Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/331

Rh arouse in the minds of the beholders a more lively understanding of the history and development of our city, and, while delighting the eye, will convey an important lesson in the very best and most effective way—that is, unconsciously. A population like ours is greatly in need of some powerful stimulation of this kind to weld together all its heterogeneous elements. But let it not be supposed that this is the only end to be attained; such brilliant spectacles are a good in themselves and none will appreciate this more thoroughly than those whose life is merely a sad and monotonous struggle for their daily bread. On this occasion the poorest and the richest will share equally in the enjoyment of the various splendid and artistic spectacles.

Of the special exhibitions which have been organized by the Art and Historical Exhibits Committee, the most important is the magnificent collection of masterpieces by Dutch painters which will be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Fifth Avenue and Eighty-second Street. Never before have so many splendid examples of Dutch art been gathered together in the United States; indeed, the exhibition as a whole has never been rivaled even in Europe. Here may be seen no less than thirty-five Rembrandts, a larger number than exist in any permanent collection, except that of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Then there are nineteen portraits by Franz Hals, who is only inferior to Rembrandt among the Dutch portraitists, and five specimens of the work of Vermeer van Delft, whose pictures are extremely rare, there being only thirty authentic examples extant. Besides the works of these artists there are fine and characteristic pictures by Jacob and Salomon Ruysdael, Cuyp, Hobbema, Metsu, Van Ostade and many others who were contemporaries of Henry Hudson. These works come from the finest private collections in the United States and many years will pass before an equally favorable opportunity will be afforded for the study of Dutch pictorial art.

The special exhibition also embraces a large and valuable collection of furniture, silver, pewter, porcelain and glass, produced in this country between 1625 and 1815, the year of Fulton's death; and there is also a fine collection of paintings by American artists born before 1800, including pictures by Woolaston, Copley, West, Allston, Peale, Stuart, Trumbull, Fulton, Doughty, etc.

We have all read of the Indians who were settled on Manhattan Island before the arrival of Henry Hudson, but few realize how many relics of these aborigines have been found here, especially at the upper end of the island. A large and valuable collection of these relics may be seen in the American Museum of Natural History, at Central Park West and Seventy-seventh Street, and a classic monograph, written by Dr. Clark Wissler, can be obtained at the same place, and will enable the visitor to understand the significance of the various relics. The