Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us that:
"... it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900[a]. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the main collection (though not some special exhibitions) is free of charge.
Unlike comparable art museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein, an insurance broker and patron of the arts, in 1824. After that initial purchase the Gallery was shaped mainly by its early directors, notably Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two thirds of the collection. The resulting collection is small in size, compared with many European national galleries, but encyclopaedic in scope; most major developments in Western painting "from Giotto to Cézanne" are represented with important works. It used to be claimed that this was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition, but this is no longer the case.
The present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins from 1832–8. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, as the building has been expanded piecemeal throughout its history. Wilkins's building was often criticised for its perceived aesthetic deficiencies and lack of space; the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897. The Sainsbury Wing, an extension to the west by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, is a notable example of Postmodernist architecture in Britain. The current Director of the National Gallery is Nicholas Penny."
As for the book, Good Reads (
visit link) informs us:
"Paintings In The National Gallery, London
by Augusto Gentili, Linda Whiteley
4.55 · Rating Details · 11 Ratings · 1 Review
The National Gallery in London was officially founded in the early nineteenth century and its works include many of the masterpieces of Renaissance art as well as the largest collection of Velazquez outside of Spain. The collections were moved to the present seat of Trafalgar Square in 1838 and donations continued at an impressive rate, filling out the collection with early Italian and Italian Renaissance paintings as well as Venetian landscapes -- perhaps better represented in London that in any other museum. The museum's collection includes early Flemish paintings, golden background Florentine and Sienese paintings, Italian Renaissance masterpieces from Masaccio to Botticelli and Raphael, from Giovanni Bellini to Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese, the Italian Seicento at its height, the vivid colors of Tiepolo and Guardi and Canaletto's captivating views, the greatest French painters from Poussin to Le Lorraine, and a spectacular series by Holbein the Younger. These are the pivot points around which rotates the entire world of European painting from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Added to this extraordinary heritage are masterpieces of French Impressionism and the English School. Paintings in the National Gallery, London is lavishly illustrated with 600 color plates and will be an invaluable resource for scholars and art lovers alike. (less)
Hardcover
Published by Bulfinch Press
Original TitlePaintings in The National Gallery, London
ISBN 0821226959 (ISBN13: 9780821226957)
Edition LanguageEnglish"