STAR November 22, 1915 
Advantage of Locating Fa¬ 
mous Widener Collection 
Here Is Cited. 
NATIONAL GALLERY 
A GOOD REPOSITORY 
Freer Group Came Here Because of 
Wide Influence It Might 
Exert. 
It would be an excellent thing-, both 
for Washington and for the country, if 
the Widener art Collection could, even¬ 
tually, be permanently placed here. 
This is apparently the consensus of 
opinion of patrons of art in this city, 
both official and residential. 
Under the terms of the will of the 
late P, A. B. Widener, his son, Joseph 
E. Widener, is given complete authority 
over his father’s collection of paint¬ 
ings and other objects of art, general¬ 
ly considered as among the,, most val¬ 
uable in America. 
He is given discretion to present the 
collection either to the city of Phila¬ 
delphia, New York or to the National 
Capital. In the first-mentioned event 
Mr. Widener is empowered to erect out 
of the funds of his father’s estate an 
art gallery properly endowed. 
Many Works of Old Masters. 
That the national gallery of art, sit¬ 
uated in the National Museum, be given 
first consideration as the proper repos¬ 
itory for the collection comes as a 
natural sequence to the idea of its lo¬ 
cation here, and the idea is being dis¬ 
cussed throughout the National Capital. 
The collection is one of the richest in 
the country in works by the old mas¬ 
ters, paintings which, even if Congress 
would appropriate the money for pur¬ 
chase, would not be purchaseablys today. 
“If it is possible to secure it for 
Washington, the collection certainly 
ought to come here,” said Dr. Richard 
A. Rice, of the division of prints of 
the Congressional Library today. “As 
for its situation, there seems to be no 
alternative; it is a question of elim- 
: ination. The National Gallery of Art is 
not only just the place for it, but the 
: only place.” 
I Because no building has, as yet, been 
j erected bearing the name and housing 
the collection, many persons here and 
I elsewhere are not aware that such a 
1 gallery exists. The national art col¬ 
lections at present are housed in the 
National Museum, under the custody of 
the Smithsonian Institution. These 
comprise paintings left by Harriet Lane 
Johnston, chiefly bjr foreign painters, 
and paintings by American artists pre¬ 
sented to the nation by William T. 
Evans. 
Will House Freer Collection. 
Also to be reckoned with these is the 
famous Freer collection, comprising 
works by oriental artists and the 
choicest collection of vyorks by 
Whistler in exigence, which has been 
deeded to the na,^i on by Charles L. Freer 
?*■ .Detroit, and for which a separate 
building is to bh erected by Mr. Freer. 
It was understock this collection w^uld 
not come to Washington until Mr. Freer 
died, but recently a site has beeil se - 
Wn Tv, ftYt , /k went to the Smithson¬ 
ian Institution. Plans have been made 
and the work of building will soon 
begin. 
Mr. Freer’s reasons for giving his 
valuable collection to Washington 
were that it would, in the National 
Capital, exert a wider influence than in 
any other place in the country. This 
decision was reached after a very care- 
°f conditions in other cities, 
and a study of the use art museums 
are put to elsewhere. It is logical to sup¬ 
pose that the same reasons may in¬ 
fluence Joseph E. Widener to present 
the splendid collection assembled by 
his father to the nation. 
Others Argue for Washington, 
Others who have expressed hopes 
that the collection may be brought to 
Washington include Miss Leila Mechlin, 
a member of the American Federation 
of Arts'; Mrs. Christian Hemmick, Dr. 
Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the 
Smithsonian Institution; Mrs, Hennen 
Jennmg s and Prof. Mitchell Carroll 
professor of archaeology of the George 
Washington University. 
As one man put it, as between New I 
York and Washington, New York’s col- 1 
lections are assured and established 
and that city does not really need the 
Widener collection. As between Phil¬ 
adelphia and Washington, it is a ques- 
non between a man’s own home and 
his National Capital, and the ease of 
the Freer collection should serve in 
this instance as a proper guide, Mr 
hreer being of the opinion that it 
shouid go to the capital of the countrv 
rather than the city of his own resi- 
V_i Cll VL, 
Would Be Appreciated. 
That through its location here the 
collection would be thoroughly and 
universally appreciated is evidenced, I 
for example, by these two facts. The 
Congressional Library, an institution, 
the nature of whose collections strong¬ 
ly influences art lovers, and whose vis¬ 
itors come from every state in the, 
Union, and, sooner or later, from near¬ 
ly every town in every state, in the 
year covered by the latest report of the 
librarian, had 798,071 visitors, or a 
daily average of 2,199. The new struc¬ 
ture of the National Museum, within 
whose walls the national gallery of art 
oco?o\ Uated ’ Emitted no fewer than 
2o2,l„5 on week days and 59,597 on 
Sundays a general average of more 
than 880. 
The Widener collection has been as¬ 
sembled with remarkable judgment 
and without regard to expense. It is 
said that m a single year Mr Widener 
spent $1,250,000 in acquisitions. aS 
these was Raphael’s “Madonna,” for 
WOG.On rn 18 r < ep ,° rted to have Paid 
$ 1 00,000. One of his more recent pur¬ 
chases was “The Mill,” by Rembrandt, 
for which he gave $500,\000. 
Noted Gems in Collection. 
There are no less than three Rem- 
