Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/54

34 side-lighted room at the end of the long gallery in the Louvre. Again, who will not agree that the ancient sculpture shown in that same long gallery is infinitely more attractive by reason of the light and shadow that plays upon it from the windows along the side, than the gallery of modern sculpture in the Luxembourg, where there is strong top-light? [On this subject see Light and Shade and their Application, by M. Luckiesh. (D. van Nostrand Co., N. Y., 1916.)]

In the consideration of side-light much has been said in regard to the necessity of using light only from the north. Any one who is familiar with the side-lighted cabinets in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum will admit the beauty and attractiveness of the south light which streams so warmly into the rooms where hang the paintings of the Dutch and German schools. The only advantage in north light is its convenience to the museum director and the custodians. A north light is always the same.

Direct sunlight is harmful to most classes of objects but cream-colored curtains can easily be provided, which, when drawn together, diffuse the light in the room, and when open are entirely unobjectionable, as they hang by the side of the window. (Compare Vatican picture gallery.) Light conditions vary so extraordinarily in