The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

VI. GENERAL ARRANGF.SIENTS of the BUILDING.

EXHIBITIONS OF PICTUREB.—The picture gallery, formed
during the past year in the north wing of the Palace, has proved
so successful in its capabilities for the effective display of paint-
ings, that it is the intention of the Directors to hold therein
during the present season two exhibitions of the works of living
painters of all schools.
Particular attention has been given to the foreign schools of
painting, and arrangements have been made which the Direc-
tors believe will insure an exhibition of these works at once of
great extent and of first-class quality.
The first of these exhibitions will open in May, and continue
open during the summer.
The second will be a winter exhibition.
Exhibitions of photogrephs will also be held in the upper
portion of the picture gallery from time to time during the
season. _

CERAMIC COURT.—The Directors are desirous to take the
present opportunity of expressing their acknowledgments for
the kind and ready manner in which their requests for loans for
the Ceramic Court were responded to by the owners of collec-
tions of porcelain and pottery of the most rare, fragile, and
valuable descriptions.
But for the confidence thus placed in them it would have been
impossible for the Directors to have formed the collection now
displayed in the Ceramic Court; a collection admitted by all to
be unrivalled, and on which the highest encomiums have been
universally bestowed.
It is very gratifying to the Directors to be able to say that the
further aid offereu them is such as will enable them to continue
the Ceramic Court, for the present season, with a number of
additional specimens, exemplifying the capabilities of the art in
its most elaborate branches.

The collection will be, as before, under the superintendence of
Mr. Thomas Battam, F.S.A.
INDIAN COURT AND GALLERY OF ENGINEERING MODELS.—
In each of these departments the Directors have to acknow-
ledge assistance of the same gratifying nature ■s that in the
Ceramic Court. By public companies and institutions, as well
as by private individuals, the Directors have been intrusted with
the moat valuable and beautiful models, with costly carvings
and works In ivory and bronze, fabrics, and works of art, granted
with a liberality and readiness for which they cannot sufficiently
express their obligations. They have thus been enabled mate-
;tally to improve the Indian Court, and also to form a collection
of Models of Engineering Works, illustrating iii a very com-
plete manner that great branch of British skill and enterprise,
surpassing any other now accessible to the public. It will give
the Directors great pleasure to receive any further contribu.
tons with which they may be favoured.
THE NAVAL 1111:81:USI.—Ttie exhibition under this denomina-
tion in the first and second galleries of the north transept,
fronting the garden, now contains about three hundred models
of Ships, Boats, and Vessels, of all descriptions, affording an
illustration of the progressive improvement in British Naval
Architecture and Navigation during a period of three hundred
and forty years. It also contains specimens of new inventions
connected with the improvement of navigation.
The Directors beg here also to acknowledge the ready and
extensive assistance which they have received from ship•ownere,
ship-builders, engineers, and shipping companies, in forming
this very interesting and national collection, and at the same
time solicit the further aid of all parties who may have the
limas of extending it.