On the Old Road, Vol. 2 | Page 6

of Raphael?--we will take the Bolognese School, or the early Florentine
School--which do you think a working man would feel the greatest
interest in looking at?--I cannot tell you, because my working men
would not be allowed to look at a Bolognese picture; I teach them so
much love of detail, that the moment they see a detail carefully drawn,
they are caught by it. The main thing which has surprised me in dealing
with these men is the exceeding refinement of their minds--so that in a
moment I can get carpenters, and smiths, and ordinary workmen, and
various classes to give me a refinement which I cannot get a young lady
to give me when I give her a lesson for the first time. Whether it is the
habit of work which makes them go at it more intensely, or whether it
is (as I rather think) that, as the feminine mind looks for strength, the
masculine mind looks for delicacy, and when you take it simply, and
give it its choice, it will go to the most refined thing, I do not know.
Dean of St. Paul's. Can you see any perceptible improvement in the
state of the public mind and taste in that respect since these measures
have been adopted?--There has not been time to judge of that.
127. Do these persons who are taking an interest in Art come from
different parts of London?--Yes.
Of course the distance which they would have to come would be of
very great importance?--Yes.
Therefore one of the great recommendations of a Gallery, if you wish it
to have an effect upon the public mind in that respect, would be its
accessibility, both with regard to the time consumed in going there, and
to the cheapness, as I may call it, of access?--Most certainly.
You would therefore consider that the more central the situation,
putting all other points out of consideration, the greater advantage it
would be to the public?--Yes; there is this, however, to be said, that a
central situation involves the crowding of the room with parties wholly
uninterested in the matter--a situation more retired will generally be

serviceable enough for the real student.
Would not that very much depend upon its being in a thoroughfare?
There might be a central situation which would not be so complete a
thoroughfare as to tempt persons to go in who were not likely to derive
advantage from it?--I think that if this gallery were made so large and
so beautiful as we are proposing, it would be rather a resort, rather a
lounge every day, and all day long, provided it were accessible.
128. Would not that a good deal depend upon its being in a public
thoroughfare? If it were in a thoroughfare, a great many persons might
pass in who would be driven in by accident, or driven in by caprice, if
they passed it; but if it were at a little distance from a thoroughfare, it
would be less crowded with those persons who are not likely to derive
much advantage from it?--Quite so; but there would always be an
advantage in attracting a crowd; it would always extend its educational
ability in its being crowded. But it would seem to me that all that is
necessary for a noble Museum of the best art should be more or less
removed, and that a collection, solely for the purpose of education, and
for the purpose of interesting people who do not care much about art,
should be provided in the very heart of the population, if possible, that
pictures not of great value, but of sufficient value to interest the public,
and of merit enough to form the basis of early education, and to give
examples of all art, should be collected in the popular Gallery, but that
all the precious things should be removed and put into the great Gallery,
where they would be safest, irrespectively altogether of accessibility.
Chairman. Then you would, in fact, have not one but two
Galleries?--Two only.
129. Professor Faraday. And you would seem to desire purposely the
removal of the true and head Gallery to some distance, so as to prevent
the great access of persons?--Yes.
Thinking that all those who could make a real use of a Gallery would
go to that one?--Yes. My opinion in that respect has been altered within
these few days from the fact having been brought to my knowledge of
sculpture being much deteriorated by the atmosphere and the total

impossibility of protecting sculpture. Pictures I do not care about, for I
can protect them, but not sculpture.
Dean of St. Paul's. Whence did you derive that knowledge?--I forget
who told me; it was some authority I thought conclusive, and therefore
took no special note of.