SIR CHARLES HOLMES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our "News of the Week" paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must be accompanied by the name and address of the
author, which will be treated as. confidential.—Ed. THE SPECTATOR.] • [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I be allowed to draw attention to one aspect of the work of one who, besides being a distinguished artist,
was a great public servant ? The daily Press, preoccupied with other matter, has done scant justice to Sir Charles Holmes's services at the National Gallery. He succeeded to the directorship at the most anxious period of the War, accepting the post, against his inclination, out of a sense of duty. I do not propose to say more of his dispute with the trustees over the status of the director—since he has stated his case with a dignified reticence in his delightful autobiography—than that he left the position to his successors enhanced in prestige and executive power.
When Holmes came to Trafalgar Square, the nation's pictures were still hung in serried ranks after ,the manner that had persisted in the exhibition of paintings since the days of Teniers. So soon as the War was over, he set to work re- hanging the collection in accordance with modern ideas of spacing. This innovation may seem today an obvious and inevitable proceeding ; but it was only carried out by the pugnacious director in the face of obscurantist opposition. The next problem was to deal with the dull and patchy red lincrusta, which was now exposed in the mass to the public gaze. Money was not forthcoming for the redecoration of the walls, so Xfolmes with his own hands daubed them with coats of many colours, breaking up their surfaces with pointillism. In spite of some failures, which he . readily admitted, this rough and ready process served its purpose admirably, in default of more expensive measures. The pictures were thrown up against a nondescript surface, which did not call attention to itself. It was only those who " regarded the surface instead of the pictures who were dis- pleased.
Having achieved something towards displaying the col- lection to better advantage, Holmes proceeded to deal with the pictures themselves and their frames. There was much shaking of heads when Bacchus and Ariadne ' was stripped of its coats of dirt and yellow varnish and the public was allowed to see the rich glory of Titian's imagination—a precedent followed by the present director with such mag- nificent effect upon Velasquez's Philip IV.' To him, also, are due the simple frames that replaced the inappropriately ornate plaster-and-gilt surrounds of many of the Flemish primitives. I will not reveal the harrowing process through which the expensive new gilt went in order that it should have a less hard and conspicuous appearance. Such technical secrets must not be divulged !
Apart from these administrative matters, Hohnes's service to the nation included the addition by purchase or by arrange- ment with donors of a magnificent series of pictures, beginning with RCmbrandt's 'Philosopher' and ending—for he nego- tiated its acquisition, although he had left the Gallery when it was received—with Titian's Cornaro Family.' To him are due the true representation of Greco by the'Agony in the Garden,' which was regarded by a large section of the public as an outrage upon religion and good taste, and the representation at all of Breughel, whose Adoration of the Magi' was thought hardly less blasphemous. Besides these- and less contentious acquisitions, Hohnes's connoisseurship was responsible for filling gaps in the Gallery's representation
of the lesser artists who throw light upon the 'achievements of their greater contemporaries. For Holmes rightly con- sidered that the Gallery has an historical as well as an artistic function. In this class may be placed the huge Christ before Pilate' by Honthorst, the IAndsdape " by Seghers- and the enchanting View of Delft' by Fabritiwi, which may have been a sprat to catch the splendid "Portrait" that com- memorates another connoisseur, Sir Claude Phillips.
As if this were not sufficient service, Holmes brought his knowledge of printing and publishing to bear .upon the
publications issued by the Gallery, whose details of type. and form were the subject of his enthusiasm end care. I can testify to the enormous trouble he took to see that the blocks
for the Illustrated Guide should be as good as was economically possible. And all the while he somehow found time to work out his own compositions, solving problems of construction on the backs of envelopes, and to write those three volumes upon the pictures under his care, 'which show him a master of language and a sane, broad-minded critic. It is almost incredible that in the space of twelve years, two of which were to all intents blank, one man could by his efforts and often in the face of opposition so enormously have enriched the Gallery and made it the pleasant place it is. If his successors have made further advances in amenity, they had his solid foundations on which to build.
If I may add a personal word or two, Sir Charles was the most vivid personality I have had 'the fortune to meet. His range of interest, outside painting in all its aspects from the chemical reactions of pigments to the application of art in industry, was enormous and covered boxing and literature, fishing and music. Patience, in the sense of suffering fools gladly, was not conspicuous among his virtues ; but ont fool can testify to having had his folly mitigated and his mind enormously enlarged by a brief period of service under him. His enthusiasm was inescapably infectious and his
conversation stimulating to the am, Sir, &c.,
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
United University Club, Pall Mall East, S.W. I.
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