Guildhall Art Gallery
The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the City of London, England. It is a stone building in a semi-Gothic style intended to be sympathetic to the historic Guildhall, which is adjacent and to which it is connected internally.
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History
The original gallery was built in 1885 to house art collections from the City of London Corporation. After the original building was destroyed in The Blitz in 1941, a new facility was completed to house the collection, which includes about 4,000 items, in 1999.[1] The centrepiece of the collection, John Singleton Copley's huge painting depicting The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, was placed in a prominent position in the entrance hall of the gallery.[2]
Vivien Knight was head of the Gallery, from 1983 until her death in 2009.[3]
Amphitheatre
The Guildhall complex was built on the site of London's Roman amphitheatre, and some of the remains of this are displayed in situ in a room in the basement of the art gallery.[4]
See also
- Alfred Temple, first director of the original gallery
- Statue of Margaret Thatcher, Guildhall Art Gallery
External links
References
- "London's Guildhall reveals hidden gems among collection of 4,000 paintings". The Guardian. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- "The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782". Art.UK. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- Rose, Andrea. "Knight, Vivien Margaret (1953–2009)". ONDB. OUP. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
- "London's Roman Amphitheatre – Guildhall Galleries – City of London". www.cityoflondon.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 June 2017.