World of Art .sx NEW GAINSBOROUGH LANDSCAPE IDENTIFIED .sx ANOTHER ART TREASURE FOR AMERICA .sx By R. R. TATLOCK .sx THE publication of THE DAILY TELEGRAPH special supplement on Monday , with its many reproductions of photographs of English beauty spots and its descriptive article by Mr. S. P. B. Mais , happens to coincide with an important art discovery , which is illustrated on Page Sixteen of this issue , for the first time in any journal .sx The painting is the work of the greatest of all English landscape painters , which is to say the greatest landscape painter of the world - Thomas Gainsborough .sx Yesterday evening an English collector , who desires to remain anonymous , parted with it to an American , Mr. John Levy of New York .sx The authorship of the picture was a few days ago identified in London by Sir Charles Holmes , who knows more about Gainsborough than does anybody else , and by myself .sx I have not had sufficient time to identify the particular beauty spot depicted , but judging by the style of the brushwork , I am quite sure that it is in the vicinity of Ipswich .sx My reason for saying so is that the manner of expression is unlike the earliest period of Gainsborough , when he was still a tyro ( and how remarkable a one !sx ) , a clothier's son in the tiny country town of Sudbury .sx On the other hand , the style is not at all like that of Gainsborough's later period , when he so boldly left Ipswich and its leafy lanes , bubbling waters and green mansions , in order to paint with Reynolds as a rival , the youth and beauty of Bath .sx It is just possible that some reader of these notes who knows Suffolk better than I may be able to identify the spot which on this occasion , probably in the late seventeen-fifties , inspired Gainsborough .sx When helping to organise the great Bicentenary Exhibition of the artist's works at Ipswich in 1927 , I was surprised and delighted to find that the spots chosen by the painter were in many cases familiar to the present inhabitants of the county .sx The discovery of the Gainsborough is another reminder of the many hundreds of great landscape paintings that have been inspired through centuries of England's green and pleasant land .sx To recall them as they exist in the public and private collections of the country is analogous to the experience of taking a long tour through England itself .sx Even if we select only one gallery , the Tate , it is astonishing to realise how cleverly our English painters have held the mirror up to nature , how sensitively they have described in paint their emotions and expressed their personalities when confronted by those rich and varied scenes .sx I have selected , by way of illustrations , two masterpieces from the Tate Gallery , which , though here reproduced only on a small scale , are , at any rate , reminders of how our painters have portrayed the English countryside .sx The first picture was the result of Crome's progress to the North , and it is amusing to consider how , in spite of the wilder aspect of Westmorland , he cannot quite break away from the influence of that Norfolk but for which , one almost feels , he could not have existed as a great painter .sx The trees , varying in height and girth , in family and in age , are obviously painted by one who not only understood , but loved them .sx There is in this landscape ample evidence that Crome , according to his own principles as an artist , was as studious and as well informed as the best of scientific arboriculturists .sx And yet he was able to materialise his impression of the scene not only with accuracy , but with infinite , with indescribable beauty .sx Next we have Constable's " Flatford Mill , " that mill which to him was like no other mill in the world , with which he fell so deeply in love and which he succeeded in immortalising .sx It can be seen to-day in exactly the same condition as it existed when Constable lingered about it and sketched it and painted it so often .sx Opinion is justifiably divided as to the name of our greatest English landscape painter .sx But the choice lies , I think , between two .sx One must , like myself , either pronounce the name of Gainsborough or that of Turner .sx It is really idle to compare such master-painters .sx Turner's was certainly an amazing genius .sx He was , perhaps , a less brilliant landscapist than Gainsborough , but he had a greater scenic sense .sx He was far less spontaneous , but a far finer topographical craftsman .sx The glories of the English countryside are still the chief subject of the English artist's brush .sx So many fine landscapists are painting and exhibiting not only in London but in every provincial centre , that selection of them by name would seem to be impossible , even absurd .sx Those who follow the trend of modern English painting well know that our heritage still bears splendid fruit .sx BYZANTINE ART TREASURES .sx AN EPOCH-MAKING EXHIBITION .sx FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT .sx At the Musee des Arts Decoratifs is housed an International Exhibition of Byzantine Art which it is no exaggeration to characterise as epoch-making .sx Visitors to the capital find objects of absorbing interest to arrest their attention in this wonderful display , which remains open till July 9 .sx For here , for the first time on so large a scale , have been brought together splendid specimens of all kinds which usually are scattered in distant museums , in private collections , and in remote church treasuries .sx Shown side by side in the Pavillon de Marsan , comparison between them is now easy .sx The 700 or so treasures now on view are of infinite variety .sx Among them are ivories carved with surpassing skill ; textiles which include many magnificent silk brocades ; jewels and objects carved out of semi-precious stones ; enamels and sculptures ; precious examples of glass and ceramics , of which specimens of genuine Byzantine provenance are extremely rare ; and richly illuminated manuscripts .sx One striking example of the last is the sixth century Gospel on red parchment , lent by the Cathedral of Rossano in Calabria .sx Then there is splendid metal work , such as the very finely embossed silver dishes of the sixth or seventh century , one of which found in Syria by the Orontes comes from the Bliss collection in Washington .sx In this latter section is found one of the exhibits that most vividly strikes the imagination .sx It is the wonderful " Antioch " Chalice from the Kouchakji collection in New York , which was found in 1910 at Antioch , and is said in virtue of a ( probably legendary ) tradition to be the actual cup used at the Last Supper .sx Its present decoration of human figures and animals amongst wines must be a later adornment .sx The Arras Museum lends the gold medallion commemorating the arrival of Constantius Chlorus in the Port of London in the year 279 A. D. - Constantius Chlorus , who was afterwards Emperor , and was the father of his more famous son Constantine the Great .sx From South Kensington comes a highly interesting exhibit - one of the cloisonne enamel plaques from the celebrated crown of Constantine Monomachos ( 11th century ) , of which the remaining pieces are in the Budapest Museum .sx The textiles include early woollen Coptic tapestries which have come chiefly from Antinoe in Egypt , and are now lent by the Musee Guimet in Paris .sx There are gorgeous silk brocades , many of which are particularly interesting in that they present Sassanian designs .sx Italy , Belgium , Hungary , Spain , England ( the Victoria and Albert Museum is well represented ) have all sent stuffs , while from nearer home the Cathedral Chapter at Sens have been most generous in lending a large assortment of specimens from the renowned treasury .sx A SPASMODIC PLAY .sx STORY OF A QUIXOTIC SACRIFICE .sx " THE UNFORSEEN " .sx One of the marks by which you may recognise the good oarsman is his ability to keep his boat running between the strokes .sx And one of the chief qualities that distinguish the good dramatist is a similar faculty for keeping his play moving between the incidents .sx This faculty lies quite outside the present compass of " Henry Rex , " author of " The Unforeseen , " which was produced last night at the Prince of Wales's .sx In between its incidents her play stops with a jerk .sx Her characters hang about the stage , discussing things outside the play and therefore of no interest to the audience , until it is time for the plot to take its next spasmodic leap forward .sx By this means she kills her play , and particularly its third act stone dead .sx She leaves herself no material to speak of for that third act .sx Nothing happens except that John , Earl of Chasemore , arrives home , having been ruined by a lawsuit , and blows out his brains .sx This provides about five minutes of significant drama , drowned in half an hour of irrelevant chatter .sx The author must also learn to supply her characters with plausible motives for what they do .sx For instance , John , her young earl , refuses - for the honour of his family - to win his case against his vicious , wastrel brother Paul by proving that Paul is illegitimate .sx He then shoots himself , with the result that the illegitimate , vicious wastrel succeeds to his title .sx What good , I would like to know , does the author think John has done for the honour of his family by this fatuous proceeding ?sx Her play was well acted .sx Mr. Edgar Norfolk , Miss Barbara Hoffe , Miss Gertrude Sterroll , Miss Claire Harris , and Mr. Owen Reynolds were all extremely sound in the chief parts .sx Miss Elizabeth Vaughan made a very attractive figure in the prologue , and filled me with regret that the exigencies of the plot demanded her death before we got to Act .sx I. And Mr. Ronald Ward made a very promising appearance as the attractive but deplorable Paul .sx MOZART'S " MAGIC FLUTE " .sx PROFESSOR STRNAD'S SETTING .sx BRILLIANT CAST .sx For the first time for many years a Covent Garden audience last night witnessed a performance of " The Magic Flute " of Mozart in its original German .sx It was a veritable occasion for the connoisseur of operatic art , and there were many in the auditorium who had come not out of idleness , but to judge intelligently , a production that brought some new singers and an entirely new decor - the latter a rare enough event at Covent Garden .sx Habitues had long been accustomed to makeshift scenery , with its anachronisms and absurdities ; how would Strnad , the Czechoslovakian artist , adapt his modern art to the old situation ?sx At the risk of being trite one must observe that this ageless music will survive any setting .sx One accepts without debate the obscurities of Schikaneder's liberetto and the mysterious implications of Freemasonry it is known to contain .sx To-day , and for all time , it is the music that matters .sx In this new mounting of an old opera we had a proscenium within the proscenium , with its own little " avant-scne " preserved throughout the whole production , very simple beauty of form being economically brought about - in the first Act particularly - by an inspired use of circles and angles .sx Colour was largely a matter of lighting , while the more ornate effects were confined to costumes - chiefly of the priests in white and gold .sx A STIMULATING PERFORMANCE .sx Herr Bruno Walter is not one to bury his head in the score , and although his beat in " Der Ring " may occasionally seem ambiguous to London players , the guidance of the orchestral machine in Mozart is technically a simpler problem .sx Of the glorious Overture he gave us a stimulating performance , and , generally speaking , the band was on its best behaviour .sx Here , once more , we had a cast that was a delight to watch ( for they could act ) and to listen to ( for they could sing) .sx From the moment Gerhardt Husch sang Papageno's first song with the pipe , " Der Vogelfnger bin ich ja , " he held us all the time he was on the stage .sx He made Papageno the most delightful , lusty , temperamental fellow imaginable .sx Marcel Wittrisch , in the role of Tamino , gave us some fine singing of the authentic bel canto order , notably in the lovely andante aria " Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton .sx " In their respective ways Margarethe Teschemacher as Pamina and Noel Eadie as Queen of the Night made exceedingly happy impressions .sx Both seemed a little nervous to begin with , but quickly gained confidence in themselves .sx Ivar Andresen and Herbert Janssen were twin towers of strength .sx