PROCEEDINGS OF REGENTS. 121 



but until even this small sum is secured the usefulness of the Mu- 

 seum must be greatly impaired. 



National Gallery of Art. — Prominent among the artists represented 

 in the extensive gift by Mr. William T. Evans of contemporary 

 American paintings is Henry W. Ranger, of whose work the gallery 

 possesses four examples. Mr. Ranger died on November 7, and by 

 the terms of his will the National Gallery of Art is made a perpetual 

 optional participant in the income of his estate, the value of which 

 has been estimated at $250,000. The paragraph relating to the gal- 

 lery, with reference to which it may be said that Mr. Ranger survived 

 his wife, is as follows : 



(2) Upon the death of my said wife, Helen Eudora Ranger, if she be living 

 at the time of my death, or, if my said wife be not living at the time of my 

 death, then as soon after my decease as may be practicable, I direct that my 

 entire residuary estate be paid over to the National Academy of Design, the 

 principal to be kept invested and the income thereof to be spent by the council 

 of said academy in purchasing paintings produced by American artists, at 

 least two-thirds (2/3) of such income to be spent in the purchase of works by 

 artists who are forty-five years of age and over, it remaining optional with the 

 council to spend the remaining one-third (1/3), or any part thereof, in the pur- 

 chase of works by younger artists. All pictures so purchased are to be given 

 by the council to art institutions in America, or to any library or other institu- 

 tions in America maintaining a gallery open to the public, all such gifts to be 

 upon the express condition that the National Gallery at Washington, adminis- 

 tered by the Smithsonian Institute shall have the option and right, without 

 cost, to take, reclaim, and own any picture for their collection, provided they 

 exercise such option and right at any time during the five-year period beginning 

 ten years after the artist's death and ending fifteen years after his death, and, 

 if such option and right is not exercised during such period, the picture shall 

 remain and be the property of the institution to which it was first given. The 

 words " America " and " American " as used above shall be construed as equiva- 

 lent to " North America " and " North American " respectively. 



* * * * * * * 



Briefly analyzed, the purport of this bequest is that the National 

 Gallery is given the opportunity of selecting, after a lapse of a 

 period following his death sufficiently long to establish an artist's 

 standing, such of his paintings purchased from the Ranger fund as 

 may be regarded as desirable, without being placed in the position 

 of refusing any. In the long run the gallery should derive very 

 great benefits from this generous remembrance. 



Freer Gallery of Art. — The board will recall that at the annual 

 meeting of December 9, 1915, it approved the recommendation of the 

 special committee on a site for the Freer Gallery of Art that the 

 building be erected on the corner of the Smithsonian grounds at 

 Twelfth and B Streets SW. This site was subsequently approved by 

 the Federal Commission of Fine Arts, and also by Mr. Freer, who 



