Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-17

/
Smithsonian Institution, delivered an ad
dress on 1.-The Future of the Nationa
Gallery Of Art" at the convention of the
American Federation of Art yesterday
afternoon.
| Conservation of Art Treasures.
I'm art. as in science, advance is made
by building upon the foundations already
! laid, he said. 1T is most important
| therefore. in both of these fields. thai
the achievements of the past be pre-
served and made available for the present
and the future.
art institutions, more especially mu
seums of art, and art galleries, conserve
the art Of the past. upon which must ht
built the art of the future, and their es.
! Establishment and support are matters ol
/ the very highest value to the nation al
| large
Museums of art, more especially those
of national scope. are likewise the out
growth of comparative recent times.
Their presence in country gives ample
assurance that the high stage of enlfght-
eminent has been reached which recog-
nizes the value Of the past to the future
and the importance of conserving all that
is good.
in I.aly, where during the fourteenth
century. coins and gems were at first col
lected by the rulers and nobility. Later
sculpture was added, and in the seven
teenth century pictures and drawings
were included. The oldest collections Of
Importance known are those of Cosmo de
Medici 03s9-1464). which form the basis
of the famous F'lorentine collections, of
" ilich the most prominent are the Musse
Nazionale and the Pitt and Tffize Cal
teries. The great Vatican collections were
commenced by Pope julius II 15O3-l513).
And more recently France began the as
semblage of art objects at the Louvre in
Paris, with which are associated the
Musee Cluny and the Luxembourg Gal
leries. together forming the National Gal
lery of France
The museums of Germany, Austria
Russia and other continental countries
followed. but 1t was not until the year
1924 that Great Britain began the estab-
lishment of a national gallery. The
nucleus of the gallery on Trafalgar
Square founded by act of parliament in
! 1924 only eightysix years ago. consisted
! Of the Angersten collection of thirty
eight pictures. 1t rapidly grew by means
of donations. legacies and by purchase.
| and in 1897 it acquired the Tate Gallery
of modern British works. presented to
the nation by Sir Henry Tate. The Ma
| tional Portrait Gallery was added in 1890
| thus making group OF art institutions
Of which any nation might well be proud.
'rhe work of conserving the world 8
art treasures is thus seen to be confined
| to recent times and may well cause us
| to lament the prof1gacy of the past Con-
| template the untold advantages that
would have accrued to the field of art had
| the great works of the masters of the
| past centuries been conserved and made
available as a groundwork for the ever
widening esthetic interests of the world!
Latest National Gallery.
1.-THE United States Is the last OF the
great nations to establish a national
gallery. The Smithsonian Institution is
popularity regarded as existing for the
increase and diffusion of knowledge
among men, and until recently has ap-
| piled it's energies chiefly to this field, but
| it is also the legalized conserver of the
nations treasures of art. Under the
terms of the act of 1S46 the board Of re-
gents We're fully entitled to employ the
name National Gallery. but when, in 1905.
Mrs. Harriet Lane Johnston's bequest
came up for consideration it seemed ad-
visable legally to Justify its adoption to
the executors of Mrs. Johnston's will by
action Of the court. This was done, and
| in the light of subsequent events 1t is
very fortunate that such a step was
deemed imperative. since it not only