Abstract
ON and after April 1 the public will be able to visit the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, until 8 p.m. on three evenings in the week. This has been made possible by a new lighting scheme, which has been the subject of extensive research during the past six years. The installation has been designed to secure a reasonably high intensity about 4 foot-candles—upon the pictures themselves, and at the same time to prevent too great a feeling of darkness over the remainder of the room. Suspended fittings, each containing a high-powered frosted bulb, are vised, and a system of louvers and reflectors directs as much light towards the picture-carrying portion of the walls as the architecture of the several rooms will permit. The height of the fittings has been calculated upon the assumption of a viewing distance of eleven feet from the walls. Masks are employed to stop the glare in the direction of doorways: in the majority of cases this has proved satisfactory, though instances will always arise when the geometry cannot be satisfied without producing a shadow on the wall or in a corner. An emergency system of lighting, which comes into operation automatically in case of failure, is held in reserve.
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Artificial Lighting at the National Gallery. Nature 135, 500 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135500a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135500a0