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THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY moved,
That there be laid before this House, Copy of the Correspondence between the Trustees of the National Gallery and the Council of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, with reference to the Opening of the Vernon and Turner Galleries of Pictures at South Kensington of an Evening; and also for Copies of all Letters and Memorials on the same Subject which may have been received by the said Trustees up to the date of their making the Returns now moved for.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY, on behalf of the Government, said, he should offer no objection to the production of the correspondence.
§ After a few words from Lord MONTEAGLE,
§ LORD OVERSTONEsaid, that this Motion was premature. He could assure their Lordships that the Trustees of the National Gallery sought to promote no other end than that the treasures in their custody should, as far as possible, be open to the public, and made to contribute to their rational amusement as well as their intellectual improvement, but always consistently with their safe custody and preservation. The question of opening picture galleries in the evening was, however, entirely a new one, and before such a step was taken the effect of gaslight upon the paintings ought to be carefully considered. No national collection of pictures in the world had, he believed, up to the present, been thrown open in the evening; but whether that might be done without any injurious result was, no doubt, a point deserving of attention. He had only to add that he had attended a meeting of the Trustees of the National Gallery on Monday last, when Sir Charles Eastlake had undertaken to investigate the' question with a view to its solution. The trustees had received a vast mass of letters offering suggestion from the Secretaries of Mechanics and other Institutes, and if all these were printed he thought great ex- 189 pense would be incurred without any corresponding benefit. He would not, how ever, oppose the noble Earl's Motion, if he thought proper to persevere with it.
§ LORD ST. LEONARDSwas of opinion that great danger would result from lighting up the National Gallery or any other of our great picture galleries at night. He could not, also, help remarking that the National Gallery was even at present used for the purposes of conversation and appointment, and he could not help thinking that if the galleries in question were opened in the evening matters might become still worse in that respect.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYsaid, there could be no sort of objection to the papers asked for by his noble Friend; but the present was hardly the time for the discussion of the question whether the gallery should be open at night or not.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYsaid, he did not wish to pronounce an opinion on the propriety of lighting up the Gallery with gas but he would remind the House that the Sheepshanks' Collection was now exhibited at night, and that a valuable been was thus granted to persons who had not time to inspect these pictures during the day. He would suggest to the Government whether some plan might not be adopted by which the light should be admitted from the top, as in the House of Commons, so that the fumes of the gas could not injure the pictures.
§ Motion agreed to.