The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877Stewart, George
History
The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877
Stewart, George
Saint John (N.B.) -- Fire, 1877
In pictures, the loss met with is really irreparable. We had no public
gallery, because our citizens, whose means admitted it, purchased for
the walls of their own houses a charming bit of colour now and then, or
a delicate engraving or a drawing. A few of the masterpieces of the
English and American artists found their way here from time to time, and
in the way of engravings the collection was really quite large. We can
only give a tithe of the pictures lost. Dr. McAvenney possessed a
decided gem in water-colour, by Birket Foster, and a charming landscape
in oil from the brush of Mayner, an Irish artist. The latter was a
twenty pounds' picture, and one of the prizes which came to St. John
last year from the Irish Art Union. It was exceedingly vigorous, and,
though small in size, every detail was perfect. In addition to these,
Dr. McAvenney lost several fine engravings and one or two exquisite
drawings. Dr. Wm. Bayard's loss in pictures is quite large. He owned a
capital landscape, _The Vale of Strathmore_, by John Cairns, of
Edinburgh. This was burned, with some others of lesser note, together
with a good many engravings, chiefly London Art Union subjects. Mr. R.
M. Longmaid lost all but one of his pictures. Some of these were of
great value, and included, among a number of others, _Francis I. and
Henry VIII. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold_, by the late G. F.
Mulvany, R.H.A., and one of Cairns' Scotch subjects, showing a striking
bit of Highland scenery, called _Glen Cairn_. The one picture saved was
a Welsh Landscape, by A. Vickers. This had been lent to a friend in the
upper part of the town, and was accordingly not burned. Mr. Charles
Campbell managed to preserve a number of his pictures; among them the
bold _Coast Scene_, by John Cairns, which will be remembered by many who
saw it as a very striking study. Mr. W. C. Perley, among the very few
articles rescued from his house, saved two very pretty little
landscapes, one an Irish scene and the other a delicious specimen of C.
C. Ward's art. Mr. B. Lester Peters lost nearly all of his engravings,
but succeeded in rescuing a study by F. W. Hulme, and a little gem by A.
Vickers. Hon. George E. King saved a few water colours by eminent
British artists, which he had. Mr. Donald G. MacKenzie, who had
half-a-dozen striking oil paintings, recovered them all a few days
after the fire. Mr. John Sears lost heavily in the Department of Art,
but saved his one great picture, a portrait which is an undoubted
Rubens, and one or two family likenesses. Mr. Stephen J. King, whose
treasures consist in drawings by McKewan, Philps and others, and some
oil-paintings, saved them all. Mr. W. P. Dole lost a pair of very
beautiful water-colour drawings of Canadian scenery, by D. Gale, and
three or four excellent engravings. He was fortunate in saving however,
two charming works by Hulme, two small bits by Vickers, two by G. A.
Williams, one of C. C. Ward's pieces, and one of the late John T.
Stanton's best works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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