ABSTRACT
In March 1891 a letter signed 'A Constant Reader' was published in the periodical Land and Water suggesting that the prefix 'S' be added to the name of the donor of funds for a new gallery of national art, so the British Luxembourg would become The State Gallery'. Although this statement marries two seemingly incompatible concepts, philanthropic individualism with central cultural authority, the idea of the museum as a semi-autonomous organization had been promoted at various times throughout the century. The early history of the Tate is often presented as a compromise between the interests of the state and entrepreneurial capitalism in the matter of promoting British art amongst a democratic audience, a compromise which paradoxically assisted in both the popularization and marginalization of the British school. The concept of 'separate manifestations' can also be applied to the collecting policy of the National Gallery with regard to British art.
