ART.

THE TATE GALLERY.

Truz great void in our national collections of works of art has at last been filled. The nation now possesses a Gallery which will contain a representative collection of British painting. Lovers of art have in no way to thank the Government of the country for this, for it is by the generosity of Mr. Henry Tate that this most desirable result has been attained. His princely gift consists of a fine Gallery as well as a collection of pictures. The new building standing on the site of Mill- bank Prison contains a number of well-lighted galleries. The hall under the dome is excellently contrived for the

effective display of sculpture,—the bronze Athlete of Lord

Leighton looks as it never looked when in the wretched place it used to occupy at South Kensington. Out of this hall opens a small room well suited for works such as Mr. Onslow Ford's exquisite little bronze statuettes. The galleries are already well filled. One contains the pictures which Mr.

Tate has given together with the building. Two octagonal rooms with domed ceilings have been devoted to the pictures Mr. Watts intends to bequeath to the nation. In accordance with the desire of the artist, the walls have been painted.

a deep crimson. It is needless to say that the colour of these pictures triumphs over this fiery ordeal. There is no doubt that the stately proportions and massive structure of these galleries suit the grandeur of style and execution of Mr. Watts's work. Other pictures occupy places on the walls, his dominate the building.

The Tate Gallery has been made a. department of the National Gallery under the direction of Sir E. J. Poynter, the keeper being Mr. Holroyd. This is, no doubt, the best arrange- ment, for as yet there does not seem to be a definite plan as to principle on which the new institution is to be conducted. The question for the future is whether the building is to contarn the whole of the English pictures owned by the nation, or whether it is to be a Luxembourg. In Paris the modern French pictures owned by the Government are hung at the Gallery of the Luxembourg, from which place, after the death of the painter, masterpieces are selected to be transferred to. the Louvre. If some such plan as this were to be adopted here it would have many advantages. It would be : great pity to take away all the English pictures from the National Gallery. The finest should be left there to

hang with the great works of other nations. At the same

time, many of the English pictures at the National Gallery should be moved, so that the new collection may be com- plete. Without first-rate examples of Reynolds, Gains- borough, Turner, and Constable the Tate Gallery could have no claim to represent British painting.

If it is ever decided to reform the hanging in Trafalgar Square by making a salon carre, Turner's Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus might hang next to Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne, and Sir Joshua's Lord Heathfield next to one of the great Moroni% Then the right of England's art to rank with that

of any other land would be asserted, and the bulk of the English pictures might be collected together at the new Gallery. There is something too educational about the National Gallery as it exists at present. There is also something pedantic in putting together all the works of one !reboot Of course to have no classifica- tion at all would be equally unsatisfactory. But pictures were not painted with the object of being specimens. of the school to which their painter happened to belong, but for the sake of producing an emotional result. By filling one room with the masterpieces of different schools it is possible to produce an overwhelming effect. To forego this effect for the sake of scientific classification is to turn a palace of art into a museum of specimens.

It seems ungrateful to criticise Mr. Tate's gift, but it is impossible not to wish that the outside of his building had been simpler and less grandiose in style. It is difficult to put an exact name to the architecture. Classic it is not, in spite of pediments and orders. There is something heathenish about its heavy pillars and frowning portico. The ornaments run into harpylike figures. This type of architecture has been happily called the Gorgonesque, and no other word defines the present building more closely.

The National Gallery, unless we are mistaken, possesses funds set apart for the purchase of English pictures. No

doubt these will be made use of for the purpose of filling

gape in the existing collection. It is to be hoped that the- first opportunity will be taken to procure good examples both of Mr. Whistler's portraiture and of his colour effects.

It is also to be hoped that among the water-colours that will be placed in the well-lighted rooms upstairs there will not be wanting examples of those most individual artists, Edward Lear and Lady 'Waterford. Perhaps owners of works by British painters will follow the example of Mr. Tate and help to complete his gift.

The pictures bought by the President and Connell of the Academy under the terms of the Chantrey bequest form an important part of the pictures already hung. These pictures have been brought from the South Kensington Museum, and they have greatly benefited by the change. The small, narrow rooms in which they were formerly hung prevented them being properly seen. The Chantrey collection, although it contains many pictures of the front rank, has many lapses and many omissions. The trustees of the bequest have kept too close to the Academic shore. We look in vain for any picture by the advanced Scotch painters, and the absence of anything by Sir E. Burne-Jones is a subject for wonder. Still, if the Chantrey pictures as a whole are not as representative as they might be, there are among them some fine things. Mr. Brett has never surpassed his Britannia's Realm, nor Mr. Alfred Parsons his blossoming orchard. When this year's Academy closes, a notable addition will be made in the shape of Mr. Napier Henry's Pilchards.

Among the pictures given by Mr. Tate is to be found a highly interesting group of Millais. This painter's early manner is shown in two of his finest works, the Ophelia and the Vale of Rest. The picture, Chivalry, proves clearly the limited imagination of the artist in his middle period, while the splendid realism and grasp of character manifested in the North-West Passage show the painter's later manner to per- fection.

An inscription on one of the pillars inside the building given to the nation last Wednesday runs thus : "This Gallery and sixty-five pictures were presented to the nation by Henry Tate for the encouragement and development of British art, and as a thank-offering for a prosperous business career of sixty years."

It is impossible on the present occasion to give any systematic account of the large collection that fills these spacious galleries. In conclusion, we must again acknow- ledge the indebtedness of the nation to Mr. Tate. For the first time, and by his means, modern English art has been displayed in a worthy manner. Even if this display reveals an inequality of purpose and of achievement among our painters, nevertheless our best will be found to hold its own with that of any other country. The new Gallery of British art need not fear comparison with the Luxembourg.

H. S.