Hidden Gems of the National Gallery

Interesting online talk from the National Gallery on the history of its building, collection and services. 

Ed Dickenson led us through the history with great pictures and amusing anecdotes. He combined the story of the buildings creation and expansion well with the story of the growth of the collection. I am always fascinated by how works which are so familiar to me got into the gallery and why they have the pictures they do rather than different ones.

It reminds me that I must read a book about Eastlake’s (pictured here) great buying trip round Europe which has been on my bookshelf for ages.

A nice touch was that Ed included quiz questions to keep us awake which were fun but it was telling how well informed his audience was as the majority got all of them right. It was also interesting to know that there were over 1000 people on this online zoom talk. He said that moving talks online last year had been very successful and even when the world opens up again they plan to keep some online presence, which I would certainly welcome.

 

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