THE SOUTH LONDON FINE ART GALLERY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] you allow us to repeat in your columns this year an appeal which was so well responded to twelve months ago,. that we are encouraged to make it again? It is to ask, on behalf of the South London Fine Art Gallery, for the loan of pictures for the months Qf August and September. During that time, when every one who can go out of town does so, the streets and squares of the West-End are very empty and quiet ; but the activity of poorer parts of London is undiminished, and their inhabitants remain at work all the year round. It is to cheer them and their children, and to show them some- thing of the wide world of Art, that such a place as the South London Gallery has been built, and upon its walls beautiful pictures are always to be seen ; but this is a special appeal for a special time, and we know that wady owners of pictures would, be quite ready to lend them if they realised the pleasure it- would give to others, and were sure that they would be care- fully guarded. The present building, which includes a fire-proof gallery, 70 ft. by 34 ft., is not yet three years old, but the institution dates back for• some twenty-five years.. It is supported by voluntary subscriptions and gifts, and the City Parochial Foundation trustees have- given £300 for the last two years ; it is managed with, the least possible expenditure ; and it is free to all. The• Earl of Dudley lent us nine •3f his old Italian pictures for a couple of months last year, after they came from the Exhibition of " Old Masters " at Burlington House. We have also the rudiments of a museum, and for this any object of interest would be most welcome. Thousands of people, including many children (who are amongst the most interested and intelligent of the visitors) come every week to the Gallery, and on Sunday evenings especially (for Sunday opening is an integral part of our scheme) the numbers are very large. A most generous gift has been lately made to the institution by Mr. Passmore Edwards, who has given a lecture hall and library in con- nection with the picture gallery, also a thousand volumes, and, many other books have been already promised for this ; but more will be wanted, and also money. We have struggled. through great difficulties, but now, if we can count upon the same kind of help that was given us last year, we hope to make in the middle of a crowded part of working London, for the delight of those who cannot get even a couple of days . away from its streets, a storehouse of imagination and beauty, which will be a place of refuge to them. Pictures that may be lent will be gladly sent for if notice is given to any of us at the South London Fine Art Gallery, Peckham Road, Camberwell, S.E.—We are, Sir, &o., Signed by FRED. LEronToN, P.R.A., President ; JAMES D.
LINTON, P.R.I , Vice-President; WYKE BAYLISS, P.R.B.A.,, E. BORNE-JONES, GEORGINA BORNE-JONES, JOHN COLLIER, G. F. WATTS, 11.A., and MARY S. WATTS, Members of thcN Council.
July 24th, 1893.
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