What a wonderful treat to spend time in the National Gallery. Over time this gallery has grown to accommodate an every increasing collection of fine paintings. Best of all – many of the halls are being restored to their original grandeur. Paintings are from the 13th to 20th Century.
We started our tour in the new Sainsbury Wing just off Trafalgar square. Our docent (from Context Tours, my favorite company) was an expert in 13th –16th Century art of sacred subjects. The new wing has been specially designed to display these amazing works by the likes of Botticelli. After 3 hours – we completed an in-depth discussion of only a dozen of the 50 plus galleries.
Like most galleries – the National started (1838) off small and has grown over time. It collection is intended to contain some the best examples of art during the period and is assemble for that purpose. Originally the museum shared its space with the Royal Academy.
We caught a last glance at one of Titian’s early works Bacchus and Ariadne which is co-own with Scotland’s National Gallery. It spends an alternating 6 years in each of its homes and is bound for Scotland soon.
If you find yourself in London on a Wednesday – the storerooms for the Museum are open to the public in the afternoon. We missed having access to them on this trip. A perfect excuse to come back to London.
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