dingy rooms of Marlborough House. Every one was surprised at the little effect which they produced. They were then moved up to Brompton, and although the rooms in which they are now hung are but part of a temporary building, we can there see, for the first time, what the works of Turner really are. Our modern oil-painters are equally cramped for space in the rooms devoted to the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy. The old and the modern painters cannot live under the same roof any longer, unless that roof covers a very different building from the National Gallery at Charing Cross. Some time back we heard of a proposition for converting Burlington House, and the surrounding space, into a series of galleries for the use of modern artists, as painters in oil, painters in water-colours, sculptors, &c. In that case the idea was to give up the National Gallery at Charing Cross exclusively to the collection of ancient masters. It was not intended at first to pull down the building, and erect a new one which should be worthy of the purpose and of the nation; although, if the great gallery of the nation is to remain in that spot, nothing will be done until that is done. For the present everything is at a dead-lock, and the explanation is this. The Court are anxious that the collection of ancient masters should be moved up to Brompton. This proposition was distasteful to the public, and when it came to be inquired into by commissioners appointed by the Crown for the purpose, the opinion of the majority of the commissioners so appointed was in favour of leaving the great National Collection at Charing Cross. To have acted upon the Burlington House idea would have clenched this suggestion—and that is not a thing which will be done. The partisans of the Brompton scheme are biding their time patiently, and moving up by driblets, and without attracting public attention, as many pictures as they may. Meanwhile, and on account of this difference of opinion, nothing decisive will be carried out, or even attempted for some time to come,—and we must content ourselves with our miserable picture-galleries with the best grace we may.
Looking back from these to the collections of natural history and of antiquities at the British Museum, we find the same lethargy prevailing. The time has come when we must make up our minds either to sever the collections, or to increase the building in Great Russell Street to an enormous degree; or, finally, to acquiesce in the practical inutility of the various collections. We had rather not adopt the third alternative; the second seems out of the question on the score of expense, as the price of land in the immediate neighbourhood of the Museum is so enormous;—the third remains.
During the session of parliament just concluded, a select committee sat to inquire into the subject, but they have not done much. The pith and marrow of their suggestions just amount to this, that the matter should be left as heretofore in the hands of the trustees. But it is in the hands of the trustees that matters have come to their present pass. Therefore, the decision to leave the affair, as heretofore, in the hands of the trustees amounts to an adoption of the third alternative. Mr. A. H. Layard addressed a letter last week upon this subject to the “Times,” in which he describes the miserable condition in which he found the Assyrian collection, as well as the relics of Greek art lately brought from Halicarnassus. The students of natural history also complain, on their side, that the collections from which they are anxious to derive information are in such a confused state, owing to the defective nature of the accommodation, that their value is much depreciated, as far as the student is concerned. The natural remedy would appear to be a severance of the collections. It was proposed before the committee that the collections of natural history should be separated from those of antiquity and art; but this proposition, which seems reasonable enough, was summarily rejected.
Undoubtedly it would be a grand thing if at South Kensington, or on any other suitable site, there could be erected one or two great buildings which should contain the national collections of painting and sculpture. One would wish for a more central situation, certainly; but London is extending itself so rapidly in all directions that it is not a little difficult to say where the centre of the town will shortly be. Besides, if the scheme of metropolitan railroads be carried out, as intended, South Kensington will shortly be but a quarter of an hour from anywhere.
The question obviously seems at present to lie between that site and Burlington House. If either of the two collections is to be removed from the British Museum, it seems a pity not to select that one for removal which would best serve to complete the national collection of sculpture. An English Glyptothek would never be complete without the Elgin marbles, and the various treasures of Greek art which are now to be seen in the British Museum. On the other hand, the more central situation at Charing Cross would seem to be more required in the case of the Royal Academy and the Exhibition of Modern Masters.
If all the rooms in the unsightly building at Charing Cross were devoted to the annual exhibition of the works of modern artists, and to the purposes generally of the Royal Academy, at least the pictures could be seen to some advantage. The building itself would of course remain a deformity and a blotch upon one of the finest sites in London. It will be pulled down in time by ourselves, or our posterity, and the sooner it is done the better. Meanwhile we commend this subject to the attention of the readers of Once a Week. What the British nation can do in this particular, when it fairly takes the duty of execution upon itself, and throws overboard trustees, curators, and heaven-born guardians of art, was seen in the Manchester Exhibition of 1857. England ought to stand high in this respect amongst the nations of Europe. We actually possess in the country, and in the hands of private individuals, as well as in our public collections, many of the most valuable art-treasures of the world; but the public collections will never attain their due importance until suitable galleries are prepared for their reception.