Over $1,000,000 Worth of Pic- 
tures Owned by Government. 
‘SOME RECENT DONATIONS 
Generosity of Mrs, Johnston, C. L.| 
__ Freer and W. T. Evans. 
i 
‘ROOM IN NATIONAL MUSEUM 
Building Rapidly Approaching Com- 
pletion and Will Be Opened to 
the Public Next Fall. 
BY WILLIAM BE, CURTIS. 
Written. for The Star and the Chicago Record- 
: } Herald. : 
“The United States will soon have a na- 
tional gallery, like England, France, Ger- 
inany, Austria and other nations, The gov- 
ernment owns more than a million dollars’ 
worth of pictures’ and quite a collection 
of sculpture and other examples of the 
fine arts entirely distinct from the mag- 
nificent display of the industrial arts 
which overcrowds the National Museum. 
There is no finer collection in the world. 
‘Every expert will tell you ‘that not only 
the contents, but especially the installa- 
‘tion and arrangement of the National 
‘Museum, are superior to those of most 
institutions of the kind, and equal to 
the very best, notwithstanding the limit- 
ed area.and the crowded conditions of 
the alcoves and aisles. The great new 
building, wihich has been under construc- 
tion for four years, is rapidly approach- 
ing completion and will be open to the 
public next fall. A’ quantity of new ma- 
terial is now being. installed there, and 
Richard Rathbun, assistant secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution in charge of. 
the National Museum, is now fitting up 
one of the great galleries extending from 
the main entrance, on B street at the 
foot of 10th street, to the rotunda, for the 
department of fine arts, which will be 
opened’ in February under the direction . 
of William H. Holmes, the well known 
artist, who has recently resigned the 
‘position of chief of the ethnological bu- 
Teau to accept the new position. The hall 
is 169 feet long and 50 feet wide, and it 
is to be divided into a dozen or more 
the pictures. 
The question of providing quarters for 
‘the National Gallery of Art has been a 
Serious one. ‘The regents of the Smith- 
‘Sonian asked Congress to furnish ‘the 
means to fit up the second story of the 
old Smithsonian building until a special 
building could be erected. It was’ argued 
that such 3 recognition of the subject by 
Congress would undoubtedly lead to many 
and important contributions of art from 
- Private collectors, but the committees on 
appropriations have thus far taken no in- 
terest in the matter, and it has been nec- 
essary to fit up a provisional gallery of 
Sufficient size to accommodate the ex- 
isting nucleus of a collection. and such 
rooms in order to secure wall space for | 
_|Seum in 1879. It has always been consid- 
jered of very great value both from a 
{historical and an ethnological standpoint, 
{and the pictures attracted much atten- 
| from time to time, including a portrait 
| of Washington by Charles Willson Peale, 
| Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Mon- 
| paintings of more or less merit and thirty ; 
1 or forty busts and pieces of statuary, all, 
. tlans, 
peeing 
ni & with 1829, was presented to the mu- 
tion in HBurope, where they were exhib- 
ited about 1852. The collection was 
finally brought ‘back to this country and, . 
through liberal advances made to Mr. | 
Catlin, came into the possession of Jo-| 
seph Harrison, jr., of Philadelphia, whose , 
widow afterward presented it to the gov-. 
- ernment. t : : : 
Other works of art came into the pos- 
session of the Smithsonian Institution 
a portrait of Guizot, the celebrated au- 
thor and minister of Louis Philippe, by 
Geonge P. A. Healy; portraits of Presi- 
dent Tyler and Senator Preston of South 
Carolina, also by Healy; portraits of 
roe by Gilbert Stuart, portraits of Jack- 
son by. Sully and Warle, various other | 
of which were at one time gathered in 
the Smithsonian building. Some of them | 
were destroyed by the fire of 1865. Those 
that were saved were sent to the patent 
office, the Congressional Library \and the 
Coreoran Gallery of Art. cate 
Since the firé there have been several 
acquisitions of value, including a num- 
ber of portraits of benefactors, regents, 
secretaries and coNaborators of the In- 
stitution and miscellaneous portraits and. 
paintings, including those which former- 
ly belonged to Gen. Grant; a portrait 
of the late empress dowager of China 
painted by Catherine A. Carl at the im-: 
sented to the United States by the gov- 
ernment of China. There are also a col- 
lection of about two hundred and fifty of 
the celebrated ‘Braun autotypes illus- 
‘trating the history of painting and a Se- 
ries of plaster casts from the most fa- 
mous sculptures of the Assyrians, Hgyp- 
Greeks. and Romans, illustrating 
the history of sculpture. A. collection of | 
Japanese art gathered by Gen, Horace | 
Capron was purchased by Congress in; 
1891, and several vases of great value | 
have been received as gifts from the 
government of China. Various other ob- 
jects scattered through the museun? 
would be appropriate and attractive orna- 
J} ments of any gallery of fine arts, partic- 
ularly the carvings, embroideries, laces, 
etc., but it has been decided to let them 
remain in the various departments of in- 
the paintings bestowed upon the govern- 
ment by the late Mrs. Harriet Lane 
Johnston, Charles L. Freer and William 
T. Evans. ° 
‘The Johnston Collection. 
The Johnston collection ‘consists | of 
twenty or more canvasses, both of the 
old masters and of celebrated modern 
artists.. There is an exquisite landscape 
by John Constable, some of the best ex- 
amples of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir 
Thomas Lawrence and George Romney. 
and a portrait of the present King HWd- 
ward VII, when Prince of Wales, which 
was presented to President Buchanan by 
his: majesty in 1862 as a souvenir of the 
latter’s visit to America, while Mr. 
Buchanan was President. Accompanying 
this portrait are the original letters ex- 
changed between President Buchanan and 
Queen Victoria concerning that smem- 
orable event. SS 
Of great ‘historical interest are the 
original tape copies of the first messages 
transmitted! by electric cable across the 
Atlantic ocean in August, 1858, by Presi- 
dent Buchanan and Her Majesty Queén_ 
Victoria, and although they cannot be 
catalogued as works of art, they will re- 
main with the rest of the bequest of Mrs. 
Johnston. ‘ t a 
barat 
collection, 
‘were destroyed by fire when the 
perial palace, Peking, in. 1908, and pre- - 
nse 
ld bring. 
sidered to have artistic.merit, also. This 
collection was never purchased by the! 
government, although Congress made an| 
annual allowance of $100 to, Mr. Stanley. 
through the institution, to enable him to| 
pay the interest on a debt which he had 
incurred to prevent the dispersion of the| 
Unfortunately the pictures| 
building | 
was burned, in 1865, 
The Catlin Collection. 
Another collection, of more than 600} 
pictures, representing Indian ‘portraits, a 
landscapes. and illustrations of aboriginal). 
amusements, customs and ceremonies, 
which were painted by George Catlin |, 
during a period of twenty years, begin- |, 
dustrial art and use the limited space in| 
the new national gallery exclusively for | 
