28 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
piration or dissolution of its charter, shall belong to and de- 
volve upon the United States; and the President of the United 
States for the time being shall appoint a person or persons to 
take possession of and keep and preserve the same, unless and 
until Congress shall otherwise dispose of the same.” 
To those who are acquainted with the history of the Govern- 
ment at this period, it will be recalled that there was a strong 
underlying motive in the organization of the Institute — the con- 
trol of the Smithson bequest, which had been brought to this 
county in 1838, and was then engaging the attention of Con- 
gress. In fact, the society was founded with the express view 
of making itself the agent for executing the objects contemplated 
under that bequest, and the best efforts of its influential members 
were exerted, though ineffectually, toward accomplishing this 
purpose. In the beginning it was very prosperous, although 
wholly dependent for funds upon the dues of its resident mem- 
bers, but as soon as it became known that the society would 
not be recognized by Congress in the organization of the 
Smithsonian Institution, interest slackened and its activities 
diminished. 
In April, 1841, the society was granted the use of extensive 
quarters in the Patent Office building, mainly one large hall, 
for its collection and those of the Government confided to its 
care, which formed a considerable museum for that time. 
These collections were practically unlimited in scope, except 
that they did not encroach upon the province of the Patent 
Office. Natural history and ethnology predominated. There 
were many objects or relics of historical interest, and coins and 
curiosities. Art was represented by a large number of exam- 
ples, and although only a few of these were of sufficient merit 
to entitle them to a place in a museum of the fine arts, yet it 
must be acknowledged that the germ of a national gallery had 
actually been assembled by the society as early as 1845, since 
the greater part of the collection had been obtained by that 
time. 
The collection of art as of other subjects was divisible into 
two parts according to ownership. One part was the property 
of the society during its existence, mainly the gift of friends 
together with a few loans; the other belonged to the Govern- 
