asked the President whether there have been any further developments in connection with the bequest to Dublin of the Lane collection, and whether he can say if the offer of portion of the collection on loan has been considered, and whether, in case of the return of the pictures to Dublin, any provision has been made for a suitable building for their reception.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - THE LANE PICTURES.
I would refer the Deputy to an answer given to a question on this subject in July, 1926. Before the publication of the report of the Committee set up by the British Cabinet I was afforded an opportunity of seeing it, and I addressed a letter to the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs setting out the considered observations of the Executive Council on the report. This question is admittedly of international importance, even though the City of Dublin is the principal party concerned. It will be remembered that the codicil to the will of the late Sir Hugh Lane was written on the 3rd February, 1915, during the war period, and that although it was signed it was not witnessed. The codicil was, therefore, not legally valid, although the form would have been sufficient in law at the time if the deceased were a soldier or sailor on active service. The Committee found, however, that Sir Hugh Lane was of opinion that he was making a legal disposition when he signed the codicil. The codicil reads as follows:—
"This is a codicil to my last will to the effect that the group of pictures now at the London National Gallery, which I had bequeathed to that Institution, I now bequeath to the City of Dublin, providing that a suitable building is provided for them within five years of my death. The group of pictures I have lent to Belfast I give to the Municipal Gallery in Harcourt Street. If a building is provided within five years, the whole collection will be housed together. The sole Trustee to this question is to be my aunt, Lady Gregory. She is to appoint any additional Trustees she may think fit. I also wish that the pictures now on loan at this (National Gallery of Ireland) Gallery remain as my gift.
"HUGH LANE."
"I would like my friend, Tom Bodkin, to be asked to help in the obtaining of this new Gallery of Modern Art for Dublin.
"If within five years a gallery is not forthcoming, then the group of pictures (at the London National Gallery) are to be sold, and the proceeds go to fulfil the purpose of my will.
"HUGH LANE."
"3rd February, 1915."
The Committee nevertheless reported that it would not be proper to modify the will by public Act of Parliament, and so the matter stands.
It is quite clear that in view of the technical invalidity of the codicil, the fact that a gallery has not been provided by the Municipality could not justly be regarded as a determining factor in the case, especially as the Governor of the National Gallery of Ireland has undertaken to house the pictures in the meantime, but it is nevertheless significant that considerable attention was directed in the report to the fact that through the munificence of Sir Joseph Duveen a gallery or an annexe to an existing gallery has been provided to house the Lane Collection in London. I am not in a position to say whether if a gallery were provided by the Municipality of Dublin any change would take place in the minds of those who are not at present disposed to honour the expressed wishes of the late Sir Hugh Lane. It is, I think, generally conceded that the building in which the municipal picture collection is at present housed cannot be regarded as suitable for the purposes of a permanent gallery. Some—I do not believe all—of the thirty-nine pictures are on view at the London Gallery, which was built by money provided by Sir Joseph Duveen. I took the opportunity of my stay in London during the Imperial Conference to pay a visit to the Gallery, and at that time all the pictures were not on view.
The question of the acceptance of a portion of the Lane gift on temporary or permanent loan is, of course, a matter for the Municipality of Dublin, which is the body for whom the gift was intended by Sir Hugh Lane. The Government have expressed no view upon the matter other than that in their opinion the question is an international one, and an offer of this kind cannot be regarded as fulfilling Sir Hugh Lane's last wishes.
If I may venture to express my personal opinion, it is that the claim of the city of Dublin would be very much strengthened if the proviso in the codicil were fulfilled, viz., that a gallery should be provided by the city of Dublin. I do, of course, admit that some objection might lie to this course —the expenditure of a considerable sum of money in an anticipation which may not be realised. I feel, however, that once a gallery had been provided and the donor's wishes in that respect fulfilled—a responsibility which, if it were mine, I would shoulder—an entirely different situation would have arisen, which would afford very strong grounds for a variation of the decision of the British Government when the report was published.
When the President was in London, did he observe that the Lane pictures formed a very small proportion of the pictures exhibited in the Galleries presented by Sir Joseph Duveen, and will he call the attention of the British Government to the parable of the prophet Nathan addressed to King David, and ask them to spare this ewe lamb?