NATIONAL GALLERY |
Housing one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world
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Commentary |
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Highlights |
Sunflowers
V.Gough
The Fighting Temeraire
J.Turner
Bathers at La Grenouillre
C.Monet
The Hay Wain
J.Constable
The Virgin of the Rocks
Leonardo da Vinci
The Arnolfini Portrait
J.Eyck
A Young Woman standing at a Virginal
J.Vermeer
Mr and Mrs Andrews
T.Gainsborough
The Rokeby Venus
D.Velazquez
Visitor Information |
The National Gallery is open daily 10am to 6pm (late night Wednesday). Entrance is FREE.
Scrapbook |
The National Gallery
was established for the enjoyment and benefit of us all, housing one of
the greatest collections of Western European paintings in the world.
The Gallery encourages the study of its works with a vibrant education
programme for school children, students and the general public. Around
5 million visitors pass through its doors each year and pay testament
to the success of free admission and a central location.
National Gallery at Night
Photo © Gaspa (CC)
The
National Gallery was established in 1824 when the British House of
Commons voted to buy the picture collection of banker John Angerstein
at a cost of £57,000. The National Gallery opened to the public on May 10, 1824.
Containing 38 paintings, it was housed in Pall Mall, in a building
owned by Angerstein. In 1832 construction began on a new home for the
Gallery, designed by William Wilkins. Situated on the site of the
King's Mews in Charing Cross, it was in an area that had been transformed over the 1820s into what is now Trafalgar Square.
Inside the National Gallery
Photo © Rudolf Schuba (CC)
Did You Know?
The UK cinema release of The Da Vinci Code
brought The National Gallery new fame as the only place in the UK where
fans of both the book and the film can see a painting that helped
inspire a blockbuster close up. The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci plays a vital role in The Da Vinci Code, with Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) discovering clues within the painting leading to the location of the Holy Grail.
Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin of the Rocks
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The
collections at the National Gallery are one of the most closely studied
and researched in the world. Detailed examination of the pictures by
curators, conservationists and scientists has provided a fascinating
insight into the Gallery’s art history. This knowledge is used in
controlling the Gallery's environment and monitoring the paintings
themselves for signs of deterioration.
The restoration of Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne was one of the most controversial ever undertaken at the National Gallery
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Today,
the National Gallery houses one of the finest collections of European
paintings in the world and remains a nationally important, Grade I
listed public building. The building along with the collections have
been added to and developed throughout the years, with the number of
works housed today being over 2,300, dating between 1250 and 1900. As
the collection grew, more space was needed and the Sainsbury Wing was added by architect Robert Venturi to house the collection of Renaissance paintings in 1991.
The Sainsbury Wing
Photo © Richard George (CC)
The
collection is small compared with the national galleries of continental
Europe, but has a high concentration of important works across a broad
art-historical scope, from the Early Renaissance to Post-impressionism.
Highlights of the collection include work by Botticelli’s Venus and
Mars, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin of the Rocks, Rembrandt’s
Belshazzar's Feast, Gainsborough’s Mr & Mrs Andrews, Turner’s The
Fighting Temeraire, Michelangelo’s The Entombment, Monet’s The
Water-Lily Pond, Van Gogh’ Sunflowers) and Constable’s The Haywain.
Van Gogh's Sunflowers
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Turner's The Fighting Temeraire
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Did You Know?
During
World War II the Gallery’s director Kenneth Clark was looking to ship
all paintings overseas for safe keeping. However on hearing this,
Sir Winston Churchill sent a telegram to the gallery instructing them:
“bury them in caves or in cellars, but not a picture shall leave these
islands!”
Contstable's The Haywain
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Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews
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Did You Know?
You will find a statue of George Washington
on the lawn in front of the National Gallery. This statue was a gift
from the U.S state of Virginia and stands on soil imported from the
United States, in order to honour Washington's declaration that he
would never again set foot on British soil.
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