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The number of exhibitions, conversazioni, &c., in the United Kingdom to which objects were lent was 44, being an increase of 1 on the previous year, the details of which are given on Table I, page 266. The more important of these exhibitions were held at the following places:

Cork, for the development of the industrial resources of the country, and artistic education of the people.

Oldham, for the purpose of raising a fund to furnish the new museum at the Free Reference Library in which the exhibition was held.

Huddersfield, for the benefit of the Technical School and School of Art.
Limerick, to promote the interests of the School of Art.

The students' work which gained medals and prizes after having been on view in the South Kensington Museum, were exhibited at Cork, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Burton-on-Trent.

The collection of Indian objects, supplemented by contributions from His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, and the Right Hon. Earl Lytton, noted in the last report for 1882 as being at Copenhagen, was subsequently removed to Amsterdam and exhibited during the summer months in connection with the International Colonial Export Exhibition, 1883.

This collection has now been returned in a satisfactory condition to the museum after having been exhibited at Borlin, 1881-82; Stockholm, 1882; Copenhagen, 1882-'83; and Amsterdam, 1883.

With regard to loans to schools of art for the purposes of copying and study there has been a considerable increase in the demand, the total number of objects and paintings issued being 4,826, against 3,328 in 1882. The number of deposit loan cases containing objects for still-life study is now 68, an increase of 24, and still this number is not sufficient for the demand.

The total number of objects, &c., issued for various periods during the year was 17,498, being an increase of 415 on the previous year.

'4) Abstract of objects acquired by purchase under votes F 2 and 7, or by gift, during the year ending December 31, 1883.

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* Thirty-first Report of the Science and Art Department, page 262.

(7) * Abstract of the cost of objects purchased for the art collections (excluding casts and electrotypes) showing the amount expended to December 31, 1882, and the further sum expended from December 31, 1882, to December 31, 1883.

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VII.-THE ART LIBRARY.

REPORT OF THE MUSEUM-KEEPER AND LIBRARIAN OF THE NATIONAL ART LIBRARY.

Mr. R. H. Soden Smith, M. A., F. S. A., the keeper of the National Art Library, reports as follows:

ATTENDANCE.

I. The attendance in the Art Library during the past year amounted to 17,440 students and 6,006 subscribers, showing a decrease compared with 1882, when the numbers were respectively 18,299 and 6,584. There seems during 1883 to have been a general decrease of attendance in the various divisions of the museum.

ACQUISITIONS.

The number of volumes and pamphlets acquired has been 2,294. Among these may be named two of the rare Venetian lace pattern books; the earlier, entitled "Bellezze de Recami et Designi," is extremely uncommon. It was brought out at Venice in 1558, and contains 20 pages of designs, many of great elegance, all in perfect condition, and including upwards of 100 patterns for lace borders; the other is also rare, "La Vera Perfettione del disegno de varie sorti di ricami, &c.," by Gionanni Ostaus, Venice, 1591; a rare work of Du Cerceau, containing elaborate engravings of ornament of the date 1594, a beautiful little volume in its original stamped vellum cover; a curious book containing receipts for dyeing and coloring, &c., sm. 4to., 1605, translated from the Dutch by Leonard Maskall, the author of "A Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line," &c.; a fine series of the engraved works of Le Pautre, about 1,000 prints collected in 7 folio volumes; these volumes formed part of the Townley Library and represent very fully the various works of the great French decorative artist; Turner and Girtin's River Scenery, 1823-30; two early publications by David Cox, now become rare, his "Lessons in Water Cours," 1823, and the "Young Artist's Companion," 1825; several works illustrating costume.

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Various publications having for their object the more complete illustration of the works of the great masters, as Amand-Durand's Eaux-Fortes et Gravures des Maitres anciens, 1870-72; Unger, Musée National d'Amsterdam.

6. Some additions have been made to the class of illustrations of early printing and book ornament. The increasing zeal of collectors in this direction both at home and abroad renders it difficult now to acquire specimens except at prices practically prohibitive for the art library.

DRAWINGS.

9. The number of original drawings acquired has been 2,822; of these 195 have been presented.

Among the latter may be mentioned a series of 120 pen sketches in Spain, by the late Sir M. Digby Wyatt, presented by Lady Wyatt; chalk studies of drapery, by Sir F. Leighton, P. R. A., presented by himself; an Italian colored drawing of an altar-piece from the original, by Luca della Robbia, presented by Lady Bourchier; of the drawings purchased may be mentioned a most interesting series of 248 original illustrations, folio size, of Hindoo costume, by Balthazar Solvyns, a Flemish artist, who brought out in Calcutta, in 1799, an important work on the native costume in a series of etchings by himself; these drawings, executed about 1798, are the originals which he made for his subsequently published plates. A set of the 15 large

and elaborate illustrations of the decorative details of the "Taje Mahall" Agra, giv. ing full-size examples of the beautiful inlay work; a valuable collection of 140 drawings of fruit and flowers, beautifully colored, which were executed for John, Count of Nassau, by John Walter about 1654, from plants growing in the gardens of the count's palace in the Duchy of Nassau. These drawings were acquired by the Earl of Bute, the minister of King George III, and bound for him in two handsome volumes; on the dispersion of his library they were obtained for Mr. Beckford, and thus came to the Hamilton Palace collection, from which they were bought for the art library. A set of 82 drawings of details of classical architecture made by Robert Adam, about 1750; 6 very interesting drapery sketches in oil, by Hogarth; upwards of 30 original studies, by Flaxman; academical and other studies, by Stothard, West, &c.; pencil drawings by Prout; many studies of sky, trees, and details of foliage by Varley and others; a collection of designs for various decorative objects, also for architectural ornament, by various Italian and other artists; a series of drawings of ancient armor and weapons by the late Lieut. Col. C. Hamilton Smith; a very highly finished drawing on a large scale in colors heightened with gold of a twelfth century. Altar frontal in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.

The collection of early illuminations has received the important addition of 355 pieces, chiefly initial letters from MSS. of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, including examples of the Italian, French, German, and Flemish schools of missal painting.

ENGRAVINGS, ETCHINGS, AND WOOD-CUTS.

10. The number of engravings, etchings, and wood-cuts added to the collection has been large, in all 18,107; of those presented may be mentioned a series of 80 etchings, by F. Goya, published 1799; and a collection of 262 engravings issued by the Calcografia Nacional, Madrid. Among the purchases are many classed series of architectural objects and decorative details, as towers and spires, chimney-pieces, staircases, doorways, pulpits, &c., besides croziers, chalices, vases, book-titles, and other series which are being completed for the special use of students of ornamental art; a few additions have been made to the collection of the works of the "Little Master" of the early German school; also to the wood-cut book ornament of the 15th and 16th centuries; a large and curious collection of upwards of 1,000 title pages, frontispieces colophons, and other book ornament, in six folio guard books, has been acquired; also another set of such subjects numbering more than 300, together with about 130 printers' devices, head and tail pieces, &c., besides large additions to the collections of woodcuts and other initial letters; the series of book illustrations of the last century has been added to, as well as that of portraits of artists.

PHOTOGRAPHS.

I. The number of photographs added to the collection has been 1,559. Among these, which for the most part are printed by processes believed to be permanent, may be mentioned a set of illustrations presented by M. de Champeaux, of decorative furniture exhibited by the "Union Centrale des Arts décoratifs" in Paris; a collection representing objects of antique art in the Royal Museum at Naples; several important series of autotypes illustrating the contents of the great European collections; among these last are 400 representing the paintings in the Prado Museum, Madrid, and a small series of the paintings in the Academy of San Fernando, upwards of 300 histori cal portraits exhibited at the Trocadero, Paris; the collection as far as yet issued of the paintings in the Galleries of the Hermitage, St. Petersburgh; also large illustrations of the decorative designs for the opera house, Paris; the society for photographing such remains of Old London as still are permitted to exist has issued a few photographs, of which two sets have been acquired.

LOANS TO SCHOOLS OF ARTS.

12. Sixteen hundred and forty-four diagrams, drawings, prints, and photographs have been lent to schools of art, for exhibition at institutions in the country, or for use in the lecture theatre.

The total number of prints, drawings, and photographs at present on loan to the Art Museum for exhibition or circulation, or otherwise in use out of the library, is upwards of 10,000.

VIII.-EXTRACTS FROM THE ART DIRECTORY.

The following extracts from the Art Directory* will serve to show in detail the somewhat complicated methods by which government supervision is maintained and government aid extended to, the various classes of students and of institutions, engaged in prosecuting the study of industrial art. The object of the Government in thus extending aid to education in Industrial Art, with the requisite conditions for securing this aid, are clearly and succintly stated in this little book of official regulations. Observe, for instance, the care taken in the provisions for extending aid to art loan exhibitions in the provinces, to secure ample opportunities for the attendance of artisans on these exhibitions by the stipulation that they shall be open on two evenings in each week, at a nominal entrance fee of one penny. The Directory is revised each year and the latest edition supersedes all previous ones, but the changes are in details and comparatively few. The important changes in the latest edition of the Art Directory (August, 1884), and in the Calendar and General Directory for 1885 have here been inserted.†

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

"I. A sum of money is annually granted by Parliament for instruction in art in the United Kingdom, and is administered by the Science and Art Department, hereinafter called the Department. The nature of the aid given towards instruction in Science is fully explained in the Science Directory.

"II. The head of the Education Department, of which the Science and Art Department is a branch, is the Lord President of the Council, assisted by a member of the Privy Council, who is called the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, and who acts under the direction of the Lord President, and for him in his absence. (Order in Council, 25th February, 1856, act 19 and 20, Vict., c. 116.) "III. The object of this grant is to promote instruction in drawing, painting, and modelling, and designing for architecture, manufactures, and decoration, especially among the industrial classes.

"IV. To effect this object the Department will give aid towards the teaching of elementary drawing in elementary day schools and training colleges; towards the teaching of drawing in art classes; towards instructions in art in schools of art, and towards the training of art teachers. The art library and collections of decorative art at South Kensington are also made available for the purpose of instruction in schools of art."

*"Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, South Kensington.-Art Directory, containing regulations for promoting Instruction in Art, with appendix. (Revised to August, 1884.) [The rules in this edition supersede those in all former editions, and are always subject to revision.] London: Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's most excellent Majesty. Sold by Chapman and Hall (Limited), 11 Henrietta street, Covent Garden, London. Price sixpence." 184. pp. 115.

The body of the text here given was taken from the edition of 1878 (in which year this Report was, for a second time, made ready for publication) and the notes and cross references of that edition are retained; such important additions or changes as appear in the latest edition (1884) or in the Calendar and General Directory (1885), are given. The official list of Art books, examples, and casts, which follow, are the latest issued.-EDITOR ART REPORT.

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