rt of the
impression depends upon the consciousness of the spectator that it is so
costly.

122. Would you have those galleries in themselves richly decorated?--Not
richly, but pleasantly.

Brilliantly, but not too brightly?--Not too brightly. I have not gone
into that question, it being out of my way; but I think, generally, that
great care should be taken to give a certain splendor--a certain
gorgeous effect--so that the spectator may feel himself among splendid
things; so that there shall be no discomfort or meagerness, or want of
respect for the things which are being shown.

123. _Mr. Richmond._ Then do you think that Art would be more worthily
treated, and the public taste and artists better served, by having even
a smaller collection of works so arranged, than by a much larger one
merely housed and hung four or five deep, as in an auction room?--Yes.
But you put a difficult choice before me, because I do think it a very
important thing that we should have many pictures. Totally new results
might be obtained from a large gallery in which the chronological
arrangement was perfect, and whose curators prepared for that
chronological arrangement, by leaving gaps to be filled by future
acquisition; taking the greatest pains in the selection of the examples,
that they should be thoroughly characteristic; giving a greater price
for a picture which was thoroughly characteristic and expressive of the
habits of a nation; because it appears to me that one of the main uses
of Art at present is not so much as Art, but as teaching us the feelings
of nations. History only tells us what they did; Art tells us their
feelings, and why they did it: whether they were energetic and fiery, or
whether they were, as in the case of the Dutch, imitating minor things,
quiet and cold. All those expressions of feeling cannot come out of
History. Even the contemporary historian does not feel them; he does not
feel what his nation is; but get the works of the same master together,
the works of the same nation together, and the works of the same
century together, and see how the thing will force itself upon
everyone's observation.

124. Then you would not exclude the genuine work of inferior
masters?--Not by any means.

You would have the whole as far as you could obtain it?--Yes, as far as
it was characteristic; but I think you can hardly call an inferior
master one who does in the best possible way the thing he undertakes to
do; and I w