National Gallery

The National Gallery is a public gallery, located in London, United Kingdom. It is well recognized for its great collection of more than 2,300 paintings, dating back from the mid-13th century to 1900.

The Gallery was officially opened on 10 May 1824, based on the Angerstein’s former town house Pall Mall. The town house was too small in size and soon became uncomfortable which led to the decision to be built a new building. Its foundation was laid in 1832 by construction designer William Wilkins. The new building was situated in the area between the prestigious West End and the poor neighbourhoods of East, on the site of the King’s Mews in Charing Cross, later known as Trafalgar Square.

A significant period of time, the management of the gallery was under criticism. The gallery was not acquired by any new works of art and those which it already contained were mainly paintings by High Renaissance masters. This lack of development was considered as necessity for the current direction of the gallery to be changed. The new head of the gallery became Sir Charles Lock Eastlake.

During his leadership, the gallery was enriched by 194 new paintings and a private art collection.
After his dead, Eastlake was succeeded as gallery’s manager by his friend William Boxall.

The Gallery was provided with a collection of 18th-century art and a number of paintings from English private collections by his third director Sir Frederick William Burton.

In the early 20th century works in the gallery were supplemented by a large number of paintings from private collectors such as Dr Ludwig Mond, George Salting, Austen Hentry Layard and Sir Hugh Lane.

In the period of post-war years, two of the most famous works purchased by the gallery were the Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin and Child with St.Anne and St.John the Baptist as well as the Titian’s Death of Actaeon.

In 1985 a donation provided by the brothers Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, Simon Sainsbury and Sir Timothy Sainsbury allowed the construction of the Sainsbury Wing.

Among the greatest works of art in the National Gallery are: The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello; the Virgin of the Rocks and The Burlington House Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci; The Entombment and The Manchester Madonna by Michelangelo; the Boy Bitten by a Lizard, the Supper at Emmaus and the Salome with the Head of John the Baptist by Caravaggio; The Judgment of Paris by Rubens; the Belshazzar’s Feast by Rembrandt; The Water-Lily Pond and The Thames Below Westminster by Claude Monet and the Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh.

Address:
National Gallery
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5DN
United Kingdom

Tel: 44 20 7747 2885