SANCTUM

The announcement that the Fogg Museum is to receive an art collection which includes portraits by such old masters as Rembrandt, Hals, Murillo, and El Greco is most welcome. Usually, when rare items are offered at public auction the large metropolitan museums are able to outbid their less affluent collegiate competitors, so Harvard is to be considered fortunate in gaining so fine a legacy, which otherwise might never have found its way to Cambridge. The true significance of the gift lies not alone in the intrinsic value of the objects themselves, but in the mode of presentation. The will stipulates that the paneled room which now houses the collection shall be moved and integrated with the Museum building. The pictures, along with the tapestries, sculpture, and books are to remain in this room which is to be used as a living room by professors, students, and visitors.

Gradually, it may be seen, that the acquisition of culture is becoming less dependent on the stiff pedagogy of the lecture platform and assuming a more informal, palatable shape. It has been realized that a pleasant environment conduces both to easier and more profitable study. This fine arts counterpart of the literary Farnsworth room will be a source of pleasure for the many who find the coldly formal atmosphere of the average library or museum distasteful.