The Management Of Our Art Institutions.

THE MANAGEMENT OF OUR ART INSTITUTIONS .

For several years every one who has taken even a faint interest in the management of our art-collections has been convinced of tho utter inadequacy of the existing system to fulfil the duties which fall upon it . It has no public defenders . Its only armour is that which has iu the course of years sluggishly grown upon it , but at the sound of approaching opposition instinct rather than it to enfold itself iu this

activity causes impenetrable and mysterious veil ; calm and , apparently , indifferent , it evinces no sign of animation , however heavy or stingingmay be the attacks upon it . Vulnerable points are periodically discovered , and sharp weapons are sheathed therein to their very hilts , but no quiver betokens internal disturbance or discomfort . There is no ebb of the

vital tide , no relaxation of its tenacious grasp . There is ueithe life nor usefulness apparent in it until the springtime comes , when it opens its voracious mouth , swallows the yearly-increasing Parliamentary grant , and then sinks again into a state of abnormous lethargy . In all other public matters we have some minister responsible for the expenditure upon them . The funds devoted to our artgalleries escape such inconvenient interference . The money may be improperly expended ; pictures may be bought as works of art and sold as rubbish ; but an

elegantly turned sentence from the Chancellor of the Exchequer repudiating all responsibility is all the satisfaction which Government can afford to any complainant . The keeper of the National Portrait Gallery may enjoy his "dignified repose " -at the public expense in Great George-street , but the only answer to inquiry is that it "is still an infant institution ; " we must , therefore , make

no clamorous noise around its cot , but submit meekly to the thraldom of its expensive monthly nurse , thankful that even the smallest of brass plates indicates the whereabouts of the bantling , and that we are even occasionally allowed to look , and expected , of course , to smile approvingly , upon its undeveloped beauty . The British Museum may be covered with unhealthy spots ,

its treatment may be condemned by its own officers , but no public control must , ou any account , interfere with it . " The Trustees" are professedly responsible , but for any real responsibility which we can touch and handle as tangibibly as they touch the public money , we might as profitably have a Board of Afgbans or New Zealauders . Ministers who never otherwise near the British

go Museum will , when they are wanted , go there to pass a cut-and-dried resolution , but they go as ex officio Trustees and not as Ministers who have to answer ' to the House of Commons for their actions .

The rotten system is defended by no Government , and yet each successive Chancellor of the Exchequer , whilst acknowledging the evil , puts forth some kind of palliation for , and asks us to submit a little longer to it . "Whenever the subject 'is brought before Parliament it offers an opportunity for a very ingenious speech . No one could fence more skilfully with the question than did

Mr . Gladstone lately but throughout the whole of his speech he never for an instant grappled it fairly and manfully . The real point demanded was that for the preparation of any estimate , and for tbe expenditure of any _ money , voted in aid of the British Museum , the National Gallery , aud other art-institutions , one minister of the Crown should be responsible to the House of The

Commons . resolution was clearly understood by every member , and by no one more so than by Mr . Gladstone ; yet , how did ho answer it ? By admitting that the motion contained " little that is open to dispute ; " that the speech of Lord H . Lennox was one tending in the right direction towards unity , responsibilitanefficiency iu the of institutions

y , ^ management ol great public importance ; " and then , without venturing to offer a negative to the motion , he cleverly led tne members off on a wrong scent , by showing that the mover and seconder of the address differed in the details

The Management Of Our Art Institutions.

of their respective remedies . Because Lord H . Lennox and Mi-. Gregory did not agree iu a minor manner , he " passed by " that portion of the subject ; because the National Portrait Gallery is an infant institution , he finds therein a reason for passing by also tho criticism applied to it . It is to no purpose that Lord Lennox showed that the National Portrait Gallery costs the country something like ISs . for every visitor to it . The charge is avoided—not met . But he proposed to make a stand on behalf of the British Museum . Committee after

committee , wo are told , has sat upon the British Museum , which shows that the mind of the country and of Parliament was beginning , for the first time in our history , to be turned to the subjects of art and science and education , as matters of political concern . The very fact of those committees sitting one after the other proves , we should have thought , that the government of those

institutions was imperfect—that there existed obstacles to their full developement , and barriers to their improvement ; and when we call to mind that the deliberate opinions of those committees have been disregarded , and that the constitution of the Museum remains unchanged in spite of them , we cannot be far wrong in concluding that the time is come when a resolution founded mainly upon their reports should be adopted by the House of Commons .

Throughout the whole of his dexterious address Mr . Gladstone proceeded on one plau . Iu one sentence he admitted the statements of the proposer of the resolution , and then , in the next , threw a veil over the concession . Whilst we say that the adminstration of these institutions is practically defective , the Chancellor of the Exchequer says they are "theoretically and

speculatively imperfect . " Whilst we think that the sooner the batch of adminstrative irresponsible Trustees are replaced by one responsible minister of the Crown the better will it be for the growth of art , Mr . Gladstone thinks that the constitution of the adminstrative body may fairly , " « £ some future time , " be submitted to reconsideration and revision . Having admitted so much

, he trotted out the subject of a removal of the Natural History Collection in order to distract tho attention of the House from the main question , which was , that whatever public money is to be expended , and whatever arrangements are made in consequence of that expenditure , ought to be placed under the direction of a responsible minister of the Crown .

Within the last fourteen years upwards of £ 2 , 200 , 000 has been voted without the faintest personal or individual responsibility . We know that wo have different Boards of Trustees composed of tho heterogeneous members ,

and of the most cumbrous character ; that the greater half of them are as ignorant of , as they are indifferent to , what the lesser half does ; that some hold their offices on account of theological , and others on account of political , eminence ; that some have a seat at the Board because their great ancestors took aud interest in some special department of anticpiities , and either gave

or sold them to the nation ; but that few take their seats at the Boards in consequence of their knowledge of art , or of their ability to give time to promoting its growth . Moreover , we know that the opinions of the working few can at any meeting be overruled by the majority , who know nothing about the subject , and who consequently think it wise to allow things to remain as they

are rather than necessitate even a small amount of thought upon the consequence of eny proposed change ; that whatever jobbery oozes out , we might as well grasp at a ball of quicksilver as attempt to get hold of a responsible person . We are asked to reserve our strictures until the proper time for considering the matterandafter waitingare

, , , then told that proper time has gone by . Every kind of evasion is resorted to in order to silence opponents , and every subterfuge adopted to stifle inquiry . A plea of guilty is put in to avoid exposure , and then a point of