Evening star., 1941-03-17
National Gallery

The gift provided by Andrew w.
Mellon of Pittsburgh and supple
mented by Samuel H. KreSs of New
York will be received by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt for the people
of the United States this evening. In
some such phrases as these the story
of a glorious dream made nobly true
may be reported. Yet it may be Won
dered if it lies in the power of Ian
guage to explain the philanthropy,
the patriotism, the social inspiration,
the cultural benefaction represented
in the National Gallery of Art. The
dedication ceremonies are intended
to furnish opportunity for expression
of the purposes of the donors and
for formal recognition of the graft
tude of the public, but when the
occasion shall have passed into his
tory there still will be something
important unsaid.
No one has found the syllables to
tell of the mystic tie which brings
together in one universal fellowship
men of different times and places
and conditions, so that they are for
the moment brothers. 1t is under
stood, nevertheless, that there is
bond which uniteS the thought and
the feeling of living generations with
all that have gone before and with
all that shall follow after. The indi-
vidual glimpses that tremendous
reality. He knows in his heart that
he and his contemporaries and those
strangers afar who merely cross his
consciousness as shadows belong to
one mighty affirmation of the power
called God.
In the light of this apprecia-
ton it becomes clear that Mr..
MELONS conception of a magnifl-
Gently beautiful building to shelter
the works of the most richly talented
of painters and SculptorS was nat
ural development. It grew in his mind
from year to year through more than
two decades. The contagion Of it
enlisted the cooperation Of his son
and engaged the active labor of his
junior associates, David K. E. Bruce,
David E. Finley and Donald D.
Shepard. Before he died in the sum-
mer of 1887 he had seen the sketches
for the Gallery, prepared by the
architect, John Russell Pope, whose
successors, Otto R. Eggers and Daniel
Paul Higgins, completed the design.
Equally significant, perhaps, was
the fact that Mr.. Mellon knew that
his vision would be fulfilled. He went
to his rest assured that the event
which is to occur tonight would not
be long delayed So, too, the masters
he admired-Botticelli and Rem
brandt, Luini and Holbein, Titan and
vermeer and all the others-antici-
pated inevitable tomorrows. They
toiled not for themselves nor for
their own particular patrons, nor
even for those who should be their
Immediate heirs, but rather for the
ultimate citizens of the better and
happier world which, through strug-
gle and suffering, is coming to birth.
How abundantly justified Mr..
Mellon was may be estimated from
the circumstance of Mr.. Kress' dona-
ton of his magnificent collection of
pictures to the enrichment of the
Gallery and by the announcement
of Joseph E. Widener's intention to
contribute his treasures of art to the
same comprehensive end. There will
be room for literally thousands of
accessions. A remarkable collection
of rare prints already has been re-
ceived. The country is indebted to
Mr.. Mellon, not solely for his gift,
but also for the example of this
demonstration of the essential prin-
ciple of democratic civilization; the
identification of every human crea-
ture with the worthy fruits of life.