National Gallery

National Gallery The story of European art, masterpiece by masterpiece. We collect and care for the nation’s paintings and we share them with the world.
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Can you guess the 'Bigger Picture'? 🤔In this portrait a figure holds a glove lightly between two fingers. Gloves were fa...
31/05/2026

Can you guess the 'Bigger Picture'? 🤔

In this portrait a figure holds a glove lightly between two fingers. Gloves were fashionable items, but in portraiture, they could sometimes symbolise love and friendship. If a figure was depicted removing a glove, or allowing it to fall, it could symbolise the end of a valued friendship or the letting go of authority.

Find out more: https://bit.ly/4uAsCBS

30/05/2026

Why is this painting of a felt hat nicknamed 'The Straw Hat'? 🤨

Peter Paul Rubens died in 1640. Join curator Bart Cornelis to take a closer look at Rubens's portrait of Susanna Lunden and the explanation behind it's confusing title.

Watch the full film here: https://bit.ly/4ql7wGg

Last chance to see! 📣Step into the world of George Stubbs; the visionary British painter whose pictures of horses are so...
29/05/2026

Last chance to see! 📣

Step into the world of George Stubbs; the visionary British painter whose pictures of horses are some of the most accurate ever painted. Join us as we celebrate his mastery of this majestic subject, and learn about the creation of 'Scrub', a monumental portrait of a rearing racehorse.

Displayed alongside anatomical drawings and other paintings by the artist, discover how Stubbs changed the spirit of equine art forever.

Find out more about 'Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse': https://bit.ly/475Xot3

Until 31 May 2026 in Room 1.

Which of these iconic artworks would you visit first? 👀 Our collection is free for everyone to enjoy, and your support h...
28/05/2026

Which of these iconic artworks would you visit first? 👀

Our collection is free for everyone to enjoy, and your support helps us care for the nation’s paintings and make them accessible to the widest possible public, from one of the few surviving paintings by the most successful female artist of the 17th-century, to the first painting to ever appear on a British postage stamp.

Every donation, no matter the size, makes a big difference. With your help, we can grow our collection for generations to enjoy, restore artworks and safeguard them for the future.

By supporting us, you are supporting free art for everyone. Learn more about how you can support us here: https://bit.ly/3uLSagu

1) Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria', about 1615-17.
2) Sir Thomas Lawrence, 'Charles William Lambton', 1825.
3) Floris van Dijck, 'A Banquet Still Life', 1622.
4) Annibale Carracci, 'The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist', about 1600.

27/05/2026

What on earth is the human sized gap in the bottom of the painting?! 👀

26/05/2026

A portrait of marital bliss, or a match made in hell? 👀

Join us as we take a closer look at the symbolism in William Hogarth’s ‘Marriage A-la-Mode: 2, The Tête à Tête’.

25/05/2026

Come on in, make yourself at home, and see what you can find in the Gallery... 🔍

Can you guess the 'Bigger Picture'? 🤔This artist’s ability to evoke the textures of silk and satin was one reason his po...
24/05/2026

Can you guess the 'Bigger Picture'? 🤔

This artist’s ability to evoke the textures of silk and satin was one reason his portraits were so popular with the British aristocracy at the time. Here, he has used the muted colours of the stone plinth to emphasise the rich colours of the sitter’s clothing.

Find out the answer and learn more with fashion historian Amy Eloise Trend: https://bit.ly/4tYfwhM

Why is this painting black and white? 🤔Louis-Léopold Boilly’s ‘A Girl at a Window’ is painted almost entirely in tones o...
23/05/2026

Why is this painting black and white? 🤔

Louis-Léopold Boilly’s ‘A Girl at a Window’ is painted almost entirely in tones of black, grey and white, and is intended to imitate the look of a monochrome print. The subject follows the precedent of 17th-century Dutch artists who often used the framing device of a figure sitting at a window. Boilly, who was fascinated by optics, also emphasises the activity of looking by including several optical devices in the scene. For example, the eyeglass that the girl holds in her right hand, and the telescope the young boy looks through.

While Boilly was an expert in trompe l’oeil (meaning to 'deceive the eye') it is unlikely that he intended to trick the viewer. Instead, this is an exercise in illusionism, as Boilly demonstrates how one medium (oil painting) can look like another (printing). Boilly enhances the illusion by painting a grey-blue mount with his signature around the image: https://bit.ly/2EO9Xva

The women behind Eva Gonzalès’s arrival in the Gallery... ✨Eva Gonzalès was a French Impressionist painter and the only ...
22/05/2026

The women behind Eva Gonzalès’s arrival in the Gallery... ✨

Eva Gonzalès was a French Impressionist painter and the only formal pupil of Edouard Manet. Historically, and certainly during Gonzalès’s lifetime, women artists faced many obstacles and had limited opportunities to advance their artistic careers. Those who succeeded in spite of these challenges did so through their determination and talent. By the time of her premature death, Gonzalès had established herself as an artist who excelled in her portrayals of quiet bourgeois life.

Her painting, 'The Full-length Mirror', depicts a woman contemplating her reflection. With constraints on women attending life drawing classes, they were often limited to using family and friends as their models. In this way, the painting not only serves as an extraordinary example of Gonzalès’s skilful work but also a mirror into the lives of women artists of the time.

It is even more touching that this painting was secured for the nation thanks to legacy donations of three women: Mrs Martha Doris Bailey, Miss Gillian Cleaver and Ms Sheila Holmes. Learn more about legacy giving here: https://bit.ly/3nWGqWy

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