14 THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 



afforded for making rapid progress in natural history and eth- 

 nology, which were utilized to the fullest extent. The remark- 

 able advancement in these directions was chiefly due to the 

 strong personality of Spencer FuUerton Baird, the first assistant 

 secretary of the Institution in charge of the museum, appointed 

 in 1850, who was not only pre-eminent as a naturalist but equally 

 skilled as a collector and administrator. Through his earnest 

 and persistent efforts Government expeditions usually set forth 

 with one or more naturalists on the staff even if the surgeon of 

 the party had to be trained for that duty, and advantage was 

 also taken of many private enterprises. Professor Baird him- 

 self spent much time in the field, his seacoast investigations 

 culminating in the establishment of the Fish Commission, or as 

 it is now called, the Bureau of Fisheries. Other equally humble 

 beginnings have resulted in the present Geological Survey, the 

 natural history bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, and 

 the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, all of which have long been important feeders to the national 

 collections. That under these conditions the National Museum 

 should have attained a foremost rank in the field of natural his- 

 tory and should have come to be classed almost exclusively as a 

 scientific establishment is, therefore, not surprising. 



In planning the Smithsonian building, the Board of Regents 

 accorded to the gallery of art its proportionate share of space, 

 setting aside for this purpose two rooms measuring respectively 

 66 by 34 and 60 by 37 feet. If the light was improperly ad- 

 justed, it was the fault of the architect and not of the Board, 

 but circumstances dictated that these quarters should not long 

 be utilized for art. That the Board was also actuated by the 

 spirit as well as by the letter of the law, was manifested by the 

 purchase in 1849 of the Marsh collection of prints. A small 

 characteristic painting by Nicolas Berghem and a marble head 

 by Thorwaldsen were among the effects of Smithson which had 

 been sent to Washington, and it was destined that for a number 

 of years the above should remain the only objects of art belong- 

 ing to the Institution, although the subject of art was constantly 

 in evidence. 



Less than four months after the passage of the act of estab- 

 lishment of the Institution the purchase of Catlin's "Indian 



