DOI Heft:
No. 325 (April 1920)
DOI Artikel:Finberg, Alexander Joseph: Modern masters at Barbizon House
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21360#0058
MODERN MASTERS AT BARBIZON HOUSE
vate view of the best things in the collection
of the late Sir George Drummond of Mon-
treal, a collection which, sold under his di-
rection, afterwards realized such amazing
prices at Christie's. Among them were two
of the most wonderful water-colours which
Turner produced. Zurich was one of the
last drawings Turner made—he was nearly
seventy when he did it. It is unlike any-
thing on earth, but it has something of the
glamour, the splendour, the terror, and the
transitoriness of the sights one sees in the
skies sometimes as the days draw to a close.
It is a work of genius, vast, unfathomable,
disturbing, awe-producing, and overpower-
ing. No man but Turner could have
painted it, and I should imagine that no
one could look at it without admiring it
and without trembling before the almost
superhuman powers displayed in its pro-
duction. The drawing must have stirred
many memories in Mr. Thomson's mind.
It was once in the possession of the late
Mr. Irvine Smith, an Edinburgh collector
who lived sparingly to devote all his savings
to the purchase of Turner drawings.
Towards the end of his life failure of eye-
sight led him to sell some of his cherished
possessions, and it was Mr. Thomson's lot
to go to Edinburgh to arrange for their pur-
chase. The price he paid for this drawing
appeared large at that time, but Mr. Thom-
son’s courage was justified. The drawing
realized £6510 in the Drummond sale, the
highest price that has yet been paid at
auction for a Turner drawing. 0 0
But remarkable as the Zurich drawing
is, it is yet the work of an old man. It is
garrulous, wilful, and fitful. It has some-
thing of the incoherence and impatience
of an old man's talk. The other Turner
drawing to which I have referred—the
Dudley Castle—was evidently the work of
a younger man. It is just as incommen-
surable as the Zurich, but all the artist's
marvellous powers were more firmly under
control when it was painted. The play of
light from the burning furnaces, from the
dying sun and the rising moon, on the
muddy water of the canal, the smoke of a
manufacturing town, the wooded hill-side
and the ruins of the ancient castle, is
52
RIDEAU D'ARBRES, SOLEIL COU-
CHANT.” BY J. B. C. COROT
vate view of the best things in the collection
of the late Sir George Drummond of Mon-
treal, a collection which, sold under his di-
rection, afterwards realized such amazing
prices at Christie's. Among them were two
of the most wonderful water-colours which
Turner produced. Zurich was one of the
last drawings Turner made—he was nearly
seventy when he did it. It is unlike any-
thing on earth, but it has something of the
glamour, the splendour, the terror, and the
transitoriness of the sights one sees in the
skies sometimes as the days draw to a close.
It is a work of genius, vast, unfathomable,
disturbing, awe-producing, and overpower-
ing. No man but Turner could have
painted it, and I should imagine that no
one could look at it without admiring it
and without trembling before the almost
superhuman powers displayed in its pro-
duction. The drawing must have stirred
many memories in Mr. Thomson's mind.
It was once in the possession of the late
Mr. Irvine Smith, an Edinburgh collector
who lived sparingly to devote all his savings
to the purchase of Turner drawings.
Towards the end of his life failure of eye-
sight led him to sell some of his cherished
possessions, and it was Mr. Thomson's lot
to go to Edinburgh to arrange for their pur-
chase. The price he paid for this drawing
appeared large at that time, but Mr. Thom-
son’s courage was justified. The drawing
realized £6510 in the Drummond sale, the
highest price that has yet been paid at
auction for a Turner drawing. 0 0
But remarkable as the Zurich drawing
is, it is yet the work of an old man. It is
garrulous, wilful, and fitful. It has some-
thing of the incoherence and impatience
of an old man's talk. The other Turner
drawing to which I have referred—the
Dudley Castle—was evidently the work of
a younger man. It is just as incommen-
surable as the Zurich, but all the artist's
marvellous powers were more firmly under
control when it was painted. The play of
light from the burning furnaces, from the
dying sun and the rising moon, on the
muddy water of the canal, the smoke of a
manufacturing town, the wooded hill-side
and the ruins of the ancient castle, is
52
RIDEAU D'ARBRES, SOLEIL COU-
CHANT.” BY J. B. C. COROT