National Gallery
On the 1st of July 1823, George Agar-Ellis stood before the House of Commons to propose a purchase that would change British art history. He asked parliament to buy thirty-eight paintings from John Julius Angerstein, a Russian-born banker who had died just months earlier. The government hesitated for over a year until Austria unexpectedly repaid a war debt in 1824. That money allowed ministers to pay £57,000 for the collection and establish a new public gallery.
The National Gallery opened its doors on 100 Pall Mall later that same year. The building was once Angerstein's private townhouse, now crowded with paintings by Raphael and Hogarth. Visitors found the space hot and cramped compared to the Louvre in Paris. William Seguier managed the early years as Keeper of Paintings while trustees took over some responsibilities in July 1824. By 1831, Reverend William Holwell Carr added another thirty-five paintings to the growing collection.
Subsidence forced the gallery to move briefly to No. 105 Pall Mall, described by novelist Anthony Trollope as a dingy house ill-suited for such treasures. The location at 100 Pall Mall remained in use until 1834 when construction began on a new building designed by William Wilkins. This third site would eventually become the permanent home on Trafalgar Square.
William Wilkins received the commission to design a new gallery after economic recession delayed earlier plans by John Nash. His building opened to the public on the 9th of April 1838 but faced immediate criticism for its shallow depth and low elevation. Augustus Pugin published an influential tract called Contrasts in 1836 that mocked the design as a pepperpot. King William IV reportedly called it a nasty little pokey hole before his death.
Sir James Pennethorne added a single long gallery between 1860 and 1861 that worsened interior conditions. Edward Middleton Barry proposed replacing the entire structure with four domes in 1867, but critics denounced the scheme as plagiarism of St Paul's Cathedral. The actual expansion came from 1872 to 1876 through what became known as the Barry Rooms. These polychrome Neo-Renaissance spaces arranged around a Greek cross plan provided the first grand architectural experience inside the gallery.
The Sainsbury Wing arrived much later in 1991, designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. This postmodernist extension houses Renaissance paintings while incorporating stylistic quotations from Ancient Egyptian temples and Victorian warehouses. Prince Charles had previously compared a competing high-tech proposal to a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved friend. The final design used pietra serena stone local to Florence and created false perspective leading visitors toward Cima's altarpiece.
A cleaning operation began at the National Gallery in 1844 after Sir Charles Lock Eastlake took office as Keeper. Three paintings by Rubens, Cuyp, and Velázquez received treatment before being unveiled to the public in 1846. J. Morris Moore wrote letters under the pseudonym Verax attacking these methods in The Times newspaper. An 1853 Parliamentary select committee cleared the gallery of wrongdoing despite ongoing criticism from art establishment figures.
Helmut Ruhemann led another restoration campaign during World War II while paintings were stored in Manod Quarry. When cleaned pictures returned to exhibition in 1946, a furore erupted similar to events decades earlier. Ernst Gombrich, professor at the Warburg Institute, described receiving offensive superciliousness from gallery restorers who removed varnish that had darkened over time. Critics argued this process eliminated harmonizing glazes added by artists themselves.
A 1947 commission concluded no damage occurred during recent cleanings, yet debates continued sporadically throughout the twentieth century. Modern conservation techniques faced scrutiny whenever they altered historical surfaces or changed how viewers experienced masterpieces. The gallery maintained its commitment to preserving works while navigating accusations of over-zealous intervention.
Paintings evacuated to Wales shortly before World War II began included locations like Penrhyn Castle and university colleges at Bangor and Aberystwyth. Winston Churchill rejected suggestions to move artworks to Canada during the Battle of France in 1940. He sent a telegram stating bury them in caves but not leave these islands. A slate quarry at Manod near Blaenau Ffestiniog became the new home for the collection.
Keeper Martin Davies compiled scholarly catalogues within the quarry with assistance from the library also stored there. This isolation confirmed conservators' suspicions about storing paintings at constant temperature and humidity levels. The experience eventually led to the first air-conditioned gallery opening in 1949 after the war ended.
Myra Hess organized daily lunchtime recitals in the empty building on Trafalgar Square while concert halls remained closed across London. Moura Lympany and other musicians performed to raise public morale during wartime. Art exhibitions complemented the concerts including British Painting since Whistler in 1940. Herbert Read called the National Gallery a defiant outpost of culture right in the middle of a bombed metropolis when paintings returned to their original location in 1945.
The Great Depression caused many aristocratic families to sell their paintings, yet American plutocrats priced out British national collections. This prompted creation of the National Art-Collections Fund dedicated to stemming artwork flows to the United States. Their first acquisition for the gallery was Velázquez's Rokeby Venus in 1906 followed by Holbein's Portrait of Christina of Denmark in 1909.
Industrialist Ludwig Mond donated forty-two Italian Renaissance paintings including Raphael's Mond Crucifixion in 1909. George Salting gave his collection in 1910 while Austen Henry Layard contributed in 1916. Sir Hugh Lane promised thirty-nine paintings including Renoir's Umbrellas before dying aboard a ship in 1915. A dispute over whether these works went to Ireland or London lasted until 1959.
Samuel Courtauld established a fund in 1923 that bought Seurat's Bathers at Asnières and other modern pieces. Leonardo da Vinci's cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist cost millions in 1962. Titian's Death of Actaeon required public appeals when purchased in 1972. Lord Sainsbury and his brothers donated almost £50 million in 1985 enabling construction of the Sainsbury Wing.
Mary Richardson damaged Velázquez's Rokeby Venus on the 10th of March 1914 as protest against Emmeline Pankhurst's arrest. Another suffragette attacked five Bellinis later that month causing closure until World War I began. Kempton Bunton stole Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington from an unemployed bus driver in August 1961. He returned the painting voluntarily four years later after being found not guilty of theft but guilty of stealing its frame.
Robert Cambridge entered the gallery armed with a shotgun concealed under his coat in July 1987. He shot Leonardo's cartoon expressing disgust with political conditions in Britain though pellets failed to penetrate the work. Extensive restoration followed before returning it to display the next year. Environmental activists threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers on the 14th of October 2022 damaging only the protective plexiglass frame.
Two Just Stop Oil activists smashed protective glass surrounding the Rokeby Venus again on the 6th of November 2023 using hammers. These attacks highlighted tensions between public access and security measures while raising questions about how institutions protect their collections from both natural deterioration and human aggression.
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Common questions
When did the National Gallery open to the public?
The National Gallery opened its doors on 100 Pall Mall later that same year, which was 1823. The building was once John Julius Angerstein's private townhouse before becoming a new public gallery.
Who designed the main building of the National Gallery in London?
William Wilkins received the commission to design a new gallery after economic recession delayed earlier plans by John Nash. His building opened to the public on the 9th of April 1838 but faced immediate criticism for its shallow depth and low elevation.
Where were paintings stored during World War II at the National Gallery?
A slate quarry at Manod near Blaenau Ffestiniog became the new home for the collection when paintings were evacuated to Wales shortly before World War II began. Helmut Ruhemann led another restoration campaign during World War II while paintings were stored in Manod Quarry.
What happened to Velázquez's Rokeby Venus on the 10th of March 1914?
Mary Richardson damaged Velázquez's Rokeby Venus on the 10th of March 1914 as protest against Emmeline Pankhurst's arrest. Another suffragette attacked five Bellinis later that month causing closure until World War I began.
When was the Sainsbury Wing added to the National Gallery?
The Sainsbury Wing arrived much later in 1991, designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. This postmodernist extension houses Renaissance paintings while incorporating stylistic quotations from Ancient Egyptian temples and Victorian warehouses.