National Gallery Annual Review

FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 1858. V.-SALE of PICTURES not required for the NATIONAL GALLERY. Ar a meeting of the Trustees on the 19th of January last, summoned in conformity with the Act of Parliament (see Appendix, No. 2), the Director submitted a list of fifty-five pictures, forty-seven of them being the residue of the Krüger collection of early German and Flemish pictures, and eight being for the most part the residue of a small collection of Italian pictures purchased in Venice. It was ascertained that the pictures referred to had all been, at different times, purchased, and not given or bequeathed, and that none of them had been exhibited in the National Gallery, being for the most part portions of collections from which selections had already been made for the National Gallery. Further, that in consequence of a correspondence between the Treasury, the Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Director, on the part of the Trustees, the Honorary Secretary of the Board of Governors and Guardians referred to had inspected the pictures above-mentioned for the purpose of reporting upon them to the Board in Dublin, in order to enable the Board to decide whether any, and, if any, which of the said pictures would be eligible for the National Gallery of Ireland. The Trustees being of opinion that the pictures referred to were not required for the National Gallery, resolved:- "That the fifty-five pictures in the list submitted be placed at the disposal of the Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, to make such selection from them as they may deem fit, and that the remainder be sold by public auction, under the authority of the Director." A copy of the above resolution having been transmitted to the Treasury, the sale of the pictures, with the above reservation, was sanctioned by Treasury letter, dated 30th January 1857. Ten of the Krüger pictures and six of the Italian pictures were selected, as already stated, in order to be transmitted to Dublin. The remaining thirty-nine pictures, consisting of thirty-seven from the Krüger collection and two from the Galvagna collection, were sold by public auction at Messrs. Christie and Manson's on the 14th of February 1857; the produce of the sale, the auctioneer's com- mission deducted, being, For the thirty-seven Krüger pictures For the two Italian pictures 230 13 6 130 9 6 361 3 The sum of 361. 3 s. was, in conformity with the Act of Parliament, and by direction of the Treasury, paid into the Exchequer on the 28th of February last. VI.-BEQUESTS and DONATIONS. Bequest. Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A., died on the 19th of December 1851. His will, which contained important clauses relating to the disposition of his pictures, was for some years the subject of litigation. A compromise having been at length agreed to, final arrangements were directed by a decree of the Court of Chancery, dated the 19th of March 1856. Pending the proceedings certain conditions in the will (see Appendix, No. 4,) were fulfilled provisionally. The testator had bequeathed to the National Gallery the picture called "Dido Building Carthage ;" and another called in the will," the picture formerly in the De Tabley collection," on condition of their being accepted within twelve months after the testator's decease, and also on condition of their being placed always between two pictures by Claude, "The Sea Port and the Mill." The two pictures were placed in the National Gallery, as directed, on the 8th of Decem- ber 1852: the arrangement of the pictures was approved by the Trustees of the National Gallery on the following day. A caveat having been previously entered against the will, the executors delivered the two pictures above mentioned conditionally, the Trustees of the National Gallery undertak- ing, by an agreement dated the 12th of November 1852, to relinquish the pictures, "if called upon to do so by the Court of Chancery, or any other competent court of jurisdiction." The decree in Chancery before mentioned establishes the right of the nation to the two pictures. (See Appendix, No. 5). The dispositions of the testator respecting his pictures generally, were expressed in codicils to his will. (See Appendix, No. 4). By those codicils his finished pictures were bequeathed to the nation, "provided that a room or rooms are added to the present National Gallery, to be when erected called "Turner's Gallery." One of the codicils referred to (the third in order in the will) fixed a term of five years as the period within which the above provisions should be carried out. The fourth codicil extended the term to ten years. 38-IV.-Sess 2.