National Gallery description and photos - UK: London (Topic)

National Gallery description and photos - UK: London. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is National Gallery.

Photo and description

The National Gallery is an art museum in London, which houses more than 2,300 masterpieces of Western European painting from the middle of the 13th century to 1900. Compared to other similar museums - the Louvre in Paris or the Prado in Madrid - the London Gallery cannot boast of such rich collections. But unlike them, it is not based on a collection of paintings from the royal palace. The royal collection of paintings is still privately owned by British monarchs, and paintings for the National Gallery were bought and assembled on purpose, which made it possible to present in chronological order all the main trends of European painting, albeit not extensively, but completely.

at the end of the 18th century, many art collections that belonged to the royal courts of Europe, were transferred to national possession - this is how, for example, the Old Pinakothek in Munich or the Uffizi Gallery in Florence appeared. The need to create a national art museum was also understood in Great Britain. When the opportunity to buy a collection of paintings by Sir Robert Walpole appeared in 1777, this issue was discussed in Parliament, but the decision to purchase was not made, and 20 years later this collection, bought by Catherine II, formed the basis of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. And only in 1823, when the collection of John Ungerstine (a banker, a native of Russia) was put up for auction, a decision was made to purchase.

The collection consisted of 38 canvases, including works by Raphael and Hogarth. At first they were exhibited in the Angerstine house, but as the collection expanded, the need arose for a new, more spacious room. Architect William Wilkins built a new building for the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, on the border of the respectable West End and the impoverished neighborhoods to the east. A parliamentary decree of 1857 stated, “The ultimate goal of a gallery is not just to collect paintings, but to provide people with an ennobling pastime.”

The collection grew rapidly, a lot of paintings were bought by the first director of the gallery, Sir Charles Eastlake. He also bequeathed his personal collection to the gallery. The works of British artists were exhibited at the National Gallery for some time, but were soon moved to the Tate Gallery, which specialized in British painting.

During World War II, the canvases were transported to a shelter in Wales. but every month one of the paintings was returned to London and exhibited in the empty halls of the gallery. In 1945, the paintings returned to London.

The National Gallery collection includes artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, Velazquez, Rembrandt and many others.

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Topic: National Gallery description and photos - UK: London.