THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 83 



This notable work, authorized by act of Congress, July 14^ 

 1832, was intended to be placed in the center of the rotunda of 

 the Capitol, above a tomb to be constructed in the crypt for 

 the remains of the first President. The statue was received 

 from Italy in 1840, and although those in charge at Mount Ver- 

 non declined to allow the removal of the body of Washington, 

 the memorial was installed the next year in the rotunda where 

 it remained until 1843, when it was removed to the Capitol 

 grounds. Through the long exposure in the open air it has 

 become much damaged and defaced. Its cost was $45,000. 



The statue was transferred to the custody of the Smithsonian 

 Institution by a joint resolution of Congress approved May 22, 

 1908, as follows: "That the statue of President Washington, 

 now located in the Capitol grounds east of the Capitol, be, and 

 the same is hereby, transferred to the custody of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution." The expenses of the transfer were provided 

 for by the following item in the deficiency act approved May 

 30, 1908: "For the transfer of the marble statue of Washing- 

 ton, by Greenough, from the plaza in front of the Capitol to the 

 Smithsonian Institution, under the direction of the Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution and the Superintendent of the 

 Capitol Building and Grounds, including the construction of a 

 foundation and a marble base, five thousand dollars." 



It is now installed in the northern end or apse of the west hall 

 of the Smithsonian building, on a base of pinkish gray Tennessee 

 marble, about 3X feet high. 



MARBLE BUST OF MAJOR WALTER REED, Surgeon, U. S. Army. 

 By Hans Schuler, of Baltimore. 



Deposited by the Walter Reed Memorial Association, 1906. 



ANIMAL SCULPTURE. By Edward Kemeys. 



Since 1883 the National Museum has had continuously on 

 exhibition a greater or less number of the models of American 

 animals, in both bronze and plaster, by this distinguished 

 sculptor. About 90 are still on deposit, the property of Mrs. 

 Kemeys. The Museum owns the plaster model of the crouch- 

 ing cougar, called The Still Hunt, the original of the bronze 

 cast in Central Park, New York. It was presented by the 

 artist in 1883. 



