Evening star., 1941-02-02

where his distinguished son, Andrew,
was born in Pittsburgh March
"a. 1855.
The great financier, and equally
notable Secretary Of the Treasury
the Office he filled from March 4,
1921, to March 4, 1888, through the
administrations of Presidents Hard
ing. Coolidge and Hoover-had as
his mother, Sarah (Negley) Mellon,
and for his wife, Norah CMcMulen)
Mellon. All of which would make 1t
appear that the selection OF the date
for the dedication was not done
unmindful of the Irish patron saint,
and it may have been purposely
selected for this reason.
Story of Gallery.
The name, National Gallery OF
Art, is not new to Washington, nor
Is the founding of national art
gallery of recent date. Indeed, in the
Interesting story Of the National Cal
lery of Art, written as a pubic
document by Richard Rathbun IN
1909. he says:
"As far back as So years ago, the
Congress of the United States dlrect-
ed the formation Of a gallery OF art
for the Nation, and even at some
what earlier date it gave encourage
ment to such project by granting
an act of incorporation to a private
society. whose collections were event.
uallv to be ceded to the United
States. The assembling OF art OBJ
iects under the chartered assocla-
ton began in 1840, and under the
specific provision for a gallery in
1849. The two collections were
united in 1862, since which time the
subject of art as a museum feature
under the Government has continued
in charge of the Smithsonian lnStl-
tuition. in accordance with the terms
of its establishment in 1916"
Mr.. Rathbun, who was, at the
time of his death, assistant Secre-
tarv of the Smithsonian Institution,
also makes the statement that IN
planning the Smithsonian Building,
the Board of Regents accorded to
this gallery of art its proportlonate
share of space, setting aside Tor thlS
purpose two rooms measuring, re
spectively, 66 by "a feet and 20 by
81 feet. But on account OF faulty
lighting. these quarters were used
for other purposes. However, the
board, actuated by the spirit and the
letter of the law, made its first pur-
chase in 1849 of the Marsh collection
of prints, which, together with the
painting by Nicholas Berghern, and
q marble head by Thor WaldSen,
which had been found among the
effects of James Smithson and sent
to Washington, formed the nucleus
of the original collection.
In less than four months after the
passage of the act establishing the
Institution. the purchase of the Cat
Inns Indian Gallery" was proposed
both to the regents and to Congress,
and another valuable collection OF
Indian pictures was deposited in the
Smithsonian, in 1852, by j. M. STAN
ley.
Damage by Fire.
On January "a, 1865, the institu-
ton was visited by fire that did
much damage to the building and
destroyed large part of its valuable
collections, including most of its art
treasures. These included almost
the entire loss of the Indian paint
ings by Stanley, for out of 46 of his
best works placed in this building
for safekeeping, all were destroyed
but 5 of his more important can
vases, which had been removed from
the art gallery to another part OF
the building, fortunately not touched
by the flames. The paintings saved
now form part of the permanent
collection of the National Museum
To the ethnologist this was most
erious loss. David I. Bushnell, in
his paper entitled John Mix STAN
lev. Artist Explorer" says: THE de-
struction of the collection of lac
paintings causes an irreparable loss
a loss which will be more fully ap-
preciated In the future when the
events depicted and the individuals
shown will belong to the vague past
Besides the Stanley pictures, much
scientific and historic material, doc
uments and papers were destroyed
These included, besides much of the
correspondence of the institution
from its beginning, the books anc