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Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery
Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a space for the art exhibition, usually visual art. Paintings are the most commonly displayed art objects; however, sculpture, photographs, illustrations, installation art and objects from the applied arts may also be shown....
 in Dulwich
Dulwich

Dulwich is an affluent area of South East London. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. It was built by Sir John Soane
John Soane

Sir John Soane was an England architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources....
 as the world's first purpose-built public art gallery and opened in 1817. The Gallery is a registered charity.

Dulwich collection was first put together by Sir Francis Bourgeois
Francis Bourgeois

Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois was an English-Swiss landscape art painter and court painter to George III of the United Kingdom. He lived with his French partner Noel Desenfans and Desenfans's Welsh wife Margaret Morris....
 (1753–1811), originally from Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of 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
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, Stanislaus Augustus, to put together a "royal collection", which the monarch lacked and thought would encourage fine arts in Poland.






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Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery
Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a space for the art exhibition, usually visual art. Paintings are the most commonly displayed art objects; however, sculpture, photographs, illustrations, installation art and objects from the applied arts may also be shown....
 in Dulwich
Dulwich

Dulwich is an affluent area of South East London. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. It was built by Sir John Soane
John Soane

Sir John Soane was an England architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources....
 as the world's first purpose-built public art gallery and opened in 1817. The Gallery is a registered charity.

History of the collection

The Dulwich collection was first put together by Sir Francis Bourgeois
Francis Bourgeois

Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois was an English-Swiss landscape art painter and court painter to George III of the United Kingdom. He lived with his French partner Noel Desenfans and Desenfans's Welsh wife Margaret Morris....
 (1753–1811), originally from Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of 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
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, Stanislaus Augustus, to put together a "royal collection", which the monarch lacked and thought would encourage fine arts in Poland. Touring around Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 buying fine art
Fine art

Fine art describes any art form developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than utility. This type of art is often expressed in the production of art objects using Visual arts and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture, photography and printmaking....
, Bourgeois and Desenfans took five years to put the collection together, but by 1795 Poland had been partitioned
History of Poland (1795–1918)

Although some of the szlachta was reconciled to the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the possibility of Polish independence was kept alive by events within and without Poland throughout the 19th century....
 — 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
British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million Object , are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present....
 about bequeathing the collection on his own death, but was put off by the attitude of the Museum's trustees. Upon Sir Francis Bourgeois's death in 1811, he bequeathed the collection to Dulwich College
Dulwich College

Dulwich College is a selective independent school for boys in Dulwich, a suburb of south-east London, United Kingdom. The College was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan era actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift"....
 (then part of a larger charity, Alleyn's College of God's Gift
Alleyn's College

Alleyn's College of God's Gift is a historic charity in England, founded in 1619 by the Elizabethan actor and businessman Edward Alleyn who endowed it with the ancient Manor of Dulwich in south London....
) and Dulwich Picture Gallery was founded by the terms of his will.

A major addition to the collection came in 1835, when William Linley
William Linley

William Linley was Thomas Linley the elder#Children born to Thomas Linley the elder and his wife Mary Johnson.He joined the British East India Company and was in India 1790-5 and 1800-5, holding a writership at East India Company College in Madras....
 — 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
Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Netherlands Painting and etching. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in History of the Netherlands....
, three by Rubens
Rubens

Rubens is often used to mean Peter Paul Rubens , Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:*Paul Rubens , co-lyricist of Florodora*Alma Rubens , American actor...
 and one each by Gerrit Dou and Adam Elsheimer
Adam Elsheimer

Adam Elsheimer was a German artist working in Rome who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century. His relatively few paintings were small scale, nearly all painted on copper plates, of the type often known as cabinet paintings....
. 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
Serial killer

A serial killer is a person who murders usually three or more people"One of the most famous [geographically stable] serial killers is Wayne Williams....
 Dr John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams

John Bodkin Adams was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer.. Between the years 1946-1956, more than 160 of his patients died under suspicious circumstances....
. Michael Hall, an unemployed ambulance
Ambulance

file:Ambulancebroomfieldhospital.jpgfile:C12 air ambulance.jpgfile:Scilly Isles Ambulance Service alongside Tresco quay.jpgAn ambulance is a vehicle for transporting sick or injured people, to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury....
 driver, was the only one of the thieves caught and was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Rembrandt's small early Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III has been stolen and recovered four times, most recently in 1983, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most frequently stolen artwork in the world. It has variously been recovered from a left-luggage office in West Germany in 1986; returned anonymously; found on the back of a bicycle; and discovered under a bench in a graveyard in nearby Streatham. The painting is now closely guarded by an upgraded security system, and is so well-known in the art world that it would be impossible to re-sell.

In 1995 a major reorganisation of the historic Alleyn's College charity resulted in the reconstitution of Dulwich Picture Gallery as an independent registered charity
Charitable organization

The definition of charitable organization, and of charity, varies according to the country and in some instances the region of the country in which the charitable organization operates....
.

History of the building


When Bourgeois died in 1811 bequeathing his collection, the terms of his will stated that a new museum was to be built by his friend, the architect Sir John Soane
John Soane

Sir John Soane was an England architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources....
, 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
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
 of a series of interlinked rooms lit by natural light through overhead skylight
Skylight

Skylight may refer to:* Skylight * Skylight , by David HareSee also* Diffuse sky radiation* Light pollution...
s 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. Soane designed the sky lights to illuminate the paintings indirectly, and gave us one the great small galleries in which to look at oil paintings. Indeed, the influential C20th achritect Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect. With his thick, round-framed glasses, Johnson was the most recognizable figure in American architecture for decades....
 said of the space: "Soane has taught us how to to display paintings.".

Bourgeois and Desenfans, along with Desenfans' wife, who funded part of their work, are buried in a mausoleum
Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons....
 at the centre of the west wing of the museum. Alms houses constructed by Soane along the west side of the gallery were converted into exhibition space by Charles Barry, Jr.
Charles Barry, Jr.

Charles Barry was an England architect of the mid-late 19th century, and eldest son of Sir Charles Barry. Like his younger brother and fellow architect Edward Middleton Barry, Charles junior designed numerous buildings in London....
 in 1880 and an eastward extension was built to designs by E S Hall between 1908 and 1938.

The mausoleum and west wing galleries were badly damaged by a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 V1 flying bomb on 12 July, 1944, during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
; apparently, the bones were scattered across the lawn in front of the gallery. The three sarcophagi
Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek language sa?? sarx meaning "flesh", and fa?e?? phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos the word came to refer to the limestone t...
 in the mausoleum now once again contain approximately a skeleton
Skeleton

In biology, a skeleton is a rigid framework that provides protection and structure in many types of animal, particularly those of the phylum Chordata and of the superphylum Ecdysozoa....
 each, but nobody was quite sure which bones were whose. The buildings were refurbished by Austin Vernon and Partners, and re-opened by HM The Queen Mother on 27 April 1953

A modern extension designed by Rick Mather was built in 1999, adding a café
Café

A caf? or coffee shop is an informal restaurant offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. This differs from a coffee house, which is a limited-menu establishment which focuses on coffee sales....
, educational facilities, a lecture theatre, a new entrance and glazed 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. This latest refurbishment was opened by HM The Queen on 25 May 2000.

The Collection

Dulwich Picture Gallery houses a small but select collection of European old master
Old Master

"Old Master" is a term for a European painting of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such a painter. An "old master print" is an original printmaking made by an artist in the same period....
 paintings mostly of the 1600s and 1700s, many of the highest quality. It also hosts small but often significant temporary exhibitions.

Paintings


Dutch School
  • Cuyp, Aelbert
    Aelbert Cuyp

    Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp was one of the leading Netherlands landscape painting Paintings of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz....
     - 11 paintings;
  • Dou, Gerrit - 1 painting;
  • Hobbema, Meyndert - 1 painting;
  • Hooch, Pieter de
    Pieter de Hooch

    Pieter de Hooch was a Genre works during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a contemporary of Dutch Master Jan Vermeer, with whom his work shared themes and style....
     - 2 paintings;
  • Neer, Aernout van der
    Aernout van der Neer

    Aernout van der Neer , commonly called Aert or Artus, was the contemporary of Albert Cuyp and Meindert Hobbema, and so far like the latter that he lived and died in comparative obscurity....
     - 1 painting;
  • Ostade, Adriaen van
    Adriaen van Ostade

    Adriaen van Ostade was a Netherlands Genre works painter....
     - 5 paintings;
  • Rembrandt van Rijn
    Rembrandt

    Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Netherlands Painting and etching. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in History of the Netherlands....
     - 4 paintings;
  • Ruisdael, Jacob van
    Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruysdael

    Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael was a the Netherlands landscape art painter....
     - 4 paintings;
  • Velde, Adriaen van de - 2 paintings;
  • Velde, Willem van de...the Younger
    Willem van de Velde the Younger

    Willem van de Velde the Younger , was a The Netherlands painter.A son of Willem van de Velde the Elder, also a painter of sea-pieces, Willem van de Velde, the younger, was instructed by his father, and afterwards by Simon de Vlieger, a marine painter of repute at the time, and had achieved great celebrity by his art before he came to Londo...
     - 3 paintings;
  • Weenix, Jan
    Jan Weenix

    Jan Weenix was a the Netherlands painter. He was trained by his father, Jan Baptist Weenix, together with his cousin Melchior d'Hondecoeter....
     - 1 painting;
  • Wouwerman, Philip
    Philip Wouwerman

    Philips Wouwerman , was a Netherlands Painting of hunting, landscape and battle scenes.He was first taught by his father, Paul Joosten Wouwerman, an historical painter of moderate ability....
     - 12 paintings;


English School
  • Gainsborough, Thomas
    Thomas Gainsborough

    Thomas Gainsborough was one of the most famous portrait and landscape Painting of 18th century Kingdom of Great Britain....
     - 7 paintings;
  • Hogarth, William
    William Hogarth

    William Hogarth was a major England painting, Printmaking, pictorial satire, Social criticism and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art....
     - 2 paintings;
  • Landseer, Sir Edwin
    Edwin Henry Landseer

    Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, Royal Academy was an English art, well known for his paintings of animals - particularly horses, dogs and stags. The best known of Landseer's works, however, are sculptures: the lions in Trafalgar Square, London....
     - 1 painting;
  • Lawrence, Thomas
    Thomas Lawrence (painter)

    Sir Thomas Lawrence Royal Academy , was a notable England Painting, mostly of portraits.He was born in Bristol. His father was an innkeeper, first at Bristol and afterwards at Devizes, and at the age of six Lawrence was already being shown off to the guests of the Bear as an infant prodigy who could sketch their likenesses and declaim sp...
     - 3 paintings;
  • Reynolds, Joshua
    Joshua Reynolds

    Sir Joshua Reynolds Royal Academy Royal Society Royal Society of Arts was an important and influential 18th century English Painting, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealisation of the imperfect....
     - 9 paintings;
  • Constable, John
    John Constable

    John Constable was an England Romanticism painting. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape art of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home?now known as "Constable Country"?which he invested with an intensity of affection....
     - 1 painting;


Flemish School
  • Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
    Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger

    Marcus Gheeraerts was an artist of the Tudor court, described as "the most important artist of quality to work in England in large-scale between Hans Eworth and Anthony Van Dyck" He was brought to England as a child by his father Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, also a Painting....
     - 1 painting;
  • Rubens, Peter Paul
    Peter Paul Rubens

    Peter Paul Rubens was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality....
     - 12 paintings;
  • Teniers, David
    David Teniers the Younger

    David Teniers the Younger , a Flemings artist born in Antwerp, was the more celebrated son of David Teniers the Elder, almost ranking in celebrity with Peter Paul Rubens and Van Dyck....
     - 19 paintings;
  • Van Dyck, Anthony
    Anthony van Dyck

    Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque painting who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English school of painting for the next 150 years....
     - 5 paintings;


French School
  • Dughet, Gaspard
    Gaspard Dughet

    Gaspard Dughet was a French Painting.The adoptive son of Nicolas Poussin, he was actually the brother of Poussin's wife. He devoted himself to Landscape art painting and rendered admirably the severer beauties of the Roman Campagna; a noteworthy series of works in tempera representing various sites near Rome is to be seen in the Colonna P...
     - 4 paintings;
  • Fragonard, Jean-Honoré
    Jean-Honoré Fragonard

    Jean-Honor? Fragonard was a France painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism....
     - 1 painting;
  • Gellée, Claude
    Claude Lorrain

    Claude Lorrain was an artist of the Baroque Painting era who was active in Italy, and is admired for his achievements in landscape painting....
     - 4 paintings;
  • Poussin, Nicolas
    Nicolas Poussin

    Nicolas Poussin was a French Painting in the Classicism style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color....
     - 6 paintings;
  • Vernet, Claude-Joseph - 6 paintings;
  • Watteau, Jean-Antoine - 2 paintings;


Italian School
  • Canaletto
    Canaletto

    Giovanni Antonio Canal , better known as Canaletto, was a Venetian artist famous for his landscapes, or vedute, of Venice. He was also an important printmaker in etching....
    , (Giovanni Antonio Canal) - 2 paintings;
  • Carracci, Annibale
    Annibale Carracci

    Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque Painting....
     - 4 paintings;
  • Guercino, (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) - 2 paintings;
  • Raphael, (Raffaello Sanzio)
    Raphael

    Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone was an Italy Painting and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings....
     - 2 Paintings;
  • Reni, Guido
    Guido Reni

    Guido Reni was a prominent Italy Painting of high-Baroque style....
     - 2 paintings;
  • Ricci, Sebastiano
    Sebastiano Ricci

    Sebastiano Ricci was an Italy painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. About the same age as Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Pietro da Cortona style of grand manner fresco painting....
     - 2 paintings;
  • Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista
    Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

    Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo was a Venice Painting and printmaker. He was prolific and worked not only in the Veneto, but also in Germany and Spain, and is considered among the last "Grand manner" fresco painters from the Venice....
     - 3 paintings;
  • Vasari, Giorgio
    Giorgio Vasari

    Giorgio Vasari was an Italy Painting and architect, who is today famous for his biography of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art history writing....
     - 1 painting;
  • Veronese, Paolo
    Paolo Veronese

    Paolo Veronese was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi....
     - 1 painting;
  • Zuccarelli, Francesco
    Francesco Zuccarelli

    Francesco Zuccarelli was an Italy Rococo Painting.He was born at Pitigliano, in southern Tuscany, where he initially apprenticed with Paolo Anesi....
     - 3 paintings;


Spanish School
  • Murillo, Bartolomé-Esteban
    Bartolomé Estéban Murillo

    Bartolom? Esteban Murillo was a Spain List of painters, one of the most important figures in Baroque painting in Spain. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children....
     - 4 paintings;

2008/9 Exhibitions


The Phoenix of All Flower Painters 26 June 2008 - 30 September 2008 Praised by Arnold Houbraken for having ‘come far closer to nature’ than the previous generation of still-life painters, Jan van Huysum is arguably one of the most famous Dutch painters in art history.

Painting Family: The De Brays, Master Painters of 17th Century Holland 9 July 2008 - 5 October 2008 Little known now, the De Bray family (Saloman de Bray and Jan de Bray
Jan de Bray

Jan de Bray was a Netherlands painter.De Bray was the son and pupil of Salomon de Bray, an architect and a poet. He spent most of his career working in Haarlem, where he was for many years dean of the painters' guild....
) were master portraitists of the 17th Century Dutch Golden Age
Dutch Golden Age

The Golden Age was a period in Netherlands history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world....
.

What Are You Like? 9 September 2008 - 18 January 2009 A collaboration between The House of Illustration and Dulwich Picture Gallery brings together an eclectic group of public figures, each contributing a 'self-portrait' composed of their favourite things

Saul Steinberg: Illuminations 26 November 2008 - 15 February 2009 A first for Dulwich Picture Gallery and England, featuring a retrospective collection of more than 100 works by the Romanian born American artist and satirist whose work was in the pages of the New Yorker magazine for 6 decades.

Gallery


Late Nights


The gallery is open late on the 3rd Thursday of every month in 2008 from 6.30pm to 10.00pm. The Lates usually have a theme related to the current exhibition and often include short films, music, a bar, art activities and curatorial talks. The café, shop and chapel are also open at this time.

Friends Association


The Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery play an essential role in the life and work of the Gallery. They are independent of the Gallery and raise funds to support the exhibitions programme and specific projects. Many of the Gallery's most popular events - concerts, lectures, dinners, visits etc - are organised by the Friends.

External links