STORY OF A PICTURE.

Shannon News, 7 June 1929, Page 3

STORY OF A PICTURE.

; MADONNA AND CHILD. POSSIBLE MURILLO ORIGINAL Reposing in the strongroom of a Sydnev bank there is a picture, thought to be an original painting by Murillo of the Madonna and Child. It may be worth £50,000, or even more. It may be worth £2OO, or £IOO. It-may bring but a few pounds. So far its value is a riddle because it has not vet been established just what it is. A few days ago this mystery picture si, «od, more or less unhonoured, in a curio shop called “The Treasure Chest.” at Darlingliurst. Though the dealer has declared that he always believed the picture was valuable he stowed no anxiety to try to dispose of it. Along to his shop a little over a week ago Avcnt a Macquarie Street specialist, and he spoke to the dealer appreciatively about an old Adam mirror, and something impelled the dealer to show him. the picture. The upshot of it Avas that the dealer agreed to give the doctor a half-share in the picture if he would pay the cost of skipping it to England, having it .examined by experts there, and eventually sold by some firm such as Christie’s.

“I am an absolute barbarian far as art is concerned,” the doctor explained subsequently, “but I liked that picture and I must say that I will be tickled if it docs not turn out to bo the real thing.” But there seems to be a reasonable chance that the doc tor’s gamble will turn out to.be a good investment. According to the dealer the picture originally left France at the time of the French Revolution and found its way to Ireland, where, he was told, it went to the Duke of Gloucester’s collection in his castle near Dublin. As a matter of fact the Duke of Gloucester has no home in Ireland, but it is possible that there is some confusion with the Duke of Leinster. In any case the castle was burned down in the course of the trouble in Ireland between 1921 and 1924 and the pic ture, - which v r as saved, was bought by Madame Naher, who .now lives at Darlinghurst. She brought the picture to Australia with her. Hard times com polled her to sell it to the “Treasure Chest” 'for nearly £IOO, and for six months it has remained in the shop, almost unnoticed. Madame Nalicr denied that-the picture was an original, but, she said that it was a' very good copy and w r as worth.a lot of money. She added that she Avould not have parted with it had she been able to avoid doing so. Mr. J. S. McDonald, director of the Sydney Art Gallery, ‘was called iu as an independent critic, and he, too, thinks that it is a copy, • though, he acids, “this is more a matter of my personal belief than of actual evidence. If it is a copy, it is a very, very good one, and no one in Australia could state a definite opinion one way or the other. One would need to have access to a genuine Murillo, such as there are in London aud Paris, and then to live with the picture for a Avcck. Madonnas were Muriilo’s strong suit. There is a, bit of painting on one of the sleeves that looks as if it has been put on to represent another type of painting.’ AnyhoAAq the find will be put to the test.