The National Gallery London is unlike the Louvre in Paris, the Prado in Madrid, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Kunsthistoriches Museum of Vienna, the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, and other major galleries in Europe that began life as their respective emperors’ and empresses’ art collections. The National Gallery London took root from three private, highly personal and wonderfully eclectic collections formed by three men, none of them with any pretensions to regal or imperial power: 38 paintings came from the collection of John Julius Angerstein, a chairman of Lloyds Insurance,16 paintings from Sir George Beaumont a minor landowner and amateur landscape painter, and 35 paintings from the Reverend Holwell Carr, a vicar with a rich benefice in Cornwall.
It is quite remarkable that the Gallery ever came to be. At numerous intervals during the later 18c and early 19c, monarchs like George III, politicians like the radical MP John Wilkes and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, artists like James Barry and John Flaxman, and collectors like Sir George Beaumont had argued passionately for the existence of a National Gallery of Art to rival those being established abroad. Repeatedly their requests had fallen on deaf ears. It took the passionate writing of the great essayist William Hazlitt, the offer of 16 magical works by Sir George Beaumont, the death of the great collector John Julius Angerstein, and the return of a substantial war loan from Austria, finally to persuade the British Government to instigate the establishment of a National Gallery. When it did finally open, Prime Minister Lord Liverpool asserted that every Englishman who entered the new gallery ‘may gaze with proud satisfaction of reflecting that they are not the rifled treasures of plundered palaces, or the unhallowed spoils of violated altars’.
What is so personally inspiring to Nicholas about the foundation of the National Gallery collections is that the originating collectors collected for their own pleasure, using their eyes and their passion for art. These paintings were beloved possessions; they truly loved their pictures. That passion is evident in the sheer quality of the vast majority of works in their collections; these individuals could recognise the supreme talent of the painters whose works they chose to collect. The Gallery’s present quality in its vastly expanded and superb Collection is entirely due to the high standard set by those early collectors.
SUMMARY OF SESSIONS:
We begin our acts of homage to the National Gallery with a Zoom session looking at the political and diplomatic intricacies of its formation, from early arguments by the radical MP John Wilkes and the artist John Flaxman in favour of the establishment of a National Gallery, through the urge to purchase the Angerstein Collection by the Whig MP George Agar-Ellis and its eventual acquisition by the Tory Prime Minister Lord Liverpool. We continue the stories of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing through to the complexities of bequests such as that of Sir Hugh Lane in 1915, discoveries of works once thought to be fakes or copies, but since shown to be the real thing, and controversial recent acquisitions such as Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks. Our lecture will be illustrated with many of the principal and outstanding masterpieces of the Gallery, as we address the complex personalities and backgrounds of directors and curators involved in their acquisition. This Zoom session lays the foundation for our three Face to Face sessions, each a week apart, inside the National Gallery looking – up close – at the actual paintings involved in the creation of the 21c Gallery.
Face-to-Face Sessions:
We then offer a series of three explorations of the story of the Collection as it hangs on the walls from the riches of the Beaumont, Angerstein, and Holwell Carr collections, through the collecting of early Italian ‘Primitives’ like Uccello by the Gallery’s first director Sir Charles Eastlake, and on to the astounding collecting careers of later Directors like Sir Frederic Burton, Sir Edward Poynter, Sir Charles Holmes and Lord Clark. Their tastes were necessarily eclectic, but as we follow the story of their acquisitions, we will see how the collecting tastes of the first three collectors, Beaumont, Angerstein and Holwell Carr, followed by those of the first Director Sir Charles Eastlake, helped to inspire the entire future direction of the gallery’s acquisitions. En route, we will unwrap the story of the building of the National Gallery, so un-Continental, so typically English in its piecemeal approach, adding galleries over the course of 150 years as funds and finances permitted.
Now, the National Gallery is not only, as the then Prince Charles remarked, an old friend, but for those of us who have known it for decades, the house of numerous old friends, old friends who have remained with us, and who continue to reveal the riches of their relationship to us over time. Truly we will be able to share William Hazlitt’s reaction to the Orleans Collection when he wrote ‘‘I was staggered when I saw the works there collected, and looked at them with wondering and with longing eyes. A mist passed away from my sight: the scales fell off. A new sense came upon me, a new heaven and a new earth stood before me …’
The National Gallery, London, deserves all the accolades that have poured in this year. We hope our acknowledgement, our Inscape homage, reaches the spirits of all who have contributed to creating this gem of a national treasure, that, like Britain, is small but mighty! We hope you will join us in our salutation!
Wednesday 4 December
Zoom session at 5 pm:
‘How The National Gallery Came About: Wheeling and Dealing behind the Scenes.’
Cost: £50
Saturday 7 December
Face-to-Face with Nicholas:
Gently paced Gallery visits to paintings that constitute the heart and soul of the Gallery as a whole ‘The Core Collectors: Beaumont, Angerstein and Holwell Carr.’
Cost: £75
Saturday 14 December
Face-to-Face with Nicholas:
Gently paced Gallery visits to paintings acquired as ‘Director’s Acquisitions, Part 1: Sir Charles Eastlake, Sir Frederic Burton, Sir Edward Poynter, Sir Charles Holroyd, Sir Charles Holmes.’
Cost: £75
Saturday 21 December
Face-to-Face with Nicholas:
Gently paced Gallery visits to paintings acquired as ‘Director’s Acquisitions, Part 2: Lord Kenneth Clark, Sir Philip Hendy, Sir Martin Davies, Sir Michael Levey.’
Cost: £75
Please note that each Face-to-Face session with Nicholas in the gallery will end by 12.45 and is followed by optional lunch in a nearby restaurant chosen by Nicholas and Louise.
Booking Information:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
200 Years of the National Gallery 2024 has been developed by Louise Friend and will be presented by Nicholas Friend. Cheques are not a viable option at this time. Instead, please make your payment to Friend&Friend Ltd by bank transfer to our account with Metrobank, bank sort code 23-05-80, account number 13291721 or via PayPal to nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk, or credit/debit card by phone to Henrietta on 07940 719 397. She is available Tuesdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm or Thursdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm.
How to Set Up a PayPal account::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Click on this link: https://www.paypal.com/uk/home
In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click “Sign up.”
On the following screen choose “Personal account” and click “Next.”
On the next page, you’ll be asked to enter your name, email address and to create and confirm a password. When finished, click “Next.”
Click “Agree and create account” and your PayPal account will be created.
How to Connect your Bank Account to your PayPal account:::::::::::::::::::::::
Log on to your account and click the “Wallet” option in the menu bar running along the top of the screen.
On the menu running down the left side of the screen, click the “Link a credit or debit card”.
Enter the card information you wish to link to your PayPal account and click “Link card” for debit card.
How to Send Money::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Log on to your account. Click Send & Request.
Enter the email address of the person you wish to send money to: nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk
Type in the amount you wish to send, click continue then press ‘Send Money Now’.
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