National Gallery
Established | 1824 | current location since 1838
---|---|
Location | Trafalgar Square, London, England, United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°30′32″N 0°7′42″W / 51.50889°N 0.12833°W |
Type | Art museum |
Visitors | 3,096,508 (2023)[1] |
Director | Gabriele Finaldi |
Public transit access | Charing Cross Charing Cross Detailed information below |
Website | www |
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, in it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.[note 1] The current director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi.
The National Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.[2] Its collection belongs to the government on behalf of the British public, and entry to the main collection is free of charge.
Unlike comparable museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein in 1824. After that initial purchase, the gallery was shaped mainly by its early directors, especially Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which now account for two-thirds of the collection.[3] The collection is smaller than many European national galleries, but encyclopaedic in scope; most major developments in Western painting "from Giotto to Cézanne"[4] are represented with important works. It used to be claimed that this was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition,[5] but this is no longer the case.
The present building, the third site to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins. Building began in 1832 and it opened to the public in 1838. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, as the building has been expanded piecemeal throughout its history. Wilkins's building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its lack of space; the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897. The Sainsbury Wing, a 1991 extension to the west by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, is a significant example of Postmodernist architecture in Britain.
History
The call for a National Gallery
The late 18th century saw the
A plan to acquire 150 paintings from the
Following the Walpole sale many artists, including James Barry and John Flaxman, had made renewed calls for the establishment of a National Gallery, arguing that a British school of painting could only flourish if it had access to the canon of European painting. The British Institution, founded in 1805 by a group of aristocratic connoisseurs, attempted to address this situation. The members lent works to exhibitions that changed annually, while an art school was held in the summer months. However, as the paintings that were lent were often mediocre,[9] some artists resented the Institution and saw it as a racket for the gentry to increase the sale prices of their Old Master paintings.[10] One of the Institution's founding members, Sir George Beaumont, Bt, would eventually play a major role in the National Gallery's foundation by offering a gift of 16 paintings.
In 1823, another major art collection came on the market, which had been assembled by the recently deceased
Foundation and early history
The National Gallery opened in 1824 in Angerstein's former townhouse at No. 100 Pall Mall.[note 2] Angerstein's paintings were joined in 1826 by those from Beaumont's collection, and in 1831 by the Reverend William Holwell Carr's bequest of 35 paintings.[12] Initially the Keeper of Paintings, William Seguier, bore the burden of managing the gallery, but in July 1824 some of this responsibility fell to the newly formed board of trustees.
The National Gallery at Pall Mall was frequently overcrowded and hot, and its diminutive size in comparison with the Louvre in Paris was a cause of national embarrassment. But Agar Ellis, by then a trustee of the gallery, appraised the site for being "in the very gangway of London"; this was seen as necessary for the gallery to fulfil its social purpose.[13] Subsidence in No. 100 caused the gallery to move briefly to No. 105 Pall Mall, which the novelist Anthony Trollope described as a "dingy, dull, narrow house, ill-adapted for the exhibition of the treasures it held".[13] This in turn had to be demolished for the opening of a road to Carlton House Terrace.[14]
In 1832, construction began on a new building by
Growth under Eastlake and his successors
15th- and 16th-century Italian paintings were at the core of the National Gallery and for the first 30 years of its existence the trustees' independent acquisitions were mainly limited to works by
The new director's taste was for the Northern and Early Italian Renaissance masters or "primitives", who had been neglected by the gallery's acquisitions policy but were slowly gaining recognition from connoisseurs. He made annual tours to the continent and to Italy in particular, seeking out appropriate paintings to buy for the gallery. In all, he bought 148 pictures abroad and 46 in Britain,[18] among the former such seminal works as Paolo Uccello's Battle of San Romano. Eastlake also amassed a private art collection during this period, consisting of paintings that he knew did not interest the trustees. His ultimate aim, however, was for them to enter the National Gallery; this was duly arranged upon his death by his friend and successor as director, William Boxall, and his widow Lady Eastlake.
One of the most persistent criticisms of the National Gallery, other than of the perceived inadequacies of the building, has been of its conservation policy. The gallery's detractors have accused it of having had an over-zealous approach to restoration. The first cleaning operation at the National Gallery began in 1844 after Eastlake's appointment as Keeper, and was the subject of attacks in the press after the first three paintings to receive the treatment – a Rubens, a Cuyp and a Velázquez – were unveiled to the public in 1846.[19] The gallery's most virulent critic was J. Morris Moore, who wrote a series of letters to The Times under the pseudonym "Verax" savaging the institution's cleanings. While an 1853 Parliamentary select committee set up to investigate the matter cleared the gallery of any wrongdoing, criticism of its methods has been erupting sporadically ever since from some in the art establishment.
The gallery's lack of space remained acute in this period. In 1845, a large bequest of British paintings was made by Robert Vernon; there was insufficient room in the Wilkins building so they were displayed first in Vernon's town house at No. 50 Pall Mall and then at Marlborough House.[20] The gallery was even less well equipped for its next major bequest, as J. M. W. Turner was to bequeath the entire contents of his studio, excepting unfinished works, to the nation upon his death in 1851. The first 20 of these were displayed off-site in Marlborough House in 1856.[21] Ralph Nicholson Wornum, the gallery's Keeper and Secretary, worked with John Ruskin to bring the bequest together. The stipulation in Turner's will that two of his paintings be displayed alongside works by Claude[22] is still honoured as of 2024, but his bequest has never been adequately displayed in its entirety; today the works are divided between Trafalgar Square and the Clore Gallery, a small purpose-built extension to Tate Britain completed in 1985.
The third director, Sir
Early 20th century
The agricultural crisis at the turn of the 20th century caused many aristocratic families to sell their paintings, but the British national collections were priced out of the market by American plutocrats.
The initial reception of
A fund for the purchase of modern paintings established by
The director Kenneth Clark's decision in 1939 to label a group of Venetian paintings, Scenes from Tebaldeo's Eclogues, as works by Giorgione was controversial at the time, and the panels were soon identified as works by Andrea Previtali by a junior curator Clark had appointed.[30]
Second World War
Shortly before the outbreak of the
For the course of the war
Post-war developments
The last major outcry against the use of radical conservation techniques at the National Gallery was in the immediate post-war years, following a restoration campaign by the gallery's chief restorer Helmut Ruhemann while the paintings were in Manod Quarry. When the cleaned pictures were exhibited to the public in 1946 there followed a furore with parallels to that of a century earlier. The principal criticism was that the extensive removal of varnish, which was used in the 19th century to protect the surface of paintings but which darkened and discoloured over time, may have resulted in the loss of "harmonising" glazes added to the paintings by the artists themselves. The opposition to Ruhemann's techniques was led by Ernst Gombrich, a professor at the Warburg Institute who in later correspondence with a restorer described being treated with "offensive superciliousness" by the National Gallery.[42] A 1947 commission concluded that no damage had been done in the recent cleanings.
In the post-war years, acquisitions have become increasingly difficult for the National Gallery as the prices for Old Masters – and even more so for the Impressionists and
The directorship of Neil MacGregor saw a major rehang at the gallery, dispensing with the classification of paintings by national school that had been introduced by Eastlake. The new chronological hang sought to emphasise the interaction between cultures rather than fixed national characteristics, reflecting the change in art-historical values since the 19th century.[44] In other respects, however, Victorian tastes were rehabilitated: the building's interiors were no longer considered an embarrassment and were restored, and in 1999 the gallery accepted a bequest of 26 Italian Baroque paintings from Sir Denis Mahon. Earlier in the 20th century many considered the Baroque to be beyond the pale: in 1945 the gallery's trustees declined to buy a Guercino from Mahon's collection for £200. The same painting was valued at £4 million in 2003.[45] Mahon's bequest was made on the condition that the gallery would never deaccession any of its paintings or charge for admission.[46]
Associate artists | |
---|---|
Paula Rego | 1989–1990 |
Ken Kiff | 1991–1993 |
Peter Blake | 1994–1996 |
Ana Maria Pacheco | 1997–1999 |
Ron Mueck | 2000–2002 |
John Virtue | 2003–2005 |
Alison Watt | 2006–2008 |
Michael Landy | 2009–2013 |
George Shaw | 2014–2016 |
Jock McFadyen was the first Artist in Residence in 1981.[47] Since 1989, the gallery has run an Associate Artist scheme that gives a studio to contemporary artists to create work based on the permanent collection. They usually hold the position of associate artist for two years and are given an exhibition in the National Gallery at the end of their tenure.
The respective remits of the National and Tate Galleries, which had long been contested by the two institutions, were more clearly defined in 1996. 1900 was established as the cut-off point for paintings in the National Gallery, and in 1997 more than 60 post-1900 paintings from the collection were given to the Tate on a long-term loan, in return for works by Gauguin and others. However, future expansion of the National Gallery may yet see the return of 20th-century paintings to its walls.[48]
21st century
In the 21st century there have been three large fundraising campaigns at the gallery: in 2004, to buy Raphael's
The National Gallery was sponsored by the Italian arms manufacturer
In 2014, the National Gallery was the subject of a documentary film by Frederick Wiseman. The film shows the gallery administration and staff at work, the conservation laboratory, guided tours and the mounting of exhibitions on Leonardo da Vinci, J. M. W. Turner and Titian in 2011–2012.[51]
In February 2014, the gallery purchased Men of the Docks by the American artist George Bellows for $25.5 million (£15.6 million). It was the first major American painting to be purchased by the gallery. The director, Nicholas Penny, termed the painting a new direction for the gallery, a non-European painting in a European style. Its sale was controversial in the United States.[52]
In 2018, the National Gallery was one of the first public galleries in London to charge more than £20 for admission to a special exhibition, the exhibition in question being of works by Claude Monet.[53]
In February 2019, an employment tribunal ruled that the gallery had incorrectly classed its team of educators as self-employed contractors.[54] The educators were awarded the status of "workers" following legal action brought by 27 claimants. The case received considerable press and media coverage.[55][56][57]
Architecture
William Wilkins's building
National Gallery | |
---|---|
Built | 1832–1838 |
Architect | William Wilkins |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | National Gallery |
Designated | 5 February 1970 |
Reference no. | 1066236[58] |
The first suggestion for a National Gallery on Trafalgar Square came from
The site only allowed for the building to be one room deep, as a workhouse and a barracks lay immediately behind.
The building was the object of public ridicule before it had even been completed, as a version of the design had been leaked to the Literary Gazette in 1833.[63] Two years before completion, its infamous "pepperpot" elevation appeared on the frontispiece of Contrasts (1836), an influential tract by the Gothicist A. W. N. Pugin, as an example of the degeneracy of the classical style.[64] Even William IV (in his last recorded utterance) thought the building a "nasty little pokey hole",[65] while William Makepeace Thackeray called it "a little gin shop of a building".[65] The twentieth-century architectural historian Sir John Summerson echoed these early criticisms when he compared the arrangement of a dome and two diminutive turrets on the roofline to "the clock and vases on a mantelpiece, only less useful".[60][note 5] Sir Charles Barry's landscaping of Trafalgar Square, from 1840, included a north terrace so that the building would appear to be raised, thus addressing one of the points of complaint.[14] Opinion on the building had mellowed considerably by 1984, when Prince Charles called the Wilkins façade a "much-loved and elegant friend", in contrast to a proposed extension. (See below)
-
The elevation onto Trafalgar Square in 2013
-
The piano nobile and ground floor of Wilkins's building, before expansion. Note the passageways behind the east and west porticoes. Areas shaded in pink were used by the Royal Academy until 1868.
-
Plan of the first floor of the National Gallery in 2013
Alteration and expansion (Pennethorne, Barry and Taylor)
The first significant alteration made to the building was the single, long gallery added by Sir James Pennethorne in 1860–1861. Ornately decorated in comparison with the rooms by Wilkins, it nonetheless worsened the cramped conditions inside the building as it was built over the original entrance hall.[66] Unsurprisingly, several attempts were made either to completely remodel the National Gallery (as suggested by Sir Charles Barry in 1853), or to move it to more capacious premises in Kensington, where the air was also cleaner. In 1867 Barry's son Edward Middleton Barry proposed to replace the Wilkins building with a massive classical building with four domes. The scheme was a failure and contemporary critics denounced the exterior as "a strong plagiarism upon St Paul's Cathedral".[67]
With the demolition of the workhouse, however, Barry was able to build the gallery's first sequence of grand architectural spaces, from 1872 to 1876. Built to a polychrome
Pennethorne's gallery was demolished for the next phase of building, a scheme by Sir John Taylor extending northwards of the main entrance. Its glass-domed entrance vestibule had painted ceiling decorations by the Crace family firm, who had also worked on the Barry Rooms. A fresco intended for the south wall was never realised.[69]
-
The Barry Rooms (1872–1876), designed by E. M. Barry
-
The dome of Room 34, the central octagon of the Barry Rooms
-
The Staircase Hall (1884–1887), designed by Sir John Taylor, in a photograph of 2007. To the left isFrederic, Lord Leighton (a loan from the Royal Collection since the 1990s).[69]
-
The Central Hall, part of Sir John Taylor's additions
20th century: modernisation versus restoration
Later additions to the west came more steadily but maintained the coherence of the building by mirroring Barry's cross-axis plan to the east. The use of dark marble for doorcases was also continued, giving the extensions a degree of internal consistency with the older rooms. The classical style was still in use at the National Gallery in 1929, when a
In the 20th century, the gallery's late Victorian interiors fell out of fashion.[72] The Crace ceiling decorations in the entrance hall were not to the taste of the director Charles Holmes, and were obliterated by white paint.[73] The North Galleries, which opened to the public in 1975, marked the arrival of modernist architecture at the National Gallery. In the older rooms, the original classical details were effaced by partitions, daises and suspended ceilings, the aim being to create neutral settings which did not distract from contemplation of the paintings. But the gallery's commitment to modernism was short-lived: by the 1980s Victorian style was no longer considered anathema, and a restoration programme began to restore the 19th- and early 20th-century interiors to their purported original appearance. This began with the refurbishment of the Barry Rooms in 1985–1986. From 1996 to 1999 even the North Galleries, by then considered to "lack a positive architectural character", were remodelled in a classical style, albeit a simplified one.[46]
Sainsbury Wing and later additions
Sainsbury Wing | |
---|---|
Built | 1988–1991 |
Architect | Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Associates |
Architectural style(s) | Postmodernist |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery |
Designated | 9 May 2018 |
Reference no. | 1451082[74] |
The most important addition to the building in the late 20th century was the Sainsbury Wing, designed by the postmodernist architects
One of the conditions of the 1982 competition was that the new wing had to include commercial offices as well as public gallery space. However, in 1985 it became possible to devote the extension entirely to the gallery's uses, due to a donation of almost £50 million from Lord Sainsbury and his brothers Simon and Sir Tim Sainsbury. A closed competition was held, and the schemes produced were noticeably more restrained than in the earlier competition.
In contrast with the rich ornamentation of the main building, the galleries in the Sainsbury Wing are pared down and intimate, to suit the smaller scale of many of the paintings.[
Following the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square, the gallery is currently[
Renovation of the Sainsbury Wing
In April 2021, a jury short-listed six firms of architects – Caruso St John, David Chipperfield Architects, Asif Kahn, David Kohn Architects, Selldorf Architects, and Witherford Watson Mann Architects – in a competition for design proposals to upgrade the Sainsbury Wing.[79]
In 2024, excavations for the Sainsbury Wing extension at Jubilee Walk uncovered evidence that the Anglo-Saxon settlement of
Incidents
In the National Gallery on 10 March 1914, Velázquez's Rokeby Venus was damaged by Mary Richardson, a campaigner for women's suffrage, in protest against the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst the previous day. Later that month another suffragette attacked five Bellinis, causing the gallery to close until the start of the First World War, when the Women's Social and Political Union called for an end to violent acts drawing attention to their plight.[81]
In August 1961 an unemployed bus driver, Kempton Bunton, stole Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington, in what remains the only successful theft from the gallery.[82] Four years later, Bunton returned the painting voluntarily. Following a high-profile trial, he was found not guilty of stealing the painting, but guilty of stealing the frame.[83]
In July 1987, a man entered the gallery armed with a shotgun concealed under his coat and shot Leonardo's cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist. The man, Robert Cambridge, told police that his intent had been to express his disgust with "political, social and economic conditions in Britain". Though the pellets did not penetrate the cartoon, the cartoon had to undergo extensive restoration; it was placed back on display the following year.[84]
Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers was attacked at the gallery on 14 October 2022 by environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil campaign, who threw tomato soup at it.[85] Due to the protection of the plexiglass, the painting was not harmed, but there was some minor damage to the frame, according to a spokesperson for the gallery.[85] On 6 November 2023, the Rokeby Venus was again attacked, by two Just Stop Oil activists who smashed its protective glass with hammers.[86][87]
List of directors
Name | Tenure |
---|---|
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake | 1855–1865 |
Sir William Boxall | 1866–1874 |
Sir Frederick William Burton |
1874–1894 |
Sir Edward Poynter | 1894–1904 |
Sir Charles Holroyd | 1906–1916 |
Sir Charles Holmes | 1916–1928 |
Sir Augustus Daniel | 1929–1933 |
Sir Kenneth Clark | 1934–1945 |
Sir Philip Hendy | 1946–1967 |
Sir Martin Davies | 1968–1973 |
Sir Michael Levey | 1973–1986 |
Neil MacGregor OM | 1987–2002 |
Sir Charles Saumarez Smith | 2002–2007 |
Sir Nicholas Penny | 2008–2015 |
Gabriele Finaldi | 2015–present |
Collection highlights
- Cimabue: Virgin and Child with Two Angels
- Giotto: Pentecost
- English or French Medieval: Wilton Diptych
- Jan van Eyck: Arnolfini Portrait, Portrait of a Man (Self-Portrait?)
- Pisanello: The Vision of Saint Eustace
- Paolo Uccello: The Battle of San Romano, Saint George and the Dragon
- Rogier van der Weyden: The Magdalen Reading
- Madonna and Child
- Dieric Bouts: The Entombment
- Piero della Francesca: The Baptism of Christ
- Antonello da Messina: Portrait of a Man, Saint Jerome in his Study
- Giovanni Bellini: Agony in the Garden, Madonna del Prato, Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan
- Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo: Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian
- The Mystical Nativity, Venus and Mars
- Hieronymus Bosch: Christ Crowned with Thorns
- Leonardo da Vinci: The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, Virgin of the Rocks
- Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
- Michelangelo: The Entombment, The Manchester Madonna
- Jan Gossaert: Adoration of the Kings
- Portrait of Pope Julius II, Mond Crucifixion, Vision of a Knight
- Titian: Aldobrandini Madonna, Allegory of Prudence, Bacchus and Ariadne, Diana and Actaeon, Diana and Callisto, The Death of Actaeon, A Man with a Quilted Sleeve, Portrait of the Vendramin Family
- Hans Holbein the Younger: The Ambassadors, Portrait of Christina of Denmark
- Parmigianino: Portrait of a Collector, Vision of Saint Jerome
- Agnolo Bronzino: Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time
- The Origin of the Milky Way
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Adoration of the Kings
- Paolo Veronese: Adoration of the Magi, The Conversion of Mary Magdalene, The Family of Darius Before Alexander
- El Greco: Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple
- Supper at Emmaus
- Peter Paul Rubens: The Judgement of Paris
- The Finding of Moses
- Artemisia Gentileschi: Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria
- Nicolas Poussin: The Adoration of the Golden Calf
- Diego Velázquez: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Philip IV in Brown and Silver, Rokeby Venus
- Anthony van Dyck: Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, Lord John Stuart and His Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart
- Claude Lorrain: Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba
- Rembrandt: Belshazzar's Feast, Self-Portrait at the Age of 34, Self-Portrait at the Age of 63
- Johannes Vermeer: Lady Seated at a Virginal, Lady Standing at a Virginal
- Meindert Hobbema: The Avenue at Middelharnis
- Canaletto: The Stonemason's Yard
- William Hogarth: The Graham Children, Marriage A-la-Mode
- George Stubbs: Whistlejacket
- Thomas Gainsborough: Mr and Mrs Andrews, The Morning Walk
- Joseph Wright of Derby: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
- Portrait of the Duke of Wellington
- J. M. W. Turner: The Fighting Temeraire, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway
- John Constable: The Cornfield, The Hay Wain
- Madame Moitessier
- Eugène Delacroix: Ovid Among the Scythians
- Edgar Degas: Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, Young Spartans Exercising
- Paul Cézanne: Les Grandes Baigneuses
- Claude Monet: La Gare Saint-Lazare, Snow at Argenteuil
- The Umbrellas
- Henri Rousseau: Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)
- A Wheatfield with Cypresses
- Georges Seurat: Bathers at Asnières
Transport connections
Service | Station/stop | Lines/routes served | Distance from National Gallery |
---|---|---|---|
London Buses | Trafalgar Square / Charing Cross Station | 24, 29, 176 | |
Trafalgar Square | 6, 9, 13, 15,139 | ||
Trafalgar Square / Charing Cross Station | 3, 12, 88, 159, 453 | ||
Trafalgar Square | 3, 6, 12, 13, 15, 23, 88, 139, 159, 453 | ||
London Underground | Charing Cross | ||
Embankment | 0.3-mile walk[89] | ||
National Rail | 0.2-mile walk[90] |
See also
- List of most visited museums in the United Kingdom
- List of most visited art museums
- List of largest art museums
- Micro gallery, installed in 1991
Explanatory notes
- ^ Sculptures and applied art are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum houses earlier art, non-Western art, prints and drawings, and art of a later date is at Tate Modern. Some British art is in the National Gallery, but the National Collection of British Art is mainly in Tate Britain.
- ^ The opening date is said to have been 10 May 1824, but there is a record of a visit by Agar Ellis on 5 May during which he met the Keeper, William Seguier, who remarked that opening the gallery to the public free of charge had already proved to be a success, "and that all the people are very orderly and well-behaved". (Smith 2009, p. 27)
- ^ St Martin's Workhouse (to the east) was cleared for the construction of E. M. Barry's extension, whereas St George's Barracks stayed until 1911, supposedly because of the need for troops to be at hand to quell disturbances in Trafalgar Square. (Conlin 2006, p. 401) Wilkins had hoped for more land to the south, but was denied it as building there would have obscured the view of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
- ^ They are as follows: above the main entrance, a blank roundel (originally to feature the Duke of Wellington's face) flanked by two female figures (personifications of Europe and Asia/India, sites of his campaigns) and high up on the eastern façade, Minerva by John Flaxman, originally Britannia.
- ^ Summerson's "mantelpiece" comparison inspired the title of Conlin's 2006 history of the National Gallery, The Nation's Mantelpiece (op. cit.).
- ^ The role of director was created in 1855, 31 years after the gallery's founding.
References
Citations
- ^ "British Museum is the most-visited UK attraction again". BBC News. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "Constitution". The National Gallery. Archived from the original on 6 April 2010.
- ^ Gentili, Barcham & Whiteley 2000, p. 7.
- ^ Chilvers, Ian (2003). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Oxford Oxford University Press, p. 413. The formula was used by Michael Levey, later the gallery's eleventh director, for the title of a popular survey of European painting: Levey, Michael (1972). From Giotto to Cézanne: A Concise History of Painting. London: Thames and Hudson
- ^ Potterton 1977, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Taylor 1999, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Moore, Andrew (2 October 1996). "Sir Robert Walpole's pictures in Russia". Magazine Antiques. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
- ^ Penny 2008, p. 466.
- ^ Fullerton, Peter (1979). Some aspects of the early years of the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom 1805–1825. MA dissertation, Courtauld Institute of Art., p. 37
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 45.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 51.
- ^ Crookham 2009, p. 43.
- ^ a b Taylor 1999, pp. 36–37.
- ^ a b 'Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery', Survey of London: volume 20: St Martin-in-the-Fields, pt III: Trafalgar Square & Neighbourhood (1940), pp. 15–18. Date accessed: 15 December 2009.
- ^ MacGregor 2004, p. 30.
- ^ Quoted in Langmuir 2005, p. 11
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Grove Dictionary of Art, Vol. 9, p. 683
- ^ Bomford 1997, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Baker, Christopher and Henry, Tom (2001). "A short history of the National Gallery" in The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue. London: National Gallery Company, pp. x–xix
- ^ Crookham 2012, p. 56.
- ^ Smith 2009, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Conlin 2006, pp. 87–89.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 93.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 107.
- ^ "The Mond Bequest". National Gallery. Archived from the original on 2 November 2005.
- ^ Quoted in Conlin 2006, p. 131
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 132.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 131.
- ^ "Scenes from Tebaldeo's Eclogues". National Gallery. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ Bosman 2008, p. 25.
- ^ MacGregor 2004, p. 43.
- ^ "The Gallery in wartime". The National Gallery. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ Bosman 2008, p. 79.
- ^ "The Myra Hess concerts". The National Gallery-History. The National Gallery. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ Bosman 2008, p. 35.
- ^ Farr, Dennis (2006). "Empathy for Art and Artists: Lillian Browse, 1906–2005". Newsletter of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Issue 21: Spring 2006. Accessed March 2012. Archived 7 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Clark, Sir Kenneth (1942). Exhibition of Paintings by Sir William Nicholson and Jack B. Yeats, exhibition catalogue. London: National Gallery.
- ISBN 978 0 300 17054 2. pp. 636–638
- ^ Bosman 2008, pp. 91–93.
- ^ Bosman 2008, p. 99.
- ^ Walden 2004, p. 176.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 429.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 435.
- ^ "Sir Denis Mahon". Cronaca. 23 February 2003. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
- ^ a b Gaskell 2000, pp. 179–182.
- ^ "About | Jock McFadyen".
- ^ Bailey, Martin (2 November 2005). "National Gallery may start acquiring 20th-century art". The Art Newspaper. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
- ^ Gayford, Martin (23 April 2007). "Wanted – National Gallery Chief to Muster Cash". Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
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ignored (help) - ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (4 November 2014). "Framing the Viewers, and the Viewed". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ^ Jaschik, Scott (12 February 2014). "Randolph sale of art to National Gallery sparks criticism". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
- ^ "Ms A Braine and others v The National Gallery: 2201625/2018". GOV.UK.
- ^ "National Gallery group win workers' rights". BBC News. 1 March 2019.
- ^ Bowcott, Owen (1 March 2019). "National Gallery lecturers win right to be recognised as workers". The Guardian.
- ^ "No artful dodge for UK National Gallery at gig tribunal". globallegalpost.com.
- ^ Historic England. "National Gallery (1066236)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ Liscombe 1980, pp. 180–182.
- ^ a b Summerson 1962, pp. 208–209.
- ^ Grove Dictionary of Art, Vol. 33, p. 192.
- ^ Smith 2009, p. 49.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 60.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 367.
- ^ a b Smith 2009, p. 50.
- ^ Conlin 2006, pp. 384–385.
- ^ Barker & Hyde 1982, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Conlin 2006, p. 396.
- ^ a b Conlin 2006, p. 399.
- ^ Conlin 2006, pp. 404–405.
- ^ Oliver 2004, p. 54.
- ^ See for example National Gallery (corporate author) (1974). The Working of the National Gallery. London: National Gallery Publishing, p. 8: "the National Gallery has suffered from the visual pretentiousness of its 19th century buildings". The modernist North Galleries opened the following year.
- ^ They were restored only in 2005. Jury, Louise (14 June 2004). "A Victorian masterpiece emerges from beneath the whitewash". The Independent. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
- ^ Historic England. "Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery (1451082)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- ^ "A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Royal Gala Evening at Hampton Court Palace". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
- ^ "Prince's new architecture blast". BBC News. 21 February 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
- ^ "No cash for 'highest slum'". BBC News. 9 February 2001. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
- ^ "AD Classics: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery London / Venturi Scott Brown". ArchDaily. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ Matt Hickman (8 April 2021), Selldorf Architects among six shortlisted firms for National Gallery revamp in London The Architect's Newspaper.
- ^ "Excavation Reveals Ancient Town Beneath London's National Gallery". Artnet. 18 February 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ Spalding 1998, p. 39.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ Serpell, Nick (14 November 2017). "The QC, Lady Chatterley and nude Romans". BBC News.
- ^ "Restoring a Leonardo Drawing That Was Hit by a Shotgun Blast". The New York Times. 8 November 1988.
- ^ a b Harris, Gareth (14 October 2022). "Van Gogh's Sunflowers covered in tomato soup by eco activists". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Just Stop Oil protesters smash National Gallery painting". The Independent. 6 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Directors". The National Gallery. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps.
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- Bomford, David (1997). Conservation of Paintings. London: National Gallery Company.
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- Crookham, Alan (2009). The National Gallery. An Illustrated History. London: National Gallery Company.
- ——— (2012). "The Turner Bequest at the National Gallery". In Warrell, Ian (ed.). Turner Inspired: In the light of Claude. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 51–65.
- Gaskell, Ivan (2000). Vermeer's Wager: Speculations on Art History, Theory and Art Museums. London: Reaktion.
- Gentili, Augusto; Barcham, William; Whiteley, Linda (2000). Paintings in the National Gallery. London: Little, Brown & Co.
- Jencks, Charles (1991). Post-Modern Triumphs in London. London and New York: Academy Editions, St. Martin's Press.
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- Liscombe, R. W. (1980). William Wilkins, 1778–1839. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- MacGregor, Neil (2004). "A Pentecost in Trafalgar Square". In Cuno, James (ed.). Whose Muse? Art Museums and the Public Trust. Princeton and Cambridge: Princeton University Press and Harvard University Art Museums. pp. 27–49.
- Oliver, Lois (2004). Boris Anrep: The National Gallery Mosaics. London: National Gallery Company.
- ISBN 978-1-85709-913-3.
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- Smith, Charles Saumarez (2009). The National Gallery: A Short History. London: Frances Lincoln Limited.
- Spalding, Frances (1998). The Tate: A History. London: Tate Gallery Publishing.
- Summerson, John (1962). Georgian London. London: Penguin.
- Taylor, Brandon (1999). Art for the Nation: Exhibitions and the London Public, 1747–2001. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
- Walden, Sarah (2004). The Ravished Image: An Introduction to the Art of Picture Restoration & Its Risks. London: Gibson Square.
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