LONDON—The National Gallery turned 200 last year. As part of its yearlong bicentenary celebrations, the world-renowned gallery rehung its collection and renovated the entrance, foyer, and mezzanine of its Sainsbury Wing.
The redisplayed Gallery opened on May 10, its 201st anniversary.
Initially, Parliament founded the National Gallery in London on May 10, 1824, with a collection of 38 paintings housed at 100 Pall Mall, the former home of financier John Julius Angerstein (1735–1823) who had acquired the works. The Gallery opened to the public four days a week and to artists two days a week.
In 1838, the National Gallery collection moved to its new purpose-built gallery, designed by architect William Wilkins (1778–1839), in Trafalgar Square.
On July 24, 1929, the financial secretary to the Treasury, Baron Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, highlighted the National Gallery collection in Parliament:
“It is of great importance that works which are recognised as masterpieces should not be allowed to leave this country, but should remain the heritage of the people of these islands; and, further than that, that they should not be locked away in some private collection, where they will only be viewed by a few selected people, but that they should be in a public place where people of all positions in life, if they choose to take the trouble, can avail themselves of the opportunity of seeing them.”
Today, the nation’s painting collection spans seven centuries and some 2,400 works.
The Sainsbury Wing
The Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing has been closed for over two years, for remedial repairs, and for New York City-based Selldorf Architects working with London heritage architects Purcell to create a more welcoming main entrance foyer.The new, vast entrance foyer of the Sainsbury Wing, with its low ceiling, stark stone columns, and nearly 40-foot-wide digital screen, seems more akin to an airport lounge or swanky advertising office than the main entrance to a world-renowned painting collection.
Despite the renovations’ corporate rather than civic feel, the saving grace is that the foyer leads to the staircase abutted with double-floor-high windows that flood the area with sunlight and anticipation for what’s to come. As visitors ascend the steps to the earliest paintings in the Gallery’s collection, these windows afford a view of the original 1830s National Gallery building with its marble pilasters and Corinthian columns, and beyond—further into Trafalgar Square. It’s a welcome reminder of the Gallery’s prominent home and eminent 201-year history.
At the top of the staircase, a newly commissioned artwork—a sun made of river sediment—completes the corporate entrance feel. It’s an odd choice for the first artwork the public encounters before entering the gallery of Medieval and Early Renaissance art, the traditional highpoints of Western art.
All is forgiven when entering room 51, with its warm welcome of Gallery favorites such as “The Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and “The Manchester Madonna” by Michelangelo (1475–1564), which is an unfinished egg tempera painting that gives a wonderful peek into his painting practice.
Light enters the main Sainsbury Wing rooms through a series of skylights. As in a church, the sunlight makes the gold gilding shimmer, heightening its heavenly effect.
When acquiring the diptych for the Gallery in 1929, politician Andrew MacLaren said in a Parliamentary debate: “It has simplicity, it has evidence of having been done by an artist not merely for payment but for the honour and glory of God. Only by such an impulse can any great work of art be produced.”
Wherever possible, the altarpieces are arranged to evoke their original religious settings. Notably, the astounding “The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece” is situated at the front of the room, in a newly created frame that Gallery staff volunteers burnished in gold leaf. In front of the “The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece,” a predella from the altarpiece of San Domenico convent in Fiesole, Italy, is encased in glass. It demands particularly close attention. Fra Angelico (circa 1395–1455) depicted the hierarchy of heaven: In the central panel, Christ in heaven is surrounded by angels; on the left panel is “The Virgin Mary With the Apostles and Other Saints” and on the right panel “The Forerunners of Christ With Saints and Martyrs.”
Fresh Gallery Rooms
Leaving the Medieval and Early Renaissance (1260–1550) gallery rooms of the Sainsbury Wing behind, the next 400 years of paintings on display reside in the Wilkins-designed Gallery building, accessed via an internal bridge.The Gallery remains divided into art eras: Renaissance (1500–1600) in rooms 2 to 14, Baroque (1600–1700) in rooms 15 to 32, Rococo to Romanticism (1700–1800) in the central hall and rooms 33 to 37, and Towards Modernism (after 1800) in rooms 38 to 46.
Some artists now have their own dedicated rooms, including Piero della Francesca (circa 1415–1492) and Rembrandt (1606‒1669), enabling visitors to fully appreciate their artistic progression.
Collection favorites such as Thomas Gainsborough’s (1727–1788) family portraits hang together like a family album. Similarly, Peter Paul Rubens’s (1577–1640) portrait assumed to be Susanna Lunden hangs beside Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s (1755–1842) “Self Portrait in a Straw Hat,” demonstrating how the old master directly influenced her more than 150 years later. Thoughtful and surprising curatorial touches like these run throughout the Gallery space, reinvigorating the collection even for seasoned Gallery visitors.
New Acquisitions From Old Favorites
As well as seeing the collection afresh, there are over 20 new loans and eight new acquisitions to celebrate the Gallery’s bicentenary. Among the acquisitions are an early 16th-century French or Netherlandish altarpiece titled “The Virgin and Child With Saints Louis and Margaret,” “After the Audience” by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) and “Eucharist” by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665).
Poussin’s painting of the Last Supper, titled “Eucharist,” is one in the first series of seven paintings depicting the Roman Catholic rites: Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, and Extreme Unction. Six in the series survive, two of which are in American collections: “Baptism” in the National Gallery of Art in Washington and “Ordination” in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
Poussin’s sensitive treatment of light in “Eucharist” is wondrous. He directed candlelight from the double-wicked lamp and the candle on the stool. Set in architectural grandeur, Christ sits at the center of the symmetrical composition and the 12 apostles flank him. He holds the bread and wine in one hand and holds his other hand in a gesture of blessing. Some apostles raise their hands in gestures receptive to Christ’s blessing. Judas may be the only figure who has turned his back on Christ, perhaps indicative of the apostle’s betrayal.
The rehung National Gallery in London truly celebrates the nation’s painting collection, and is testimony to the entire curatorial team’s efforts and passion for the legacy of Western art.
