34 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1939 



Rome. Stephen Pichetto, of New York City, well-known authority 

 and expert in the restoration of art, was appointed on May 26, 1939, 

 as consultant restorer of the National Gallery of Art. 



On May 26, 1939, the General Trustees chose Joseph E. Widener, 

 of Philadelphia, Pa., to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation 

 of Paul Mellon as General Trustee to serve for the remainder of Mr. 

 Mellon's term expiring July 1, 1947, and Samuel H. Kress, of New 

 York, was elected and chosen as a General Trustee to serve until July 

 1, 1949, to succeed Donald D. Shepard, whose term was to expire July 

 1, 1939. 



The most notable event of the year was the gift by Samuel H. 

 Kress and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation of a collection of Italian 

 paintings and sculpture, acclaimed by experts as one of the greatest 

 private collections of Italian art in the world. In his letter of gift to 

 the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art, Mr. Kress said : 



Over a period of many years, I have quietly acquired a collection of paintings 

 and sculpture, particularly works of art representative of the Italian School, 

 with the object of some day donating my collection to the public for exhibition 

 and study in our country. Besides bringing from Europe as many as I could, 

 I have made great effort to keep in this country paintings and sculpture that 

 would otherwise very probably have been returned to Europe and have become 

 permanently part of the great European galleries. I have done this in order 

 that my Italian collection might include as many works as possible of the great 

 Italian masters. 



The collection includes important works of many of the outstanding masters 

 of the Italian School, such as Giotto, Duccio, Simone Martini, Sassetta, Matteo 

 di Giovanni, Neroccio, Fra Angelico, Masolino, Perugino, Filippo Lippi, Piero dl 

 Cosimo, Ghirlandaio, Gentile da Fabriano, Cossa, Mautegna, Giovanni Bellini. 

 Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, and others; also sculpture by Desiderio da 

 Settignano, Luca and Andrea della Robbia, Verrocchio, Rossellino, Benedetto 

 da Maiano, Amadeo, Sansovino, and others. 



I have followed with interest the establishment of the National Gallery of 

 Art in Washington and the construction of the great edifice there to house 

 the Nation's works of art. I have also noted with pleasure the Nation-wide 

 interest exhibited in this Gallery, established by the late Andrew W. Mellon 

 and dedicated to the encouragement and development of the study of the 

 fine arts. 



Because the Gallery and the works of art which it will contain will be for 

 the benefit of all the people of the United States and will be accessible to so 

 many citizens of this and other countries visiting our National Capital, it 

 seems most suitable that others should contribute to the collection being formed 

 there; and it is my wish, therefore, that the works of art which I have ac- 

 quired should become part of the National Gallery Collection, and be exhibited 

 in the gallery building now being erected in Washington. Realizing what it 

 would mean to the Gallery at its opening, I decided some months ago that if 

 the arrangements of the gift were satisfactory I would give up the pleasure of 

 having possession of the collection in my home, and arrange to consummate the 

 gift so that rooms may be prepared for the placing of the objects of art for 

 the opening of the Gallery. 



