The National Gallery is an art museum in London that houses over 2,300 masterpieces of Western European painting from the mid-13th century to 1900. Compared to other similar museums - the Louvre in Paris or the Prado in Madrid - the London Gallery does not boast as rich a collection. But unlike them, it is not based on a collection of paintings from the royal palace. The Royal Collection of Paintings is still in the private possession of British monarchs, and the paintings for the National Gallery were bought and collected specially, allowing all the major movements of European painting to be presented chronologically, though not extensively, but comprehensively.
At the end of the 18th century, many art collections belonging to the royal courts of Europe were transferred to national ownership - this is how, for example, the Old Pinakothek in Munich or the Uffizi Gallery in Florence came into being. The need for a national art museum was also realised in Great Britain. When in 1777 it became possible to buy Sir Robert Walpole's collection of paintings, this issue was discussed in Parliament, but the decision to buy was not taken, and 20 years later this collection, bought by Catherine II, became the basis of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It was not until 1823, when the collection of John Angerstein (a banker originally from Russia) was put up for auction, that a decision was made to buy it.
The collection comprised 38 paintings, including works by Raphael and Hogarth. At first they were exhibited in Angerstein's house, but as the collection grew, a new, larger room became necessary. The architect William Wilkins built the new National Gallery building in Trafalgar Square, on the border between the respectable West End and the poor neighbourhoods to the east. A Parliamentary resolution of 1857 stated: "The ultimate object of the gallery is not merely to collect pictures, but to afford the people an ennobling pastime".
The collection grew rapidly, a great many paintings were bought by the gallery's first director, Sir Charles Eastlake. He also bequeathed his personal collection to the gallery. Works by British artists were exhibited at the National Gallery for a time, but were soon moved to the Tate Gallery, which specialised specifically in British painting.
During World War II, the paintings were moved to a hideout in Wales, but each month one of the paintings was returned to London and exhibited in the gallery's empty rooms. In 1945, the paintings returned to London.
The National Gallery's collection includes artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, Velázquez, Rembrandt, and many others.
