THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
49 
known in this country, in the way of art, and the illustration of 
antiquities, such as models of buildings, &c.; and, thirdly, to 
the formation of a collection of instruments of physical research. 
“Much popular interest may be awakened in favor of the in- 
stitution at Washington, by throwing the rooms of the building 
open, on stated evenings during the session of Congress, for 
literary and scientific assemblies, after the manner of the weekly 
meetings of the Royal Institution in London. At these meet- 
ings, without the formality of a regular lecture, new truths in 
science may be illustrated, and new objects of art exhibited.” 
The specific suggestions of Professor Henry in the matter of 
art, though favorably considered by the Board of Regents, 
could not be carried out, except in a very limited way, for the 
reasons he sets forth, but his hope that a general collection of 
art as of nature might come to be supported with funds derived 
from another source than the Smithsonian bequest was destined 
to be realized. 
A committee from the Board of Regents appointed “to obtain 
plans for the erection of buildings, fulfilling all the conditions 
in reference to them contained in the law organizing this institu- 
tion,” on November 30, 1846 — 
“unanimously selected, out of thirteen plans that were sub- 
mitted to them by some of the principal architects throughout 
the country, two by Mr. James Renwick, jr., of the city of New 
York, the architect of Grace Church, the Church of the Puritans, 
Calvary Church, and other structures in and near New York; 
and they recommended to the Board for adoption one of these, 
being a design in the later Norman, or, as it may, with more 
strict propriety, be called, the Lombard style, as it prevailed 
in Germany, Normandy, and in southern Europe in the twelfth 
century. The design comprises a center building, with two 
wings, connected with the main building by low ranges and a 
cloister. The entire front is 421 feet, and the extreme depth in 
the center, including the carriage porch, 153 feet. The height 
of the principal tower is 145 feet, and that of the main building, 
to the summit of the battlement, 58 feet. The design includes 
all the accommodations demanded by the charter, to wit: A 
museum, 200 feet by 50; a library, 90 feet by 50; a gallery of art, 
