A NEW WING

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 106, 8 May 1933, Page 8

A NEW WING

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

ROYAL CEREMONY

(From "The Post's" RepresenUtlve.) LONDON, March 31. The King and Queen drove in an: open carriage drawn by four bays along a route; lined,'by cheering crowds to open the extension of the National Portrait Gallery, the gift of Lord Duveen, who came from the United States 'specially ■ to; be1- present. More than 300 people were assembled: in-the long hall.. ' • ■■■:■■■.•'■ Sir Evan Charteris, in an address on behalf of .the trustees, 'traced the growth of the gallery from its foundation, with 56 pictures, in a house. in Great George; Street ;77 years ago,/to its present home, with a collection of nearly 3000 portraits. ; •When the Prince Consort helped to found the collection in 1856, with, the expert help of the late George Seharf, gifts poured in and have continued to! do so ever since. To house it worthily, the late Mr-. W. H. Alexander built the present gallery forty years ago. But the building was no sooner opened than fresh accessions filled it to overflowing.! The new' and handsome wing which Lord Duveen has erected will relieve the pressure for a time. The King,' haying acknowledged the address, declared open the new wing, "in full confidence that the achievements of the future will, equal in lustre those of the past." "The Queen and I have come here today with. great pleasure," said his Majesty; who'continued: ' : /"My'grandfather took a warm and active interest in the-project to found the gallery, and among the many eminent supporters .'of the scheme was cine whose grandson, I am glad to note, is among the present trustees. To the Lor.d Stahhope, who moved the adttress in 1856, and. first aroused public attontion to the value of a-collection of historic portraits, this gallery owe» its origin. '. '"The faitti and foresight of the founders have been justified: from small beginnings there has developed a remarkable collection, for > which additional space- has long been' needed. "The generosity of William Henry Alexander in presenting the original building to the nation 40 years ago has been repeated in our own time by Lord Duveen, who has added to his many public benefactions the gift of this beautiful new wing. The presentation' of so many of the portraits is further evidence of the same spirit. "The men and women whose faces look'down'from the walls of the'gallery have this common claim to a place here—-all have won distinction in many fields of human endeavour, each in some memorable way has helped to share the fortunes, traditions, and thoughts of the .British people. "To reanimate the past, and to quicken in each succeeding generation a senser of the continuity of our national story is the great and worthy trust: of this gallery." When the King rose to deliver his speech, Sir John Lavery: was tiusy with his brushes in a corner of the tapestryhung room. By the time the ceremony was over, Sir John , had placed on canvas a rapid impression of the scene; in the foreground their Majesties; facing them the first few rows of a distinguished company. The painjiing was commissioned by Lord Duveen, and will form an historical record. It will include, besides the King and Queen, portraits of > about forty of those present, including the Prime Minister and Miss Ishbel Mac Donald, Viscount Hailsham, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Chief Eabbi. . ' ' To commemorate.the occasion of the opening, the National Art Collections Fund has acquired from Messrs. Knoedler, and presented to the gallery, a portrait iof Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, painted in 1535 by an English artist working under the.influence of Holbein or of that painter in the Low fipjmtries^, Jpaannes-Coxvus,