National Gallery from Trafalgar Square fountain
Photo: Yoti, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License
 National Gallery, another view
Photo: James F., GNU Free Documentation License
The National Gallery in London is located on the north side of Trafalgar Square, London. It began when the British government bought 36 paintings from banker John Julius Angerstain in 1824. From that minuscule collection, the National Gallery today houses over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. Two thirds of the collection comes from donation. The collect is small compared to national galleries of continental Europe, however, it has important works with a broad historical representation, covering Early Renaissance to Post-Impressionism.
The present structure at Trafalgar Square was built in 1832-8. However only the facade is recognisable from the original, with much of the inside having been renovated and expanded. This is the third building to house the National Gallery, and despite the many expansions, is still inadequate.
Britain was a late start in establishing a national art collection accessible to the public. It was not so much a lack of opportunity, but a lack of will. When the substantial private collection of Sir Robert Walpole was put up for sale in 1777, the government passed over the opportunity. In the end, the collection was bought in its entirely by Catherine the Great, and now is housed within the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. London was without a state-owned national gallery in a central location until after the Napoleonic Wars.
The National Gallery finally was established when the House of Commons voted to buy the collection of John Julius Angerstin, who had died the previous year, in 1824. The gallery opened to the public on 10 May, 1824, in Angerstein's former townhouse, on No. 100 Pall Mall. In 1826, Sir George Beaumont donated his collection while in 1828, Reverend William Holwell Carr bequested 34 paintings. In no time No. 100 Pall Mall was soon overcrowded with paintings, and its diminutive size compared to the substantial Louvre in Paris was a cause of national embarrassment.
The site at Trafalgar Square made creating an impressive gallery a challenging task. It cannot be extended in further than one room, as there was a workhouse and a barracks immediately behind. The architect whose design was chosen, William Wilkins, also had to comply to several stipulations, among them, he has to used columns from the demolished Carlton House, and sculptures which were intended for John Nash's Marble Arch. As a result, the National Gallery opened to much public ridicule.
Alterations were made in the immediate years of the 19th century, going into the 20th and now the 21st century. In the recent years, the main entrance was refurnished and reopened in September 2005. There will certainly be more renovation going into the future, with no timetable announced at the moment.
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