THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 19 



gallery of art, but, leaving out the engravings and etchings, 

 the greater proportion of its contents was mainly valuable 

 ethnologically and historically. By the terms of the act the 

 Institution was legally empowered to take possession of the 

 paintings and works of sculpture in every public building in 

 Washington. It might be claimed that the Institution has 

 been derelict in its duty in not seeking to carry out this provi- 

 sion, but as a matter of fact the examples of art in the several 

 buildings have, as a rule, been especially executed for them, 

 and there has been no general or miscellaneous collection on 

 which to draw. 



Mrs. Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President Buchanan and 

 mistress of the White House during his term of office, assembled 

 at her home in Washington a small collection mainly of paint- 

 ings, including examples of the work of several distinguished 

 masters, which, upon her decease in 1903, it was found had been 

 bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art when one should be 

 established by the Government. In ignorance of the fact that 

 the necessary means for carrying out her wishes were already 

 in existence, Mrs. Johnston named a temporary custodian but 

 under conditions that were not acceptable. In a friendly suit 

 which followed to settle some doubtful clauses in the testament, 

 it was decreed by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia 

 that the collection of art contemplated in the act of establish- 

 ment of the Smithsonian Institution was within the meaning 

 and intent of the law the National Gallery of Art, and the collec- 

 tion of Harriet Lane Johnston was accordingly awarded to the 

 Institution, being received at the beginning of August, 1906. 

 To say that this acquisition raised the department of art to a 

 standard, if not to a size, appropriate to a National Gallery 

 would be but a feeble expression of its import, or of that of the 

 court decision. Valuable as were the paintings, the real gain 

 was in the stimulus given to art as a feature of the national col- 

 lections, in the example set that the Government might be 

 trusted as a custodian of art for the people. The generous act 

 of Mrs. Johnston and the Court's ruling met with spontaneous 

 and gratifying approbation in all parts of the country, and the 

 material results up to the present time have been far greater than 

 there was any reason to expect. 



