Scottish National Gallery
Former names | Scottish National Gallery, National Gallery of Scotland |
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Established | 1859 |
Location | The Mound, Edinburgh |
Coordinates | 55°57′3″N 3°11′44″W / 55.95083°N 3.19556°W |
Visitors | 1,583,231 (2019)[1] |
Public transit access | |
Website | www |
The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the
The gallery houses Scotland's national collection of fine art, spanning Scottish and international art from the beginning of the Renaissance up to the start of the 20th century.
The National is run by National Galleries Scotland, a public body that also owns the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Because of its architectural similarity, the National is frequently confused by visitors with the neighbouring Royal Scottish Academy Building (RSA), a separate institution which works closely with the National.[3]
History
The origins of Scotland's national collection lie with the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, founded in 1819. It began to acquire paintings, and in 1828 the Royal Institution building opened on The Mound. In 1826, the Scottish Academy was founded by a group of artists who, dissatisfied with its policies, seceded from the Royal Institution, and in 1838 it became the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). A key aim of the RSA was the founding of a national collection. It began to build up a collection and from 1835 rented exhibition space within the Royal Institution building.[2]
In the 1840s, plans were put in place for a new building to house the RSA.
In the early 21st century, the National Galleries launched the Playfair Project, a scheme to create a new basement entrance to the National Gallery in Princes Street Gardens and an underground connecting space, called the Weston Link, between the gallery and the renovated Royal Scottish Academy building. The new underground space opened in 2004.[5]
In 2012, the gallery's
In 2023, the organisation was rebranded once more, and adopted the shorter name National Galleries Scotland. Each of its galleries was also rebranded and the Scottish National Gallery is now billed as National Galleries Scotland: National.[8]
Building
William Playfair's building—like its neighbour, the Royal Scottish Academy—was designed in the form of an
Playfair worked to a much more limited budget than the RSA project, and this is reflected in his comparatively austere architectural style. He may have drawn inspiration from an 1829 scheme for an arcade of shops by Archibald Elliot II, son of Archibald Elliot. Playfair's National Gallery was laid out in a cruciform plan; he originally planned to build towers at the corners of the transverse central block, but these were abandoned during the project. When the RSA moved into the former Royal Institution building in 1912, the Office of Works Architect for Scotland, William Thomas Oldrieve remodelled the NGS interior to house the National Gallery collection exclusively.[9]
In the 1970s, when the gallery was under the direction of the
The new Princes Street Gardens entrance and underground space opened in 2004 was designed by John Miller and Partners. Construction took five years and cost £32 million. The area contains a lecture theatre, education area, shop, restaurant, an interactive gallery, and a link to the RSA building.[2][11]
In January 2019, construction work began on a project to alter the lower level areas and to create extended exhibition space. It is planned that the Princes Street Gardens entrance will become the main entrance of the gallery; to facilitate access, East Princes Street Gardens is being re-landscaped with sloping paths and 52 trees have been felled, to be replaced with 22 newly planted saplings.[12][13] The redevelopment is delayed until at least late 2022, as a result of asbestos being found in part of the structure and due to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.[14][15]
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Twin porticoes at the main entrance with the original name inscribed on the frieze.
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Playfair's ionic columns
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Interior of the ground floor main galleries
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The Princes Street Gardens entrance (opened 2004)
Research
The research facilities at the Scottish National Gallery include the Prints and Drawings Collection of over 30,000 works on paper, from the
Collection
At the heart of the National Gallery's collection is a group of paintings transferred from the
In the Gallery's main ground floor rooms are displayed a number of major large-scale canvases such as
The Scottish National Gallery has a notable collection of works by
Notable works
Key works of art displayed at the National Gallery include:
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo and Design for a Papal Monument
- Sandro Botticelli, Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child
- Antonio Canova, The Three Graces (displayed on rotation with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London)
- Paul Cézanne, The Big Trees and Montagne Sainte-Victoire
- Jean Siméon Chardin, Vase of Flowers
- John Constable, The Vale of Dedham SNG
- Gerard David, Three Legends of St Nicholas
- Edgar Degas, Portrait of Diego Martelli
- James Drummond, The Porteous Mob and A Lady Descending from a Sedan Chair. Study for the Painting The Porteous Mob[17]
- Anthony van Dyck, The Lomellini Family
- Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Mrs Mary Graham
- Vision after the Sermon
- Hugo van der Goes, The Trinity Altarpiece (on loan from the Royal Collection)
- Vincent van Gogh, Olive Trees
- Francisco de Goya, El Medico
- El Greco, Saint Jerome in Penitence, Fábula and Christ Blessing (The Saviour of the World)
- Gavin Hamilton, Dawkins and Wood Discovering the Ruins of Palmyra
- Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Mlle Albertine Hayard
- Edwin Landseer, The Monarch of the Glen
- Lorenzo Lotto, Madonna and Child with Saints
- Claude Monet, Haystacks
- Joseph Noel Paton, The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania
- Giambattista Pittoni, St Jerome and Peter of Alcantara
- Nicolas Poussin, The Seven Sacraments
- Sir The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch
- Allan Ramsay, Margaret Lindsay
- Raphael, The Bridgewater Madonna
- Rembrandt van Rijn, A Woman in Bed and Self-Portrait
- Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Ladies Waldegrave
- Pieter Jansz Saenredam, Grote Kerk, Haarlem
- Georges Seurat, La Luzerne, St-Denis
- John Singer Sargent, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw
- Titian, Venus Anadyomene, Diana and Callisto, Diana and Actaeon, The Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist and an Unidentified Saint, and The Three Ages of Man
- Joseph Mallord William Turner, Somer Hill and the Vaughan Bequest of 38 works
- Diego Velázquez, Old Woman Frying Eggs
- Johannes Vermeer, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
- Antoine Watteau, Fêtes Vénitiennes
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Holy Family with a Palm Tree
(Raphael, 1506) -
Niagara Falls, from the American Side
(Frederic Edwin Church, 1867) -
Vision après le Sermon, 1888)
(Paul Gauguin
Other artists represented in the collection include:
- David Allan
- Francis Bacon
- Federico Barocci
- William Blake
- Eugène Boudin
- David Young Cameron
- Gustave Courbet
- Aelbert Cuyp
- Eugène Delacroix
- Domenichino
- Albrecht Dürer
- William Dyce
- Adam Elsheimer
- John Emms[18]
- Andrew Geddes
- Guercino
- James Guthrie
- Frans Hals
- Meindert Hobbema
- Hans Holbein the Younger
- Edward Atkinson Hornel
- Robert Scott Lauder
- Horatio McCulloch
- William York Macgregor
- William MacTaggart
- Lorenzo Monaco
- Berthe Morisot
- John Phillip
- Giovanni Battista Piranesi
- Camille Pissarro
- Robert Priseman
- David Roberts
- Peter Paul Rubens
- George Sanders
- William Strang
- Tintoretto
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Sir David Wilkie
- Francisco de Zurbarán
See also
- National Galleries of Scotland
- List of national galleries
References
- ^ "ALVA - Association of Leading Visitor Attractions". www.alva.org.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Scottish National Gallery - History & Architecture". Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9781902669731. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
national gallery of scotland edinburgh greek temple#.
- ^ a b c Historic Environment Scotland. "1 THE MOUND, NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND WITH RAILINGS (Category A Listed Building) (LB27679)". Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "Playfair Project". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
- ISBN 9781351545471. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "O Street creates unifying brands for Scottish galleries - Design Week". Design Week. 8 June 2011. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "New look for the National Galleries of Scotland". www.nationalgalleries.org (Press release). 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0300096720. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Our history". www.nationalgalleries.org. National Galleries of Scotland. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Opening day for gallery project". BBC News. 4 August 2004. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ Ferguson, Brian. "Work begins on £22 million project for better access to Scottish National Gallery". The Scotsman. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "The Scottish National Gallery Project". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "Scottish National Gallery refurbishment hit by 'unexpected defects'". The Herald. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "Scottish National Gallery project pushed back to end of 2022". Scottish Construction Now. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Artworks". www.nationalgalleries.org. National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ National Gallery of Scotland, James Drummond
- ^ John Emms, National Gallery of Scotland.
External links
- homepage on NationalGalleries.org