Show Artist Would Save S ve Great Masterpieces i By Dy JESSIE HENDERSON Special Dispatch to The Standard Examiner Copyright 1927 Consolidated Press Association LONDON ONDON July 2 Twenty three of the worlds world's greatest masterpieces o of f painting will fall to pieces within a a. few years ears and be forever lost un- un uness unless unless less ess an American artist succeeds In his present effort to t rescue them The paintings are the finest works of the theold theold old Id master mas r Murillo and they are now housed loused In a leaky building at Seville Spain where the rain seeps through upon pon them from a I. I broken roof and where they are subject to every change hange of temperature Their value values Is s estimated at WHITE SEEKS HELP Gilbert White of New York and Paris arts whose murals decorate the walls o fa dozen public buildings through- through throughout out ut the United States and who is a chevelier of the French Legion of Honor as well as a member of o the annual salon committee has come to London with the hope of Inducing the American art colony here to Join with that hat of Paris In requesting the Span- Span Spanish sh ish government to save the thc Seville treasures You cant can't grow grew an n orange In New NewYork NewYork NewYork York said Mr White today The clImate Isn't right And you cant can't a Murillo today His paintings are re a result not only of o the genius of Murillo but of the whole atmosphere of f his time Ume They are the expression and nd culmination of an age of religious fervor fenor the exact like of o which the world will ill never see again Once lost loot these paintings can never be duplicated d To estimate them at around round each or for or the whole collection Is merely to give them a cash alue value Actually they the are priceless WONDERFUL PAINTINGS Youve never seen a Murillo l un un- unless unless unless less youve you've been to the museum for for- formerly formerly formerly merly the convent De La Merced at Seville Se His best work is there and any anyone one of o the Seville Se paintings is superior to his world famous Ascension Ascension Ascension sion of the Virgin which Is among the chief chic treasures of o the Louvre The Murillo in the Louvre Lou has been copied I a thousand times Yet renowned and wonderful though It Is this Louvre Murillo cannot be compared with these others I went to see the Seville paintings a a. a fortnight ago There are no words to describe their beauty their dignity their workmanship And they are lit literally lIt lIt- literally falling to pieces It was a rainy day Trickles of rain ran down the canvases Horrified I called the custodian Look I said Dad Bad for canvas the paint Do something about It The me custodian beamed In delight chuckled and answered Yes Yea yes es Water Which so far as he was concerned ended the matter matur It seems also to end the matter tur so far as the Spanish Span h government is concerned And it certainly Is going to end the Murillos Yet the fact re remains re- re remains remains mains that no government has any right to neglect such Irreplaceable treasures Is s not merely the property of Spain He Is the heritage of o art lovers lo throughout the world and his masterpieces are arc a II trust held by the Spanish government for fu future fu- fu future future ture generations It isn't I nt only a question of allowing worth of paint and cam canvas camas as to decay Its It's a question of letting something perch penh which will never be achieved |