Re-Distributing the Art of the past

Source: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 78, No. 457 (Apr., 1941), p. 105
Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
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Editorial: RE-DISTRIBUTING
THE ART
THE PAST
OTHING could, surely, be more natural
than the demand which recently has
been raised, in Press and Parliament,
for the return of the Elgin Marbles to
Greece. Admiration for the heroic
effort of the Hellenes of to-day rightly knows no
bounds; and the suggestion, that this admiration
should find some signal form of public expression
instinctively appeals to every one of us. The time
is, obviously, not yet ripe for carrying the idea into
full practical effect; but there can be no doubt of
the universal popular support which exists for it, and
of the confident expectation in wide circles that
sympathetic action will, in due course, be taken by
those with whom the decision rests.
Apart from the special considerations which so
properly attach to this particular case, it is perhaps
worthwhile stressing,that the whole question regard-
ing the re-distribution of the world's heritage of the
art of the past, as at present existing, has inevitably
been claiming increased attention of late years.
In the world of art, a complete reaction has set
in against the attitude of the nineteenth century,
with its cult of the institution of the museum and
its accumulation of " specimens " torn from their
natural surroundings. Doubtless, the era of the
international museum complex has been productive
of results which must be regarded as beneficent;
for instance, it is but fair to recognize, that, from
being more generally accessible in London than in
their original habitat, the Elgin Marbles have,
during the past hundred years or so, done more
towards a universal appreciation of the art of
THE PAINTED HALL
AT RICHMOND-I.
HE subject of this paper is the entrance-
hall of No. 4 Maids of Honour Row,
Richmond Green, Surrey [PLATEI, A, B].
This row of early Georgian red-brick
houses stands on the site of part of
Henry VII's Palace of Richmond, bordering on the
south-west of the Green, to the east of the principal
gateway, which, incidentally, with the range known
as the Wardrobe, is the only considerable fragment
of the original building left standing to-day. Rich-
mond Palace, which had gradually fallen into decay
in the later Seventeenth century, was finally pulled
down at some time in Queen Anne's reign, and the
ground divided up by the Crown in leaseholds. In
I708, a large holding was leased to the Hon.
George Cholmondeley, later 2nd Earl of Cholmonde-
THE BURLINGTONMAGAZINE, No. 457, Vol. lxxviii, April 1941
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OF
Classical Greece than would otherwise have been
the case. And, of course, no one wants to suppress
the museum institution altogether: but with the
continuousincreaseof travel facilitieswhich normally
obtains, the cosmopolitan storehouse of art is
undoubtedly tending to become something of an
anachronism. Certainly, the information which
recently has come to hand of Mussolini's " gift"
to Goring of the magnificent altarpiece by Hans
Multscher, which has graced the City of Sterzing,
in Southern Tyrol, from 1458 until yesterday,
cannot strike our generation--entirely apart from
the high-handednessof the action-as anything but
a piece of sheer vandalism.
Simultaneously, there comes the report of a
notable ,exchange in matters of art, which has
recently been arranged between France and Spain :
Murillo's Immaculate Conception from the Louvre and
the Visigoth Votive Crowns found at Guarrazar,
long amongthe greatesttreasuresof the Musie Cluny,
have gone to Spain and as a quidpro quo France
receives the gorgeous Turkish Tent of Frangois I,
captured by the Spaniards at the Battle of Pavia,
and two portraits by Velasquez and Greco which,
while not seriouslyimpairing Spain's heritage of art,
will fulfil an important artistic function in France.
All such questions of re-distributionmust inevitably
raise points of considerable delicacy and difficulty,
but that the evolution will tend more and more
towards re-adjustment and re-integration of this
character, there cannot be any doubt, and the whole
trend is one which lovers of art, we submit, are
bound to welcome.
IN HEIDEGGER'SHOUSE
BY EDWARD CROFT MURRAY
ley, and it was on his land that the four houses in
question were subsequently built.
They derive their name from a tradition that they
were built by order of George I to accommodatethe
Maids of Honour to Caroline of Anspach, then
Princessof Wales, soon after the Prince had acquired
the former mansion of the Dukes of Ormonde as a
summer residence at Richmond. This tradition is
partly confirmed by the Poor Rate-Book of the
borough for 17371,the firstyear in which the position
of the Row in the list of houses may be established
with any certainty. Here the occupants are given
as 'Mr. Moseley' (in the present No. i), 'The
1 I am indebtedto the BoroughTreasurer of Richmondforkindly
allowing me to study the early Rate Bookspreservedin the Town
Hall there.
G I05