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Show SECRETARY'S PORTRAITS. The Limited Art Gallery In the Department Depart-ment of State at Washington. The department of state at Washington Washing-ton has now an art gallery, limited to a certain class of paintings, of which there is no superior collection in tbe world. This collection has been recently hung with much good taste in one of the rooms devoted to the reception of the diplomatic corps when any of its members call to see the secretary. The collection embraces the oil portraits por-traits of every secretary of state, beginning begin-ning with Thomas Jefferson, down and including Thomas F. Bayard. Some of the likenesses are said to be most excellent, and a few are thought by experts to be wretchedly poor. Mr. Bayard's is one of the latter, although the government paid a handsome sum to tho artist for her work. All these portraits were on exhibition at the World's fair at Chicago and have recently re-cently been received at the state department. depart-ment. Where they are now hung visitors visit-ors can readily see them without the formality of red tape or the granting of authority by any of the functionaries of the department. -The collection is a most valuable one and will soon be increased in-creased by portraits of Mr. Blaine, Secretary Sec-retary Foster and later of Secretary Gresham. A striking fact in the collection col-lection was the number of secretaries who preferred to wear no hirsute adorn ments. John C. Calhoun was the only one prior to Secretary Blaine who wore whiskers. Baltimore Sun. |