Page 63 - Studio International - November 1967

exceptions, but the vocation has lost some of its
Supplement autumn 1967 charming eccentricity. The days are gone of the
collector who took his favourite Claude on every
journey, or who when nearing death wandered
anguished through his gallery lamenting, 'all this I
must leave behind me'.
The separation of the work from Its original function
New and recent art books In this respect von Holst's reference to those works
Is probably the most significant issue of art collecting.
(mainly altarpieces), which after a century In galleries
or decades In dealers' hands are now restored to their
original situation, makes particularly interesting (if
sadly brief) reading. The extraordinary vagaries of
fortune that determined a work's final destination
most of us. (Did you know that Zeuxls charged an are only equalled by the vagaries of taste that deter•
Acquisitiveness admission fee to see his Helena?) Occasionally mine its value. The sinking In 1627 of a Swedish ship
familiar art-historical material acquires new meaning that took spoils of war (including three Grunewald
from the book's oblique angle; this might well have altarpieces) to the bed of the Baltic was remarkable
happened more often. It is really several histories both as a tragic loss and for the fact that that cargo
Creators Collectors and Connoisseurs by Nlels von potted Into one: art, collectors' taste, financial values,
Holst. 400 pp. Illustrated throughout, 32 colour plates, was being carried at that time in the flrst place. In
Thames & Hudson, 8 gns. collections and museums, dealing and forgery. As a 1860 the Louvre acquired a major Murillo, then in
work of reference for the separate histories, this demand, at great expense. In 1940 they parted with It
Complaints about the 'rat race' aspects of the con­ makes for heavy going, butthe author's ambition Is for uncomplaining in exchange for a Velasquez portrait
temporary art market have a rather hollow ring along• chronological continuity and the book's peeuliar from the Prado.
side some aspects of that market's long history. Once value lies in his weaving of the long threads. The rest· Finally a very real and Independent stimulus comes
hooked by the collecting lust, the giant European less passage within each chapter from topic to topic from von Holst's Illustrations. Not from the high
collectors developed insatiable appetites; material• and/or from country to country is an almost Inevitable quality of the sparing colour plates or the interest of
istic competition and self-glorification were the corn• consequence. This ls least apparent In the last the documentary material so much as from the
mon motive, military force a common means. Today's chapter (which Includes an Illustrated resume of sequence. The chronology of the book is that of
sharp dealers, agents and forgers have centuries of modern museum policy) if only because all the parties collecting, from Chapter I when the Romans collected
capable ancestors who helped satisfy and re-whet concerned are working on a more comparable basis. Egyptians and Greeks to Chapter 6 when everyone
those appetites. This is the most Immediately interest­ The collectors themselves emerge with no real corn• collects Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and each other.
ing part of the ground that von Holst covers. For a lot mon "denominator in status, In their impulse to collect As a result art-historical chronology undergoes a
of the book one admires his staying power more than or in the span of their taste, Count Isaac de Camon do, succession of arresting permutations. El Greco makes
his Insight. Perhaps translation of his text has major benefactor of the Louvre's collection of lmpres• his dramatic flrst appearance at almost the same time
exaggerated the flat pace at wh lch material of heroic sionist paintings, was also a connoisseur of Oriental as the ancient Near East and is rapidly followed by
scale is unfolded. The subject Is a vast one In which art: Victor Chocquet, champion of Cezanne, also Goya and Gauguin, Africa and archaic Greece, Picasso
objects and presences, tastes and values, diplomacy collected furniture. In the past collectors ranged from and Dosso Dossi. Rembrandt, the Venetians and the
and art history weave In and out of each other, con• the educated aristocrat-connoisseur to the power• Orient are likely to appear any time. The value of this
stantly changing rhythm and dimension. Any one of conscious monarch with a consultant ('Director• experience lies not only in the refreshment of a sur•
Gombrich's many articles on small corners of the General of the delights of my eye' as one 18th century prise juxtaposition, with its Immediate impulse for
subject is lnflnitely more perceptive and stimulating German prince saw his adviser). The consultants were formal re-evaluation. The collective impression of
about the whole field. Von Holst's attempt to be pas• sometimes artists and so later were collectors. In this each chapter's illustrations corrects and enriches our
slvely comprehensive has other merits. If by the end century the main figures-museum directors apart­ visual image of each age or century, based as thls
of the book the subject seems even more complicated, are assorted magnates, most of them destined by is on the art created then. Sometimes there is pre­
It also seems even more seductive. public spirit, tax laws or diplomatic pressure to dictable harmony, sometimes unexpected discord
Quite a lot of the subsidiary material will be new to become museum benefactors, There are probably between them. Nicholas Wadley

M. DOROTHY GEORGE
HOGARTH TO A brilliant description of the racy mixture of High Life, Low Life and the
ever-increasing middle classes from the rise of Hogarth to the 1832
CRUIKSHANK: Reform Bill and the coming of the railways. Only so great an authority as
social change in Mrs George could have evoked the period with such wit and elegance
and chosen the most appropriate prints from what was the golden age of
graphic satire English caricature.
i-
224 pp. 12 x 9' over 200 illustrations. 12 pp. colour. £5 5s. November 9

ALEXANDER CALDER
CALDER snapshots, drawings and photographs of some of his work. 'It is almost
Informal reminiscences by the creator of mobiles, illustrated by family

an Autobiography as pleasant to spend some hours with Sandy's book as it is with himself
with Pictures •.• It's the only art book that I can think of that ever made me laugh.'

N
288 pp. 1 O½ x 8½". illustrated throughout. 12. pp. colour.90s. October 19
ALLEN LANE THE PENGUIN PRESS

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