USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884 Volume II > Part 47
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FIFTHI DECADE, 1870-1880.
The rooms of the League are at No. 38 West Fourteenth Street. The officers for 1883 were : W. St. John Harper, president, and Miss G. Fitz Randolph, corresponding secretary.
The auction sale of the collection of Mr. James M. Burt in the panic ties of 1857 proved that works of art were a good investment. In 1863 came the sale of Mr. John Wolte's collection -French, German, Flemish, Dutch, and a few English and American pietures. They realized $114,000, an amount never before reached in this country, and for many years unsurpassed. The dispersion of these fine works assisted very much in the found- ing of collections by Messrs. J. T. Johnston, R. L. Stuart, A. T. Stewart, Robert Hoe, A. Healy, and others. In 1864 S. P. Avery sold by auction a number of French paintings and water-color drawings ; $36,000 was realized, a Troyon bringing the largest sum, $3150. In 1867 he sold his private collection of 120 cabinet pictures by American artists for $18,250, a head by Elliott bringing the largest price, $500. In 1868, 181 paintings of various schools were sold for $44,850, one by Bouguereau for $1550. In 1972, 156 paintings brought $47,670, a Boughton reaching the sum of $2200. The same year the Vanderlip collection sold for $23,600, one by Riefstahl reaching $2700. In 1875 Mr. Gandy sold his collection for $36,570, a Bierstadt reaching $2100. In 1876 Colonel J. Stricker Jenkins's collection sold for $60,025, an Eseosnra fetching the highest price, $2600. During the same year the galleries of Mr. John Taylor Johnston, who for some twenty years had been a most generous patron, were scattered. The collection consisted of 191 works in oil, 132 in water-colors, and some marble statnes. The artists of various nations were included in this famous gathering, and the sales realized the unprecedented sum of $328, 286, Church's " Niagara" bringing the highest price, $12,500. In 1877 the R. M. Olyphant collection of paintings, exclusively by American artists, reahzed $13, 620, Kensett's " Autumn on Lake George" selling for $6350. In 1868 the late Governor Latham's (of California) collection of 83 pictures brought $101,205-Gérôme the largest amount, $5500. In 1879 the joint collections of Messrs. Sherwood and Hart realized the sum of $77,950, a Knaus reaching $3300. In the same year Mr. Albert Spencer sold 71 paintings for $82,500, a Gérôme bringing $5000. In 1880 the Nathan collection brought $39, 117, a Bouguerean at. $6600. The same year Mr. J. Abner Harper sold 144 works for $106,700, a Van Marcke realizing $3725. In 1882 a part of the collection of Messrs. Morton and Hoe sold for $50,570; one by Regnault brought $5900. In 1883, 66 pictures belonging to Mr. J. C. Runkle sold for $66, 195, one by Millet for $3550. The fact that during the dates given above thirty-four collections of works of art, sold at anetion by Messrs. Leeds, Somer- ville, Leavitt, and other auctioneers, under the direction of Mr. Avery, realizing the total of $1, 427,870, will give an idea of the extent of the art traile. The highest price ever paid at auction was for Church's " Niagara," bought for the Corcoran Gallery. At the Blodgett sale his " Heart of the Andes" brought $10.000. Mr. James G. Bennett paid for a small Meissonier, eight by ten inches, at the Johnston sale, $11,500; at the same sale Turner's " Slave Ship" brought $10,000. At Mr. John Wolfe's second auction, 1882, a Bouguerean sold for $10,100.
The well-known house of Messrs. George A. Leavitt & Co. sold in 1871 the Alexander White collection for $31,000 : in 1872, Legrand Lockwood's gallery for $76,520, a Bier- stadt bringing $5100 ; the same year a portion of the gallery of Mr. Belmont for $52,250. In 1873 the Everard collection brought 896, 180 ; in 1877 the Newcombe collection real- ized 834,900, and the Maynard collection $49,000. In 1831, the Reid collection, $70,600 ; and the Coale collection, 871.477. In 1852 the John Wolfe collection of $2 works re dized $131, 815 : a work by Cut sold for $100.
These statistics show how important the art interest has become. There is no way of
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
One of the most important discoveries in the realm of art is the process of photographic engraving, made by Mr. John C. Moss, the chief of the Moss Engraving Company, of Nos. 333-537 Pearl Street.
arriving at the sum of money annually spent in New York for objects of art of various kinds at private sale ; the Messrs. Leavitt's sales alone often foot up over half a miil- ion. The sums invested by the leading dealers-Knoedler, Schaus, Avery, Reichard, and others -- would be a surprise to most persons. Then there are the sales made at the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design, Society of American Artists, the Water-Color Society, Artists' Fund, ete. The purchases made at one of the exhibitions of the National Academy have reached as high as $40,000. There is no accounting for the amount annually sold by the artists themselves, and they number over five hundred, their productions going all over the Union, and even to foreign countries. As an evidence of the interest taken by the public in the exhibitions of works of art, we may refer to the Loan Collection exhibited in 1876 at the Academy of Design and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (then in Fourteenth Street). The sum netted was nearly $40,000, which was applied to the extinguishment of the debts of these institutions. The paintings shown at one of the annual receptions of the Union League Club have been insured for the sum of $400,000. At the present time (December, 1883) there is on exhibition in the galleries of the National Academy of Design a loan collection of paintings and various objects of art, rare and valuable, which are insured for over one million dollars, the object being to raise funds to assist in erecting on Bedloe's Island a pedestal for Bar- tholdi's statue of Liberty enlightening the World.
The money annually spent for European and Oriental porcelain is large, single vases often selling for from one thousand to five thousand dollars. It frequently happens that paintings by such celebrated artists as Meissonier, Rousseau, Troyon, Millet, Decamps, Gérôme, Bouguereau, Knaus, Rosa Bonheur, Diaz, Munkacsy, Fortuny, etc., are sold at prices ranging from one thousand to fifty thousand dollars. The late Mr. A. T. Stewart paid Meissonier the sum of 300,000 franes ($60,000) for his picture called " 1807," troops defiling past Napoleon on their way to battle, the duty and other expenses increasing the cost to $67,000. This, we believe, is the largest amount ever paid for any painting imported into this country, and it is believed that if it were now offered for sale it would bring a much larger price. Recently Mr. H. G. Marquand of this city purchased from the Marquis of Lansdowne a head of a burgomaster on a small canvas, by Rembrandt, for which he paid $5000 ($25,000) and expenses.
To go into detail regarding the number and value of the thousands of works of art in collections, now numbering hundreds, would require too much space, and would be monotonous in the repetition of the names of world-renowned artists. Masterpieces of art can be found in the homes of persons whose unobtrusive lives and modest establish- ments would seem to preclude the possibility of such possessions. In addition to the large amount invested in works of art in this city, we must also bear in mind the conse- quence New York is assuming as the art centre of the Union, from whence is distributed works of art to the most remote States. It is not within the province of this article to refer to collections formed outside of this city, but we may mention the one so recently and so liberally made by that generous resident of Brooklyn, Mr. George I. Seney. It is in numbers hardly second to any in this city, and in artistic and pecuniary value is not outranked by many. The freedom with which he loans his treasures for any good cause is worthy of commendation and imitation. Messrs. A. Healy, John T. Martin, H. T. Cox, Kenyon, Graves, Howell, and others have collections of more or less note in our sister city.
M. Rug
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FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
So early as 1813 Nicephorus Niepce, a Frenchman, attempted to pro- duce engraved plates for printing from by the aid of sunlight. He died without accomplishing such a result, but he won renown as a coworker with Daguerre in perfecting a great discovery. Others sub- sequently attempted to produce engravings or etchings by heliographic
It may be interesting to put in alphabetical order the names of some of the best known collectors -- viz. : J. J. and William B. Astor, R. Arnold, S. F. Barger, S. L. M. Barlow, J. A. Bostwick, August Belmont, T. R. Butler, H. R. Bishop, J. G. Bennett, G. R. Blan- . chard, E. S. Chapin, George C. Clarke, T. B. Clarke, James B. Colgate, S. J. Colgate, Israel Corse, R. L. Cutting, Charles A. Dana, Joseph W. Drexel, W. B. Dinsmore, E. Davis, J. M. Fiske, H. C. Fahnestock, H. M. Flagler, R. Gordon, M. Graham, C. K. Garrison, Jay Gould, F. Harper, J. A. Harper, H. Hilton, R. H. Halstead, C. P. Hunting- ton, H. O. Havemeyer, Theodore Havemeyer, G. G. Haven, Robert Hoe, estate of Samuel Hawk, M. K. Jesup, R. L. Kennedy, L. Konntze, H. G. Marquand, Mrs. E. D. Morgan, J. P. Morgan, Mrs. Charles Morgan, D. H. MeAlpin, J. Milbank, O. D. Munn, T. B. Musgrave, D. O. Mills, H. V. Newcombe, C. J. Osborne, W. H. Osborn, Dr. F. N. Otis, J. W. Pinchot, J. L. Riker, W. Rockefeller, Mrs. M. O. Roberts, James A. Raynor, Albert Spencer, Charles S. Smith, James H. Stebbins, Mrs. Paran Stevens, Mrs. A. T. Stewart, Mrs. R. L. Stuart, Mrs. Jonathan Sturges, L. Tuckerman, W. H. Vanderbilt, C. Vanderbilt, W. K. Vanderbilt, F. W. Vanderbilt, P. Van Volkenbergh, Mrs. B. D. Worsham, C. F. Woerishoffer, Miss C. Wolfe. Many of these collections are not large, but each one contains gems of cost and high merit, worthy of a place in the most famous galleries. It would be impertinent to dwell upon the cost of individual paintings, or to estimate their aggregate value, but some general knowledge may be gathered from the facts given above. We may, however, venture to say that these eighty collections will easily average in value one hundred thousand dollars-say $8,000,000 in the aggregate- but it is quite probable that forty of these would realize that amount.
The most valuable of any of these collections is that belonging to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt. His two superb galleries contain about two hundred pictures, the average cost and artistic merit of which are much beyond those of any collection in the country. Their value must considerably reach over a million dollars. We have not the space to catalogue these gems of art -- they are well known to thousands of our people, thanks to the facilities given by the owner, who so generously shares with the whole country the study and enjoyment of the masterpieces of art produced by the great painters of the past fifty years-the best known of which, like Meissonier (one of whose works is, for its size, probably the most valuable painting in the country), Millet, Diaz, Tadema, Rous- sean, Dupré, Domingo, Knans, Rosa Bonheur, etc., are represented by the half dozen. The formation of this grand collection, made with such care and cost, gives assurance that it will always remain intact, a possession for our city.
But few of our collectors have regular picture galleries, like Mr. Vanderbilt, Belmont, Stewart, and Roberts, but have their possessions distributed about their houses. This precludes the admission of the public, but most of the owners freely loan them from time to time for charitable and other purposes, and thus they become known and are enjoyed by large numbers of persons. For want of space the names of many worthy patrons of art are omitted, as well as other facts of much interest ; but those we have · mentioned will show the reader how extended and important is the art impetus of the time.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
processes, but it was reserved for Mr. Moss to perfect what others had failed to do.
Mr. Moss entered upon his investigations and experiments in the fall of 155s, after reading accounts of the attempts of Professor Grove, of England, to etch upon a daguerrian plate by means of electricity. Ho was then a resident of a village in the interior of Pennsylvania. Ho needed a galvanic battery for his experiments. Unable to buy one, he constructed a rude one himself. His first experiments promised speedy success, but he was compelled to wait and suffer in expectation, pov- erty, and wasting privations and worriment for many years before he grasped the coveted prize. The story of his struggles forms one of the most interesting chapters in the romance of inventions, worthy of the minutest record, but space will allow only the most meagre outline sketch.
Mr. Moss, working as a journeyman printer in Philadelphia. after trying various processes for etching on zine and lithographie stone. tried the gelatine process, by which a matrix was formed, and in it a metal plate cast, and from this impressions might be printed typo- graphically. After spending nearly three years in experiments with this process, he became satisfied that pictures equal in finish to good wood-engravings could not be produced by it. He tried other meth- ods, and finally, in 1867, he succeeded in making good relief plates for typographie printing. . Mr. Moss had removed to New York City. where he brought his discovery into practical use, and finally to its present perfection. With others he formed the Actinic Engraving Company, which was incorporated in 1871. It was succeeded the next year by the Photo-Engraving Company. Mr. Moss dissolved his con- nection with this company in 1880 and founded the establishment now known as the Moss Engraving Company. It is believed to be the most extensive engraving establishment in the world, employing about 200 persons, who do the work of 2000 wood-engravers. This company has turned out millions of engravings. for every conceivable purpose, in apparent perfection, and yet Mr. Moss contemplates great improve- ments.
The process of producing pictures which was discovered by Mr. Moss is not patented. Some of the most important elements in it are not of a kind that a patent would protect. Much of the work is performed openly, and that which is not is performed by a few persons whose interest and trustworthiness make its secrets safe in their hands. The secrets do not consist in one thing only, but in a considerable number of things, some of which are chemical combinations of a subtle and dell-
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845
FIFTHI DECADE, 15:0-1880.
cate character, differing almost daily, as determined by temperature and other atmospheric conditions .* The process reproduces in perfect fac-simile any drawing, or steel. wood, or lithographie engraving, old
* Many surreptitious attempts have been made to obtain a knowledge of the secrets -- by bribery of the workmen, personal observations under false pretences, and other deceptive methods,-but without saccess. Mr. Moss has patented mechanical contri- vances for carrying on his process, and that is all.
John Calvin Moss, the discoverer of the process, was born in Washington County. Pennsylvania, in 1838. His father was a mechanic in moderate circumstances. His mother designed him, at his birth, for a Presbyterian clergyman, and gave him the name of John Calvin. But John dil not fancy the profession. Various projects claimed his attention in youth. At the age of seventeen he began to learn the printing business, but a desire for knowledge and a taste for art caused him to give only one half his time to his trade, and the remainder to study in an academy and of the fine arts. He was ambi- tious to become a painter, but adverse circumstances interposed. Before he was nine- teen years of age he married Miss Mary A. Bryant, who proved to be a most devoted wife and an expert and enthusiastic coworker with her husband in his scientific investigations, which resulted in his great discovery. " Without her assistance," wrote Mr. Moss to the author, " it is doubtful whether I should have succeeded. She became quite as enthusi- astic in the matter as myself."
Mr. Moss had engaged in the business of photography, and became a zealous student in photographic chemistry. At the age of twenty (1858) his mind became completely absorbed in the subject of photo-engraving, and he was continually experimenting. It became a passion which subordinated everything. For years it was like a will-o'-the- wisp, which he followed with faith and hope, but which continually eluded his grasp. He was often compelled to turn aside from the pursuit to keep the wolf of famine from his door.
Having obtained a permanent situation as a printer in Philadelphia, Mr. Moss pursued his experiments in photo-engraving with renewed ardor. His wife stood by him with willing hands and an unswerving faith, while all his relatives tried to persuade him to abandon his hopeless and impoverishing quest. While the earnest couple were fighting the wolf they achieved & trimaph. They had received an order for a plate for printing, for which, if satisfactory, they were to receive &10. That success depended upon their making a perfect matrix. For weeks they had been baffled in attempts to accomplish this. They had passed sleepless nights in search of a solution of the problem. At two o'clock one morning Mr. Moss, exhausted and almost despairing, sat down on the bed and fell asleep. His wife, believing the experiment had not been fairly tried. deter- mined to sit up all night, if necessary, and repeat it. She succeeded, and in the morn- ing she presented her husband with perfect moulds ! Their breakfast wasa rich banquet. for it was seasoned with joy. The order was completed ; the $10 were received, and the victors were supremely happy. " Had not that experiment succeeded," wrote Mr. Moss to the author of this work. " the Moss process might never have been heard of."
Mr. Moss expected to sell his " process" for a large sum of money. He was disap- , pointed. No one seemed willing to risk money in it. They went to New York in 1963. and there struggled for existence. In their hamble dwelling they made some good plates for printing from, which attracted the attention of publishers and excited umanly op- position from certain wood-engravers, who saw in the process a formidable rival.
. The attention of some shit! : Trwa to the invention, who indeed Mr. Moss to form a stock es !. He development of it on a large sade. I'ne
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
or new, sometimes in the space of a few hours, and at one half the cost, or less, of the original. The work is most exquisite in finish.
Four remarkable societies organized in the city of New York, unique in character, and in beneficent influence most powerful and salutary, have distinguished the fourth and fifth decades. These are the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Society for the Suppres- . sion of Vice, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and the Society for the Prevention of Crime.
The germ of the first named society found itself quickened in the heart and brain of Henry Bergh while he was secretary of the Ameri- can legation at the Russian court during our late Civil War. It grew apace. On his return home, and after a careful consideration of the subject, he took measures for obtaining the passage of a law and the organization of a society for the relief of dumb beasts from cruel treat- ment. He obtained the signatures of seventy leading citizens of New York (forty-two of them deceased in 1883) to a petition to that effect, and with these, and the forms of a law and of a charter for a society prepared by himself, he went to Albany and procured the passage of both. Before this time no State in the Union had on its statute-books any act to protect dumb animals from the excessive cruelty of mankind.
In April, 1866, an association was organized, with the title of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. Mr. Bergh was chosen president of the society. At the close of a brief speech he said : "This, gentlemen, is the verdict you have this day
Actinic Company was formed, with Mr. Moss as superintendent. He soon perceived that he was made a packhorse to bear the chief burdens of the concern. without adequate remuneration. He withdrew, and the Actinic expired, for he carried away with him the essential secrets of the process, which was its life.
With an honest clergyman, who loaned him capital for the purchase of machinery, etc., on condition that he should have a half interest in the invention, Mr. Moss formed the Photo-Engraving Company. The capitalist was so cantious, and so unwilling to spend money for the production of work that should successfully compete with wood-engraving, that Mr. Moss found himself as badly off as before. At length he prevailed upon the clergyman to consent to the issning of a specimen-book of their best work. This made the process widely known. It was the dawning of a bright day of prosperity, which brought healing to the spirit of the patient discoverer, who, through vexations, disap- pointments, overwork, aud worriment, had almost lost his holl upon life. He slept only about two hours out of the twenty-four, and was reduced from 160 pounds to 115 pounds in weight. At the end of eight years Mr. Moss disposed of his interest in the company and founded the present Moss Engraving Company, which is one of the wonders of the city. Mr. Moss considers it as yet only a " little child, " which he expects to see vastly improved in growth and excellence within a very few years.
Mr. Moss, at the age of forty-five years, has realized the dreams of his early manhood, atal has been rewarded for his exertions and patience with fame and fortune.
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FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1SS0.
rendered, that the blood-red hand of cruelty shall no longer torture dumb beasts with impunity." On that very evening, with the puis- sance of the whole State of New York to sustain him in the form of law, Mr. Bergh went forth on his self-imposed humane mission, and from that hour until now he has patrolled the streets of New York. its lanes and alleys, in storm and sunshine, with vigilant eye, determined will, and dauntless courage. From the beginning he was assailed with insults and threats by the ignorant and vicious ; with ridicule and con- tumely by a portion of the people, the press, and of the legal profession, and even from the seat of justice ; and he was misrepresented and maligned by "sportsmen," high and low in the social scale, who resented his interference with their unmanly fun in shooting tied pigeons and otherwise torturing dumb animals. He was sneered at as " the ubiquitous biped," the " Moses of the oppressed beasts, " etc., and was derided as a fanatic, a seeker after notoriety, a Don Quixote to be pitied. Even some of the medical profession, with whom he waged a long contest on the subject of vivisection without anæesthetics,* sometimes treated him discourteously, and even with scorn. In the face of these discouragements Mr. Bergh never faltered in his holy work. It was founded on eternal justice, and he was conscious that justice could do no wrong. He gave his time, energy, and money freely to the cause. With the most perfect self-disinterestedness he fought the good fight, and triumphed. His work and his methods are now approved by all good and wise men. The press, the pulpit, and the bar applaud him, and to-day Henry Bergh + stands before the world
# In the office of the president of the society may be seen a portrait of Magendie, an eminent French physician, under which, in the bold handwriting of Mr. Bergh, are the words : " A French physiologist, otherwise known as the "Prince of Brute Torturers,' who dissected, alive, over 40,000 dumb animals, and ere he died confessed that vivisec- tion was a failure."
t Henry Bergh is of German and English Puritan lineage. His father was Christian Bergh, an eminent shipbnilder in New York, mentioned in another part of this work. His mother was Elizabeth Ivers, of a Connectient family. Henry was born in the city of New York in 1823, and received a good academic and collegiate education. Before he had completed his course at Columbia College he went to Europe, where he spent some time. In his twenty-fifth year he married Matilda, daughter of Thomas Taylor. Blessed with fortune and leisure, they spent many years in Europe, at intervals visiting almost every part of the continent and travelling extensively in the East. Literature was Mr. Bergh's passion, and was his chief study and pursuit. He is the author of nearly a dozen dramatic pieces, a book of tales and sketches, and other works.
In 1862 Mr. Bergh went to St. Petersburg as secretary of legation, where he received . special attentions and honors from the emperor, who placed the imperial yacht at the disposal of the secretary and his wife to visit the great navad station at Cronstadt, accom- panied by an officer of distinction -an honor never before shown even to a prince. Mrs.
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