Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/247

Rh RULES FOR COPYISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS The policy of a museum in regard to its relations with copyists and photographers is a difficult one to form. There is no doubt that the advertising value of copies and photographic reproductions is very great. It remains for the museum to decide whether it is better to restrict the public privileges or to give all possible encouragement. The first point to be considered is whether any of the objects have been copyrighted, and here let it be stated that there are two kinds of copyright, the artist's and the owner's. A little pamphlet containing the law on this subject is issued by the government. (For English law, see Copyright of Works of Art in the Museums of Britain, E. E. Lowe, Museums Journal, vol. III, p. 147.) Suffice it to say that a museum owning a picture has no right to copyright the picture itself. It can only copyright reproductions of that picture. Therefore, in buying a picture, the museum that desires really to control the reproductions of that picture must also buy the artist's copyright. The question is, how much advantage accrues to the museum from owning this right. The Picture Gallery in Basle, Switzerland, is one of the few museums in any country that has made a satisfactory and