Retrospective Art



It would seem only logical to begin our investigation with the pictures
chronologically oldest, at the same time recognizing that European art
has the right to first consideration. We are the hosts to the art of the
world. Our own art is the newest, and yet occupies a large number of
galleries most conspicuously, but it will not lose by waiting for
attention till the end.

Gallery 63.

Some of the very earliest paintings in the exhibition are found in one
of the large center rooms on the left, where a very stately Tiepolo
controls the artistic atmosphere of a large gallery. This picture has
all the qualities of an old Italian master of the best kind. Its
composition is big and dignified and in the interest and richness of its
color scheme it has here few equals. The chief characteristic of this
splendid canvas is bigness of style. In its treatment it is a typical
old master, in the best meaning of the term.

On the left of this Tiepolo, a rather sombre canvas by Ribera claims
attention by the peculiar lighting scheme, so typical of this Italian
master. While there is what we might call a quality of flood lighting in
the Tiepolo, giving an envelope of warm, mellow light to the whole
picture, Ribera concentrates his light somewhat theatrically upon his
subjects, as in the St. Jerome. The picture is freely painted, with the
very convincing anatomical skill that is manifest in most of Ribera's
work. His shadows are sometimes black and impenetrable, a quality which