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National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
Photo
Washington D.C
 19 Oct 2003
Jpg: Andy Holzopfel
 
The idea of a National Gallery of Art was the brain child of the then Secretary of the Treasury: Andrew W. Mellon in 1928. Through his efforts by '31 Mellon privately purchased 21 masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum from Soviet officials, including Raphael's Alba Madonna. 

In 1935 Mellon commissioned John Russell Pope to make architectural sketches for a National Gallery at a site on the Mall in Washington. On December 22nd, Mellon offered to donate his private collection in  a letter to the President and to build the gallery from his own funds. It wasn’t until '37 that Congress passes legislation to establish the National Gallery of Art as an independent bureau within the Smithsonian Institution and construction of the building started that summer.
(National Gallery History)
 

Notes: 

Special thanks to Andy Holzopfel, of Baltimore, for taking this picture on his visit to Washington DC and being a friend of the JSS Gallery.  See some of Andy Holzopfel's paintings. 

 
 
 

John Singer Sargent

Mrs. Endicott and Mrs. Iselin
2003
 


By:  Natasha Wallace
Copyright 1998-2005 all rights reserved
Created 1/22/2004

   

 

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