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65-549: Varnedoe was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, and attended Savannah Country Day School . He studied at St. Andrew's School and Williams College , where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society . At Williams he began studying studio art, but soon switched to art history under the influence of Professor Lane Faison , and received his A.B. in 1967. He also played college football and, after graduating, returned to work as

130-610: A neoclassical style (as is Pope's other notable building in Washington, D.C., the Jefferson Memorial ). Designed in the form of an elongated H, the building is centered on a domed rotunda modeled on the interior of the Pantheon in Rome. Extending east and west from the rotunda, a pair of skylit sculpture halls provide its main circulation spine. Bright garden courts provide a counterpoint to

195-570: A National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981. The final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden . Completed and opened to the public on May 23, 1999, the location provides an outdoor setting for exhibiting a number of large pieces from the Museum's contemporary sculpture collection. In 2011, an extensive refurbishment and renovation of

260-550: A book about the French painter Gustave Caillebotte , which helped to initiate a revival of scholarly and public interest in that little-known Impressionist. A 1982 exhibition Varnedoe curated, "Northern Light: Realism and Symbolism in Scandinavian Painting, 1880-1910" introduced American audiences to yet more unfamiliar artists. In 1984, the same year that he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, he co-curated with William Rubin ,

325-441: A broad audience but that large numbers of educated art lovers still harbored doubts about art from Ellsworth Kelly , Robert Morris, and Cy Twombly to Donald Judd , Robert Ryman , and Sol LeWitt , and his lectures made an argument for the depth, variety, and meaningfulness of art after Abstract Expressionism . "What is abstract art good for? Why should we spend our time looking at 'pictures of nothing'?" Varnedoe accepted those as

390-505: A coaching assistant and to lead art history discussion sections for a year. In 1972 Varnedoe earned a Ph.D. at Stanford under Rodin scholar Albert Elsen , with whom he collaborated on an exhibition and catalog, The Drawings of Rodin (1971), about the profusion of drawings falsely attributed to Rodin. He married the artist Elyn Zimmerman , taught art history at Stanford for a year, then taught at Columbia University and at New York University Institute of Fine Arts . In 1987 he published

455-604: A disgruntled office seeker, Charles Guiteau , shot President James Garfield (see James A. Garfield assassination ). The station was demolished in 1908 because it did not conform to the McMillan Plan for the Mall. In 1918, temporary war buildings were constructed on the site; these were demolished by 1921 to construct the foundation of the George Washington Memorial Building , which was never completed. The site

520-579: A new gallery for old masters, separate from the Smithsonian. When asked by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on "the attitude of the Government towards the gift". In January 1937, Mellon formally offered to create the new Gallery. On his birthday, 24 March 1937, an Act of Congress accepted the collection and building funds (provided through

585-493: A number of major exhibitions at MoMA during his tenure, some which were considered highly controversial. A list of the exhibitions he brought to MoMA also indicates the breadth of his interests: "Vienna: 1900" in 1986, "High And Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture" (co-curated with the writer Adam Gopnik ) in 1990, retrospectives of the art of Cy Twombly (1995), Jasper Johns (1997), and Jackson Pollock (1999), and " Van Gogh 's Postman: The Portraits of Joseph Roulin (2001). He

650-592: A period of difficult relations with the museum's new director, Glenn Lowry . He then became a scholar-in-residence at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies until his death two years later. Kirk Varnedoe died of cancer in 2003 at the age of fifty-seven. Adam Gopnik, one of his graduate school protégés in the mid-1980s, wrote a tribute in The New Yorker in 2004, which was subsequently republished in Reader's Digest . High and Low, written with co-curator Adam Gopnik,

715-467: A private collection of old master paintings and sculptures during World War I . During the late 1920s, Mellon decided to direct his collecting efforts towards the establishment of a new national gallery for the United States. In 1930, partly for tax reasons, Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, which was to be the legal owner of works intended for the gallery. In 1930–1931,

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780-527: A response to a much earlier Mellon lecturer, E.H. Gombrich , who in Art and Illusion had extolled the history of representation since the Renaissance and characterized abstract art as a romantic but essentially primitivizing and limiting enterprise. Varnedoe's view, not surprisingly, was quite the opposite. Moreover, he knew that abstraction from Kandinsky to Rothko had achieved an Old master-like acceptance among

845-476: A sophisticated variation on traditional modernism." Savannah Country Day School The Savannah Country Day School ( SCDS , Country Day ) is an independent college preparatory school founded in 1955 in Savannah, Georgia , United States. The co-educational school serves students from pre-kindergarten through to twelfth grade , and has 1,028 students enrolled. Savannah Country Day School originates from

910-409: A substantial art collection and funds for construction. The core collection includes major works of art donated by Paul Mellon , Ailsa Mellon Bruce , Lessing J. Rosenwald , Samuel Henry Kress , Rush Harrison Kress , Peter Arrell Browne Widener , Joseph E. Widener , and Chester Dale . The Gallery's collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces

975-584: A walkway beneath 4th street, called "the Concourse" on the museum's map. In 2008, the National Gallery of Art commissioned American artist Leo Villareal to transform the Concourse into an artistic installation. Multiverse is one of Villareal's largest and most complex light sculpture by light count, featuring approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200 ft (61 m)-long space. The concourse also includes

1040-536: Is enclosed by a sculptural space spanning 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m ). The atrium is centered on the same axis that forms the circulation spine for the West Building and is constructed in the same Tennessee marble. However, in 2005 the joints attaching the marble panels to the walls began to show signs of strain, creating a risk that panels might fall onto visitors below. In 2008, NGA officials decided that it had become necessary to remove and reinstall all of

1105-684: Is located on a wooded 65-acre campus on Savannah's south side in the Windsor Forest neighborhood. In 2005, the school completed construction on the Nina Anderson Pape Middle School building. In 2008, the school officially opened a new LEED Silver-certified lower school. In 2011, the Savannah Country Day School chorus was one of 14 choirs selected to perform Handel's "Messiah" live at Lincoln Center in New York. The show

1170-595: Is not part of the Smithsonian Institution . Noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. (1938–1956), John Walker (1956–1968), and J. Carter Brown (1968–1993). Earl A. "Rusty" Powell III was named director in 1993. In March 2019 he was succeeded by Kaywin Feldman , past director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Art . The museum hired Evelyn Carmen Ramos ,

1235-402: Is sixteen students with a student:teacher ratio of 10:1. A "Little School" exists for children between the ages of six weeks and three years. The school also offers summer programs for children in the form of day camp experiences. Activities include academics, arts , athletics, and outdoor experiences. The school has an acceptance rate of 50%. Savannah Country Day School's campus

1300-525: The COVID-19 pandemic , the National Gallery was largely closed to the public. However, visitors were able to schedule appointments to access the west building in small numbers. The museum comprises two buildings: the West Building (1941) and the East Building (1978), linked by an underground passage. The West Building, composed of pink Tennessee marble , was designed in 1937 by architect John Russell Pope in

1365-685: The Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis and a collection of work by Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas . Other highlights of the permanent collection include the second of the two original sets of Thomas Cole 's series of paintings titled The Voyage of Life , (the first set is at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York ) and the original version of Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley (two other versions are in

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1430-892: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Detroit Institute of Arts ). The National Gallery's print collection comprises 75,000 prints, in addition to rare illustrated books. It includes collections of works by Albrecht Dürer , Rembrandt , Giovanni Battista Piranesi , William Blake , Mary Cassatt , Edvard Munch , Jasper Johns , and Robert Rauschenberg . The collection began with 400 prints donated by five collectors in 1941. In 1942, Joseph E. Widener donated his entire collection of nearly 2,000 works. In 1943, Lessing Rosenwald donated his collection of 8,000 old master and modern prints; between 1943 and 1979, he donated almost 14,000 more works. In 2008, Dave and Reba White Williams donated their collection of more than 5,200 American prints. In 2013,

1495-511: The 1970s on much of the remaining land left over from the original congressional action. Andrew Mellon's children, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce , funded the building. Designed by architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter . The new building was built to house the Museum's collection of modern paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, as well as study and research centers and offices. The design received

1560-647: The Americas) and groups of works by Titian and Raphael . The collections include paintings by many European masters, including a version of Saint Martin and the Beggar , by El Greco , and works by Matthias Grünewald , Cranach the Elder , Rogier van der Weyden , Albrecht Dürer , Frans Hals , Rembrandt , Johannes Vermeer , Francisco Goya , Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres , and Eugène Delacroix , among others. The collection of sculpture and decorative arts includes such works as

1625-586: The French galleries were undertaken. As part of the celebration of the reopening of this wing, organist Alexander Frey performed 4 sold-out recitals of music of France in one weekend in the French Gallery. The National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museum's operations and maintenance. All artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds. The museum

1690-450: The NGA purchased from a private French collection Gerard van Honthorst 's 1623 painting, The Concert , which had not been publicly viewed since 1795. After initially displaying the 1.23 by 2.06 m (4.0 by 6.8 ft) The Concert in a special installation in the West Building, the NGA moved the painting to a permanent display in the museum's Dutch and Flemish galleries. Art experts estimated

1755-462: The Tower Galleries would probably house modern art, and the creation of a distinct " Rothko Room" was possible. Beginning in 2011, NGA undertook an $ 85 million restoration of the East Building's façade. The East Building is clad in 3 in (7.6 cm) thick pink marble panels. The panels are held about 2 in (5.1 cm) away from the wall by stainless steel anchors. Gravity holds

1820-588: The Trust made its first major acquisition, 21 paintings from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg as part of the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings , including such masterpieces as Raphael 's Alba Madonna , Titian 's Venus with a Mirror , and Jan van Eyck 's Annunciation . In 1929 Mellon had initiated contact with the recently appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution , Charles Greeley Abbot . Mellon

1885-680: The Trust), and approved the construction of a museum on the National Mall. The new gallery was to be effectively self-governing, not controlled by the Smithsonian, but took the old name "National Gallery of Art" while the Smithsonian's gallery would be renamed the "National Collection of Fine Arts" (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum ). The museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station , where in 1881

1950-588: The Visual Arts (CASVA). Among the highlights of the East Building in 2012 was an exhibition of Barnett Newman 's The Stations of the Cross series of 14 black and white paintings (1958–66). Newman painted them after he had recovered from a heart attack ; they are usually regarded as the peak of his achievement. The series has also been seen as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust . The two buildings are connected by

2015-409: The art that Minimalism killed off?" Ultimately, he argued that Minimalism represented a profound gain, that it could be taken "both as a legitimate reflection of the way we think individually and as a valuable aspect of a liberal society." He disputed the view that Minimalism was reductive, narrow, or mute: "Minimalism revives and renovates what it seems to kill...it is a radically new kind of art, not

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2080-571: The cause of the problem. Although the Gallery began raising private funds to fix the issue, eventually federal funding was used to repair the building. In 2012, the NGA chose a joint venture, Balfour Beatty /Smoot, to complete the repairs. Anodized aluminum anchors replaced the stainless steel ones, and the top corner anchors were moved to the center of the top edge of each stone. The neoprene joints were removed and new colored silicone gaskets installed, and leveling screws rather than mortar used to keep

2145-408: The ceilings of existing galleries and the building's skylights (which was never completed when the building was constructed in 1978) would be renovated into two, 23 ft (7.0 m) high, hexagonal Tower Galleries. The galleries would have a combined 12,260 sq ft (1,139 m ) of space and will be lit by skylights . A rooftop sculpture garden would also be added. NGA officials said that

2210-418: The center of its design, which arching pathways of granite and crushed stone complement. (The pool becomes an ice-skating rink during the winter.) The sculptures exhibited in the surrounding landscaped area include pieces by Marc Chagall , David Smith , Mark Di Suvero , Roy Lichtenstein , Sol LeWitt , Tony Smith , Roxy Paine , Joan Miró , Louise Bourgeois , and Hector Guimard . The NGA's West Building

2275-408: The creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. Founding benefactors included such individuals as Paul Mellon , Samuel H. Kress , Rush H. Kress , Ailsa Mellon Bruce , Chester Dale , Joseph Widener , Lessing J. Rosenwald and Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch . The Gallery's East Building was constructed in

2340-425: The design of the East Building, by architect I. M. Pei , is geometrical, dividing the trapezoidal shape of the site into two triangles: one contains public galleries, and the other houses a library, offices, and a study center. The triangles establish a motif that is echoed throughout the building, realized in every dimension. The East Building's central feature is a high atrium designed as an open interior court that

2405-618: The development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas and the largest mobile created by Alexander Calder . The Gallery's campus includes the original neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope , which is linked underground to the modernist East Building, designed by I. M. Pei , and is next to the 6.1-acre (25,000 m ) Sculpture Garden . The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning

2470-447: The façade, infiltration of moisture, and shrinkage of the building's structural concrete by 2 in (5.1 cm) over time caused extensive damage to the façade. In 2005, regular maintenance showed that some panels were cracked or significantly damaged, while others leaned by more than 1 in (2.5 cm) out from the building (threatening to fall). The NGA hired the structural engineering firm Robert Silman Associates to determine

2535-404: The first woman and the first person of color to be the chief curatorial and conservation officer, in 2021. The president of the museum is billionaire businessman Mitchell Rales and its chairperson is Sharon Rockefeller . Entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. It is closed on December 25 and January 1. During

2600-502: The following environmental features: Since the school's first vegetable garden was planted in the 1970s, the school has expanded to include a Butterfly Garden, Herb Garden, Fruit Garden, Brown Thumb Garden, Monet Garden, Organic Spot, Shakespeare Garden and Pangaea Garden. Throughout the school year, third-grade students plant, tend, harvest and eat fruits and vegetables grown on campus in the SCDS cafeteria. Students also donate vegetables from

2665-642: The food court and a gift shop. The final element of the National Gallery of Art complex, the Sculpture Garden was completed in 1999 after more than 30 years of planning. To the west of the West Building, on the opposite side of Seventh Street , the 6.1 acres (2.5 ha) Sculpture Garden was designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin as an outdoor gallery for monumental modern sculpture. The Sculpture Garden contains plantings of Native American species of canopy and flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. A circular reflecting pool and fountain form

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2730-517: The founding of the Pape School by Nina Anderson Pape in 1905. Savannah Country Day School itself was founded in 1955 by a group of parents (including Cornelia Groves ), with the school taking over the assets and faculty of Pape School, including the facilities east of Forsyth Park, and the school's curriculum. In 1960, the school moved to its current Windsor Park location, south of Savannah. A book titled Service Through Knowledge and Character details

2795-454: The fundamental questions that had to be addressed. He also acknowledged the gulf between those who revered the School of New York and those who embraced the un-painterly successors to Mark Rothko and Morris Louis , those artists who seemed to represent a repudiation of Abstract Expressionism. His lectures asked: "What have we gained in return for giving up the painterly beauty and sophistication of

2860-658: The garden to a local food bank. National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C. , United States, located on the National Mall , between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress . Andrew W. Mellon donated

2925-549: The interior mechanical plant of the structure, and $ 30 million to create new exhibition space. Because the angular interior space of the East Building made it impossible to close off galleries, the renovation required all but the atrium and offices to close by December 2013. The structure remained closed for three years. The architectural firm of Hartman-Cox oversaw both aspects of the renovation. A group of benefactors — which included Victoria and Roger Sant, Mitchell and Emily Rales , and David Rubenstein — privately financed

2990-407: The long main axis of the building. The West Building has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th century, as well as pre-20th century works by American artists. Highlights of the collection include paintings by Jan Vermeer , Rembrandt van Rijn , Claude Monet , Vincent van Gogh , and Leonardo da Vinci . In contrast,

3055-442: The most highly regarded collection of modern art in the world; contemporary artists bitterly complained that MoMA had lost touch with the current art scene and those opposed to many of the new developments in the current art scene feared that MoMA would alter its historical allegiance to high Modernism from Matisse to Rothko . "Varnedoe inherits his mantle in difficult times," one commentator observed. Varnedoe curated or co-curated

3120-567: The panel in the bottom anchors (which are placed at each corner), while "button head" anchors (stainless steel posts with large, flat heads) at the top corners keep the panel upright. Mortar was used on the gravity anchors to level the stones. Joints of flexible colored neoprene were placed between the panels. This system was designed to allow each panel to hang independent of its neighbors, and NGA officials say they are not aware of any other panel system like it. However, many panels were accidentally mortared together. Seasonal heating and cooling of

3185-495: The panels square. Work began in November 2011, and originally was scheduled to end in 2014. By February 2012, however, the contractor said work on the façade would end in late 2013, and site restoration would take place in 2014. The East Building remained open throughout the project. In March 2013, the National Gallery of Art announced a $ 68.4 million renovation to the East Building. This included $ 38.4 million to refurbish

3250-448: The panels. The renovation was completed in 2016. The East Building focuses on modern and contemporary art , with a collection including works by Pablo Picasso , Henri Matisse , Jackson Pollock , Andy Warhol , Roy Lichtenstein , Alexander Calder , a 1977 mural by Robert Motherwell and works by many other artists. The East Building also contains the main offices of the NGA and a large research facility, Center for Advanced Study in

3315-628: The permanent collection date from the Middle Ages to the present. The Italian Renaissance collection includes two panels from Duccio 's Maesta , the tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi , a Botticelli work on the same subject, Giorgione 's Allendale Nativity , Giovanni Bellini 's The Feast of the Gods , Ginevra de' Benci (the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in

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3380-495: The principal curator and future director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), an important and controversial exhibition at MoMA, "Primitivism in Twentieth-Century Art." That relationship with Rubin led to his appointment at MoMA four years later to the position of chief Ccurator of painting and sculpture, a position he held for thirteen years before leaving for Princeton. It was a precarious moment in which to take charge of

3445-595: The renovation. The Washington Post reported that the donation was one of the largest the NGA had received in a decade. NGA staff said that they would use the closure to conserve artwork, plan purchases, and develop exhibitions. Plans for renovating conservation, construction, exhibition prep, groundskeeping, office, storage, and other internal facilities were also ready, but would not be implemented for many years. The NGA's collection galleries and Sculpture Garden display European and American paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts. Paintings in

3510-408: The school's headmaster. A Rhodes scholar who earned degrees from Princeton University , Harvard University and Oxford University , Dr. Pressly helped develop a long-range plan for the school. In 1991, a visiting committee from the U.S. Department of Education named Country Day a National School of Excellence, one of only ten independent schools in the nation to receive that award. The school

3575-509: The school's history. The first headmaster was Robert W. Trusdell and first upper school principal was Thomas Triol, whose wife Helen taught chemistry and physics. In the 1970s, the school decided to not affiliate with the Episcopal Church when the Bishop made it clear that the school would have to enroll substantially higher number of African-Americans . In 1983, Dr. Paul M. Pressly became

3640-531: The world and the history of art. It is one of the largest museums in North America. Attendance rose to nearly 3.3 million visitors in 2022, making it first among U.S. art museums, and third on the list of most-visited museums in the United States . Of the top three art museums in the United States by annual visitors, it is the only one that has no admission fee. Andrew W. Mellon , Pittsburgh banker and Treasury Secretary from 1921 until 1932, began gathering

3705-632: Was appointed in 1931 as a Commissioner of the Institution's National Gallery of Art. When the director of the Gallery retired, Mellon asked Abbot not to appoint a successor, as he proposed to endow a new building with funds for expansion of the collections. However, Mellon's trial for tax evasion, centering on the Trust and the Hermitage paintings, caused the plan to be modified. In 1935, Mellon announced in The Washington Star his intention to establish

3770-625: Was faulted by some critics for the small number of contemporary works it displayed in proportion to the large number of works by better-known artists whose relation to pop culture had been previously studied. The value of the catalogue, then, was in its thoughtful essays which also discussed, and illustrated, the work of more recent artists whose roots were in pop culture: e.g., Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ashley Bickerton, Roger Brown, Peter Halley, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, Elizabeth Murray, David Salle, Peter Saul, Kenny Scharf, Cindy Sherman, among others. Varnedoe's last book, Pictures of Nothing ,

3835-704: Was highly regarded as a public speaker and lectured frequently; among his most notable lecture series were the Slade Lectures at Oxford and the Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Varnedoe was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. In 2001, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society . Varnedoe left MoMA in 2001. His departure came, according to his wife and to Adam Gopnik , after

3900-697: Was honored by the Blue Ribbon Schools Program in December 1992. In 2013, Kef L. Wilson became the school's new headmaster. He is the eighth headmaster since the school's inception in 1905. Savannah Country Day School has been named "Best Private School" by Savannah Magazine and has been honored as the "Best Private School" by Connect Savannah . The curriculum is divided between lower school ( junior-kindergarten to fifth grade ), middle school ( sixth grade to eighth grade ), and upper school ( ninth grade to twelfth grade ). The average class size

3965-473: Was published posthumously and was based on notes from his A.W. Mellon lectures in the Fine Arts, which he delivered at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. a few months before his death. His topic was abstract art after Jackson Pollock. His title was taken from a William Hazlitt essay about J. M. W. Turner . In making an impassioned case for post-1950s abstraction, Varnedoe was, in part, offering

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4030-423: Was renovated from 2007 to 2009. Although some galleries closed for periods of time, others remained open. After congressional testimony that the East Building suffered from "systematic structural failures", NGA adopted a Master Renovations Plan in 1999. This plan established the timeline for closing the building, and planned for the renovation of the electronic security systems, elevators, and HVAC . Space between

4095-631: Was reviewed by The New York Times , which described it as a "full-throttle" experience. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Education recognized Country Day as a Green Ribbon School in honor of its commitment to environmental stewardship. In 2011, the school was given the nation's first Green Flag award by the National Wildlife Federation . In 2008, the school dedicated the first Silver LEED -certified lower school in Chatham County . The 52,500-square-foot lower school building includes

4160-690: Was the catalogue that accompanied the MoMA exhibition of that same name. That exhibition was an examination of the overlap between "high culture" (i.e., painting, art works created for display in galleries and museums) and popular culture (i.e., caricature, graffiti, advertising, comic books) that gave rise to the Cubism of Picasso, Kurt Schwitters' collages, Miró's surrealism, the Pop Art of Ed Ruscha and Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns' paint brushes and coffee cans, Robert Rauschenberg's Rebus, and late Philip Guston. The exhibition

4225-477: Was then reassigned to the new National Gallery of Art. Designed by architect John Russell Pope , the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17, 1941. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the museum completed; both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun. As anticipated by Mellon,

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