Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NATIONAL GALLERY
Trafalgar Square Charing Cross 020 7747 2885,
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
.Daily 10am-6pm, Fri till
9pm.Free.
MAP
Despite housing more than 2300 paintings, the main virtue of the National Gallery is not so
much the collection's size, but its range, depth and sheer quality. A quick tally of the
Italian
masterpieces, for example, includes works by Uccello, Botticelli, Mantegna, Piero della
Francesca, Veronese, Titian, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. From
Spain
there are
dazzling pieces by El Greco, Velázquez and Goya; from the
Low Countries
, van Eyck,
Memling and Rubens, and an array of Rembrandt paintings that features some of his most
searching portraits. Poussin, Claude, Watteau and the only Jacques-Louis David paintings in
the country are the early highlights of a
French
contingent, which also has a particularly
strong showing of Cézanne and the Impressionists.
British
art is also well represented, with
important works by Hogarth, Gainsborough, Stubbs and Turner, though for twentieth-cen-
tury British art - and many more Turners - you'll need to move on to
Tate Britain
on Mill-
bank.
To view the collection chronologically, begin with the
Sainsbury Wing
, the softly-softly,
postmodern 1980s adjunct which is linked to - and playfully imitates - the original Neoclas-
sical building. However, with more than a thousand paintings on permanent display, you'll
need stamina to see everything in one day, so if time is tight your best bet is to home in on
your areas of special interest, having picked up a gallery plan at one of the information
desks. Plans (£1) and audioguides (£4) are available - much better, though, are the gallery's
free guided tours
(daily 11.30am and 2.30pm), which set off from the Sainsbury Wing foy-
er, and focus on a representative sample of works.
