) 
 
 *^ JI Collection of 
 eboke Patntings 
 
 nenry 0^$ler 
 
 at tbe 
 
 36$ fiftb J\mm, new Vork 
 
 near isth Strtet 
 
 to march <^tb; \m 
 
 .-.0 
 
I)enry mo$kr 
 
 mmt 
 
 Suititnary of fionors Receivea 
 
 medal, Rova! Jlaaemy, municl), i$74 
 
 Salon, Bonora^le mention, ....... \m 
 
 **Ee Retonr,'* purchased the Trench go^jemment for the 
 
 mnsee de EnxentDurg, i$7^ 
 
 Sold medal. International EKhiDltion, nice. Trance, * . i$$4 
 
 Prize fund exhibition. Hew VorR, Prize $2,500, • . i$$5 
 
 Salon, Sold medal, i$$$ 
 
 exposition Universalle, Paris, Sillier medal, ♦ . . 
 
 l)ors Conconrs, i$90 
 
 Che^jalier de la Eeglon D'fionnenr, . . . . . mi 
 
 Officier D'flcademie, . \tn 
 
 JlrchduRe £ari Cndu^lg of Unstria, gold medal, . . m% 
 
 elected Jtssociate of Rational Academy of Design, . . i$95 
 
 medal, Atlanta exposition, 8a., 
 
 Pictures Purchased by ana Tncorporatea in the Tollowins museums: 
 Syaney, Australia J Grenoble, Trance? Eouisv)ille, Hv*, Polytechnic Institute j 
 Pennsylvjania Hcaaemy of Tine Hrts? Cincinnati, Ohio, museum j Springfielcl, 
 mass., museum^ 
 
 I 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/collectionofchoiOOaver 
 
fienry mosler 
 
 ?^<HAT a prophet is not without honor save in his own 
 I country is exemplified in the case of Henry Mosler, 
 I the American Artist, who now returns to his native 
 country after an absence of twenty years. In 1879, on the 
 occasion of his second exhibition in the Paris Salon, Mr. 
 M osier received the high distinction of having his picture 
 purchased by the French Government and hung in the Lux- 
 embourg Museum. Mr. Mosler is the first American artist 
 so honored, and it may be added that so few have been paid 
 a like compliment afterwards that their number can be counted 
 on the fingers of one hand. 
 
 Mr. Mosler's work has received the stamp of approval 
 from the greatest European artists and critics. No one at the 
 present time equals him in the thoroughness of his knowledge 
 of the methods of the masters in art in drawing and color. 
 His work is not defaced by mannerism, nor does he ever at- 
 tempt to conceal imperfection in skill by mere morbid eccen- 
 tricity. His work is wholesome and masterly. Believing that 
 art is expression, he also believes that it should express some- 
 thing and express it in an intelligible manner. Above all he 
 does not believe that a picture is a work of art in the proper 
 sense of the term if it exhibits mere technique, nor does it 
 fail to be a work of art if it contains and illustrates an idea. 
 
 It was in Cincinnati, when a boy of ten, when young 
 Mosler's instincts led him to the study of art and attracted 
 the attention of artists, to one of whom, Mr. Jas. H. Beard, 
 Mr. Mosler looks up as his first serious preceptor in color and 
 form. 
 
 When Major Anderson visited Cincinnati in 1861, immedi- 
 ately after the fall of Sumter, young Mosler made a sketch 
 
 3 
 
of the public reception given him and sent it to "Harper's 
 Weekly. " It was accepted and an engagement was made with 
 Mr. Mosler to act as the special artist in the West for that jour- 
 nal during the war. At the instance of Buchanan Read, the 
 poet-artist, he went to Dusseldorf, to study, in May, 1863. 
 There he studied drawing under Prof. Mlicke, Inspector of the 
 Royal Academy, and painting under Kindler. 
 
 From Dusseldorf he went to Paris and for six months 
 studied under Hebert, who afterwards had charge of the Ville 
 de Medicis, the French Fine Art Academy at Rome. As a 
 result of this instruction, although it lasted but for a brief time, 
 a strong personal friendship sprung up between master and 
 pupil, which is as bright and warm to-day as when the fire was 
 first kindled. 
 
 In the early part of 1866 Mr. Mosler returned to Cincin- 
 nati, where his work had been watched with the greatest in- 
 terest and where his advancement during his absence abroad 
 had been closely noted. As a result he was besieged with 
 orders for portraits and the artistic ambitions of his soul were 
 subordinated to the practical side of his otherwise idealistic 
 avocation. He managed, however, to find time to paint some 
 pictures, the most conspicuous and best known one being ' 'The 
 Lost Cause," an incident of the war, showing the return of a 
 Confederate soldier to his home, only to find it tenantless and 
 deserted by all but the wild roses and the flowering vines that 
 tried as far as lay in them to make amends for the absent 
 loved ones. This picture was chromo lithographed and a large 
 number of copies were sold. Singular to say, the largest sales 
 were made throughout the South and among those upon whom 
 the war had borne its hand most heavily. The original was 
 purchased and is still owned by Col. Albert S. Berry, of New- 
 port, Ky., who had been a colonel in the Confederate army 
 and who has recently been a Member of Congress from that 
 State. 
 
 In 1869, Mr. Mosler was married to Miss Sarah Cahn, of 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 4 
 
He remained in America until 1874, most of the time at 
 Cincinnati, although he spent the year 1870 in the city of New- 
 York, painting portraits. 
 
 In 1874, with his wife and son, he returned to Europe 
 the second time, going to Munich, where he remained three 
 years. While at Munich he studied under Wagner and also 
 received private and special criticism from Piloty. During 
 his stay at Munich he won a medal of the Royal Academy. 
 He painted a number of pictures, but there were no large 
 canvases among them. 
 
 In 1877, he removed to Paris, where he has since resided, 
 until the fall of 1894, when he returned to his native city of 
 New York, to again, after so long an absence, make it his 
 home. 
 
 He w^as not able to work for several months after his 
 arrival in Paris from Munich. The art atmosphere of Paris 
 was different from that of Dusseldorf and Munich in which 
 he had been living, and the process of acclimatization had to 
 be gone through with in art as thoroughly as in matters of 
 hygiene. This was as severe an effort, if not more so, than 
 were his early lessons as a novitiate in art. He painted and 
 repainted, not satisfied with his work until after a persistence 
 that would have failed a less talented and ambitious artist, 
 he at last realized that he was in touch with the sentiment 
 of art about him. The French school of art was less con- 
 ventional, more animated and aggressive than the Germ^an. 
 
 In 1878, he sent two pictures, "The Quadroon Girl," and 
 "Early Cares," to the Salon, and both were accepted, and he 
 thus became identified with the art sentiment of Paris. 
 "The Quadroon Girl" was purchased by Mr. Henry Stix, of 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 In 1879, he sent to the Salon " Le Retour," better known 
 in this country as "The Return of the Prodigal Son," an 
 illustration of which we give herewith, and "The Women 
 and the Secret, " after La Fontaine's well known fable. These 
 were accepted. 
 
 5 
 
Mr. Mosler visited the Salon with his wife, anxious to 
 ascertain whether his pictures had received favorable locations. 
 They sought throughout the galleries for the pictures without 
 finding them, and, greatly disheartened, were about leaving 
 when they turned into the Hall of Honor, attracted by a large 
 crowd about a picture for which there was being manifested 
 the most enthusiastic appreciation. Naturally being interested 
 to see a picture that was attracting such popular attention, 
 Mr. Mosler stepped over to a location where he could view 
 it, and was startled, and more than gratified, to find that it 
 was his own picture, "Le Retour." The public had set its 
 seal of approval upon his work. 
 
 For this picture, now so well known, he received "Honor- 
 able Mention," and the Minister of Fine Arts of France pur- 
 chased it for the gallery of the Musee de Luxembourg. This 
 honor was the greater as it was the first picture that the 
 French Government had ever purchased from an American 
 artist. 
 
 In 1880, his two Salon pictures were The Spinning Girl," 
 which was purchased by the Society of Fine Arts at Grenoble, 
 and "The Purchase of the Wedding Gown." This latter pic- 
 ture was painted upon the order of Mr. Edmond Turquet, 
 Minister of Fine Arts of France, and is now in his private 
 collection. 
 
 In 1881, "The Return of the Fisher Women, "owned by 
 Col. Fleischmann, of Cincinnati, lately presented to the Cin- 
 cinnati Art Museum, where it now hangs, and "The Night 
 After the Battle," owned by General Lewis Season good, of 
 Cincinnati, were his Salon pictures. 
 
 In 1882, "The Discussion of the Marriage Contract" was 
 exhibited at the Salon. This was purchased by Mr. William 
 vSchaus for George I. Seney, of New York, for his famous col- 
 lection. When this collection was sold Mr. Mosler's picture 
 was purchased by Mr. J. S. Barnes, of New York, for his 
 private gallery. 
 
 In 1883, "The Wedding Morn," and "A Spinning Girl," 
 
 6 
 
Return of the Prodigal Son 
 
 Paris Salon, 1S79 
 
 This picture received an Honorable Mention and was purchased 
 by the Minister of Fine Arts for the 
 Museum of the Luxembourg 
 
were in the Salon. "The Wedding Morn" was subsequently 
 purchased for the Museum at Sydney, New South Wales, 
 Australia. 
 
 He also exhibited in Philadelphia this year '*A Rainy 
 Day." This was subsequently purchased by Mr. Temple, and 
 placed in the Temple Collection at the Philadelphia Academy 
 of Fine Arts. 
 
 In 1884, "The Last Sacrament," now owned by the Poly- 
 technic Association of Louisville, Ky. , and ' ' The Village 
 Clock Maker," owned at Cincinnati, were exhibited. This 
 latter picture was exhibited in the Prize Fund Exhibition at 
 New York and received a prize of $2,500. 
 
 He also received this year a medal at the International 
 Exhibition, at Nice. 
 
 In 1885, "The Approaching Storm" was the Salon 
 picture. 
 
 In 1886, Mr. Mosler came to America to make studies for 
 three extra large canvases of distinctively American subjects, 
 upon the order of Mr. H. H. Warner, of Rochester, N. Y. The 
 life and customs of the modern American Indian appealed to 
 him as a passing story that had not been given the recognition 
 by artists to VN^hich its importance to future generations entitled 
 it. Accompanied by his old friend, C. T. Webber, of Cincinnati, 
 one of the ablest genre painters that America has produced, he 
 made studies for these pictures in New Mexico among the 
 Apache tribe of Indians. The undertaking was filled with ex- 
 citing features, as the Indians were but sullenly polite or agree- 
 able. Added to this was the very superstitious objections that 
 the Apaches have to having their portraits taken. Notwith- 
 standing their difficulties, both Mr. Mosler and Mr. Webber 
 brought back with them a number of portraits, studies and cos- 
 tumes, arms and utensils of the Indians. Upon his return to 
 Paris, Mr. Mosler painted first the large canvass, 10x14 feet, 
 entitled " Abandoned," showing one of the customs of the tribe 
 in abandoning to death an old squaw who, on account of her 
 years, is unable to keep up with the tribe on its march when on 
 
 7 
 
the war path. The cruelty of this scene is mitigated somewhat 
 by the presence of her daughter and grand daughter, who have 
 determined to remain with the old woman and take care of her 
 until the final relief comes that will make her indifferent to an 
 injUvStice the enormity of which the Christian religion has en- 
 abled us to recognize. 
 
 This picture together with one in a distinctly opposite and 
 happier strain, " The Visit of the Marquise," were exhibited at 
 the Paris Salon of 1887. 
 
 In 1887, Mr. Mosler painted the second of his two large 
 Indian pictures, this being entitled ' ' The White Captive, " 
 showing the burning at the stake by the Indians of a white cap- 
 tive girl. The picture is a fine exhibition of Mr. Mosler's 
 ability in handling strong contrasts of light and shade, for 
 which he has been remarkable since boyhood. In this, the fire 
 that is cruelly depriving the beautiful girl of her life is the 
 source of the main light of the picture, as the scene is in the 
 deep woods of the mountain, through the trees of which can 
 only occasionally be seen the deeply blue starlit sky that is ob- 
 livious to the tragedy that is being enacted in the shadows that 
 it casts. 
 
 This picture was exhibited at the Salon of 1888, together 
 with the "Harvest Dance," a Brittany scene, and for which he 
 recived the Gold Medal, and which placed him "Hors Con- 
 cours" at the Salon. The two pictures, "Abandoned" and 
 "The White Captive," are the property of Mr. Stafford, and 
 are at the present time, February, 1896, on exhibition at the 
 Hotel Imperial galleries, New York. 
 
 In 1889, "The Last Moments" was exhibited with three 
 other pictures, at the International Exhibition at Paris. He 
 received a Medal for "The Last Moments." 
 
 In the fall of 1889, he again came to America, where he re- 
 mained during 1890, and painted the third of his three large 
 pictures, the last one being entitled "The Husking Bee," a 
 distinctively American scene, now owned by Mr. Lewis G. 
 Tewksbury, New York. 
 
 8 
 
In 1 89 1, he exhibited at the Salon " Good Counsel," which 
 was purchased by Mr. Haughian, of Brooklyn. 
 
 In 1892, ''The Milking Hour" and the "Wedding Feast," 
 an illustration of which is given here, were exhibited at the 
 Salon with great success. He also had two pictures, ''The 
 Broken Sabot" and "The Last Moments," at the Royal Acad- 
 emy Exhibition, London. During this year he received the 
 titles "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur" and also that of 
 "Officier d' Academic." 
 
 In 1893, "The Chimney Comer" was exhibited at the 
 Salon. 
 
 This year he received for "The Last Moments" the only 
 Gold Medal awarded to a foreign artist by the Archduke Carl 
 Ludwig of Austria, at the exhibition of Vienna. 
 
 In 1894, "The Brittany Legend," which was painted with a 
 freer technique than usual with him, was exhibited at the Salon 
 and attracted a great deal of favorable comment. "A Nor- 
 mandy Garden " was also exhibited at the Salon. 
 
 In the fall of the same year, Mr. M osier returned with his 
 family to New York and established his studio in the Carnegie 
 studios. 
 
 In the spring of 1895, Mr. John Olmstead purchased "The 
 Village Tinker" for the new Springfield, Mass., Museum. In 
 the fall, Mr. Andrew Carnegie bought for his private collection, 
 "Mending the Net." 
 
 Mr. Mosler is an Associate Member of the National Acad- 
 emy of Design, which elected him at the spring exhibition, 
 1895- 
 
 JOHN 1. COVINGTON. 
 
 9 
 
€atalodue 
 
 no. 1 
 
 meditations at m mw 
 
 no. 2 
 
 ZM Broken SaDot 
 
 no. $ 
 
 the £bimitey Corner 
 
 no. 4 
 
 Cbe Cast moments 
 
 no. 5 
 
 CDe Coquette, ist Empire 
 
 no. 6 
 Cbe lUeddind 7east 
 
 no. 7 
 
 Pouting, Brittany 
 
 no. $ 
 
 Sunday Httire 
 
 no. ^ 
 
 mere brittle, normandy 
 
 no. 10 
 nn Old Sea Ulolf 
 
Catalogue 
 
 €ontinuea 
 
 15 ^ ^ 
 
 no« II 
 
 Bmtm, Brittany 
 no. 12 
 
 CDe mmm Qum 
 
 no. n 
 mm Canal, Uenlce 
 
 no. 14 
 
 Tnatistry 
 
 no. 15 
 
 H Ueteran 
 
 no. 16 
 Rari^estm' Repose 
 
 no. 17 
 mediterranean Sailor 
 
 no. 1$ 
 H Capri mater Carrier 
 
 no. 19 
 
 firandmotfter's Spare BoMr 
 
 no. 20 
 
 normandy Sailor flsbore 
 
 II 
 
Catalogue 
 
 Continuea 
 « t5 ^ 
 
 no, 21 
 
 Sweet £\mT 
 
 Ho, 22 
 
 m first Uisit 
 no, 2S 
 
 no, 24 
 
 the €on$onn9 Pipe 
 
 no, 25 
 
 n Rainy Day 
 
 no, 26 
 Cbe Old mottdstery, Capri 
 
 no, 27 
 
 Jf Dutcft lUittdmill 
 
 THE REPUBLIC PRFSS 
 14 LAFAYETTE PLACE 
 N V 
 
 12 
 
Tmpomr ana Dealer in foreign ana 
 American Paintings 
 36$ Tiftft flwenue 
 new XorR 
 
 edlleries 
 Open Tree 
 to all 
 Qisitors 
 
 Selected 
 Pictures Dy 
 eeleDrated 
 
 Artists 
 
 establlsbed 
 Over 
 CWrty 
 years