AMONG THE OLD MASTERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2762, 4 May 1916, Page 9

AMONG THE OLD MASTERS

WONDERFUL FACSIMILES OF NOT. ABLE PAINTINGS. It is not within the power of the many 111 tnis part ot the world to pay a visit to the Old World and see for themselves Hie priceless treasures of art which have played sueii a part in our culture, but there is at present in Ji'Gregor Wright's studio, on Lambtou Uuay, u collection of facsimiles (hardly copies, and certainly not prints,) 3( ,'inany of the most famous paintings of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries, which are cfertain to command the attention of all artlovers. They ane produced irom the plates of the great etcher Menpes, 011 which ha? been 1 super-imposed the secret colour process ot it. i'ring Tnonipson, and the combined result )s the reproduction on line canvas of many of the great nuisteipicce's of the wqrld, so like in tonej lirushwork, and peculiarity Hi technique and treayuenl as to lv> positively deceiving. Yet they arc not meant to deceive. Tncy arc reproductions, but tjie lidplity of the; reproduction incalculably excels any other reproductionsseen 111 New* - Zealand. Artists at Home itnd on tlio Conlijiont ' have been amazed ut the astonishing tmtli of these pictures, which embody evvii the tinest details ol tiie great masters' works as they exist to-day, the natural discolouration and mellowness of great, age in tone, t-lie myriad ci'aeks iu the pigment in some instances, the ingrained dirt of the ages in others, there are among these pictures such gems as Gainsborough's portrait, of airs. Siddons, instinct with all the : life and beauty of thai incomparable a«tiess; the captivating "Laughing Cavalier" of Era 117. Jlals, the noted Dutch llfjrtrait-painter; :j delightful '-Portrait "f ail Old 1/ady," witn the puckered lie,sh on the dear old lace so real that' one ieels that it could bo pinched. As benutitiil as any picture in the collection a:-e a number of pictures by 'Urcuzc, the great trench portrait painter.' "Grid," the upturned, tearstained lace ol' a beautiful girl, is an especially _line 'example of this artist's work, whust "The Dead Bird," another charming child study, with won-derlully-painted hands, commands, immediate littentiuu. Others *of the, series are' Raeburn's familiar portrait of Sir Walter Scott, and Nasmyth's equally portrait of .Robert Minis, Holbein's \ "Ann of Cleves," Leonardo't!a Vinci's "La Giaeondo," KOllll iey_'» "Lady Hamilton as a bacchante, 1 ' Constable's "The Hay Wain," Van Dyck's "Charles 1," several examples ol tlio raro works of Yalosquoz, Titian's Tribute Money," and pictures by Turner, Hoogli, Raphael, Rojuuey, Reynolds, Watteau, and Jlu--I'illo—a galaxy of the greatest works the art connoisseur holds dc.ar.

In addition to file line collection of oils, there is a fascinating collection of etchings (all artists' [jroofs) from the studios of several -of the most noted etchers of the present century. Prominent among those are very exquisito etchings by Diekscc, whose great technique and film intuition command the highest respect. There are also line etchings of the portals of the battered Iteims Cathedral (by Kathleen Jeffrie:.), and the lost Lourain Cathedral (by Dorothy A)ool!ard), some delicate sea and sea-const' studies by \Y. 1,. Wyllic, the great marineartist, and a'desirable, etching of the entrance to St. Mary's RedciilFo at Bristol, named by Queen Elizabeth "the :;o6dlicst and best ,of my parish churches." A notable example of perfect etching is a great lion's head by Diekscc. But these pictures must be seen t.o bo appreciated, and doubtless tile studio will bo thronged when the worth of the series is recognised.—(Published by Arrangement.)