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Trafalgar Square, WC2
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What I like with the National Gallery is that the pleasure continues after the 17th c. and goes on to the 19th c. with the Impressionists.
It is always a pleasure to view or view again the most beautiful landscape "The Hay Wain" (1821) by John Constable. The painting found no buyer in England but had great success when exhibited in France.
Another British painter William Turner is on display in this department with the "The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up, 1838". This painting of the famous vessel "Temeraire" (ref. Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar) was voted as the "greatest painting in Britain".
It is now time to visit the "classical' impressionists with several Monet such as "the Gare St-Lazarre" and "The Water-Lily Pond", Pissaro with "The Boulevard Montmartre at Night", and not forget the "Sunflowers" of Van Gogh.
This mostly remarkable collection of impressionists is the cherry on the cake of the National Gallery which I consider as one of the three best painting museums in Europe with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
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The National Gallery is London's foremost or leading art museum with over 2,300 paintings, most on permanent display.
Apparently in 1824 King George IV persuaded the government to purchase 38 major paintings which became the core of a national collection of European art that now ranges from the 13th century to the 19th century Impressionists and Landscape. Particularly notable are the Dutch, Italian Renaissance and 17th century Spanish paintings (namely Velazquez's only remaining female nude!).
Special exhibitions are also held here - often particularly prestigious with works from the greats of the artworld!! - for example at present, until 16th September, is the Dutch Portraits:The Age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals which is the first international survey of 17th century Dutch portraiture and follows the Golden Age experienced by the Dutch Republic after its independence from Spain.
As with several excellent exbitions held here in the past I enjoyed seeing the paintings in this exhibition and learning more about European art and the linking between the art and museums Ive been to seen around Europe in the years that I have been living over in this hemisphere. With my Art Fund membership I am able to get a concession, generally about 50% discount from the usual price making it £5.
Opening times to the Gallery are daily 10am til 6pm with Wednesdays having a late evening until 9pm. Last admissions are 45 minutes before closing time.
There are often also free lunchtime talks, evening lectures and short courses available at the National Art Gallery. Leave a Comment
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Landscapes were one of the major themes of the 17th c. paintings especially in the Netherlands.
Indeed the Dutch Golden century produced thousands of landscapes of all kinds:
river views and seaside landscapes, "green" landscapes often with a cottage under some threes, winter landscapes usually with skaters on a frozen river or pond, town landscapes and these interiors of churches which were a Dutch speciality.
These thousand of landscapes were painted not on order but to be sold to anybody who wanted to decorate his interior. Many Dutch families owed such small sized paintings for decoration. These paintings are most often of good quality but do not necessarily show much originality. Shall I say that a cottage and trees from Jacob van Ruisdael, is not very different from other cottages in a wood by the same Van Ruisdael.
The National Gallery has a large number of these Dutch paintings which are quite agreeable to look at especially for the visitor feeling saturated with religious and mythological scenes.
Outstanding among these landscapes is a painting from Meindert Hobbema which by its originality and some symbolism stands out in this field of art.
"Het Laantje van Middelharnis - The Avenue at Middelharnis" (1689) is remarkable by the perspective effect given by the upward-pointing trees receding from the foreground to the village and church in the distance.
Unfortunately, his other works have not the majesty of the above painting and are a repetition of subjects like trees around a pool and water-mils.
Another highlight of the landscapes in this North Wing is the "River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants" (1659) by Aelbert Cuyp. This is the most beautiful landscape of this Dutch painter very appreciated by British collectors.
In his masterly handling of the sunlight Aelbert Cuyp approaches Claude le Lorrain (ref. my tip on Le Louvre).
No amateur of paintings and more generally arts should omit to visit the National Gallery and its remarkable collections of the North wing.
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This wing which shows paintings from 1260-1510 is located in a separate building left of the main one. The collection is on the 2nd floor linked to the main building by a bridge.
The Sainsbury Wing was opened in 1991. It is a gift (50 million £) from Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover and his brothers The Hon. Simon Sainsbury (*) and Sir Timothy Sainsbury.
My preferred painting here is the Arnolfini portrait by Jan Van Eyck. This is one of the highlights of Flemish 15th c. school "Flemish Primitives" (see my tips on my Brussels museum pages).
Flemish primitives were not the first to use oil paints but they excelled in it and Van Eyck was a master in this technique which allowed him to depict with great subtlety the effects of light on the fabrics and clothes.
Arnolfini was an Italian merchant from the town of Lucca near Pisa. He lived in Bruges at the time that this Flemish town was an important trade centre.
It is often taught that Arnolfoni's wife is pregnant but this is not sure; the full-skirted dress was fashionable in that time (1434) it seems.
Another remarkable painting in the Sainsbury wing is "Venus and Mars" from Sandro Botticelli (1485).
Among my favoured paintings of this absolutely remarkable collection mainly 15th century works are some extraordinary portraits like "The Doge Leonardo Loredan" from Giovanni Bellini and "A Woman" from Robert Campin (Flemish school).
(*)Simon Sainsbury who died in 2006 bequeathed 5 impressionist paintings (Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Rousseau) to the National Gallery and 13 to the Tate Gallery for an estimated value of 100 million £.
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This is in my opinion the best department of the National Gallery by its diversity and quality.
The highlights here are:
Vermeer, "A Young Woman standing at a Virginal"
Van Dyck, "Equestrian Portrait of Charles I"
Caravaggio, "The Supper at Emmaus"
Claude Le Lorrain, "Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula" (see my comment on this painter in my Le Louvre tips)
Velázquez, "The Rokeby Venus",
Rubens, "Samson and Delilah",
Rembrandt, "Self Portrait at the Age of 34".
Dutch, Flemish, Italian, Spanish and French schools of the 17th c. are on display in the North Wing with excellent works.
All types of paintings are present: the large works with religious and mythological subjects and the small sized paintings introduced by the Dutch school showing landscapes, genre paintings, private portraits.
My preferences go to the Vermeer and a Pieter de Hooch "The Courtyard of a House in Delft".
There is also in this North Wing a unique landscape from Rubens:
"A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning". Surprising a landscape by Rubens showing a "double light" effect! He had bought this manor house near Mechelen and enjoyed there the pleasures of country life.
Landscapes of all kinds were one of the major themes of the 17th c. paintings especially in the Netherlands.
I will come back on these landscapes of the North Wing.
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The highlights of this 16th c. department of the National Gallery are the Italians:
Raphael, 'The Madonna of the Pinks',
Titian, 'Bacchus and Ariadne',
Michelangelo, 'The Entombment',
Leonardo da Vinci, 'The Virgin of the Rocks',
All of the begin of the 16th c. This century continues the tradition of the large religious paintings, but portraits as well official as private get more and more importance. Mythology is also a main subject of paintings.
Among all these classical Italian paintings one work from Bronzino surprises by its "cool" eroticism "the Allegory with Venus and Cupid" (±1545). The concept of this painting is an enigma with symbols and emblems from mythology and heraldry (pic 1).
In total contrast with the Italians is a work from Pieter Bruegel the Elder " The Adoration of the Kings" (1564).
Surprising is the person on the extreme right wearing spectacles. It is an ironic manner of Bruegel to show the inability of the assistants to see the significance of Jesus. The soldiers reflect the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands in that period. (pic 2 & 3)
A remarkable portrait in this department is the "Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling" (1526) from Hans Holbein the Younger.(pic 4)
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This is the most astonishing portrait of the National Gallery.
It is not a portrait of a specific person; actually I find that the figure is more that of a man than a woman.
There have been medical articles about this woman:
"The deformities of Metsys's grotesque woman, far from being caused by barn door Paget's disease as implied by the article, could quite easily have been the result of several diseases such as acromegaly. The coarse, roughened, greasy skin catches the light in the painting. Her pigmentation, not explained by Paget's disease, fits in with the diagnosis of acromegaly; the large chest would comfortably accommodate the increased lung volume; the ugly face surely catches the soft tissue enlargements ofthe skin over the maxilla,"
Was Quinten Metsys (Massys) aware of this, I doubt.
This satire is not unusual for this painter mostly known by the famous "The Money Changer and His Wife" of le Louvre and the portrait of Erasmus at the Galleria Nazionale, Rome.
The usual name of this Flemish painter is Quinten Metsys (sometimes written Matsys or Massys) painter born in Leuven (1465 - 1530) and member of the Antwerp school.
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The National Gallery is a wonderful place with an interesting history. It started with 38 major paintings, a small start for a national collection. Many wealthy benefactors contributed money and works of art, which has resulted in a huge, impressive collection today.
Other paintings were purchased by public subscription or by government grant. It's grown so large that a new addition was added in the early 1990s (not without controversy!) In this new wing called, The Sainsbury Wing, is where the changing exhibits are kept.
I have to tell you that this place is quite overwhelming, seeing so many pieces of art done by the great masters of Western art such as Leonardo, Goya, Monet, VAn Gogh, Picasso, and Raphael (which is just the beginning of a endless number of greats!)
The paintings hang chronologically, which is a nice way to organize such a vast collection. The lower floor contains lesser painting of all periods.
Open:
10-6 daily
10-8 Wednesday Leave a Comment
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an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square. It houses Western European paintings from 1250 to 1900 from the national art collection of Great Britain. The collection of 2,300 paintings belongs to the British public, and entry to the main collection is free, though there are charges for entry to special exhibitions.
Despite having being founded without an existing royal collection on which to build, and in a building with severe constraints on size, the National Gallery has grown to be a collection of international renown. It was shaped mainly by its early directors, including Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two thirds of the collection. The resulting collection is small in size, but with a wide scope and paintings of exceptionally high quality. All of the major developments in the mainstream of Western painting are represented, often by masterpieces.
The building, begun by William Wilkins, has undergone several extensions, most notably by E. M. Barry and Robert Venturi. The current director is Charles Saumarez Smith. Leave a Comment
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Trafalgar square alone would be worth visiting; add the free National Gallery and it should definently be on the must see list. The gallery rotates its enormous collection, but one will always find Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Renoir.
My favorite room is in the 1700-1900 east wing which contains Monet's Water lily pond, Renior's Boating on the Siene, and van Gogh's Sunflowers. The museum is free except for their special exhibits, though they ask for a small donation in any case.
The gallery is open from 10 am to 6 pm daily with additional hours on Wednesday staying open until 9 pm. The square in front of the national gallery displays the nelson monument and is a meeting point for many protests and rallies. When there isnt a rally, it is a good place to enjoy the afternoon and numerous fountains. Leave a Comment
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