Evening star., 1924-05-01
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN

centenary or Its founding has lately
been Celebrated with appropriate
ceremony. There was a reception
given in the galleries, and a great
dinner at which the chief speaker
was the prime minister, Ramsay Mac
Donald, the leader of the Labor gov
eminent, whose address was of so
notable Character that it called
forth enthusiastic approval from Lord
Curzon, than whom few have so per-
rect a command of English or better
appreciation of literary values. In
this speech Premier Macdonald en-
phasized not mercy the prideful side
of possession, for he boasts not at all,
as he might have with justice, of the
Importance of the British National
Gallery, but spoke rather of the value
of art to the people and as an element
or inspiration in national life. 1t
was a fine speech and It set a stand
ard for other nations, our own in
particular.
The National Gallery in London was
founded in 1924 with the purchase by
the government of the Angerstein
collection, for which f57, 900 vas paid.
The present building, which was de-
signed by William wilkins. royal
academician, who incorporated in the
facade a portico, the pillars of which
were relics OF Carlton House, was not
occupied until 1888. The marble stair
case and vestibule, which are famous,
were added in 1885 and '87 Success
sive governments have helped toward
the making the allarN 1871
Mr. Gladstone's government pur-
chased the Peel collection for f75, 900:
i'll 1885 Lord Salisbury's gave fS7,500
for the Ansidei Raphael and Van
Dycks Charles T.; in 1880 it con-
tributed f25,0o0 toward the purchase
and Moroni; and in 1899, f12,5o0
toward the Saumarez Rernbrandts- In
190S9 Mr.. Asquith's government gave
f22,500 toward the purchase of the
Frans Halls group. and the Norfolk
Holbein, and again. in 1911, toward
1919, Mr.. Lloyd Georges government
made a timely grant for an important
purchase of French masters of the
nineteenth century. Note that the last
was but one year after the close of
the great war.
In addition to these government
grants the National Gallery OF Lon
don has received numerous gifts from
private individuals. AS Prof. John
G. Van Dyke points out in his London
Guide TO Old Masters" it seems to
have been the natural heir" of the
great masterpieces that England pos
sessed and still possesses, master
pieces which were secured in the
early days when travel to Italy was
a fashion of the rich, and bringing
back art plunder through Belgium
and Holland was a more or less pa
frtD lV.&, h. NC
getting these pictures year by year,
either by purchase or bequest.
The collection now comprises over
three thousand exhibits. Among re-
cent benefactors, the National Art
Collections Fund deserves special no.
most critical occasions, to quote from
one of the gallery's official publica-
tions, has concentrated the efforts of
British art lovers to save important
works which would otherwise have
been lost to the nation" When some
day we have a National Gallery build
ing in Washington there is every rea-
son to believe that a similar fund to
secure exhibits of notable worth can
be established among art patrons.
x x x
It is generally conceded that in no
gallery in Europe is the average ex-
cellence of the pictures shown so
high, and in none is the history of
European painting illustrated with so
near an approach to perfection Since
the war all Of the pictures have been
rehung, the galleries have been re-
decorated, and the showing is extraor-
dinarly fine. Perhaps the chief
glory of the gallery is its uneQualed
series of works by the great Italian
masters Of the fifteenth and sixteenth
but the collections through
out are well balanced and the student
of the history of painting passes from
one TO the other with complete salts
faction
The group of italian altar pieces
and religious pictures, for which this
gallery is famous, is placed in the ro-
tunda under the dome and given in
this manner a setting which is pc
culiarly appropriate, the arrangement
and placing creating, as il were a de-
votional atmosphere such as that in
which early Italian art was produced.
In the two large galleries given over
to Italian paintings one notes eSpe-
cially the marvellous portraits or the
Renaissance - Titian's A7osto;
Ven etian Senator" by So1ario; Beilinfs
"Doge Loredano"; Palmers Poet;
Lotto's "Prothonotary Apostolic Juli-
ano"; MorpnrS Tailor and Lawyer
here are portraits amazingly alive.
personalities immortalized, works OF
art of superb quality which not only
allure but fascinate the eye and be-
come as familiar friends. There are
other portraits in this gallery of su-
perIatiye merit-Rembrandt Van
Dycks, Velasquez, Holbeins, Durers,
Goyas, Ingres, to say nothing of the
great English school And here lately
have been placed the Sargent por-
traits of the Wertheimer family,
which will later, however, go to the
Tate Gallery, which was originally
purposed for the exhibition of CO.
Temporary British paintings and has
lately enlarged it's scope to include
cotemporary paintings by the great
artists of other nations-amonS them
our own.
Over six hundred thousand people
visit the National Gallery in Lon
don every year. AS Prof. Van Dyke
saws, "the average tourist may do
it in an hour. but the student can
spend weeks or months there" For
the student of art it may be regarded
as the greatest Of all 'laboratories,
. term Harvard University has lately
appropriately applied to its own Fogg
Museum. In order to make the col
Iections Of the utmost value to resi-
dents of London and chance visitors,
lectures are given every morning in
the galleries between IL and l o'clock
by expert lecturers, and for the benefit
of those who cannot attend these
lectures the gallery issues an illus
trated handbook directing attention
to certain paintings indicative of the
characteristics Of the several schools.
:
In matters Of art il is habitual TO
consider Europe long in the lead, and
it is quite customary for us to cS-
cuse ourselves for artistic short
comings because of our extreme
youth. To realize, therefore, that the
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