Art. 3. THE TRUSTEES' REPORT ON THE NATIONAL GALLERY.

Report and Minutes of Evidence of the Committee of Trustees of the National Gallery. (Cd. 7878-9.) London: Wyman, 1915.

No apology is needed even at this time for dealing with the Report just published on the retention of important pictures in this country, and other matters connected with the National Art Collections, including the resources and administration of our National Gallery. The Committee of Trustees of the National Gallery, appointed for the purpose of considering and reporting upon these questions, have devoted a substantial part of the Report to recommendations for an increased annual grant available for purchases. Owing to the war these recommendations have, of course, become academic. Not only is there no question of any increase, but the Treasury has decided that for the current year even the ordinary grant of 5,000l. shall be withdrawn. However much the decision may be regretted, in view of the opportunities likely to occur of adding important works as a result of the war, and in particular in filling, at a reasonable cost, the considerable lacunæ that still exist, it cannot be denied that there is justification for this course. In the struggle for national self-preservation in which we are engaged we must be prepared to sacrifice even Art. At least as important, however, as the recommendations involving financial obligations is the large portion of the Report devoted to administration and kindred subjects, to which effect can be given without any additional cost to the nation. It is much to be hoped that time will be found for the careful and sympathetic consideration of these proposals. Indeed this work might well devolve upon the many keen and active individuals who are unable for one reason or another to take any other part in national service. If action is taken in regard to so much of the Report as does not depend upon finance, and the consequent and very necessary reforms are inaugurated without delay, there will be greater hope of satisfying the Treasury in happier days of the reasonableness of the financial demands.

Turning to the Report itself, it is somewhat disquieting to find that not since the year 1853 have the matters there dealt with been considered and reported upon in any full and systematic manner. Yet, since that date, the National Gallery itself has grown out of all knowledge, while the National Gallery of British Art has also come into existence.

For some years prior to the year 1913 attention had been drawn publicly in the Press and elsewhere to the need for a careful investigation, not only into the exodus of great masterpieces from this country, which had been constantly assuming the gravest proportions, but also into many questions connected with the development and administration of our great Art Collections. In 1903 the formation of the National Art-Collections Fund, and the success which attended its earliest efforts, drew the attention of art-lovers throughout the country to the vital interests of the nation in the retention and proper use of its great riches of works of art. In 1911 the present writer published 'The Nation and its Art Treasures,' in which he endeavoured to state briefly some of the most urgent problems that had arisen, and to collect and put forward for consideration various suggestions for dealing with them in the interests of the nation at large. At the end of 1911 the Trustees of the National Gallery appointed a committee of four of their number, consisting of Lord Curzon of Kedleston (Chairman), Lord D'Abernon, Mr R. H. Benson, and Sir Charles Holroyd, the Director, with the writer as Honorary Secretary. The work undertaken by the Committee consisted in the accumulation of a large amount of evidence, not only on the main question under consideration, but on the many side-issues, which, as soon as investigation began, were found to be involved. A large amount of evidence was taken and was of the most representative character, including as it did the evidence of the President of the Royal Academy, of the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, of the heads of Departments at the British Museum, of the Keepers of the Tate Gallery and of the Wallace Collection, of the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, of the then Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, of leading writers and authorities upon Art, and of experts Vol. 224.-No. 445,.

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directly concerned with the purchase or valuation of pictures.

It is impossible to give within the limits of a short article a complete conspectus of the problems considered and dealt with in a report which, with the evidence and Appendices, covers some 170 closely printed pages; but, while those interested in our National Art Collections must be referred to the Report itself, some idea of the magnitude and importance of the questions involved, and the courses recommended for their solution, may be attempted.

In an introductory paragraph the Committee's Report, which has been approved and adopted by the whole Board of Trustees, points out that the problem is one, not merely of finance or opportunity or policy, but of administration and organisation; and that more scientific and effective co-ordination might be a material factor in producing better results for our National Collections. It proceeds (Part 1) to show that the National Gallery, though representative, is by no means as completely so as is often believed, and that there remain a number of important masters either quite unrepresented or inadequately represented on its walls.

The recent enormous rise in the value of works of art, amounting in some cases to many hundreds per cent., is so well known that it may be a matter of surprise to many to learn that, while the prices to be paid for pictures have risen, the amount granted by the Government for their purchase has actually fallen. Yet such is the case. From 1865 to 1889 the average Parliamentary Grant for purchases for the National Gallery (including both ordinary and extraordinary grants) amounted to some 13,000l. per annum. From 1892 to

1901 it fell to under 7,000l., and from 1902 to 1911 rose only to some 9,000l. Yet during this period the expenditure of the State on all other matters has, as is well known, enormously increased. It is also somewhat surprising to note that, since the formation of the Gallery, the total Government contributions towards the purchase of pictures have amounted to less than 720,000Z.; and that, of the 2,863 pictures of which the Collection consists, only 606 have been purchased out of Government money. Where then, it may be asked, have the

remaining funds and pictures come from? The answer is, from private contributions by individuals, from the income from patriotic bequests and legacies, and from the contributions of the National Art-Collections Fund, which last alone amount to more than 120,000l. The present position is, therefore, that, while the Parliamentary Grants are less than at a much earlier period, the market price of purchases is incomparably higher, and the purchasing power of the Trustees is consequently reduced in both ways. Further, while the Government is contributing a smaller sum, the generosity of private persons is becoming more and more marked; and in consequence the Government is doing less, and private effort more, than their fair share.

Part II of the Report deals with suggestions for reform. These include the consideration of proposals for restricting the rights of owners to export their pictures, the increase of financial resources for the acquisition of pictures, and the question of raising further money, available for purchases, by taxation. As to restrictions on the rights of owners, whether on the lines of the Italian legislation or otherwise, the Committee will have none of it, and condemn such proposals without hesitation, as being costly, inquisitorial and ineffective. They reject also the suggestion that a large capital sum should be set aside by Parliament for the acquisition of a limited number of masterpieces, though only on the ground that there is no prospect of Parliament considering such a project with favour. The Committee recommend, however, that the Annual Ordinary Purchase Grant shall be raised from the 5,000l. of which it at present consists (having been 10,000l. from 1865 to 1888) to 25,000l.

The Report then proceeds to consider whether such increased grant should be raised by any form of financial expedient, and to consider the advisability of special taxation. The proposal of a tax of, say, 10 per cent. on the gross proceeds of the sale of works of art by auction is recommended; the tax to be collected and paid to the Treasury by the auctioneer, with the corollary that the proceeds of such tax be added to the grant available for purchase by the various National Museums and Galleries, in proportion as the proceeds are derived from the sale

of pictures on the one hand or other works of art on the other. In support of this recommendation it is pointed out that it is fair to tax public sales while exempting private sales, because in the former case the vendor obtains great advantage in the much wider market open to him, for which it is not unreasonable that he should pay something; and secondly, because the system of taxing public auctions, while exempting private sales, has been for many years successfully and effectively carried out in other countries. The evidence placed before the Committee testifies to a strong consensus of opinion that the charges made by auctioneers in England are very large, varying, as they do, from 7 per cent. on pictures to 12 per cent. on engravings and other objects, while the services rendered and the responsibilities incurred by them are far less than those customary in France. A tax of 10 per cent., it is calculated, would produce at least 25,000l. per annum.

Dealing then with additional assistance from private sources, the Report goes on to emphasise how much has already been done in this direction. It will be a surprise to many to learn that more than three quarters of the pictures in the National Gallery have been secured out of private resources, as against only one quarter purchased out of public money. The Committee rightly draw special attention to the extraordinary efforts made by the National Art-Collections Fund during the ten years of its existence, and advocate that efforts should be made to increase the membership, and consequently the resources, of this body, by conferring additional privileges upon its members beyond those already secured; and in particular by giving the right of free entry on paying days to the National Collections on production of a card of membership-a privilege already enjoyed by the Amis du Louvre, the corresponding Society in France.

The Report then proceeds to deal with methods of obtaining the refusal of Old Masters. This most difficult problem is treated fully and frankly; and the Committee come to the conclusion that it is not desirable to draw up an official or public Register of works of art in this country, or to legislate in order to compel their owners to grant rights of pre-emption or option to the nation,