The dealers were ready to buy every canvas Monet had in his studio, even down to the numerous studies he had condemned. Needless to say that with regard to the latter they were disappointed, and the destroying fires will still claim their own. In discussing with the writer this sudden and extraordinary popularity, Monet remarked: “Yes, my friend, to-day I cannot paint enough, and make probably fifteen thousand pounds a year; twenty years ago I was starving.” Only artists can fully appreciate the philosophy of this short sentence. The principal private collectors of Monet’s work are, in Paris, M. Durand-Ruel, Count Camondo, M. Faure, M. Dearp, M. Pellerin, M. Gallimard, and M. Bérard. In Rouen, M. Depeaux. In the United States, Messrs. C. Lambert Paterson and Potter Palmer of Chicago, Frank Thompson of Philadelphia, A. A. Pape of Cleveland, and H. O. Havemeyer of New York. All these rich collections of modern art are most generously thrown open to the inspection and enjoyment of students and lovers of art. Claude Monet is in the possession of undiminished vigour, and the list of his works will yet receive the names of many fresh triumphs. A life of strenuous labour, unflagging perseverance in the pursuit of a high ideal from which he has never flinched, the production of a long series of magnificent canvases—these great qualities of true and inspired genius merit and receive our deepest admiration, our most sincere and genuine homage. [Illustration] [Illustration: INTERIOR—AFTER DINNER · CLAUDE MONET ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: CHURCH OF ST. JACQUES, DIEPPE · CAMILLE PISSARRO ] CHAPTER VI · PISSARRO, RENOIR, SISLEY “JE CROIS QU’IL N’Y AURA RIEN DE PLUS TRISTE À RACONTER DANS L’HISTOIRE DE L’ART, QUE LA LONGUE PERSÉCUTION INFLIGÉE AUX ARTISTES VRAIMENT ORIGINAUX ET CRÉATEURS DE CE SIÈCLE” _THÉODORE DURET_ THE artists who accepted originally the title of Impressionists numbered about fifty in all, and a complete list of their names can be found in the catalogues of the eight exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886. There were never more than a dozen active members. Twenty-six (including Boudin and Signac) exhibited but once, and ten were represented in two collections only. Pissarro was the single painter who contributed to the whole series, Degas and Berthe Morisot forwarding examples during seven years. Of the remainder, Rouart and Guillaumin were catalogued in six exhibitions; Caillebotte, Monet, and Tillot, in five; Cals, Mary Cassatt, Forain, Gauguin, Renoir, Sisley, and Zandomeneghi, in four. These artists were the original members of the group until it dispersed about 1886.