IN bringing this catalogue before my friends Ido so with much hesitation, mainly on account of the great difficulty which all collectors have in naming the artists who have painted the pictures. Where the signature of such artist is not on the picture there can be no certainty of its authenticity unless there is direct evidence of some one who has seen it painted and has also com municated such evidence to people who have lived after him and even where the name is so found on the picture it is possible that it may have been placed there by some one other than the artist, and fraudulently. Then, again, there are many painters who never sign a picture, and we are left to the opin ion of the so-called expert, whose testimony is, to say the least, doubtful. There fore while I have taken the best evidence at hand for the authentication of my pictures, it must not be understood that I am sure that the names attached to them are the correct ones. Where I have had grave doubts myself I have so designated, and only placed the name where I flaw felt it was quite certain to.

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