ABSTRACT
Nationalism had always been a central feature of the first museums of contemporary art and, as the nineteenth century advanced, it gained relevance in all aspects of culture and politics. It did not affect the consideration of early paintings because to British and American patriots, and even to leaders of German reunification and to nationalists of the Nordic or Slavic countries, early paintings by Italian, Flemish and Dutch or French masters were amongst the most highly valued. Here, starting from the founding collection of Victorian British art, once again the quandary was about whether the institution should evolve towards a speciality in national art of any period or contemporary art from any country a dilemma which would only be resolved in the early part of the twenty-first century by the decision to split it into two, the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern.
