| NEW GUIDES TO OLD MASTERS | |
| LONDON—THE NATIONAL GALLERY | By John C. Van Dyke |
| ART OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY | By J. deW. Addison |
| NATIONAL GALLERY | By A. A. Corkran |
| WHAT PICTURES TO SEE IN EUROPE | By Lorinda M. Bryant |
| Containing chapters on The National Gallery | |
| NATIONAL GALLERY | By P. J. Konody |
| LECTURES ON NATIONAL GALLERY | By J. P. Richter |
| THE NATIONAL GALLERY | By J. E. C. Flitch |
| MASTERPIECES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY | |
| Reproductions from the paintings, with an introduction by Karl Voll | |
| GERMAN AND FLEMISH MASTERS IN NATIONAL GALLERY | By M. H. Witt |
⁂ Information concerning the above books may be had on application to the Editor of The Mentor
THE OPEN LETTER
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
The National Gallery is situated on the north side of historic old Trafalgar Square. It is a long, low building more imposing in its proportions than beautiful. It was designed by Wilkins and is in the Grecian style. It was erected in the years between 1832 and 1838 at a cost of nearly $450,000. Since then it has been enlarged several times. It is now 460 feet in length, and it contains one of the finest collections of paintings in the world. The National Gallery was established by an act of Parliament in 1824, and at first the collection consisted of only 38 pictures, the gift of Mr. Angerstein, whose portrait by Thomas Lawrence hangs on the wall of the staircase in the entrance hall. As years passed by rich and important collections were contributed until now the National Gallery is composed of nearly 3,000 pictures. More than half of them, however, are not housed in the National Gallery building. About 1,100 are there. Most of the others are in the Tate Gallery, which is situated on Grosvenor Road. The great old masterpieces are in the National Gallery building, and that is naturally the part of the collection that the art student visits first. The Tate Gallery, which is under the management of the trustees of the National Gallery, is regarded as a branch of that institute. The Tate Gallery was built and presented to the nation by Sir Henry Tate in 1897, and the paintings there are chiefly those of modern British artists. If anyone wants to study the art work of English painters from the time of Turner down to the present day, he should go to the Tate Gallery. If the visitor is particularly interested in what has been called the modern “Pre-Raphaelite School,” he will find there a great wealth of representative work of G. F. Watts, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Holman Hunt, and Sir John E. Millais. These were the leaders of that circle of artists of fifty years ago which assumed the name of the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.” The members drew their title from the fact that their art was inspired by the simplicity and purity of feeling and the patient handiwork of the painters that preceded Raphael. This movement in art and the work of its brilliant leaders will receive attention later in The Mentor. The present number is devoted to the famous master works included in the collection in the National Gallery building.
