Viewing page 50 of 64

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

so well the pallor and thoughtfulness of the venerable statesman as to place it in the front rank of portraiture. These and several other portraits of distinguished men were commissioned by a man whose acquaintance Durand made at that time—Mr. Luman Reed, whose friendship had a lasting effect on the career of the artist. Mr. Reed was the first American who formed a collection wholly composed of works of our own artists. Besides several portraits, he ordered historical subjects, and his warm friendship and enlightened and generous treatment of Durand, as well as of Cole, Mount, Flagg, and other American artists, gave an impetus to the art of our country, and was soon followed by others in the same spirit. The portrait of Mr. Reed (exhibited in the Durand collection at Ortgie's Gallery), the property of Mr. Sturges, is a truthful likeness of one of the noblest of our New York merchants. The collection he formed became, after his death, through the liberality of his relatives and friends, The New York Gallery of Fine Arts, since united to that of the Historical Society.

A group of New York merchants, warm friends of Durand, caught Mr. Reed's spirit, and distinguished among them was Jonathan Sturges, who formed a valuable collection wholly of American art, aided liberally in the establishment of the New York gallery,

and in connection with Chas. M. Leupp, another noble friend of our artists, furnished a large amount of money toward the purchase of ground and building of the galleries in Broadway opposite Bond St., owned by the Academy, and in which exhibitions were held for several years.

Abraham M. Cozzens should be remembered as associated with these gentlemen in the liberal and intelligent cultivation of art, and who, by his enthusiasm, aroused a similar spirit in a large circle of friends, such as Marshall O. Roberts, Robert M. Oliphant, Wm. H. Osborn, and others.

The engraving of Musidora, executed from an original design by Durand, is a work of this period, and was done to try his skill in engraving the nude figure. It is a charming work, but the taste of the public did not lead in that direction ; on the contrary, there was then a decided prejudice against nude figures, and, consequently, the Musidora, which is a beautiful and graceful figure and finely engraved, failed to secure the admiration its merits deserved.

The figure subjects and portraits which chiefly occupied the time of Durand at this period show that he considered this the department he was to follow. The passion for landscaper had not yet taken complete possession of his mind. the difficulty of procuring