The Passaic County Historical
Society
Lambert Castle, Paterson, NJ
The
Rembrandt Club
Passaic County Historical Society Publication,
1969,
Vol. 2
Catholina Lambert's Art Gallery
Click here for a larger
photo
of the Art Gallery
"Belle Vista," the beautiful home of Catholina Lambert, was the scene
of an unusual gathering on Saturday, April 16, 1898. Mr. Lambert
was host to sixty members of the Rembrandt Club of Brooklyn, an organization
of art collectors, connoisseurs and patrons which included many leading
men of greater New York.
The club members came on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad
in two Pullman cars provided for them by Mr. Lambert, arriving there about
one o’clock.
The fame of the host as a collector of rare paintings and sculpture
was so well known in this metropolis that nearly every member of that representative
organization took advantage of his generous invitation and the opportunity
– was the occasion of the gathering – of viewing a number of old Dutch
paintings never before placed on exhibition.
Among the members present were Henry T. Chapman, president; Walter
K. Paye, vice-president; Charles K. Ovington, secretary; T. J. Blakeslee,
importer of many of Mr. Lambert’s great collection; Eugene Fischof, American
representative of Seideimeyer & Co. of Paris, the largest art dealers
in the world; George A. Hearn, well known New York merchant who had one
of the largest and best collections of paintings in America; and many others
scarcely less noted in the art world at the time.
As soon as the ‘Rembrandts’ arrived at the Castle they were served
an elaborate luncheon, after which they were given ‘carte blanche’ to wander
through the spacious buildings, the galleries of paintings, and over the
grounds. The guests lost no time in placing themselves before the
works that had just been hung.
Some of the club members never before having seen Mr. Lambert’s collection,
their comments were enthusiastic in the extreme. Mr. Chapman, president
of the club remarked to a reporter:
| “This has been a great day in the history of the Rembrandt Club.
Some of us have pretty creditable collections ourselves, but we were not
prepared to see here an array of paintings that in some respects cannot
be equaled in the world. Some of these old Dutch paints of the 17th
century re not to be found anywhere else; those of the 18th century English
masters are not to be matched in American and many individual pictures
are world renowned.
A surprising and remarkable thing about Mr. Lambert’s collection
is the catholicity. It doesn’t run to any one school but covers them
all, and that is one of the grandest features. Every school is represented
by some of the best examples existent. Mr. Lambert certainly never
had any guests who could better appreciate this great showing than he had
today. I regard it nothing short of a marvel that one man in a lifetime
has been able to gather together such a collection, embracing as it does
all the schools, from the Dutch to the contemporary French and American.”
|
The members of the club returned to New York aboard the special cars
furnished by Mr. Lambert, at 6:20 p.m.
Return to
Historically Speaking Index
|
