THE EX-KAISER.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1919, Page 12

THE EX-KAISER.

1 EX-KAISER'S PICTURES WILL THEY BE SOLD? The former German Emperor owned hundreds of paintings, coming from the brushes of the world's greatest, masters,

which hang upon the wo.lls of the G5 palaces that belonged to him.

There is a possibility of the pictures coming inlo the open market, the new dcmor-nicy in Germany feeling that one of tlio fti'M; sources of revenue to meet tJfu financial claims of tlie Allies may well come from the properties of the Hoheiwollwns, tl>e nobility, ana tne j mil; pi's. Included in Willielm's collection are 110 fewer than 1!) undoubtedly genuine works by Rubens, acknowledged as the greatest; of Flemish painters. Five hundred thousand pounds would not purchase these pictures under ordinary conditions, indeed their price mignt well run to nearer £.1,000,000, for among them is that wonderful "Holy Family," now in the palace of Sans Sonci, near Berlin, also "Mars and Venus," hanging on the walls at Koenigsberg. -Ail of his galleries are rich in ex* araples of the French romantic school, many of these works having been collected by Frederick the Great, who wa.s so great a lover of everything French, from aft to philosophy.

There are at least 50 of the finest of this French school, and' their price might run up to almost any figureSome rare examples of the older German art and many of Netherlands iiiul Italian masters fill out the spaces pu. the wall* ef ujaw >u'|u