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13

THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Care of the Collections.

back of the picture: "Department of the Interior, September 29, 1903. Dictated by W. B. A. to M. M. W. This oil painting - one of a number of Washington, executed by the Artist Stewart - formed a portion of the collection of Washington relics purchased by authority of Congress from the Lee heirs. All the Washington relics so purchased were transferred from the old model hall of the Patent Office, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to the custody of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, with the exception of this portrait of Washington, which has been held in the Interior Department, and has been presumably been in the Secretary's room ever since. For papers relative to the matter, see Old Files in P. & M. Div., Office of the Secretary, Room 23." On the