Ig ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 



Following this final step in the consummation of Mr. Mellon's gift 

 to the Nation, work Avas started promptly on the preparation of the 

 site. The architect selected for the building by Mr. Mellon was John 

 Russell Pope, the architect for many art galleries, museums, and pub- 

 lic buildings here and abroad, including the National Archives Build- 

 ing, Constitution Hall, the Masonic Temple, and others in Washing- 

 ton. According to Mr. Pope, the building will follow the finest tradi- 

 tions of American architecture and will be carefully scaled in pro- 

 portion with the surrounding buildings. Constructed of marble, the 

 gallery will be 829 feet long, about 350 feet w^ide at its greatest width, 

 with the central dome 150 feet high. Mr. Pope has assured that the 

 building will incorporate all the best features of the world's art 

 galleries, and in certain respects will be in advance of any existing 

 gallery, notably in relation to lighting and in provision to lessen the 

 fatigue of visitors. 



Regarding the collection itself, which will be installed in the build- 

 ing upon its completion and which wdll form the nucleus and estab- 

 lish the standard of excellence of the National Gallery of Art, the 

 following brief dcFcription w:is given before the House Committee 

 on the Library by Mr. David E. Finley : 



Mr. Mellon has been making this collection for more than 40 years. It is not 

 large as regards the number of pictures. It contains something like a hundred 

 paintings by old masters. But practically all are important, for Mr. Mellon 

 has tried to buy not only paintings by the greatest masters, but also the best 

 examples of their work obtainable. As a result, everyone who sees the collec- 

 tion — and many of the greatest exports in this country and Europe have seen 

 it — is impressed with the exceptional quality of the pictures. 



In range it covers all the important schools of western European painting. 

 The Italian soliool Is pnrticnlarly well rojirosentod by painters such as Raphael, 

 Perugino, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Titian, Bellini, Antonella di Messina, and by 

 such rare and early masters as Cimabue, Masaccio, and Andrea del Casta gno. 

 There is a Byzantine Madonna and Child, painted in Constantinople early in 

 the thirteenth century, which takes the collection back to the very source of 

 western art, and with the other paintings gives a historical sequence to the 

 collection that will prove very valuable to students. 



The Flemish school is represented by most of its greatest painters, beginning 

 with the Annunciation by Jan van Eyck, and continuing through Petrus 

 Christus, Rogier van der Weyden, Memling, Gerard David, and ending with 

 two magnificent Rubens from the Hermitage Gallery and three Van Dycks, 

 including the exceptionally fine portrait, painted in Genoa, of the Marchess 

 Balbi. 



In the Dutch school there are several outstanding examples of Rembrandt 

 and Frans Hals and three Vermeers, as well as several Hobbemas, and works 

 by Terburg, Metsu, deHoogh, and so forth. 



The Spanish paintings include three portraits by Velasquez, one of Pope 

 Innocent X from the Hermitage, being particularly important. There are also 

 four Goyas and two El Grocos, while the German and French paiiitings include 

 such names as Holbein, Diirer, and Chardin. The British school is quite 



