The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the City of London, England. The museum is located in the Moorgate area of the City of London. 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.

History

The City of London Corporation had commissioned and collected portraits since 1670, originally to hang in the Guildhall. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Corporation's art collections grew through gifts and bequests to include history paintings and other genres of art. A notable donation came with the bequest of the businessman and art collector Charles Gassiot in 1902 who left over a hundred paintings to the gallery. This massively bolstered the Guildhall's collection of Victorian era art and included works by Clarkson Stanfield, David Roberts, John Everett Millais, William Dyce and James Tissot.

The first purpose-built gallery for displaying the collection was completed in . This building was destroyed in The Blitz in 1941, resulting in the loss of 164 paintings, drawings, watercolours, and prints, and 20 sculptures. It was not until 1985 that the City of London Corporation decided to redevelop the site and build a new gallery. The building was designed in a postmodern style by the British architect Richard Gilbert Scott. The new facility, which was intended to house a collection of about 4,000 items, was completed in .

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.

Vivien Knight was head of the Gallery, from 1983 until her death in 2009.

Amphitheatre

thumbnail|The Roman amphitheatre below the Guildhall Art Gallery

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.

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File:Hendrick Avercamp - Winter Landscape with a Frozen River and Figures (ca.1620).jpg|Winter Landscape with a Frozen River and Figures by Hendrick Avercamp, c.1620

File:Frans Hals - Boy with a glass and a lute.jpg|Boy with a Glass and a Lute by Frans Hals, 1626

File:Jan van der Heyden - Cityscape with a Church and a Square.jpg|Cityscape with a Church and a Square by Jan van der Heyden, c.1669

File:Jacob van Ruisdael - Panoramic View of Haarlem.jpg|Panoramic View of Haarlem by Jacob van Ruisdael, 1670

File:Blackfriars Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral.png|Blackfriars Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral by William Marlow, c.1762

File:John Opie (1761-1807) - The Murder of Rizzio - 49 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|The Murder of Rizzio by John Opie, 1787

File:Thomas Tomkins Reynolds.jpg|Portrait of Thomas Tomkins by Joshua Reynolds, 1789

File:The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar (2).jpg|The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782 by John Singleton Copley, 1791

File:Thomas Lawrence - John Philip Kemble as Coriolanus (1798).jpg|John Philip Kemble as Coriolanus by Thomas Lawrence, 1798

File:William Beechey (1753-1839) - Alderman John Boydell (1720–1804), Publisher - 82 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|Portrait of John Boydell by William Beechey, 1801

File:Abraham Pether (1756-1812) - Old Drury Lane Theatre on Fire, London, 24 February 1809 - 574 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|Old Drury Lane Theatre on Fire by Abraham Pether, 1809

File:William Collins (1788-1847) - Shrimp Boys at Cromer, Norfolk - 645 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|Shrimp Boys at Cromer by William Collins, 1815

File:Barmouth Sands by William Collins, 1835, Guildhall Gallery, London.JPG|Barmouth Sands by William Collins, 1835

File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - St Paul's Cathedral, London, with the Lord Mayor's Procession - 989 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|St Paul's Cathedral with the Lord Mayor's Procession by David Roberts, 1836

File:Queen victoria throne hi.jpg|Queen Victoria Enthroned in the House of Lords by George Hayter, 1838

File:Keats Listening to a Nightingale on Hampstead Heath.png|Keats Listening to a Nightingale on Hampstead Heath by Joseph Severn, 1845

File:Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1793-1867) - In the Gulf of Venice, Italy - 730 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|In the Gulf of Venice by Clarkson Stanfield, 1848

File:William Shakespeare Burton (1824-1916) - The Wounded Cavalier - 927 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|The Wounded Cavalier by William Shakespeare Burton

File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - The Forum, Rome, Italy - 719 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|The Forum, Rome, 1859

File:William Dyce (1806-1864) - Henry VI at Towton, North Yorkshire - 661 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|Henry VI at Towton by William Dyce, 1860

File:Marcus Stone - On the Road from Waterloo to Paris.jpg|On the Road from Waterloo to Paris by Marcus Stone, 1863

File:John everett millais my first sermon.jpg|My First Sermon by John Everett Millais, 1863

File:Richard Burchett - Sanctuary (1867) contrasted.jpg|Sanctuary by Richard Burchett, 1867

File:James Tissot - The Last Evening.jpg|The Last Evening by James Tissot, 1873

File:James Tissot - Too Early.jpg|Too Early by James Tissot, 1873

File:Rossetti, Dante Gabriel - La Ghirlandata - 1871-1874.jpg|La Ghirlandata by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1873

File:John Gilbert - Margaret of Anjou Taken Prisoner After the Battle of Tewkesbury (1875).jpg|Margaret of Anjou Being Taken Prisoner After the Battle of Tewkesbury by John Gilbert, 1875

File:Music Lesson, 1877 by Frederic Leighton.jpg|The Music Lesson by Frederic Leighton, 1877

File:Collier-Clytemnestra after the murder.jpg|Clytemnestra by John Collier, 1882

File:John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) - The Thames by Moonlight with Southwark Bridge, London - 1781 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|The Thames by Moonlight with Southwark Bridge by John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1884

File:George Adolphus Storey - The Violinist COL GAG 473.jpg|The Violinist by George Adolphus Storey, 1886

File:The Ninth of November 1888 by William Logsdail, Guildhall Gallery, London.JPG|The Ninth of November, 1888 by William Logsdail, 1890

File:Godward - The Betrothed - 1892.jpg|The Betrothed by John William Godward, 1892

File:Elizabeth Adela Forbes - On A Fine Day.jpg|On a Fine Day by Elizabeth Forbes, 1903

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See also

  • Alfred Temple, first director of the original gallery
  • Statue of Margaret Thatcher (London Guildhall)

References

Further reading

  • Ceremonial Pictures (1950) "Guildhall Art Gallery Illustrated Handbooks, no. 1", Guildhall.
  • English Portraits (1950) "Guildhall Art Gallery Illustrated Handbooks, no. 2", Guildhall.
  • London Pictures (1951) "Guildhall Art Gallery Illustrated Handbooks, no. 3", Guildhall.
  • English Landscapes (1952) "Guildhall Art Gallery Illustrated Handbooks, no. 4", Guildhall.
  • Narrative Pictures (1953) "Guildhall Art Gallery Illustrated Handbooks, no. 5", Guildhall.
  • Victorian Art: Reproductions by the Collotype Process of Some of the Pictures in the Loan Exhibition Held in the Art Gallery of the Corporation of London, At the Guildhall, in 1897. With Descriptive and Biographical Notes (1897), Blades.
  • Callender, Geoffrey, (1928), Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Pictures and Prints from the Macpherson Collection, Guildhall Art Gallery.
  • Feaver, William (ed.), (2004), Julian Perry. Testament: The Epping Forest Paintings, Guildhall Art Gallery.
  • Howgego, J. L., (1965), Canaletto and his Influence on London Artists, Guildhall Art Gallery.
  • Hyde, Ralph, (1999), London in Paintings, Guildhall Art Gallery.
  • Knight, Vivien, (1999), Portrait Paintings in Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Library.
  • Knight, Vivien, (1999), Victorian Pictures in the Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Library.
  • Scott, Elizabeth, (2020), Guildhall Art Gallery, Director's Choice Scala.
  • Solicari, Sonia (ed.), (2013), Victoriana: A Miscellany, Guildhall Art Gallery, accompanies the exhibition "Victoriana: The Art of Revival"
  • Temple, A. G. (ed.), (1893), Reproductions by the Collotype Process of the Pictures Presented to the Guildhall Art Gallery of the Corporation of the City of London by Sir John Gilbert R.A., Blades.