ae 
ie 
REPORT by E. RIMBAUELT DIBDIN, Curator of the 
WALKER ART GALLERY. 
The Curator has the honour to report in reference to the work 
during the year 1910 of the Department under the direction of the 
Art and Exhibitions Sub-Committee. 
During the year, the City’s Permanent Collection of Works of 
Art was on view as much as possible, consistently with the demands 
of exhibitions, but each year it is found more difficult to do it 
adequate justice, and any attempt of systematic arrangement of 
the whole collection is practically impossible, so long as it is 
necessary to move the greater part of it at least twice a year. 
The need for a large extension of the Art Gallery referred to in 
the Curator’s annual report for 1909 is fully realised by the 
Chairman and Committee, and it has been the subject of anxious 
consideration from time to time. It has not been found possible 
as yet, however, to surmount the financial obstacles. Meantime, 
progress has been made, so far as funds have been available, with 
the Curator’s scheme for utilizing to the utmost the possibilities 
of the existing building. The west front room on the ground 
floor has been entirely reconstructed and redecorated, a valuable 
addition to it being made by taking in the small front room, 
formerly used as a gilder’s workshop. This has not only 
increased the wall space, but greatly improved the lighting. 
The heating-pipes in the dado have been removed, and radiators 
in the centre of the floor have been substituted; the Gallery, 
therefore, now possesses one room in which pictures may be hung 
without a risk of undue deterioration from unscientific heating; 
except that there is still one unsatisfactory part where a furnace 
flue is carried up behind the wall. 
