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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.
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