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Thread: Having shared highlights from the Dublin National Gallery here’s some of the greatest paintings in her sister gallery in London. It is one of the most important such collections. Here’s Leonardo’s angel 
London has, perhaps, the classic National Gallery. Able to inherit from the wealth of empire & with a deep pool of private collections to draw on, it has many major masterpieces. It’s my favourite place in the English capital. (Hal’s, Hobbema & Uccello)
I’ve extended my 2 for 1 for €149 to tomorrow 2nd August as people are having difficulty accessing my Tweetd with so many Far Right accounts reporting me for standing up to them. Please RT if you can see this:
The Renaissance collection is both impressive in scope & ranges from the ‘father of the Renaissance’ Giotto to Michelangelo. Giotto & Workshop (Pentecost, c1310-18), Pisanello (Vision of St Eustace, c1438-42) & Uccello (St George & the Dragon, c1456)
The group of Botticellis includes important portraits, mythological & religious pictures. Botticelli (Young Man, c1480-5), (Venus & Mars detail, c1483) & (Mystic Nativity, c1500-1). The serenity & elegant line of his work is wonderful
The panel of Verrocchio’s is famous for including some of Leonardo’s first known work. Workshop of Verrocchio (Tobias & the Angel, with parts by Leonardo, c1470-5), Perugino (Virgin & Child with SS Michael & Raphael, c1496-1500) & Piero della Francesca (Nativity, 1470-5)
You can visit my sales site for the 2 for 1 offer. Do please tell me which work you want free: etsy.com/ie/shop/robboh…
A highlight of the collection is the pair of works on the same subject by Mantegna & his brother-in-law. They demonstrate the artists’ distinct styles. Antonella da Messina (Man, c1476), Mantegna (Agony in the Garden, 1455-6) & Giovanni Bellini (Agony in the Garden, 1458-60)
My favourite work in the gallery is the Leonardo cartoon. A cartoon was a prepatory drawing for a painting. Leonardo (Virgin & Child with SS Anne & John the Baptist, 1499-1500), Michelangelo (Entombment, c1500-1) & Bronzino (Young Man, c1550-5)
Generations of visitors have fallen for the unearthly beauty of da Vinci’s angel. Leonardo (Virgin of the Rocks & detail, 1495-1508) & Michelangelo (The Manchester Madonna, 1497). This is the later of two Rocks by the master, the other is in the Louvre.
Although much restored the Giorgione still shines with the mysterious mood he imbued to his works. Giorgione (The Sunset, c1506-10), Titian (Portrait of a Man, c1510) & Moroni (Portrait of a Gentleman, 1564-5). I love Moroni’s work too.
Caravaggio (Boy bitten by a Lizard, 1594-5), Guercino (Elijah fed by Ravens, 1620), Canaletto (The Stonemason’s Yard, c1725) & Tiepelo (An Allegory with Venus & Time, detail, c1754-8). The Caravaggio is a coded message for carnality, which he created for a small circle.
The Gallery’s Van Eyck is perhaps the most important painting of the Northern Renaissance. Van Eyck (The Arnolfini Wedding, 1434), Holbein (The Ambassadors, 1533) & Rubens (Le Chapeau de Paille, c1633). The latter is Rubens’ most ravishing portrait.
London has a comprehensive collection of Dutch Golden Age masterpieces too. Van Dyck (Charles I, 1637-8 by Rubens’ Flemish student), Hobbema (Avenue at Middelharnis, 1689), Frans Hals (Young Man with a Skull, c1626) & Pieter de Hooch (Courtyard In Delft, 1658)
There are a distinguished group of Rembrandt’s, of which his Woman in a Stream is my favourite. Carel Fabritius (Self-portrait, 1654), Rembrandt (A Woman Bathing in a Stream, 1654), El Greco (Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple, c1600) & Velazquez (The Rokeby Venus, c1651)
You can sit for ages in front of the Claude & relax into a world that never was - a remarkable painting in that artist’s oeuvre. Goya (Doña Isabel de Porcel, 1805), Stubbs (Whistlejacket, c1762), Claude (The Enchanted Castle, 1664) & Ingres (Monsieur de Norvins, 1811-2)
England’s greatest 18th C painter is represented by some of his most moving works - paintings of his daughters. Gainsborough (The Painter’s Daughters, 1756; 1759-61 & Mr & Mrs Andrews, c1750)
The National Gallery has a small but choice collection of Impressionism. I particularly love Van Gogh’s chair. Monet (The Water-Lily Pond, 1899), Renoir (The Seine at Asnières, 1875) & Van Gogh (The Chair & the Pipe, 1888). The chair is symbolic of what calmed the Master.
The gallery has started to add American pictures to its collection & is beginning to represent women. Amongst new acquisitions are JS Sargent’s (Wineglasses, c1875), George Bellows (Men of the Docks, 1912), Titian (Diana & Actaeon, 1556-9) & Artemisia Gentileschi (1615-7)
And here’s the Artemisia Gentileschi Self-Portrait which was recently purchased. Intriguingly London’s sister National Gallery in Dublin actually has a better group of pictures by female artists. If you’re in London, do visit!
Unfortunately the Far Right have reported me so much for standing up to them that .@TwitterDublin appears to have quarantined me. I’ve extended the offer to Friday 2 August as a result. If you do see this tweet I’d be grateful if you shared it ✌️
