A POSSIBLE "CORREGIO."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 403, 12 January 1909, Page 4

A POSSIBLE "CORREGIO."

NOW IN WELLINGTON. ' ; ;,v AND HOW IT CAME HERE. _ Gambling is a sin; tho enormity of which is governed. by tho class of risk that ii taken.. Insurance is a highly commercialised gamble, but sometimes the risk becomes too . hot. to touch (as in the case of • pneumoconiosis). and it is left severely',alone., aomo people's lives are - largely occupied in ; gambling, .in-.art treasures, in.'which there is\ , the alternative prospect of landing a geriu---lne treasure, or in pulling off a : big bluff. Ihero. is a . in. Wellington- who somo time ago secured an oil painting -for. ■ ■ a few pounds that may be worth as many : .hundreds. Indeed, on inspecting the work, 0110 must believe that it is an exceptionally good ..painting of an exceptionally; good artist. . It is. either a .very, fine .copy of Corregio s.'-'Mercury teaching Cupid m tho presence of;cVenus"' (the full-sized original of which , hangs ,in tho National Gallery), or a reduction of ,it..by ; the : great painter himself.- .- It the latter,the be valuable, but.-W Auy. case, it . is a: great , work .'of :art; - - ■lhQ subject of jJie picture serves as a 6tudy i : ■of -the.vnud.6 .for three-figures, the sitting- m 'figure, .of Mercuryi' with 'the': winged ; ankles.- <f and helmet, holding. a manuscript to podgy . little: Cupid, while, beside the two, ; stands . Venus. _ In perfect hue and in perfect'tint |:the; artist has achieved. ,what. can .only bo , regarded as a great effect. And that , great . effect marks the. study as being from the : I' brush- or ..just such an artist, as the painter , of theworld-famous;, picture "Grief."-'. The painting (about 18in.:by 30in. in size) is noton canvas, but on a thin-board of black oak, and its only blemish is-an old-timo crack that .traverses the,picture vertically. i The. story .of the painting is interesting, ' It was left in the will of. a gentleman who '■ died m England to a relative m Nelson, who : somo tim o a g o sent it to a picture-dealer -in' \\ ellington, from whom it was purchased br its present owner.' ; On:the back is an-am : cient.label, on which;is written in ink:— : <" Corregio'sMercury teaching Cupid m the presence of Venus,' bought by ' Joseph Peart, 29 May, 1867, from Mr. Bell, , broker/ Westgato . Street, -New- . : castle,' who had recently bought it at tho i . sale of Lord. Beauclerc. Bywell Pilking-• ton's edition (60 years old) of Dictionary of Painting alludes to this painting as - , • being in the "possession of Spain at. that :. time.—Joseph Peart." ': The • present owner, while ,not'positive '.at--.'-the authenticity, of the painting being what he hopes, has resolved, to take no cnances,- • and the " Gorregio " goes to Christy's, London, by the nest Home steamer.' Antonio Allegri da Corregio was an Italian artist, who: was born at Parma in 1494, and died in 1534. He was entirely self-educated' -■ and passed'his life, in obscurity, Anuibalo-> • and Titian being the first'to pronounce him ' a'genius: ( In the Duomo of Parma, is hia fresco of The Assumption." Among hif 1 most famous oil paintings are-"The Night'-, (at Dresden), and "The Holy Family" fa London). . .