The National Gallery in London

The first thing we learned on our visit was about the word "art" itself. Today, if you look up art in the dictionary, you will find several meanings. The one which we are most familiar with today reads, "the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection....illustrative or decorative material." However, we learned on our visit that art as we know it today did not exist until around the 17^th century. Art until this time was to the common man, "a skilled workmanship, trade, or craft." It was a means for earning a living, not for visual pleasure and intellectual stimulation. At first this didn't make sense to me. Don't we have evidence of cave paintings and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics? Wouldn't this be art? Well, it seems that although this might seem like a form of art to us today, it had more of a purpose than just to be viewed and enjoyed. It was a method of communication, storytelling, and recording history.

How did the gallery come about? Most art collections at this time evolved or expanded out of collections owned by royalty or statesmen. In 1823, George Ellis, a Whig politician, urged the British government to purchase a collection of 34 paintings to open a public gallery for the British population. The location the gallery now sits at is quite significant. The government wanted to make sure that the gallery would be public and be equally accessible from people of all classes. It sits between the wealthy west end of town and the historically poorer east end. The location of Trafalgar Square was easy to access both by foot for the poor and by carriage for the wealthy. It was and still is the crossroads of London.

The building was initially quite small and as the collection of paintings grew, it became too congested. Also, people felt that the gallery was a symbol of the nation's artistic pride and taste. Compared to the grand Louvre in France, some felt that the tiny building was a disgrace to England and so the building was commissioned.

The building to me, is quite spectacular not only because of its enormity but because of its centrality. Buckingham Palace is just a stone's throw away, there's a beautiful view of the Houses of Parliament, and of course Nelson's column. The area of Trafalgar Square is very uplifting to my spirits because it's such a wide open area. Children run around the fountains and climb on the monuments lions. Embassies from all over the world encircle the area, pigeons are fed by tourists, and it seems every time I've been there, the sun is shining. The building itself has a lot of roman influence with its Corinthian columns and domed top. I first fell in love with the National Gallery when I first came to London at age 13. My favorite painting, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche, lies here. I remember seeing this painting for the first time and being completely moved, realizing that the girl in the painting was about my age and being sentenced to death. The details of the painting were so exact from the veins in Lady Jane's hands to the emotion of the woman weeping in the corner.

The one thing that was initially surprising to me was the variety of paintings in the collection. I assumed that since it was called the "national" gallery, this would be a gallery dedicated to works strictly created by British artists, showing scenes of England, or portraits of English people. However, you have a variety of paintings by Titian, to the Arnolfini Wedding, to Claude Monet. I guess the variety would be surprising to tourists who are getting a little bit of art from all over the world. I was especially surprised by the number of famous paintings such as Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks. It certainly adds to the grandeur of the building and is surprising as it's a free museum. I personally associate most famous paintings with the Louvre or galleries in Italy. The fact that that British government could purchase these and make them public is outstanding. It really shows an effort to educate the public, give equal opportunity to prince and pauper to view these paintings, and also to cement London's place in the art world.

Works Cited
Dictionary.com. Web. 4 July 2009. .
Wikipedia:National Gallery (London). Web. 04 July 2009. .