Grosvenor Gallery

“ Burne Jones's pictures suggest is to undertake much more than I have either space or ability for; I must content myself with calling them by far the most interesting things in the Grosvenor gallery. They are seven in number, each of them is large and elaborate, and they represent altogether an immense amount of labor, science, and skill. In my own opinion they place their author quite at the head of the English painters of our day, and very high among all the painters of this degenerate time. ”

“ It was at the house now occupied by Sir Alma Tadema that at one time I used to dine with the French painter, James Tissot, a man whose varied moods of changing ambition and alternating ideals leave him almost without a parallel among the painters of the time. Tissot was one of the first contributors to the exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery, his talent at the time being almost entirely preoccupied by a modish type of modern feminine beauty. ”

“ And, by some strange fatality, the doors of the Royal Academy, and of the Grosvenor Gallery, and, indeed, of all the Galleries, British or foreign (especially foreign) , seem inexorably closed to their productions. And having been led thereby, and also by the persistent gnawing of their empty stomachs, to the conviction that it is ever the fate of genius to starve, while mediocrity battens on the fat of the land, they have very sensibly cut the Fine Arts, and taken to commercial pursuits instead; and they are doing uncommonly well. ”

“ In 1884 the two groups by Sir Joshua Reynolds and the portrait of himself were lent by the Society to the Grosvenor Gallery for an exhibition of the collected works of the great master. In March, 1890, on the Society’s removing from Willis’s Rooms, the two fine groups by Sir Joshua were once more deposited on loan with the Trustees of the National Gallery, until the whole collection of pictures was removed and rehung in the Society’s new room in the Grafton Gallery.
During recent years the Society has from time to time added to its pictures. ”

“ If God gives me two years, I shall be content. I live in my little chaumiére near the mausoleum on the banks of the Thames for the six good months of the year, and in my warm dry home in London six bad months, with my sister. You cannot think how the picture of Richard by you was admired at the Grosvenor Gallery, and I put your name over it. I have now got it home again, and I thought he smiled as I brought him back in the cab for joy to get home. . . . There is a great waxwork exhibition in England which is very beautifully done (Tussaud's) . ”

“ Impressionists exhibited their pictures in Paris as early as 1874; not until 1878 were they seen to advantage in London, when Whistler exhibited in the Grosvenor Gallery; and the New English Art Club, founded in 1885, was the outcome of the need of this school to be better represented in its special exhibitions than was possible in other galleries.
In a comprehensive sense Impressionism includes all artists who represent their subjects with breadth and collectiveness rather than in detail—in the way in which we see a view at the first glance, before we have time to apprehend its minor parts. ”

“ This canvas was bought by the French government and now hangs in the Luxembourg.
Zorn was one of those artists who are always showing much originality in the use of their materials and combining this with a sense of humor, which often produces fine results. I went into his back yard one day, and he had a six-foot water color leaning against the house, and was throwing pails of water on it—“bringing it together.” He had a great success at the Grosvenor Gallery with a picture of boats, sails, masts, and the seashore sand, with a fat fish-wife walking toward one. ”

“ As I have intimated, he has painted little but portraits; but he has painted very many of these, and I shall not attempt in so few pages to give a catalogue of his works. Every canvas that has come from his hands has not figured at the Salon; some of them have seen the light at other exhibitions in Paris; some of them in London (of which city Mr. Sargent is now an inhabitant) , at the Royal Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery. ”

“ I felt all right enough about the other rooms, but the drawing-room—that's your room, and I was awfully afraid of not having it exactly as it ought to be. So I went to the girls, and I said, "You know all about these things—just make it what you think Ella will like, and then we can't go wrong!" We had that Grosvenor Gallery paper down first of all. "Choose something bright and cheerful," I said, and I don't think they've chosen badly. ”

“ The Syrian Venus stands against a red sunset sky in which the moon is rising, gazing full face, with large dreamy eyes. On the right and left two angel figures, holding torches, look upwards.
In that year the Grosvenor Gallery was founded and Madox Brown, Rossetti, and Burne-Jones were asked to exhibit. Madox [74] Brown and Rossetti refused, but Burne-Jones accepted. The exhibition of his work there brought him the enormous popularity he enjoyed. ”

“ For the sake of appearances you must make no sudden and obvious change. If you take my advice, you'll cultivate talk of a light, fashionable kind. Literature you mustn't interfere with; I shouldn't advise you to say much about art, except that of course you may admire the pictures at the Grosvenor Gallery. ”

“ One of these exhibitions, that of Old Masters at the Grosvenor Gallery, was organised to raise funds for the purchase of modern pictures for the nation. It was so successful that the committee was enabled to purchase works by Mr. W. Orpen, Mr. Oliver Hall, Mr. H. Muhrman, Mr. A. McEvoy, Mr. W. W. Russell, Mrs. Mary Davis, Mr. John Lavery, and Mr. Gerald F. Kelly; all of which were presented to the Tate Gallery in July. A noble gift of some twenty examples of his art was made by M. Auguste Rodin to the Victoria and Albert Museum in November. ”

“ Gainsborough’ are honoured at the Grosvenor Gallery. In the two large rooms and in the vestibule there are to-day exhibited about a couple of hundred pieces from his brush; the great Sir203 Joshua Exhibition of last winter is felt to be successfully rivalled; and an opportunity is given to the student to perceive the range, the flexibility, the spontaneity of Gainsborough’s art.
Gainsborough, like any other distinct individuality in Art or Letters, is best understood when he is taken simply on his merits, without reference to other personalities who happened to be of his time. ”

“ Whistler receives more abuse than any other painter, and abuse of a kind that implies something also of pity; for when he is{134} not regarded in the light of a wilful wrong-doer, his work is accepted as the expression of a defective intelligence.”
These sentences, I think fairly enough, represent Mr. Whistler’s position at that time, nor had the public estimate of his powers greatly changed when the Grosvenor Gallery was established in 1877. ”

“ I have painted various works, including the 'Days of Creation' and 'Venus's Mirror,' both of which were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877. I have also exhibited 'Deferentia,' 'Fides,' 'St. George,' and 'Sybil.' I have one work, 'Merlin and Vivian,' now being exhibited in Paris. In my opinion complete finish ought to be the object of all artists. A picture ought not to fall short of what has been for ages considered complete finish."
Mr. Bowen: "Do you see any art quality in that nocturne, Mr. ”

“ People admire like sheep his pictures in the Grosvenor Gallery, following each other’s lead because it is the fashion.”
“May 14, Sunday.—An immense luncheon at Mrs. Cavendish Bentinck’s. I sat near Mr. Herbert, the artist of the great fresco in the House of Lords. He described things over which he became almost inspired—how in the Bodleian he found an old MS. about the Magdalen which made him determine to go off at once to St. Maximin in Provence (near La Sainte Baume, the mountain hermitage where she died) to see her skull: that when he reached St. ”

“ The Picture Gallery is but a portion of the improvements contemplated by Lord Grosvenor. The mansion, in the distance of the Engraving is, we believe, to be rebuilt in a correspondent style with the Gallery, and the whole when completed, will be one of the most splendid establishments in the metropolis. ”

“ From the Entrance Hall we pass through the Gothic arch upon the left, along the Great Corridor,—a handsome gallery, near five hundred feet in length, enriched with numerous portraits of the Grosvenor family, as well as a recumbent statue, in marble, of a Sleeping Bacchante,—to the private or Domestic Chapel of the mansion. This is reached by a short gallery to the left, the two gothic windows of which are adorned with medallions of The Resurrection and the Madonna, in richly stained glass. ”

“ Go rather to the National Gallery and see for yourself. Maybe you will then realise that there is more there than paint....
Shallow people talk about accidents. But the wise know that accidents do not happen. The wise know that the War broke out in order that Grosvenor House, where "The Blue Boy" normally resides, and Montagu House, the home of this little Buccleuch lady with skin like an anemone, might be needed for War-work, so that when the pictures were sent to the National Gallery for safer keeping these two might be placed opposite each other in the same room. ”

“ Grosvenor could not but notice the striking resemblance which she bore to those lovely features of the miniature, which was found within the golden band. The child was growing to resemble her unknown mother, and were there any who had ever known the parents, to see their child, they could not but have discovered her descent. As the thought came to Mrs. Grosvenor's mind, she shuddered; and she asked herself if it could ever be that her darling should be torn from her? if another cloud would arise, hiding one more cherished one from her sight? ”

“ Burne Jones, of which I will presently speak, the most interesting work at the Grosvenor is that of Mr. G. F. Watts, the first portrait painter in England. Mr. Watts is serious and manly, gravely and profoundly harmonious in color, and full of style in drawing. Though he has made his reputation by his portraits, which constitute his usual work, I believe he has a great longing to deal with "subjects." He has indulged it in one of the pictures at the Grosvenor, and the result certainly justifies him. "Love and Death" is an allegory, an uncomfortable thing in painting ”

“ The multitude acknowledged its excellence at once, on its being exhibited{46} at the Royal Academy; but the lovers of old art, or of the compositions called classical, complained of the barbarism of boots, buttons, and blunderbusses, and cried out for naked warriors, with bows, bucklers, and battering rams. Lord Grosvenor was so pleased with the picture, that, disregarding the frowns of amateurs, and the cold approbation of the Academy, he purchased it. Galt says that the king questioned West concerning this picture, and put him on his defense of this new heresy in art. ”

“ Groggery. An Americanism for a “grog shop” where 126spirituous liquors only are purveyed; answering to our “Gin Palace.”
Grosvenor Square. The centre of the London estate of the Grosvenor family. Sir Richard Grosvenor was Grand Cup-bearer to George II. The word Grosvenor is Norman-French--i.e. Le Gros Veneur, “the chief hunter.”
Groundlings. The common spectators at the plays referred to by Hamlet in his “Advice to the Players.” The earliest London playhouses were the inn-yards, whose galleries corresponded to our box tiers, while the yard itself was given up to the audience generally. ”

“ In the midst of the business hurry there are several quiet corners where one may quench his thirst for knowledge, and where master-thinkers lend their potent influence. One of these is the Grosvenor Library, the munificent gift of one of Buffalo's pioneers. It is admirably arranged for convenience and comfort, and has a pleasant outlook over a little park between Washington and Main streets. The Library of the Young Men's Association, although containing nearly twice as many volumes as the Grosvenor, is not so largely frequented, but is, nevertheless, a great resort for readers. ”

“ Those at the upper end of the room represent Sir Gilbert le Grosvenor, who came over from France at the time of the Norman invasion, with his uncle, Hugh Lupus, and Joan or Jane Lady Grosvenor, heiress of Eaton in the reign of Edward the Fourth. The room contains full-length portraits of the late Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster, by p. 101Jackson, R.A.; Abigail meeting David, by Rubens; and the Judgment of Paris, after Rubens, by Peters. The walls of the dining-room are richly ornamented.
The ante-drawing-room is very elegant ”

“ The night was wild, and the voices of the breakers rose loud, as if responding to the angry aspect of nature; yet peace sat beneath the roof of Mrs. Grosvenor's dwelling. The evening lamps were lit, and as Mrs. Grosvenor produced a small casket and laid it on the centre-table, she thought within herself,--it was much such a storm only a few days after our dear one came to us. Mr. Alboni sat with bowed head, as the mother proceeded to bring forth evidences which should identify her darling child as being of the descent and lineage of another line of ancestors than hers ”

“ When at Lord Grosvenor's or Lord Stafford's I have been seated opposite to some beautiful Italian landscape, a Claude or a Poussin, with a hill crowned with olives, a ruined temple, a group of peasants seated on a fallen column, or dancing to the pipe and the guitar, and over all the crimson glow of evening, or the violet tints of morning, I have exclaimed with others, "How lovely! how picturesque, how very poetical!" No one thought of saying "How natural!" because it is a style of nature with which we are totally unacquainted ”