estate
after the decease or on the second marriage of his widow (less certain
specified annuities and bequests) in trust for the president and
trustees of the Royal Academy (or in the event of the dissolution of the
Royal Academy, to such society as might take its place), the income to
be devoted to the encouragement of British fine art in painting and
sculpture only, by "the purchase of works of fine art of the highest
merit ... that can be obtained." The funds might be allowed to
accumulate for not more than five years; works by British or foreign
artists, dead or living, might be acquired, so long as such works were
entirely executed within the shores of Great Britain, the artists having
been in residence there during such execution and completion. The prices
to be paid were to be "liberal," and no sympathy for an artist or his
family was to influence the selection or the purchase of works, which
were to be acquired solely on the ground of intrinsic merit. No
commission or orders might be given: the works must be finished before
purchase. Conditions were made as to the exhibition of the works, in the
confident expectation that as the intention of the testator was to form
and establish a "public collection of British Fine Art in Painting and
Sculpture," the government or the country would provide a suitable
gallery for their display; and an annual sum of L300 and L50 was to be
paid to the president of the Royal Academy and the secretary
respectively, for the discharge of their duties in carrying out the
provisions of the will.

Lady Chantrey died in 1875, and two years later the fund became
available for the purchase of paintings and sculptures. The capital sum
available amounted to L105,000 in 3% Consols, which (since reduced to
2-1/2%) produces an available annual income varying from L2500 to L2100.
Galleries in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington were at
first adopted as the depository of the works acquired, until in 1898 the
Royal Academy arranged with the treasury, on behalf of the government,
for the transference of the collection to the National Gallery of
British Art, which had been erected by Sir Henry Tate at Millbank. It
was agreed that the "Tate Gallery" should be its future home, and that
"no power of selection or elimination is claimed on behalf of the
trustees and director of the National Gallery" (Treasury Letter,
18054-98, 7th December 1898) in respect of the pictures and sculptures
wh