National Gallery in London: visitor’s guide

The National Gallery in London holds about 2,300 paintings. Although there are larger collections in Europe, its value lies in having an encyclopedic collection that covers the period from the 13th century to the early 20th century. All the major artists are represented, sometimes with works so significant that they also appear in art history textbooks.

This guide allows you to visit the museum through fourteen of the most famous and significant works, to gain a comprehensive overview of the main moments in the history of Western painting.

National Gallery: the origins

The National Gallery in London was established in 1824 with a particular history. At the end of the 18th century, royal collections across Europe were being nationalized: for example, the French royal collection was the origin of the Louvre. British monarchs did not follow this trend and preferred to retain full ownership of their collection. However, intellectuals and politicians felt the need to create a collection that could serve to educate the public. The opportunity arose when the British government acquired thirty-eight paintings from the heirs of the businessman John Julius Angerstein. From there, the collection has expanded to include about 2,300 works today.

To build the museum, Trafalgar Square was chosen: although it would have been more functional to locate the building in the South Kensington museum district, the decision to exhibit the collection near centers of power (Buckingham Palace and the Parliament) has a clear political meaning. However, space has always been limited, and the building has undergone several modifications in line with the growth of the collection. The latest extension is the Sainsbury Wing, where our visit begins.

National Gallery: the period from 1200 to 1500

The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello

Religious painting is the main subject of the early rooms, and in this context Paolo Uccello, with his Battle of San Romano, is an exception. It is in fact a work intended for the affluent merchant bourgeoisie of 15th-century Florence. The painting was part of a series of three (the other two are displayed at the Louvre and the Uffizi) where, rather than traditionally depicting the battle, the emphasis is on Florence’s victory and the figure of the condottiero Niccolò da Tolentino. What characterizes Paolo Uccello’s art is the exploration of perspective, which was discovered by artists in this period and here is experimented with via the grid of broken lances on the ground.

The Baptism of Christ by Piero della Francesca

Room 61 is dedicated to two great masters of the 15th century: Raphael and Piero della Francesca, whom Raphael himself admired for his great ability to integrate geometric rhythms with nature. Not coincidentally, Piero della Francesca was also a mathematician. The Baptism of Christ is the oldest of the few surviving works by this artist. In it, mathematical principles are used both to harmoniously balance the composition and to create perspective effects. The landscape in which the scene is set is that of Borgo Sansepolcro, where the work was intended to be displayed: in this way, viewers were directly involved in the Gospel episode.

The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck

Among the foreign works of this period stands out the famous Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, the first Dutch work acquired by the National Gallery. It is an enigmatic painting that shows the couple’s wealth without too much ostentation. The most mysterious element is the image reflected in the mirror, where two men can be seen entering the room. The inscription above the mirror, “Jan Van Eyck was here. 1443,” suggests that the two men might be the painter and his assistant.

The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci

The route in the Sainsbury Wing ends, in Room 66, with the famous Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci. The work was commissioned by the Sforza family of Milan at a time of heated debate over the Immaculate Conception. Supporters of the doctrine claimed that Mary was created by God before the creation of the world and thus before original sin. Hence the choice of the primitive landscape, made up of rocks only, where even the few flowers shown do not exist in nature but are invented. In this painting, Leonardo also applies his studies of aerial perspective and color perception differences based on the observer’s distance.

National Gallery: the 1500s

The 1500s were the century of the Lutheran Reformation, which in the Germanic countries led to a drastic reduction in religious paintings and a consequent increase in portraits.

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

Thus, Hans Holbein the Younger moved to London to become the court painter to Henry VIII. The National Gallery preserves the famous painting The Ambassadors: a double portrait of the French ambassador Dinteville and the Bishop of Lavaur. The painting is full of symbols linked to politics and religion, represented by objects on the table. Images from this period often carried more or less explicit messages about the fragility of life. Here the memento mori is represented by the strange drawing at the bottom where, when viewed from the right side, a skull appears.

The sixteenth century was a great century for Italian art. The papal court enabled Michelangelo and Raphael to develop their magnificent art. But cities like Venice, Ferrara, and Bologna were also cradles of prominent artists. Titian is one of these, present in the National Gallery with numerous works, including Bacchus and Ariadne. The painting represents the moment of falling in love between the two characters, with Ariadne just abandoned on Naxos and Bacchus returning from India accompanied by his diverse entourage. The mastery in the use of the best pigments available at the time and the narrative composition made it a very famous work, a model for many others with the same subject.

Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian