The present Board is constituted as follows:—
| T. N. Farquhar, Esq., Chairman. | |
| Arthur Anderson, Esq. | James Low, Esq. |
| Samuel Beale, Esq., M.P. | David Ogilvy, Esq. |
| Henry Sanford Bicknell, Esq. | David Price, Esq. |
| George England, Esq. | Henry Danby Seymour, Esq., M.P. |
| Charles Horsley, Esq. | Captain Edward Walter. |
| A. C. Ionides, Esq. | |
| Mr. P. K. Bowley is the present General Manager. | |
It will ever be mentioned to the credit of the English people, that within a fortnight after the issue of the Company’s prospectus the shares were taken up to an extent that gave the Directors ample encouragement to proceed vigorously with their novel and gigantic undertaking.
In the prospectus it was proposed to transfer the building to Sydenham, in Kent, and the site chosen was an irregular parallelogram of three hundred acres,[2] extending from the Brighton Railway to the road which forms the boundary of the Dulwich Wood at the top of the hill, the fall from which to the railway is two hundred feet. It was at once felt that the summit of this hill was the only position, in all the ground, for the great glass building: a position which, on the one side, commands a beautiful view of the fine counties of Surrey and Kent, and on the other a prospect of the great metropolis. This site was chosen, and we doubt whether a finer is to be found so close to London, and so easy of access by means of railway. To facilitate the conveyance of passengers, the Brighton Railway Company—under special and mutually advantageous arrangements—undertook to lay down a new line of rails between London and Sydenham, to construct a branch from the Sydenham station to the Crystal Palace garden, and to build a number of engines sufficiently powerful to draw heavy trains up the steep incline to the Palace.
[2] A portion of this land, not required for the purposes of the Palace, has been disposed of.
And now the plans were put into practical and working shape. The building was to gain in strength and artistic effect, whilst the contents of the mighty structure were to be most varied. Art was to be worthily represented by Architecture and Sculpture. Architectural restorations were to be made, and Architectural specimens from the most remarkable edifices throughout the world, to be collected, in order to present a grand architectural sequence from the earliest dawn of the art down to the latest times. Casts of the most celebrated works of Sculpture were to be procured: so that within the glass walls might be seen a vast historical gallery of this branch of art, from the time of the ancient Egyptians to our own era. Nature, also, was to put forth her beauty throughout the Palace and Grounds. A magnificent collection of plants of every land was to adorn the glass structure within, whilst in the gardens the fountains of Versailles were to be outrivalled, and Englishmen at length enabled to witness the water displays which for years had proved a source of pleasure and recreation to foreigners in their own countries. Nor was this all. All those sciences, an acquaintance with which is attainable through the medium of the eye, were allotted their specific place, and Geology, Ethnology, and Zoology were taken as best susceptible of illustration; Professor Edward Forbes, Dr. Latham, Professor Ansted, Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. Gould, and other gentlemen well known in the scientific world, undertaking to secure the material basis upon which the intellectual service was to be grounded. To prevent the monotony that attaches to a mere museum arrangement, in which glass cases are ordinarily the most prominent features, the whole of the collected objects, whether of science, art, or nature, were to be arranged in picturesque groupings, and harmony was to reign throughout. To give weight to their proceedings, and to secure lasting advantage to the public, a charter was granted by Lord Derby’s Government on the 28th of January, 1853, binding the Directors and their successors to preserve the high moral and social tone which, from the outset, they had assumed for their National Institution.
The building paid for, the officers retained, the plans put on paper—Messrs. Fox and Henderson received instructions to convey the Palace to its destined home at Sydenham, and the work of removal now commenced. The first column of the new structure was raised by Mr. Laing, M.P., the Chairman of the Company, on the 5th August, 1852; the works were at once proceeded with, and the most active and strenuous efforts thenceforth made towards the completion of the undertaking. Shortly after the erection of the first column, Messrs. Owen Jones and Digby Wyatt were charged with a mission to the Continent, in order to procure examples of the principal works of art in Europe. They were fortified by Lord Malmesbury, then Secretary of State, with letters to the several ambassadors on their route, expressing the sympathy of the Government in the object of their travels, and backed by the liberal purse of the Company, who required, for themselves, only that the collection should prove worthy of the nation for which they were caterers.
The travellers first of all visited Paris, and received the most cordial co-operation of the Government, and of the authorities at the Museum of the Louvre, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. The permission to obtain casts of any objects which could with safety be taken was at once accorded them. From Paris they proceeded to Italy, and thence to Germany, in both which countries they experienced, generally, a ready and generous compliance with their wishes. At Munich they received especial attention, and were most kindly assisted by the British Ambassador, and the architect Baron von Klenze, through whose instrumentality and influence King Louis permitted casts of the most choice objects in the Glyptothek for the first time to be taken.
The chief exceptions to the general courtesy were at Rome, Padua, and Vienna. At the first-named city every arrangement had been made for procuring casts of the great Obelisk of the Lateran, the celebrated antique equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitol, the beautiful monuments by Andrea Sansovino in the Church of S. M. del Popolo, the interesting bas-reliefs from the Arch of Titus, and other works, when an order from the Papal Government forbade the copies to be taken: and, accordingly, for the present, our collection, as regards these valuable subjects, is incomplete.
At Padua contracts had been made for procuring that masterpiece of Renaissance art, the candelabrum of Riccio, the entire series of bronzes by Donatello, and several other important works in the Church of St. Anthony; but, in spite of numerous appeals, aided by the influence of Cardinal Wiseman, the capitular authorities refused their consent.