Programme for the Day

10.00am Registration & coffee

10.30 LECTURE ONE 

1824-1838

In 1824, following increasing public pressure, Lord Liverpool’s government bought 38 Old Master paintings from the collection of John Julius Angerstein & thus the National Gallery was born.  In this first lecture, we examine some of the “Angerstein 38” (including a fearsome Pope along with paintings bequeathed by Sir George Beaumont) and discover where the paintings were displayed before they found a purpose built home in Trafalgar Square.

11.30 BREAK

11.45 LECTURE TWO

1838-1914

Now in its new location, pressure builds to create a ‘survey’ collection telling a much wider story of Western European art.  We meet the first Director, Sir Charles Eastlake and some of his often controversial acquisitions (including the oldest painting in the collection).  We tell the story of the Art Fund and how it saved numerous works, including a Velazquez Venus that was the focus of one of the National Gallery’s most infamous security breaches!

12.45 - 13.30 LUNCH

13.30 LECTURE THREE

1914-today 

The final lecture sees the National Gallery under attack in two World Wars, leading to the creation of the ‘Picture Of the Month’.  We discuss the danger posed to a Duchess, and a Duke that was the subject of the only successful theft in the gallery’s history!  We conclude with the much derided design of the Sainsbury Wing  expansion of the gallery, and look ahead to the next chapter in the story of the gallery’s extraordinary history.

Image: Diego Delso CC. BY_SA