National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square, in a building designed by William Wilkins. It holds part of the National Collection, particularly Western European art from 1250 to 1900. Some British art is included, but the National Collection of British art from this period is mainly in Tate Britain. The collection of 2300 paintings belongs to the British public, and entry to the main collection is free, though there are charges for entry to special exhibitions. (There is however a suggested minimum voluntary donation, paradoxically advertised as helping to keep the Gallery free of charge.)
Artists whose work is hung in the National Gallery include:
- Leonardo da Vinci (The Virgin on the Rocks, Cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist)
- Rembrandt van Rijn (Belshazzar's Feast, two self portraits)
- Vincent van Gogh (Sunflowers)
- Titian (Bacchus and Ariadne)
- Sandro Botticelli (Venus and Mars)
- Jan van Eyck (The Arnolfini Portrait)
- Willem Drost (Portrait of a Young Woman with her Hands Folded on a Book)
- Claude Monet (The Water-Lily Pond, The Thames Below Westminster)
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir (The Umbrellas, Boating on the Seine)
- Diego Velasquez (The "Rokeby Venus")
- John Constable (The Hay Wain)
- William Hogarth (Marriage A-la-Mode)
- J.M.W. Turner (The Fighting Temeraire)
- Joseph Wright (An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman)
The collection was established in 1824, when the art collection of John Julius Angerstein was bought for the nation. The gallery was built in the 1830s by architect William Wilkins; it has been expanded four times, most recently with the Sainsbury Wing in 1991 which houses the Gallery's Early Renaissance paintings. This Wing houses works by Van Eyck, Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, as well as the Wilton Diptych.
The National Portrait Gallery has an adjoining site on Charing Cross Road.
Nearest London Underground stations:
- Charing Cross (Northern, Bakerloo lines)
- Embankment (District, Circle lines)
- Leicester Square (Northern, Piccadilly lines)