THE EARL OF HARROWBYasked Her Majesty's Government what is the surplusage residing in the National Gallery and other metropolitan and provincial galleries, which are in excess of display room and how long on the average and in extreme cases such storage has existed and what is the average annual addition to it, and if, in the interests of the widest dissemination of the cultural influences in this country
On show In store Reference or study collection On loan Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. National Gallery (when present rebuilding is complete) 52.5 — 30 17.5 National Portrait Gallery 31.5 — 66 2.5 Tate Gallery 26.5 — 60* 13.5 National Gallery of Scotland 33.5 10 51 5.5 Scottish National Portrait Gallery 42 — 55 3 * 48 hours' notice required. The 10 per cent. of pictures kept in store by the National Gallery of Scotland have been there for an average of perhaps 40 to 50 years, with a maximum of say about 70 to 80 years. They form the least interesting part of the collection, and there is no demand for the loan of them. The Gallery no longer accepts pictures that would be suitable only for storage. It is impossible to give a figure for the average annual addition to the reference section at the National Gallery in London as their acquisitions are few in number, and usually go on display in the exhibition rooms. The figure for the other galleries is less than 1 per cent.
As the above table shows, the national art galleries already undertake a certain amount of lending. The National Gallery and the Tate Gallery are covered in this respect by a recent Act (the National Gallery and Tate Gallery Act, 1954); the Trustees of the other galleries may lend at their discretion. The extent
1046WApictures from these sources which are unable to be exhibited there nor used by rota, can be lent on long-term loans to provincial galleries who need them and other suitable places such as universities, even if legislation is thereby required, and whether a similar principle can be adopted as to other media from other quarters.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEI am not able to answer for the Provincial Galleries, which are the responsibility of their respective local authorities, but the position as regards national art galleries in London and Edinburgh is as follows:
Pictures not on display in the exhibition rooms are kept, as a rule, on screens in a reference or study collection like the reference section of a library, to which any member of the public can have access on request. The distribution of paintings is:
to which the galleries lend pictures which they do not need for exhibition or reference purposes at any particular time depends very largely on the demand from provincial galleries for such pictures. Generally speaking, the same lending policy is followed by all public collections.