wh tal” ey ty) aaa. 
a ee che hale 
besides 1 bronze by an American sculptor, and 115 examples 
of the work of 16 of the Hremost American wood engravers. 
The gift was made most unostentatiously, with the sole pur- 
pose of establishing a gallery of American painting in the 
National Gallery, and represented the most valuable pictures 
in Mr. Evans' private collection at the time. 
Mr. Evans, of Welsh-Irish ancestry, was born at Clough 
Jordan, Ireland, in 1843, and was brought to this country by 
his parents when a year old, first settling in Scotch Plains, 
New Jersey, and later moving to Jersey City. Mr. Evans gradu- 
ated at the New York Free Academy, studied architecture two years, 
and finally went into business as an employee of E. S . Jaf- 
fray & Co. There he attracted the attention of the late 
Philo Mills and John Gibb, and when they founded their dry 
goods house of Mills & Gibb, they entrusted the financial 
management to Mr. Evans. Displaying marked business ability 
he soon became a partner and later its president. He was an 
intense worker day and night throughout the largest portion of 
his life. 
Mr. Evans formed three art collections. fThe first 
consisted of modern foreign paintings and was sold in 1890, 
his interest in foreign art leading to the decoration of St. 
Michael being conferred on him by the Bavarian Government. 
Deciding to devote his energies and purse to the advancement 
of American art, Mr. Evans began collecting American paintings, 
