TIM SOUTH LONDON FINE ART GA T,T;FIRY.
[TO THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—Will you give me space to make a request on a wider scale than it is possible to do in private, for a great boon to a great many people, which will yet cost the givers nothing ? It is to ask those who possess pictures that are usually left covered up or in darkened rooms while their owners are away in August and September, to be so kind as to lend them during those months to the South London Fine Art Gallery, where thousands of people will come to look at them, instead of their being, as it were, lost for the time.
This gallery, which is now housed in a substantial fire-proof building, opened on May 4th in Peckham Road, Camberwell, has Sir Frederick Leighton for its president, and many responsible members upon its council, and the secretary will send at once for any works suitable for exhibition in it, upon receiving notice to do so. Simple subjects, bright landscapes, and portraits of well-known persons are especially enjoyed, and I believe many owners of such pictures will be quite willing to lend them. The number of visitors, especially on Sundays, in the autumn and winter, is astonishing, and it is to provide for this season that we are anxious to receive promises of help. Books, especially picture-books, that have seen service elsewhere would be very warmly welcomed, for a peculiar feature of this institution is the way in which for years past it has attracted children; so that it has been regularly opened at times best Baited for them, and collections of curiosities made for their pleasure are placed in cases about the gallery.
I believe it would surprise and interest any one who would take the journey to Peckham Road, to see the gallery and its capacity for development. The piece of ground on which the building stands has been left, as far as possible, the old zuburban garden it was, and it is intended that the poor children shall have some enjoyment from it. A grand piano stands waiting for friends to kindly come and play on it from time to time ; and there is also a room for free lectures on winter evenings, and a good reference library. No other place of the kind exists in South London, and whilst large schemes for the future are being discussed, here stands a ready instrument of good, needing, however, for its support, as it has always done, the help of contributions in money, and gifts or loans of pictures. Letters can be addressed to the Secretary, South London Fine Art Gallery, Camberwell, S.E.; or to Mrs. Burne-Jones, The Grange, West Kensington, W.— I am, Sir, &c.,
July 3rd. GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES.
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