44 ANNUAL REPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 31 



north the visitor finds himself face to face with many of the out- 

 standing personages of tlie great war — kings, queens, presidents, sol- 

 diers, statesmen, and others — whose faces and achievements are fa- 

 milar to the peoples of every civilized nation. 



Occupying the walls of a large room on the second floor is the 

 collection of portraits of survivors of the Civil War painted from 

 life by Walter Beck 50 years after the close of the war. Associated 

 with this group are two other World War groups, the John Elliott 

 collection of portraits of young Americans who entered the air service 

 of France before the United States had decided to take part in the 

 war, many of these losing their lives in the struggle; and a very 

 interesting collection of sketches of prominent World War person- 

 ages made by John C. Johansen for use in executing his great work, 

 the " Signing of the Peace Treaty, June 28, 1919," now occupying 

 the west wall of the lobby. In the lobby are assembled also numer- 

 ous busts and other works of sculpture, while a number of paintings 

 embellish available spaces on the walls of the stairway. The Freer 

 collection, the most important single unit of the gallery's possessions, 

 occuj^ies a commodious building immediately west of the Smith- 

 sonian provided by the donor. The recently acquired Gellatly col- 

 lection of art works of wide scope and great value is retained, as 

 originally installed by the donor, in the Heckscher Building, New 

 York City, due to lack of gallery space in Washington; while the 

 large collection of drawings by John S. Sargent (1856-1925), a gift 

 from his sisters Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Violet Ormond, re- 

 main in storage at the Corcoran Gallery of Art for the same reason, 



THE GALLERY COMMISSION 



The tenth annual meeting of the National Gallery of Art Commis- 

 sion was held in the Regents' room of the Smithsonian Institution 

 at 10.30 o'clock, December 9, 1930. The members present were : Gari 

 Melcliers, chairman; Frank J. Mather, jr., vice chairman; W. H. 

 Holmes, secretarj'-; Herbert Adams, James E. Eraser, J. H. Gest, 

 John E. Lodge, Charles Moore, E. W. Redfield, and Dr. Charles G. 

 Abbot, ex officio. 



The minutes of the last annual meeting, held December 10, 1929, 

 were read and approved. The annual report of the secretary of the 

 commission reviewing the activities of tlie gallery for the calendar 

 year 1930 was read and accepted. 



After careful inspection, a portrait of Commodore Stephen De- 

 catur, by Gilbert Stuart, bequeathed to the National Gallery by the 

 late William Decatur Parsons, and an enamel watch by Loulinie & 

 Legandroy, Geneva, Switzerland, bequeathed to the Institution by 

 Miss Charlotte Arnold H. Bryson, were accepted by the commission. 



