34 REPORT OF THE ACTING SECRETARY, 



Knowledge among men, approved Aiignst 10, 1846, 9 Stat. L. 103, (Title LXXIII, 

 Section 5579 R. S. U. S.) and the subsequent Acts of Congress amendatory 

 thereof ; and it is further adjudged, ordered and decreed, that the United States 

 of America is entitled to demand and receive from the surviving Executors of 

 the said Harriet Lane Johnston, the Complainants named in the Bill of Com- 

 plaint in this case, all of the above mentioned pictures, articles of sculpture, 

 engravings, miniatures and other articles, the same to be and become a part 

 of the said National Art Gallery so established by the United States of America 

 at, and in connection with, the said Smithsonian Institution. 



And whereas, the said Testatrix, Harriet Lane Johnston, in bequeath- 

 ing the said pictures and other articles to the Trustees of the Corcoran 

 Gallery of Art, in and by the codicil hereinbefore mentioned to her said 

 Will, made it a condition of the said betpiest that the said articles should 

 be kept together in a room provided for the purpose, and to be designated 

 as the " Harriet Lane Johnston Collection ; " and whereas it is apparent 

 that it was the design of the said Testatrix if the said pictures and other 

 articles bequeathed in connection with the same should belong to, and become 

 a part of the National Art Gallery established in the City of Washington 

 by the United States of America, that the above mentioned provision for 

 the keeping together in a room all of the said articles so bequeathed, and 

 that the same should be designated as the " Harriet Lane Johnston Collec- 

 tion " (prescribed as the condition upon which the same should become the 

 property of the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Ai't) should be the 

 condition upon which they should become part of the National Art Gallery 

 established by the United States of America, 



Now therefore, it is further adjudged, ordered and decreed, as a condition 

 upon which the title of the United States of America shall be acquired in the 

 said pictures and other articles hereinbefore mentioned, that the same shall 

 all be kept, so as to form one distinct collection, in one hall or room in 

 one of the buildings of the Smithsonian Institution, the several classes of 

 the said articles being arranged and located in said hall or room according 

 to the best judgment of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution ; and 

 that in an appropriate, prominent and permanent way, the said Collection 

 shall be designated and declared to be the " Harriet Lane Johnston Collection." 



And it is further adjudged, ordered and decreed, that the costs of the pro- 

 ceedings in this case in connection with this decree shall be paid by the com- 

 plainants as Executors of Hai'riet Lane Johnston, deceased. 



Wendell P. Stafford, Justice. 



As a result of this decree the Harriet Lane Johnston collection was 

 delivered to the Institution on August 3, lOOG. It consists of 31 

 pieces and comprises, besides works of art, several interesting histor- 

 ical objects. Among the paintings are a number by well-known 

 masters, whose productions are now difficult if not impossible to 

 obtain. The list is as follows: Painting, Madonna and Child, by 

 Bernardino Luini; painting. Madonna and Child, after Correggio; 

 portrait of Lady Essex as Juliet, by Sir Thomas LaAvrence; portrait 

 of Miss Kirkpatrick, by George Romney ; portrait of Mrs. Abington, 

 by John Hoppner; portrait of Mrs, Hammond, by Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds ; portrait of Miss Murray, by Sir William Beechey ; paint- 

 ing. The Valley Farm, by John Constable ; portrait of the Prince of 



