A New Artistic Departure

Progress, Volume IX, Issue 10, 1 June 1914, Page 1116

A New Artistic Departure

By K. BUTTERWORTH

Medici Prints in Christchurch

A scheme which was started eighteen months ago in Canterbury has now ripened into being, and the result is a very notable and beautiful artistic success. The Art Gallery of Christchurch has become possessed of a collection of reproductions of the old masters, known as Medici prints, so-called from the Society in London under who.se auspices they are produced. It is hoped that these pictures will prove of great educational value, whilst giving pleasure to an increasing number of art lovers and students, and that they may form the nucleus of a much larger collection in time to come. The work of the Medici Society is well known, and their reproductions are considered “the finest ever produced.” This is the verdict of Mr. Mann, the director of the Art Gallery at Sydney, which possesses 40 of their prints. In South Africa, where private munificence is establishing a splendid gallery of originals, such as we so greatly desire for ourselves, a travelling collection of Medici prints recently went through the Dominion. The people flocked to see them, and the result was extraordinarily successful. The value of the Medici Society’s work is beyond question, blit in establishing a permanent collection Christchurch is doing pioneer work. The prints are in colour, and faithfully reproduce the originals. The faintest fresco is copied with the same exactness as the most gorgeous panel picture. Indeed, two of, the most notable pictures in the collection are Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and “St. Francis and the Birds,” in which the tender and almost vanishing tints, with the wonderful sentiment of the original frescoes, are produced in a marvellous way. The scheme, which is now so successfully accomplished, originated about 18 months ago. At the request of a few art lovers, the Art Gallery Committee consented to accept and to suitably house such a collection if it could be procured. A small committee was formed, who chose examples of the various schools of painting from the illustrated catalogue of the Medici Society. A personal appeal was then made to likely donors in all parts of Canterbury, which met with a ready response. One great feature of the exhibition is the beautiful framing of the pictures. These frames are reproductions of the best Italian models, and greatly enhance the beauty and value of the pictures. A great many donors gave both the frame and picture. In many cases these frames are of greater value than the prints, blit absolute harmony is maintained between the two. The Committee were fortunate in being able to land the pictures free of duty, as they were for the Art Gallery, and were much helped also by the Shipping Company’s generous treatment as to freight. The result is a real step forward in the march of progress. Whether viewed as a delight to the eye, as an opportunity for education, as a joy to those who love the originals, or as a preparation to those who hope to see them, the collection is one which any town migh + bo proud to possess. The scheme is

capable of the utmost extension. In America, for instance, classes of .school children are taught much about art by the help of these reproductions, small replicas of which are furnished to the schools, prizes being given for the best arrangement of the pictures. In this way a taste for the really beautiful is .stimulated, knowledge gained, and interest in art aroused. It is hoped later on to form a "Medici Guild," which will keep up interest in the movement. Lectures and classes will also be arranged as opportunity offers. The formal presentation of the prints to the Art Gallery took place at the private view of the pictures, and already others are promised, whilst .some are still on their way out, so that the Medici print collection may well be considered a living and growing movement, with a great future before it. A few of the pictures may be mentioned as especially fine, such as Botticelli's "Primavera," Raphael's "Granduca Madonna," Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne," Carpaccio's "Vision of S. Ursula," and Franz Hal's wonderful "Portrait of W. van Heythusen," who stands before us in his sumptuous pride as in the flesh. Such pictures would give distinction to any collection, and there are many such which carry the mind back to the galleries of Europe and the greatest achievements of art.