72 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
the promotion of art by the Institution may be said to have 
been at its lowest ebb. The fire had brought discouragement, 
and the time was not propitious for arousing a popular inter- 
est in the subject, the only means through which it could pos- 
sibly be advanced. 
The Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, however, 
furnished an exceptional opportunity for bringing together ex- 
amples of the natural and industrial products of a large part of 
the world. At its close the liberal attitude of both foreign and 
American exhibitors resulted in the presentation to this Govern- 
ment of very extensive collections in which the arts and indus- 
tries were most prominently represented. This acquisition, 
much the largest and most important ever received at any one 
time, led Congress to appropriate funds for the erection of the 
present Museum building, finished in 1 88 1 . Although the greater 
part of the material obtained at Philadelphia was placed on 
exhibition as soon as the proper arrangements could be made, 
the further rapid increase of the collections in various lines made 
it necessary to remove much of it to storage where it still re- 
mains. Among the subjects retained on display are several 
in which artistic workmanship is a prominent if not dominating 
feature, and these, through subsequent accessions, have now 
come to be represented to the extent of the space available for 
the purpose. These exhibits are mainly of the graphic arts, 
ceramics, lacquers, and metal and glass work, with some art 
fabrics and articles of personal adornment and utility. They 
are not extensive, but contain many objects of much value and 
interest. Although these subjects do not have a direct bearing 
on the Gallery of Art as defined at present, they are here re- 
ferred to as evidence of the fact that the entire field of art has 
been comprehended in the scheme of the Museum, and that no 
opportunity to add to the collections in this direction has been 
neglected. 
In his first annual report, that for 1888, Secretary Langley 
remarked : 
“The words of your first secretary, that the Institution exists 
for knowledge in the highest sense, including not only science 
commonly so called, but ‘the true, the beautiful, as well as the 
immediately practical/ remind us that one of the lines on which 
