CHAPTER IV. 
THE ART SECTION. 
The Art Section of the Indian Museum was constituted 
in its present form as recently as 1911, by the amalgamation 
for administrative purposes of the Artware Court, formerly 
included in the Economic Section, and the Bengal Govern¬ 
ment Art Gallery. 
The history of the Artware Court is discussed in chap¬ 
ter vi of this book in connection with that of the Industrial 
Section, with which it was once connected. The Government 
Art Gallery owes its origin to a hope expressed by the 
Viceroy (Lord Northbrook) in December, 1874, when open¬ 
ing a temporary fine art exhibition in the Museum building, 
that a permanent art gallery would eventually be estab¬ 
lished in Calcutta. Sir Richard Temple, then Lieutenant 
Governor of Bengal, took steps to accomplish this object 
by leasing certain buildings and by obtaining contribu¬ 
tions in the way of works of art. The gallery was estab¬ 
lished in connection with the School of Art. It was opened 
on the 6th April, 1876 by Lord Northbrook. In 1877, the 
local Government recorded a Resolution directing a sum of 
Rs. 10,000 to be budgetted for annually in the estimates of 
the Education Department on account of the Art Gallery, 
and appointing a Committee to assist the Principal of the 
School of Art with their advice and support in matters con¬ 
nected with the purchase of works of art for the Gallery 
out of the grant. In 1905, in connection with the scheme 
for the enlargement and improvement of the Indian Museum, 
it was proposed to amalgamate the art collections of the 
Museum with those of the Art Gallery. The combined 
collections were to be placed in charge of the Principal of 
the School of Art as Superintendent. These proposals were 
agreed upon by the Viceroy and the Lieutenant Governor 
in consultation. 
On April 1st, 1911, the Artware Court of the Indian 
