DOI Artikel:
Wood, T. Martin: The national gallery, Melbourne, and the Felton Bequest
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21214#0236
The National Gallery, Melbourne, and the Felton Bequest
advisers. It was under these auspices that pur-
chases were made of works by Puvis de Chavannes,
Corot, Fantin-Latour, Monticelli, Hoppner, Rae-
burn, Constable, Morland, Richard Wilson, James
Charles, and Conder, among other masters. In
1913 the Trustees appointed as their own repre-
sentative and art adviser in London Sir Sidney
Colvin, Mr. Gibson continuing as the representa-
tive of the Bequest Committee. Works by Monet,
Sisley, Boudin, Sir John Millais, and John Lavery
were among those added to the Gallery.
To any one who is even superficially familiar
with nineteenth-century art this list sums up a set
of pictures which hardly leaves a chapter of the
rich history of that period unreferred to. The
nineteenth century will ever be memorable for the
birth in it of the Impressionist movement. It is
improbable that in the future any pictures of the
time will be more highly valued than those that
express that movement. For the movement was
not an experiment, but a reflection of the profound
mental sensibility of the age, art reflecting all the
experiences of refined senses which the strides in
physiological science of the century had taught
men to reverence. It is with regret that we do
not find in the collection the names of the two
great masters of this movement, Manet and Degas,
represented. And this is felt the more acutely
from information that we have that the great
Foyer des Danses by Degas, from the Prince de
Wagram’s collection, was among pictures lost to
the Gallery through indecisive working arrange-
ments between the Bequest Committee and the
Gallery Trustees. This picture, which was offered
to the Gallery at £600, passed into an American
collection at the small price, for so important a
Degas, of ^2500. This is, unfortunately, not the
only instance where the interests of the Gallery
appear to have suffered from a want of a better
working agreement between the Bequest Com-
mittee and the Gallery Trustees and their represen-
tatives in London. There is the notable case of the
Gainsborough Viscount Hampden. It is generally
agreed that there is not another male portrait by
Gainsborough in existence in which the delicate
process of over-painting that characterised his style
remains so unimpaired. The difficulties referred
to have been a sore trial to the Gallery’s London
“ I.ES JALOUX
230
BY ANTOINE WATTEAU
advisers. It was under these auspices that pur-
chases were made of works by Puvis de Chavannes,
Corot, Fantin-Latour, Monticelli, Hoppner, Rae-
burn, Constable, Morland, Richard Wilson, James
Charles, and Conder, among other masters. In
1913 the Trustees appointed as their own repre-
sentative and art adviser in London Sir Sidney
Colvin, Mr. Gibson continuing as the representa-
tive of the Bequest Committee. Works by Monet,
Sisley, Boudin, Sir John Millais, and John Lavery
were among those added to the Gallery.
To any one who is even superficially familiar
with nineteenth-century art this list sums up a set
of pictures which hardly leaves a chapter of the
rich history of that period unreferred to. The
nineteenth century will ever be memorable for the
birth in it of the Impressionist movement. It is
improbable that in the future any pictures of the
time will be more highly valued than those that
express that movement. For the movement was
not an experiment, but a reflection of the profound
mental sensibility of the age, art reflecting all the
experiences of refined senses which the strides in
physiological science of the century had taught
men to reverence. It is with regret that we do
not find in the collection the names of the two
great masters of this movement, Manet and Degas,
represented. And this is felt the more acutely
from information that we have that the great
Foyer des Danses by Degas, from the Prince de
Wagram’s collection, was among pictures lost to
the Gallery through indecisive working arrange-
ments between the Bequest Committee and the
Gallery Trustees. This picture, which was offered
to the Gallery at £600, passed into an American
collection at the small price, for so important a
Degas, of ^2500. This is, unfortunately, not the
only instance where the interests of the Gallery
appear to have suffered from a want of a better
working agreement between the Bequest Com-
mittee and the Gallery Trustees and their represen-
tatives in London. There is the notable case of the
Gainsborough Viscount Hampden. It is generally
agreed that there is not another male portrait by
Gainsborough in existence in which the delicate
process of over-painting that characterised his style
remains so unimpaired. The difficulties referred
to have been a sore trial to the Gallery’s London
“ I.ES JALOUX
230
BY ANTOINE WATTEAU