Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/542

 118 ART, DRAMA AND MUSIC. [1899.

a wide interval between these results and those of Sir John Kelk's collection, 17,130/. ; of Sir C. Miles', 14,230/. ; H. F. Broadwood's, 11,060/. ; Mrs. Cornelius Herz', 10,920/. ; and Mr. Paterson Pattison's, 8,860/. Next in order came Mr. Birket Foster's, 5,325/. ; Lord Methuen's, 5,320/.; Messrs. Wallis', 5,290/.; Mr. Robert Wharton's, 5,245/. ; and Mr. J. Dole's, 5,030/. The highest prices paid for single pictures were for "A Landscape," by Hobbema (Fowler sale), which fetched 9,5552. ; •« A Holy Family," by Rubens (Miles), 8,715/.; the "Doge's Palace," by J. M. W. Turner (Fowler), 8,610/. ; the "Dairy Farm," by Troyon (Mteville), 6,720/.; "Port Ruysdael" by Turner (Kelk), 5,040/; "The Minuet," by Millais (Kelk), 4,725/. ; " Oxford," by Turner (Fowler), 4,200/. ; " The Cattle Market," by Troyon (Mieville), 3,780/. ; " Portrait of a Gentleman in Black," by Franz Hals (May 13), 3,150/.; and of "A Lady in Black," 2,100/. ; " A Young Lady," by Sir Thomas Lawrence (July 2), 2,940*. ; " A Chat Round the Brasero," by J. Philip, R.A. (Fowler), 2,835/. ; " Coast Scene," by Troyon (Mteville), 2,730/. ; " FSte Champ^tre," by Lancret (Broadwood), 2,572/. ; " Ptarmigan Hill," by Sir E. Landseer (Fowler), 2,100/. ; and two pictures by Rubens, " The Woman Taken in Adultery " and " The Conversion of St. Paul " (W. Mills), which each fetched 2,0472.

The highest price given for a water colour was for Turner's " Lake Nemi " (Fowler), 3,150/. ; Copley Fielding came next with 1,848/., for his " Sussex Downs," and Turner's " Tivoli " was bid up to 1,785/. ; David Cox's " Hayfield," 1,312/. ; Turner's " Edinburgh," 1,050/., and " Pallanxa," 630/. ; all from the Fowler collection. All these showed a great advance upon the prices paid for them by Sir J. Fowler, with the exception of David Cox's " Hayfield," which fell to less than half the price paid for it (2,810/.) at the Quilien sale in 1875. Rossetti with difficulty seemed to maintain the prices paid a few years previously for his works. Turner, Constable, Romney — the old Dutch and the modern French— showed that the popularity for good specimens of their work was steadily increasing.

Several collections of art objects other than pictures were also dispersed during the year, of which the most noteworthy were Lord Methuen's porcelain, 8,145/. ; Mr. Mieville, Oriental porcelain, 7,160/. ; Mr. J. H. McLaren's, 5,236/. ; the Trapnell collection of Worcester china, 6,170/. ; and Lord Henry Thynne's furniture and china, 9,300/. The art collections of Signor Bardini, of Florence, and of Herr Zschille, of Vienna, stand upon a somewhat different basis than those of pure amateurs. Signor Bardini, who as an expert was frequently consulted by the authorities of South Kensington, offered his own gatherings, which included some remarkable bronzes of the Ginquecento period, and the three days' sale realised 31,300/. Herr Zschille's collection was composed of majolica and fatence, and fetched 9,500/. ; Mr. F. Davis's silverplate realised 2,574/.; the De Freville plate 2,220/., and Sir C. Miles' 1,716/. ; the Indian jewellery of Prince Victor Duleep Sing was sold for 3,067/., and the famous Marlborough gems, which came for a second time within a generation into the market, were on this occasion scattered among various buyers, and brought 34,828/. to the repre- sentatives of Mr. Bromilow who had purchased them in 1875 for 35,000/. The first portion of the collection of antiquities and works of art made