BRITISH ART TREASURES

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 January 1934, Page 7

BRITISH ART TREASURES

A great collection. [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY. January 4. The opening of the art exhibition at Burlington House is calculated to give Britons a new vision of the glory of national art and a comforting comparison with those of Italy, France, Flanders and Holland previously displayed by the Royal Academy. There are 1550 works. The selection has taken two years to collect It is insured for two and a-half millions, apart from the insurances effected by the owners. One hundred special guards, many of whom are armed 1 , are engaged to watch day and night. The King heads the lenders, sending sixty objects, of which sixteen are important oils from Windsor, Buckingham and Hampton Court. The display Illustrates the development of all arts in Britain from Alfred the Great to 1860. Earlier ages are primarily represented by Gothic sculpture and manuscripts, hut there is a superb selection of Eighteenth Century portraits from the collections of the great landlords, many of which have been in possession of the owners since they were painted. The exhibition includes typical landscapes by Constable and Turner,. and' characteristic examples of the pre-Raphaolites. City Companies and University Colleges have made ecncrcus loans of goldsmithery, embroidery, and furniture, the whole constituting a. display never likely to be equalled in this generation.