Old England for New

The genteel customs of England's landed gentry, the bright pink coats of fox hunters at their favorite sport, the corruption of London's gin-swilling slums, all these are just a sampling of the subjects contained in the pictorial encyclopedia of Paul Mellon's private English painting collection. So vast has it grown that just to hang its choicest items, Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts cleared out all its picture galleries 31 years ago. But for all of Virginia's traditional ties to old England, Loyal Yale Grad Mellon ('29) showed 300 of the paintings at Yale last year and last week decided that the collection's proper home was his New England alma mater.

Main reason: Yale, with the Wai-pole and Boswell papers in its library, has already become a center for English studies. Mellon's collection, valued at over $35 million and including more than 1,000 oils, 3,000 drawings and 4,000 rare books, would provide the ideal visual complement. To house the new gift, Mellon will pay for a new $12 million building to contain a gallery, libraries, lecture and seminar rooms, to be located across the street from the present Yale Art Gallery.

Still to be decided is the final disposition of Mellon's magnificent private stock of French 19th and 20th century paintings. Most likely recipient: Washington's National Gallery.

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