The National Gallery in London has curated an exhibition about its first director, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865): Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake at the National Gallery (National Gallery, 27 July - 30 October 2011).
It is reviewed in: Bates, Stephen (2011) "National Gallery's pioneering collector celebrated with exhibition", The Guardian, 24/07, accessed 24/07/2011 at, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/24/national-gallerys-pioneering-collector-exhibition
The exhibition and the newspaper coverage remind us of the difficulties that arise when we judge past actions by today's standards. This becomes clear as soon as we compare Eastlake's behaviour with the Museums Association's Code of Ethics for Museums (2007, available at: http://www.museumsassociation.org/ethics/code-of-ethics):
"Essentially the National Gallery we have today is the result of Eastlake" (Bates 2011)
- Avoid behaviour that could be construed as asserting personal ownership or control of collections or any part of them (Code of Ethics, 1.3)
"Eastlake... became used to waiting for, and then haggling with, Italian art owners - and to clambering up ladders, or hauling pictures into the light to see whether they were worth buying" (Bates 2011)
- Acquire items honestly and responsibly (Code of Ethics, 5.0)
"He was not above using subterfuge to get round bureaucracy" (Bates 2011)
- Use agreed procedures for taking the final decision to acquire an item (Code of Ethics, 5.21)
"Eastlake would write letters to colleagues about his acquisitions to their home addresses, rather than to the gallery, so as not to alert foreign authorities to what he had bought."
- Make information publicly accessible (Code of Ethics, 9.3)
It is reviewed in: Bates, Stephen (2011) "National Gallery's pioneering collector celebrated with exhibition", The Guardian, 24/07, accessed 24/07/2011 at, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/24/national-gallerys-pioneering-collector-exhibition
The exhibition and the newspaper coverage remind us of the difficulties that arise when we judge past actions by today's standards. This becomes clear as soon as we compare Eastlake's behaviour with the Museums Association's Code of Ethics for Museums (2007, available at: http://www.museumsassociation.org/ethics/code-of-ethics):
"Essentially the National Gallery we have today is the result of Eastlake" (Bates 2011)
- Avoid behaviour that could be construed as asserting personal ownership or control of collections or any part of them (Code of Ethics, 1.3)
"Eastlake... became used to waiting for, and then haggling with, Italian art owners - and to clambering up ladders, or hauling pictures into the light to see whether they were worth buying" (Bates 2011)
- Acquire items honestly and responsibly (Code of Ethics, 5.0)
"He was not above using subterfuge to get round bureaucracy" (Bates 2011)
- Use agreed procedures for taking the final decision to acquire an item (Code of Ethics, 5.21)
"Eastlake would write letters to colleagues about his acquisitions to their home addresses, rather than to the gallery, so as not to alert foreign authorities to what he had bought."
- Make information publicly accessible (Code of Ethics, 9.3)
