ART TREASURES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 October 1941, Page 7

ART TREASURES

? ACCOMMODATED IN CANADA DURING WAR. THREE FAMOUS PAINTINGS. OTTAWA. Three distinguished “war guests” have arived from England, and are at home to the Canadian public in the National Gallery of Canada at Ottawa. Thev are masterpieces which used to hang in the National Gallery in London, and they will be kept in Canada for the duration of the war. Earliest of the three is the wellknown picture of “The Graham Children,” painted by William Hogarth in 1742, and it is considered one of his finest works. Four children are seen at various tasks. The freshness of the skin tones, the bright eyes, and . the sheen on the satin in their clothes is as vivid today as in the period in which the picture was painted. Something of Hogarth’s masterly touch is found in a beautifully-painted cat over the boy’s chair. , ' The second is John Constable’s ‘‘Salt Box, Hampstead Heath,” painted in 1822, which is a landscape of particular charm. The third painting is J. M. Turner’s “Burial at Sea of Sir David Wilkie,” dated 1884. Sir David is remembered as the artist who executed the famous “Blind Fiddler” and “Blind Man’s Buff.” He died aboard ship on his way home from the Far East, and was buried at sea off Gibraltar. In Turner’s work, Gibraltar is visible in the soft haze of the background. This artist is generally recognised as the father of modern landscape painting, and of the impressionist school. The three pictures ,part of the Masterpieces of Art exhibition recently held in Detroit, came to Ottawa through an arrangement between the National Gallery and Sir Kenneth Clark, director of London’s National Gallery. They are among the finest examples of the works of these artists, and we are privileged to have the pictures for the duration,” Mr H. 0. McCurry, director of the National Gallery of Canada, stated.