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THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE AMERICAN INVASION

EITHER the motor craze nor man's natural tendency to dispense with luxuries in bad times quite explains the present depression in the art

world. People have still got money for frocks and entertainments and the thousand expensive amusements which modern civilization exacts from its victims, but as far as works of art are concerned everyone is a pauper or a seller. The world of course is in the throes of an economic crisis, which wars and rumours of wars have intensified; but a retrospect over the history of the last few years makes us inclined to think that collectors and dealers have themselves helped to create the situation by which they are now embarrassed.

The trouble began when America invaded the European art market to buy pictures of the Barbizon school. Before that time the American collector was only a spasmodic buyer who had no knowledge of art, and would, if properly handled, buy forgeries and third-rate pictures that any educated European would laugh at. It was long before Americans became aware of this, and when they did become aware of it they made a grave mistake. Instead of themselves acquiring some knowledge of art, or paying another to acquire it for them, they merely became cautious, and bought nothing which was not already accepted by collectors in Europe.

Before the consciousness of America was thus roused she had bought little but rubbish. The time of her awakening coincided with that of the patronage, after twenty-five years' hesitation, of the Barbizon painters by Europe. The American in due course followed suit, and with characteristic impetuosity entered the market bent on acquiring the greatest number of examples in the shortest possible time.

The dealers upon this side of the Atlantic were not slow to appreciate the situa

The

tion, and prices rose by leaps and bounds. Private owners were induced to part with their cherished possessions by the enormous profits which were held out to them, and for many years the exodus of good modern pictures from Europe continued. culminating point with regard to this particular school seems to have been reached with the sale of Millet's Angelus.' Whilst the boom lasted, however, European buyers became fewer and fewer. They recognized that there was a limit to the price which could legitimately be paid for the products of genius of even such men as Corot or Millet, Rousseau or Daubigny, and wisely gave themselves over to collecting other

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men.

Yet the spirit of collecting was still in its infancy in America. The fascination grew, and its devotees no longer restricted themCollecselves to one school or period.

tors arose for every kind of picture in turn which enjoyed popularity in Europe. Further, as the appreciation of pictorial art generally acts as a prelude to a development of taste in other directions, the entire field of collecting was gradually covered by the enterprising American.

The immediate result was a general rise of prices in Europe, due to the increasing number of wealthy collectors, the necessarily limited supply of the objects which appealed to them, and the fact that they always followed the market instead of leading it. But the increased values made as yet but an imperceptible decrease in the number and enthusiasm of European connoisseurs, and the dealer still found them his largest customers.

Then came the American boom, and, backed by marvellous prosperity, enormously wealthy Americans came into the In their dealmarket with renewed zest. ings with these millionaires the dealers found that if they had the desired object

This picture has, of course, returned to France, and is now

at Paris in the collection of M. Chauchard, who paid £32,000 for it. Millet originally sold it for £60.

almost any sum could be demanded and obtained. Many therefore threw over a large portion of their smaller business in Europe, by which they had previously existed, and scoured the Continent for things which they knew would find ready buyers in America. Many succeeded, and it was an open secret that they made immense sums from a few large transactions. Prices rose quickly, and at one time there seemed to be no limit to the sums which could thus be realized.

The effect on the European collector was tremendous. At first he bought less, then he altogether ceased to buy; finally he became a seller. In spite of this the supply of fine things became exhausted, and then came the turn of second-rate things. These were eagerly purchased by the trade and readily sold, and in their train came the frauds and 'fakes,' in which perhaps the largest business of all was done. But another boom-that in South Africa-was in progress at the same time, and caused values to increase still further. The men, however, who had made money in Africa exercised a commendable prudence. They were prepared to pay large sums for really fine things, but they needed assurances of their genuineness, and took measure to secure expert advice, which only two or three Americans had done.

Unreasonable as it may now seem, the dealers during this time seemed to imagine that the period of prosperity could be indefinitely prolonged, and hence did not hesitate to continue buying at prices which they would have regarded as insane a few years before. Private owners, too, were not slow in taking advantage of the opportunity, and took care that the dealer did not reap all the profits.

Now all is changed. Instead of enjoying prosperity both America and South Africa are in difficulties. Immense fortunes are no longer being made, and those who have money are fully employed in

endeavouring to keep it. The dealer is thus placed in an awkward position. He must look to Europe once more for his customers, and in a measure he looks in vain, because prices have been forced so high that the majority of European collectors cannot and will not pay them. On the other hand, those who have art property to dispose of have quite an artificial idea of its value, and the dealers dare not buy it, as their only market for it is no longer available. With their customary pluck they are putting on a bold face and making a good show in the sale-rooms, but it is notorious that very little business is being transacted, and such as does exist shows a very small margin of profit.

Nevertheless, it is no exaggeration to say that there never was a time in which such interest was taken in collecting. There are plenty of would-be collectors who are prohibited from indulging their tastes simply by the large prices which are demanded for the objects which they covet. If prices could only be brought down to a reasonable level, plenty of business could be done. At first there might be a panic, and many who have very large holdings would be hard hit, but those who survived would materially benefit from the increase of business. The finest objects would never fall much in value, because there are so few of them which are not in museums or in the hands of families from whose possession they will not in all probability pass. A Velazquez or a Mantegna, a Cellini or a Donatello, will always find a ready market.

Yet there are objects not of the very first rank which are subject to fluctuation, and these constitute the bulk of the business of the dealer. In times such as the present, from the failure of the supply of the finest things, they usurp the place of the latter, and pass from hand to hand at grossly exaggerated prices. A glaring instance has already been the subject of an article in these columns. The coloured

The Consequences of the American Invasion

print mania will sooner or later receive a check. Many of the specimens even in the finest state are indifferent works of art. But when bad impressions, faked impressions, and actual forgeries command sums which would have been deemed ample for the original pictures twenty years ago, it will be readily seen that an end of the craze may come at any time.

The taste for French furniture and decoration of the periods of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI has also reached a pitch which in the opinion of many is unwarranted by its artistic merits. As much can be obtained now for a second-rate Nattier as for a superb Rembrandt, while a Houdon or a Pigalle commands more attention than a Michelangelo or a Verrocchio. There is nothing, except the actual design of the meuble, in a piece by Leleu or Carbin which could not be produced to-day. Given the requisite time and money any meuble in Versailles or the Louvre can be reproduced. Very few of the finest specimens are obtainable, and, as in the case of prints, inferior ones or copies are brought forward to supply their place.

Again the rage for female portraits of the English school continues. It originated in a demand for superb portraits by men of the first rank, in which a preference was

accorded to those who portrayed a prettylooking girl. But now, the Duchess of Devonshires, the Lady Hamiltons, and the Mrs. Jordans are all absorbed, and we find that taste in women's faces is most catholic and comprehensive, whilst the quality of the painting has become quite a minor consideration.

This state of things is absurd, and the sooner its absurdity is recognized the better. A more healthy tone, coupled with smaller and more numerous sales, will in the end benefit the dealer, who cannot expect to live for ever on the crest of a wave of exceptional prosperity. He might, we think, take a hint from his colleagues who have restricted themselves to things of moderate price, such as good modern pictures, Oriental porcelain, English furniture, and old silver. In periods of depression these men continue to succeed because their wares are within the reach of men of average means, and because they serve a fashion that is set by consistent taste and knowledge, and not by ostentatious wealth. They should not forget, too, that skilful buying in bad times is the well-known secret of successful collecting, so that they need fear no lack of patronage if they have the courage to meet it half-way.

X.

BY ROGER E. FRY.-PART II-(Conclusion)

E have brought our investigation of the growth ofthe great naturalistic movement of the early fifteenth century up to the period of its culmination in the works of Pol de Limbourg, Hubert van Eyck, and the Maître de Flémalle, and we have arrived at a point where the definitely Flemish tradition was being established under John van Eyck and Rogier van der Weydenat a point when it is no longer merely a question of slight indications of racial distinction within a common Franco-Flemish tradition, but of two recognizably separate schools of art, French and Flemish. And this period of separation coincides with great political events, with the civil discords of Burgundians and Armagnacs and the worst period of the hundred years war.

To us who are accustomed to find that even a slight fall in the price of consols means a serious check to the patronage of art, there is something paradoxical in the contrast between the history of this period as we find it in our text books and as we may infer it from the pages of the duc de Berri's manuscripts. Battles between Burgundians and Armagnacs, hired English troops introduced into Paris, riots in the streets, Cabochian butchers in power, and the culminating disaster of Agincourt; when one reads of this one supposes a time of anarchy and desolation, a country laid waste by the greed of rival factions under the rule of a mad king, a helpless prey to the foreigner, without money and without resource; and yet, all the while, the duc de Berri is building château after château, each more sumptuous than the last, and having them portrayed by the de Limbourgs in the richest book of devotions ever made. Nor is the spirit in which these miniatures are conceived less remarkable than the fact

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of their production. It is a spirit of pastoral
gaiety and rustic peace; if we look at the
miniature from the Hours of Etienne Cheva-
lier1 we find the same spirit informing the
work of de Limbourg's great successor, Jean
Fouquet. This perfect little pastoral, with
its distant meadows waving in the May
breezes beneath a pearly blue sky, is as per-
fect an expression of the mood of northern
spring time as one may find. It is so
homely, so familiar to us; the fields with
their rows of stunted willows and the low
wooded height beyond are so like a well-
ordered Kentish landscape of to-day that
here again we find its analogues not in the
art of the Italian Renaissance and all that
succeeded it, but in the aims of the best
modern workers in landscape. It shows at
all events that there were parts of France
in which all the horrors of the hundred
years war, all the intrigues of Burgundians
and Armagnacs, had not interrupted the
happy routine of peasant life. Nevertheless,
the political events did mean something for
art, they meant that Paris was no longer the
great centre of north European culture that
it had been under Charles V. Charles VI
was as rarely in Paris as Charles V was out
of it; and the valley of the Loire, where
the tide of war first turned again in favour
of France, was the chosen asylum of French
royalty. For the fifteenth century the three
central provinces of France replace Paris;
Berri, Touraine, and the Bourbonnais be-
come in turn the centres of the true French
tradition. And with each of these provinces
we may connect the name of a great
patron and a great artist. In Berri, at
Bourges, we find Pol de Limbourg
working for the duc de Berri; in Tour-
aine, Fouquet for Charles VII; in the
Bourbonnais, the Maître de Moulins for
Pierre II de Bourbon. Nor is there wanting
a clear connection between these three

1

1 Reproduced on page 359.

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