 209, 229, 239, 242-247. Whistler, Major, 246. White House, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, ;8, 30. 33, 4S- Whittredge, Worthington, 76- 78, 237. Wiggins, Carleton, 237. Wiggins, Guy C, 237. Wiles, Irving R., 49, 236. William, Emperor, 168. Wilstach Collection, 143. Wilson, Richard, 71. Wilson, Thomas, 291. Winthrop, Robert, 352. Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., 31. Woodward, Dr. George, 154. Wright, Joseph, 111-113. Wright, Patience, 113. Wu Tao-tzu, School of, 248. Wyant, Alexander, 94, 221, 223. Wylie, Robert, 95. Wythe, George, 339. Yates, CuUen, 237. Young, Charles Morris, 148, 149. Young, Notley, 31, 293,