2fi 

 WALKER ART GALLERY. 



The work of the Art Department during the past official year has been 

 characterized by great activity, and the resources of the Gallery have 

 been taxed to the fullest extent. In addition to the ordinary work of the 

 Permanent Collection, and the usual Autumn Exhibition, fully two- 

 thirds of the year were taken up by the holding of an Exhibition of Naval 

 and Nautical Appliances, which was attended with great success. The 

 Exhibition was suggested by the Right Honourable A. B. Forwood, M.P., 

 then Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, by whose influence and 

 exertion the Committee were able to get together one of the most com- 

 plete and interesting Exhibitions illustrative of Naval and Nautical 

 Appliances ever seen in Liverpool. The Exhibition was opened on 

 February 1st by the First Lord of the Admiralty, The Right Honourable 

 George Hamilton, the inauguration being attended by His Worship the 

 Mayor of Liverpool, J. De Bels Adam, Esquire, and a large and 

 distinguished company. The Exhibition was open five months, and 

 during that period it was visited by nearly 150,000 persons. 



The negotiations which have for some time been in progress with the 

 Trustees of the Royal Institution, for the transfer of the Roscoe Collection 

 of Pictures to the Walker Art Gallery, have been satisfactorily concluded, 

 the Corporation having agreed under certain conditions to take charge of 

 the works and to find suitable accommodation for them. It has been 

 arranged to exhibit the Collection in the Spring Exhibition of Local Art to 

 be opened early in March. 



The acquisition of these interesting works will, it is expected, prove of 

 great value to students, as for the first time they will have free access to 

 them every day and be enabled to study the rise and progress of art from 

 the earliest times. 



During the year the Gallery was open to the public on 342 days, and 

 closed for cleaning and others purposes on 23 days. 



The total number of visitors was 617,647, being a daily average of 

 1805. This total includes 144,459 visitors who paid for admission to 

 the Naval Exhibition, and 69,703 to the Autumn Exhibition of Pictures : 

 also 11,858 pupils of schools, of various denominations, admitted to the 

 Exhibition free. The Gallery is open each Sunday from 2-30 to 5-30 

 p.m. The average daily attendance last year being 833. 



