A Guide to the National Gallery PDF
Preview A Guide to the National Gallery
AGuideto the National Gallery Homan Potterton A Guide to the National Gallery I A Guide to the National Gallery Homan Potterton With a Foreword by Michael Levey and over 160 Illustrations Published by Order ofthe Trustees, The National Gallerw London o HomanPottertonandTheNational Gallery FrontCover Giovannidi Paolo (d. 14O2) S.Johnthe Baptistretiringtothedesert (detail) BackCover Rubens (1577-1640) A Roman Triumph (detail) Photographsonfrontand backcovers taken in theNational Gallery Frontispiece JamesTissot (1836-1902) 'London Visitors' 33x22 Toledo MuseumofArts, Ohio Exhibitedat theRoyalAcademyin 1874 theviewis through theporticoof theNational Gallerytowards the ChurchofS. Martin-in-the-Fields. Althoughprovidedwithaguidebook, thecouplewouldseemto beleavingthe Gallerybyasearlyasten-thirtyinthe morning. Acknowledgements Landseer'sportrait ofQueen Victoriaand PrinceAlbertand DavidAllan'sdrawing ofan English TravellerinRomeare reproduced bygraciouspermissionof HerMajestytheQueen. Tissot's 'London Visitors' isreproduced bypermissionoftheToledo Museumof Arts, Toledo, Ohio; giftofEdward Drummond Libbey; Orpen'sHomageto ManetbypermissionoftheCityArt Gallery, Manchester. PortraitsofBoxall byPittatore, PoynterbyBurne-Jones, Holroyd byStrangand thesketchofSir Robert Peel bypermissionofthe National PortraitGallery, London. Partridge'scartoon'HansacrosstheSea' is reproducedbypermission oftheEditor ofPunch. Oneofthephotographson the coverbypermissionofAssociated Newspapers Group Ltd. Designed byJamesShurmer Printed byT. and A. ConstableLtd, Edinburgh 1 Contents Foreword by Michael Levey How to use the Guide 9 1. Introduction 1 2. The Early Italian Schools 23 3. The Early Netherlandish and German 39 Schools 4. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century 55 Italian Schools 5. Rembrandt and the Dutch School 75 6. Flemish, French and Spanish Painters of 93 the Seventeenth Century 7. The Eighteenth Century 1 13 8. From 1824 to the present day 129 9. The Galleries on the Lower Floor 147 General Index 164 Index to Rooms and Schools ofPainting 168 Plan ofthe National Gallery, inside back cover 1 : The first sixDirectorsoftheNational Gallery Toprow,lefttoright: SirCharlesEastlake (i855-1865) SirWilliamBoxall (1866-1874) h^ fjk >f'm ~ jlw* A^ 1 *?r ^\ ^^HBcr ^r sr~lSlr^>ss Centrerow,lefttoright Subsequentdirectorshave SirFrederickBurton been: (1874- 894) SirAugustusDaniel SirEdwardPoynter (1929-1933) (1894- 904) SirKennethClark 1 SirCharlesHolroyd (I934-I945) (1906-1916) SirPhilipHendy (1945-1967) Bottomrow: SirMartinDavies SirCharlesHolmes (1968-1973) (1916-1928) Foreword by Michael Levey, Director ofthe National Gallerv Thesuperbandextensive treasures ofseveral centuries of European painting in the National Gallery need some guidance if they are to be fully enjoyed. This book is planned to offer a friendly, helpful hand to the so-called ordinary visitor who we do not think "ordinary' at all. andwhoseeyeandappetitearelikelytobeatleastaskeen as those ofthe expert or scholar. For the latter there are. anyway, the Gallery's own detailed catalogues to study and ponder on. What Homan Potterton provides in his entertaining, instructive text is at once a concentrated history of European painting and a room-to-room commentary on the Gallery's own finest examples ofit. He touches, too. on how the Collection has been built up. until today it can be claimed to be possibly the most sheerly balanced and representativeofall national collectionsofEuropean painting. Something of the secret of its strength lies. I believe, in the fact that it remain* comparatively small. That means that a guide to it is feasible. A guide to it ought also to be enjoyable reading, reflecting thejoy of walking through rooms ofgreat pictures, where each of us may freely exercise his or her individual taste. Xo one should try and like extry masterpiece by czcr, painter. The percipient reader will detect places where Homan — Potterton hints at his own taste and thus encourages reaction. Reaction is what all the painters ofthe pictures intheGallerywouldhavewished theirwork tostimulate. Looking at pictures is a complicated and active pre prompting us to ask a myriad questions about why and how the—yappearas theydo. Weshall neverobtain all the answers which is onereason whywe go on looking: but many ofthe questions a visitor may reasonably begin by asking will be found unobtrusively answered in the crisp company ofthis guide. AviewoftheVestibuleintheNationalGallery takenearlythiscentury. Subsequentchangeshaveincludedtheinstallation ofthemosaicpavements.
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