Dulwich Picture Gallery

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Exterior - east frontage
Exterior - east frontage

Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, London. It was built by Soane as the world's first purpose-built art gallery (the Foundling Hospital, which contained a permanent art exhibition, being primarily for another purpose) and opened in 1817.

Contents

[edit] History of the collection

The Dulwich collection was first put together by Sir Francis Bourgeois (1753-1811), originally from Switzerland, and his business partner, Frenchman Noël Desenfans. The two ran a successful art dealership in London and in 1790 were commissioned by the King of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus, to put together a "royal collection", which the monarch lacked and thought would encourage fine arts in Poland. Touring around Europe buying fine art, Bourgeois and Desenfans took five years to put the collection together, but by 1795 Poland had been partitioned — divided up by its stronger neighbours — and no longer existed.

Bourgeois and Desenfans attempted to sell the collection to other nations but were unsuccessful and instead sold small pieces to fund the purchase of further important works, keeping the collection in London. After the death of Desenfans in 1807, Bourgeois contacted the British Museum about bequeathing the collection on his own death, but was put off by the attitude of the Museum's trustees.

A major addition to the collection came in 1835, when William Linley - last of a musical and theatrical family - bequeathed his collection of family portraits to the gallery on his death.

In 1966 eight paintings were stolen; three by Rembrandt, three by Rubens and one each by Gerrit Dou and Adam Elsheimer. They were worth at the time about £4.5 million in total but a reward of just £1,000 was offered for their return. The paintings were recovered a few days later in an investigation led by Detective-superintendent Charles Hewett, who had previously investigated suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams. Michael Hall, an unemployed ambulance driver, was the only one of the thieves caught and was sentenced to 5 years in prison[1].

[edit] History of the building

Dulwich Picture Gallery interior
Dulwich Picture Gallery interior

When Bourgeois died in 1811, the terms of his will stated that the collection was to be left to Dulwich College and that a new museum was to be built by his friend, the architect Sir John Soane, which would house the collection and would be open to the public. It also left £2,000 for construction costs.

Soane's clear design and basic architecture of a series of interlinked rooms lit by natural light through overhead skylights has been the primary influence on art gallery design ever since. The Dulwich College Picture Gallery (as it was named at the time) opened its doors in 1817.

Bourgeois and Desenfans, along with Desenfans' wife, who funded part of their work, are buried in a mausoleum that forms one wing of the museum. The mausoleum took a direct hit from a German bomb during World War II and, apparently, their bones were scattered across the lawn in front of the gallery. The three sarcophagi in the mausoleum now once again contain approximately a skeleton each, but nobody was quite sure which bones were whose.[citation needed]

Alms houses alongside the gallery were converted into exhibition space in 1880 and an extension was built in the early 20th century. A modern extension designed by Rick Mather was built in 1999, adding a café, new entrance and covered walkway and joining the building to the chapel and offices of Alleyn's College. Parts of Soane's original design were also restored, having been changed during previous extensions.

[edit] The Collection

Dulwich Picture Gallery houses one of the world's most important collections of European old master paintings of the 1600s and 1700s.

[edit] Paintings

Rembrandt van Rijn - A Young man, perhaps the Artist's Son Titus (1663)
Rembrandt van Rijn - A Young man, perhaps the Artist's Son Titus (1663)

Dutch School

English School

Flemish School

French School

Italian School

Spanish School

[edit] Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery exterior looking north

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hugh McLeave, Rogues in the Gallery: The Modern Plague of Art Thefts, C&M Online Media, Inc. ISBN:091799082X

[edit] External links

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Museums and galleries in London
National museums
and galleries
National Trust
English Heritage
Other museums
and galleries

Coordinates: 51°26′46″N 0°05′11″W / 51.44611, -0.08639

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