International studio (36.1908/1909(1909))

voted him a load of peat
fuel and a pension of
200 gulden (less than
^20) to relieve his desti-
tutioninhis hoary old
age ! Perhaps the vagaries
of artistic reputation have
never been so poignantly
iHustrated as in the case
ofFranzHals, tbatisit
such reputation is to be
measured by auction
prices, for until some forty
years ago, when Lord
Hertford astonished the
art world by paying 2,000
guineas for A<z&g/%272^
C<3P<3&7* of the Waiiace
Coliection, a Franz Hals

says, " has( suffered more
than most men from iack
of appreciation." But our
readers will not require to
be told that England is
not the only country in
which the vagaries of
artistic reputation are
strange enough to excite
astonishment. Only last
month reference was made
toanAmericaniandscape
painterwhosepicturesare
now fetching substantial
prices, whereas right up
to his death, some ten
years ago, he found it
difHcuit to seii one. And
isnottheDutchmaster
whose art forms the sub-
ject of our hrst articie this
month another case in
point? And,again,whatof
that great Dutch painter of
an eariier generation, one
of whose works has been
recently acquired by the
British nation for the enor-
mous sum of ^25,000 ?
Yet Franz Hais' country-
men no doubt thought
they were treating him
very generousiy when they
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