52 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 



to other temporaiy quarters of nearly all of the paintings which had 

 previously been displayed in this hall. The Evans collection at that 

 time numbered 84 canvases. 



The growth of the National Gallery has been so marked that no 

 quarters suitable for its installation, either in size or character of 

 room or manner of lighting, are to be found in the older buildings. 

 Wliile the new building was planned and erected for the natural 

 history collections, and none of its space can well be spared for other 

 purposes, it contains three sky-lighted halls, one of which it has been 

 decided to allot provisionally to the needs of the paintings, rather 

 than keep them scattered, in large part inaccessible to the public, and 

 thus jeopardize the art interests of the Government now being so 

 greatly stimulated through the acts of generous-minded citizens. 



The place selected for the Gallery in the new building is the entire 

 central part of the middle hall on the main floor directly below the 

 skylight well and included between the two rows of nine large rec- 

 angular piers serving as supports for the second floor. These piers are 

 spaced 18^ feet apart from center to center. In the arrangements 

 effected during the year the southernmost section of 18^ feet was 

 not utilized, but having been added at the beginning of the new year, 

 the entire construction for the Gallery as it now stands may be 

 described in this connection. It consists of simple screen walls 

 adapted to the hanging of pictures, having a uniform construction 

 and height throughout. There is primarily a general inclosing 

 wall of this character built against the inner faces of the piers, and 

 including a floor space 146 feet long by 48 feet wide, which is the 

 total extent of the Gallery. The area so surrounded is then divided 

 into eight rooms, symmetrically disposed, besides three short sections 

 of corridor running with the longitudinal axis of the hall. The 

 largest of the rooms is midway of the inclosure and occupies its 

 entire width, measuring 48 by 36 feet. Immediately adjoining it 

 both to the north and south is a pair of rooms, the rooms in each pair 

 being separated by a 12-foot corridor. These four rooms are of 

 equal size and 36 feet long by 18 feet wide. The southern end of the 

 inclosure consists of a single room, 48 by 18 feet; and the northern, 

 of two small rooms, each 17^ by 14^ feet, separated by a corridor 18 

 feet Avide. The general inclosure is entered fi"om the north and 

 south only, and each of the rooms, except the two smallest ones, has 

 two doorways, all of which are sufficiently large to permit the free 

 circulation of visitors. There are no doors, however, and the pro- 

 tection of the Gallery is provided for in the measures adopted for 

 safeguarding the hall as a whole. The corridors as well as the 

 compartments are arranged and used for the installation of paintings. 



The screen walls are built with a core of macite blocks strengthened 

 by iron bars and covered with wood as the only convenient medium 



