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Editor, The Sun        -2-       January 2, 1959

the Frick Collection - where I am happy to report he had a wide audience.  Far from finding American collections "uneven and of questionable authenticity", he specifically pointed out the quality and richness of American collections in this field.  Were it possible to assemble the bronzes from the Walters Gallery, the Widener Collection in the National Gallery of Washington, the Frick Collection - to name only a few - they would rival European collections in quality if not in quantity - whether Italian, English, or the superb collections of Vienna, Berlin and Paris.

As to the Walters exhibition specifically I should like to call attention, for instance, to the delightful "Bust of a Child" attributed to Rosselino (but which may, in fact, be by Luca della Robbia in whose calm beauty one may read the lessons learned by such a modern master as Despiau and inherited, not from the antique, but from Donatello the "modern" of the Italian Renaissance.  Then, again, there is the bronze made from a lost maquette for a large work by Michelangelo (who, by the way, did not produce small bronzes).  Displayed in the case with it is a photograph of a drawing by Michelangelo, dated 1535, shown for the purpose of demonstrating the relationship.

Others (to name them in this already too long letter would add little) are unique, to our knowledge at least; that is, they were cast but once and they were chosen for their aesthetic merit and art historical importance whether they originated in Florence, in Venice, in Padua, in Antwerp, or in Nurenberg.  Contrary to Mr. Sawyer's belief, Henry Walters was a true connoisseur with a remarkable knowledge and understanding; that this led him away from the too-well-trodden familiar paths doubtless accounts for the fact that his aims are not understood by some.

In closing, may I call attention to the exhibition presently being held in Detroit, "The Italian Renaissance", to which the leading museums of this country and Europe have contributed, where the several pieces lent by the Walters Collection are among the most admired.

Yours very sincerely,

Germain Seligman

Editor
The Sun
Calvert and Centre Streets
Baltimore, Maryland