aubens' and Davies
Sir: Reading P. J. Kavanagh's praise of the Magnificent Davies bequests in the Nation-
al Museum of Wales (Postscript, 6 April), Just after another joyful look at their collection, I could see why he would like them housed in a building separate from the Museum.
On reflection I have grave doubts about his proposals for a Welsh National Gallery. Space may be limited in the current build- ing, but is not so short that disproportion- ate space has not been found to display the Controversial `Rubens' cartoons. These ugly and over-priced works are given a special display appropriate to the interna- tional prestige it was hoped they would bring at the taxpayer's expense. They °, ccupy space once devoted to the Davies bequests. On my visit the delightful circu- lar gallery was closed. Space did not appear an object when the lavish new lavatories were installed. Rather than ac- quire a new building, might not better use be made of the existing premises? The 'vast ridiculous castle' — William Burges's masterpiece — would hardly Make a suitable art gallery. The interiors are too exquisite to suffer the blandness of modern gallery design. The last large building commissioned by the National Museum was the insensitive modernist monstrosity at the Saint Fagan's Folk Museum, which bears as much relation to Welsh tradition as Stalin's apartment blocks do to Russian peasant culture.
If a new gallery must be found, how about that true folly of our times — the Welsh Assembly building that never was?
Simon Richards 1, Bridge Street,
Llandaff, Cardiff
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