International studio (80.1925)

inCSRHAClOnAL

the summer of 1923 and the
famous loan group at the Du-
veen Galleries in the spring of
1924 many of Mr. Kahn's paint-
ings have become known to the
art-loving public. But to see
them in their proper setting is
an experience apart for the room
and its contents represent re-
straint and plan to a pitch of
perfection I know nowhere else
among American collections.

Conceive a long and ex-
quisitely proportioned room,
flooded with sunlight from tall
windows opening to the south
and west, with a grey stone
floor, grey walls with a pale
yellow tint on their frescoed
surface, a grey ceiling with an
oblong panel in its centre con-
sisting of a border with two clas-
sical decorations suggesting
some medieval Puvis de Cha-
vannes, all miraculously toned
with a patine suggesting the
passage of centuries. Two bands
of time-toned yellow with pale
green leaves in fresco everv-
where outline the architectural
leatures of this ceiling. A great
and ancient carpet from the
East contributes a dull rose soft-
ness to the grey floor. On it
stand a superb carved table,
walnut stools of the sixteenth
century, waxy-yellow in tone,
ornate Savoronola and folding
chairs of the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. Two cassoni
of the early Renaissance stand
against the walls and have some
of the smaller paintings on their
tops. A rare Gothic tapestry of
lustrous reds and yellows hangs
against the east wall, two smaller
panels hanging high between
the windows of the south wall.
And on chest and table, pedestal
and wall niche stand lovely little
Gothic wood carvings making

'"madonna and child enthroned" by giovanni baronzio ^ q{ form and coioj.

against the walls, their placing

palazzo. Through the exhibition at the Klein- being not the least of the perfection of this Italian
berger Galleries in 1917, the exhibition of Italian room which recreates the past with poignant beauty.
Renaissance art at the Metropolitan Museum in And then there are the pictures for which all

two eighty

January 1925