The Walker Art Gallery.

The work in connection with the Walker Art Gallery has always been to me one of absorbing interest, and the annual visit in the spring to the London studios a very great treat. It is not merely that one has the opportunity of seeing the pictures of the year, but also to hear the views of the artists; men who lead lives of their own, in their art, and for their art, and whose views upon art matters open up new avenues for thought, and continually suggest new methods of action. Mr. Philip Rathbone was our first chairman of the Art Sub-Committee, and he did a great work in popularising our Autumn Exhibition in London. He was almost a bohemian by nature, and was quite at home in the artist world of London. He was a genius in many ways; he knew much about art; was a poet whose verses had a charm of their own; he was a delightful companion and inherited many of those remarkable traits of character which have distinguished the Rathbone family and have made them such benefactors of their native city.