A GREAT ARTIST.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 17

A GREAT ARTIST.

THE REAL VAN DER VELDEN, AN APPRECIATION.

In the course of conversation with a Dominion representative, Mr. F. W. Colley, of Hull, England, artist and picture restorer, paid a, great tribute to Mynheer Vail der Velden, the Dutch artist, ho now leads a secluded life at Island Bay. In Mr. Colley's judgment, he is a mail of genius. . "Van der Velden is a great artfst," said Mr. Colley. "There is no doubt aqout that. Had he lived and moved in tho right environment tire world would hayo been much enriched in art, but sad to say, ho had had domestic troubles to handicap him, and what was most "unfortunate, lie had come to New Zealand, and left that environment that would haw fostered his genius just at the tiino when life was opening' out for him —in the prime of his artistic lii'e—and came to a country that was raw ana' green—to an atmosphere entirely removed .from the soul awakening influences of the Old Land, which are as meat and drink to the artistic mind, lint even so, Vaii der Ve.Men had turned out some very fine stuff, but neither in Australia nor New. Zealand did they know how to value it. WU.it should have been done, though it is tod late now, was tor the Government to have given him a decent living salary—he wanted and wants nothing more—to have lectured on art at the different art and technical schools, and 'inject' the correct idea of art into the. students. If that had been done when Van der Velden c»ne bo «,'ew Zealand, New Zealand might -h?™, produced some good painters before t'llis. "I don't know whether y<W know it, continued Sir. Colley, "but Vxn der velden made this offer in Chrisf.'cl'urch, and in addition premised to paint; three or four pictures a year, which atone would have brought more than his salax/. out no, they didn't understand the man. Nearly every man l of genius, has his idiosyncracies. Take Kembrandt, Jluralo, and other great artists—take, the, great musicians. Van' der Velden is the most modest man on earth. He does not X aut money—does not value money. Alt ,he cares about is that there be enough to Jul the pot and keep it boiling. Other than that ho says himself —'Let me paint, anil don't worry me!' And given that ho would have been as happy as a king. But ', no, he has had worries and troubles that lie should never have been subjected to, and under these conditions he could not/ turn out the work his genius was capablo of evolving. He was not given the chance to dream, and it is out of dreams that all great work, artistically, has been done. "People do not know what Van der Velden was. He was a contemporary student in Holland with Joseph Israel, Anton Mauve, and others, and was considered their equal, if not superior. Paintings by those artists bring thousands of pounds when at rare intervals they reach the market-. On one occasion, when Israel was president of Tho Hague Gallery, and one of his own pictures had been given the place of honour on the line, Van der Velden sent in late his 'Old Man and 'Cello.' As soon as Israel saw it, lie ordered his own picture down, and gave its place to Van der Velden's, That picture still adorns the. walls of The Hague Gallery— one-'of the highest liononrs an artist can enjoy. With it lie won tho King of Holland's Scholarship and gold medal. Another great picture is his "Dutch Funeral," now in tho possession of Mr.. Van Asclic, of Sumner, Christchurch. There is superb technique and a depth and sympathy in the 'picture which .must at once cornoel • the admiration .of anyone who knows anything of art. The , stuff you have in vour gallery is the kind of art that, is always obtainable, but there aro few Van dor Veldens in the world."