National Gallery, London

From 9 November 2011 to 5 February 2012 there is a special exhibition: " Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan".

According to the National Gallery: "Painter at the Court of Milan’ is the most complete display of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings ever held. This unprecedented exhibition – the first of its kind anywhere in the world – brings together sensational international loans never before seen in the UK."

For me the best of the about 90 works (paintings, designs, sketches and studies) is the "Lady with an Ermine" which unfortunately I could not see in Krakow.
I prefer this portrait to "La Joconde - Mona Lisa" which remains in Paris.

Open daily 10am–6pm (last admission 5pm)
Late nights including Fridays and Saturdays until 10pm (last admission 9pm)
Sundays until 7pm (last admission 6pm)

Tickets: Timed-ticket entry
Full price £16.00
Senior (60+)/concession £14.00
Students/Job seekers/12-18s £8.00

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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 (room 56). 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.
In the same room is a portrait of "A Woman" (photo 4) from Robert Campin (Flemish school 15th c.) also identified as the "Master of Flémalle". In my ranking of women portraits I would put this portrait on the same rank as "La Joconde".
In the same room 56, the best of the Sainsbury wing, are also portraits from Petrus Christus another follower of Van Eyck.

Another remarkable painting in the Sainsbury wing, room 58, is "Venus and Mars" from Sandro Botticelli (1485).

Among my favoured paintings of this absolutely remarkable collection, mainly 15th century works is another extraordinary portrait like "The Doge Leonardo Loredan" from Giovanni Bellini (room 62).

(*)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 £.

Open: Daily 10am–6pm, Fridays 10am–9pm. Free.
No photos allowed. My illustrations are from the web.

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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" (room 25),
Van Dyck, "Equestrian Portrait of Charles I" (room 31),
Caravaggio, "The Supper at Emmaus" ,
Claude Le Lorrain, "Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula" (room 20) (see my comment on this painter in my Le Louvre tips),
Velázquez, "The Rokeby Venus" (room 30),
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" (room 25).
There is also in this North Wing a unique landscape from Rubens:
"A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning" (room 29). 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.

Open: Daily 10am–6pm, Fridays 10am–9pm.
Free. No photos allowed.

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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 (room 21).
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 (room 21) 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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Since several decades this museum is my favoured paint museum in Europe not only for the richness and variety of its collections, which I have described here department by department, but for the very practical fact that there are no queues as the entry is free, as there is no security control of bags (the Londoners are more optimistic than the Parisians who check all bags), and there are three entrances. In the middle you have the Portico entrance, to the right the Getty entrance and on the left the Sainsbury Wing entrance. So no problem with in and out flux.

My first visit here was in 1960 and it seemed to me that in a half century the number of visitors must have increased by a hundredfold. The National gallery is nearly as crowded as the British museum.

However, there are two things that upset me in this museum:
1° The curators have still not made the distinction between Dutch painters and Flemish painters, they stick to the term "Netherlandish" when since 1902 (Ref. my tip on Brussels, Royal Museum of Fine Arts) the term Flemish Primitives is used.
2° The visitors who can not just look at a painting but have to show with their finger, or the museum plan, some details to the people around them. They stress the museum guards as well as me.

From a practical point of view I must say that I rather like the "National café" at Level 0, just right of the Getry entrance. This self-service café is not bad and at reasonable prices.
What surprised me is that there was not a single British beer to go with my sandwich. Only a German beer or an American one made in Czechia. Should I complain to the Queen?

Opening hours: daily 10 - 18 h, Fridays until 21 h. Free.
Photos not allowed. (Why is a question asked by many visitors used to take photos at the British Museum, Le Louvre or Orsay).

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I've been to The National Gallery a number of time before and was surprised that the gallery now charges for the plan (1 GBP each) whereas at other places they're free of charge.

The gallery has two levels divided into the following sections: Paintings 1250to1500; Paintings 1500to1600; Paintings 1600to1700; Paintings 1700to1900 and temporary exhibitions.

The Highlights of the collection at The National Gallery include: Samson and Delilah (Rubens), The Supper at Emmaus(Caravaggio), 'The Arnolfini Portrait' (Van Eyck), Sunflowers (Van Gogh) and Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)(Cezanne).

Fortunately the galleries are sign posted and, on my last vist (August 2010) I was able to reach the 1800-1900 Century galleries and looked at paintings by Renoir, Picasso, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Pissario, Monet and Degas. There are other galleri,es covering paintings from different centuries.

I appreciated the paintings more after studying some of the artists from my humanities courses.

The National Gallery of London is the first of the world's greatest collections of Western Art that I had ever visited. Being something of a novice in the art viewing at this time, I rushed through the gallery. I think my visit was completed in three hours. Compare that to my last visit to the Louvre where I allowed myself seven hours and I spent time in only the Italian, Dutch and German collections. I now feel ashamed that I did not give the astonishing collection in the National Gallery more time as it deserves at least a full days visitation.
All the great artists in art history are represented here from the early Renaissance by such artists as Van Eyk and Fra Angelico through to the post impressionists like Cezanne and early Picasso. What is most important is that the works on display here represent these artists at their best. The quality of the collection is even more impressive than the quantity.
What is interesting about this collection is that it did not have it's beginnings as a royal art collection like some of the other great collections of Europe. Rather its quality is the result of very astute collectors working on behalf of the government when they began the collection in 1824.
Here is an even more astonishing fact for you all. Admission is free.
Finally I highly recommend that you visit the website listed below before going. It is the best website of a major collection that I have visited thus far.

In 1831 Parliament decided to build a National gallery in Trafalgar square. William Wilkins designed the building and it was opened in 1839. The original building wasn't as large as it is today, it was added to in 1876 and 1907. In 1985 Lord Sainsbury and his brothers financed a new wing that was opened in 1991.
The gallery holds over 2,300 works of art. Most of the worlds famous artists are represented.

The gallery is set in sections, Years 1250-1500, 1500-1600, 1600-1700 and 1700-1900.
There are also many exhibitions on throughout the year (some of these are chargable].

The gallery is free but a donation is appreciated.

OPENING HOURS
DAILY 10am - 6pm
FRIDAY UNTIL 9pm

There is a restaurant an expresso bar and a cafe within the gallery.

There are 3 shops selling postcards, T-shirts, stationery and jewellery.