GIFT TO CITIZENS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1001, 18 June 1930, Page 11

GIFT TO CITIZENS

MEDICI PRINTS COMING FOR ART GALLERY MR, MOSS DAVIS'S PRESENT ‘A gift of outstanding importance to the citizens of Auckland has just been intimated by Mr. Moss Davis, of London,” says Mr. John Barr, director of the Auckland Art Gallery. “The latest gift consists of a selection of 70 examples in reproduction of old master paintings issued by the Medici Society/’ The gift had its origin during the great exhibition of Italian art held in London last year. At that time Mr. Moss Davis wrote to the director of the Art Gallery inquiring if a selection of the Italian pictures issued by the Medici Society would be acceptable, and if so he would be pleased to send them. Mr. Barr replied that not only would the Italian reproductions be acceptable but that examples of the other schools of painting would also be welcomed and would fill a long felt want. Mr. Davis’s response is a letter just received at the Town Hall notifying that he has secured a collection of 70 pictures, comprising 20 examples of Italian masters, 20 English, 20 Dutch and 10 of the French and German schools of painting. These he lias arranged to have framed in the special manner suitable to the pictures by the Medici Society and when ready they will be shipped to Auckland. IMPORTANT GIFT

“This generous gift of Mr. Davis is one of the most important that has been made to the gallery for some time,” Mr. Barr continues. “The collection includes examples of the following artists: Van Eyck, Franz Hats.. Van der Weyden, Hoppeina, Pieter de Hooch, Rembrandt, Kuysch, Ruysdael, Jan Steen, Terboch, Vermeer, Beilin;, Botticielli, Giorgione, Fiiipo Lippi, i Canaletto, Correggio, Cossa, P. della I Francesco, Mantegna, Domenico di Michelino, Raphael, Guido Reni, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, L. F. Abbott, Constable, Gainsborough, Hoppner, Lawrence, Peters, Raeburn, Reynolds, Romney, Turner, Wilson, Corot, Lancret, Le Brun, Watteau, Durer, Holbein, Zucchero and Velasquez.” “Such gifts as these are very welcome, but they are placing a heavy responsibility upon the citizens to find accommodation for them in an already overcrowded gallery.” Mr. Barr says. “Whatever the difficulties, however, they will have to be overcome in this case, first because of the value and importance these pictures have to students and all persons interested in art and secondly, to show the donor that his generous gifts are appreciated by tue citizens ot Auckland in whom he has shown such interest.”