National Gallery Annual Review

THE NATIONAL GALLERY 1938-54 All these exhibitions were enthusiastically received and well attended by people who otherwise would have almost starved for visual art. Yet the original purpose of the National Gallery was triumphantly justified by the still greater enthusiasm for an institution which came to be known as 'The Picture of the Month'. During a lull in January to February 1942 the newly acquired portrait by Rembrandt 'Margaretha Trip' (5282) was placed on exhibition, and this experiment led to the exhibition in the Vestibule every month of a different picture from the collection. Titian's 'Noli me tangere' (270) was brought from Wales in March 1942, and, except for an interruption when the air-raids became heavy again in February and March 1944, single pictures continued to be shown monthly until May 1945, when 'Forty-Three Selected Masterpieces' heralded the return of the whole collection. The 'monthly masterpiece' was accompanied by art-historical notes and by photographs of related works. In spite of the fact that it was never a large picture and only two or three could therefore look at it at once, and in spite of the consequent formation of yet another queue, it was calculated by 1944 that this picture was seen every day by about a thousand people. This is perhaps the most suitable point at which to record that at the end of 1945 Sir Kenneth Clark, K.C.B., retired, to be succeeded by the present Director. It may be appropriate to quote the greater part of a resolution then passed by the Board of Trustees: 'That we give formal expression of our lasting gratitude for the distinguished services which Sir Kenneth has rendered during the twelve years of his director- ship and our deep appreciation of those qualities which have marked his term of office the great skill and sound judgment which he has shown in the management of the Gallery's affairs; his unflagging devotion to its interests at all times; and the wealth of enterprise and imagination which he has applied not only to the institution in his immediate charge but also the wider field of art which this great Gallery represents.' 3. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BUILDING By the end of the war nine bombs had fallen within the area of the building, while shrapnel had destroyed almost the whole of the remaining glass and damaged all the ceilings which had supported it. Maintenance having had to be virtually abandoned, even those rooms which could be used for the War Artist