THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
19 
gallery of art, but, leaving out the engravings and etchings, 
the greater proportion of its contents was mainly valuable 
ethnologically and historically. By the terms of the act the 
Institution was legally empowered to take possession of the 
paintings and works of sculpture in every public building in 
Washington. It might be claimed that the Institution has 
been derelict in its duty in not seeking to carry out this provi- 
sion, but as a matter of fact the examples of art in the several 
buildings have, as a rule, been especially executed for them, 
and there has been no general or miscellaneous collection on 
which to draw. 
Mrs. Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President Buchanan and 
mistress of the White House during his term of office, assembled 
at her home in Washington a small collection mainly of paint- 
ings, including examples of the work of several distinguished 
masters, which, upon her decease in 1903, it was found had been 
bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art when one should be 
established by the Government. In ignorance of the fact that 
the necessary means for carrying out her wishes were already 
in existence, Mrs. Johnston named a temporary custodian but 
under conditions that were not acceptable. In a friendly suit 
which followed to settle some doubtful clauses in the testament, 
it was decreed by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia 
that the collection of art contemplated in the act of establish- 
ment of the Smithsonian Institution was within the meaning 
and intent of the law the National Gallery of Art, and the collec- 
tion of Harriet Lane Johnston was accordingly awarded to the 
Institution, being received at the beginning of August, 1906. 
To say that this acquisition raised the department of art to a 
standard, if not to a size, appropriate to a National Gallery 
would be but a feeble expression of its import, or of that of the 
court decision. Valuable as were the paintings, the real gain 
was in the stimulus given to art as a feature of the national col- 
lections, in the example set that the Government might be 
trusted as a custodian of art for the people. The generous act 
of Mrs. Johnston and the Court’s ruling met with spontaneous 
and gratifying approbation in all parts of the country, and the 
material results up to the present time have been far greater than 
there was any reason to expect, 
