#CulturedPeachy #LondonPeachy @NationalGallery Castles: Paintings from the National Gallery, London tour 8 September – 15 November 2020
CASTLES: PAINTINGS FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
8 September – 15 November 2020
In 2017 Bernardo Bellotto’s The Fortress of Königstein from the North – one of the most original and impressive examples of 18th-century landscape painting – was saved for the nation.
To celebrate its acquisition, and reflect the National Gallery’s commitment to ensuring its collection is shared and enjoyed throughout the UK, this picture, accompanied by five other National Gallery paintings featuring castles and fortresses, are being shown in exhibitions and displays in venues around the UK in 2020.
Bringing together both real and imagined castles, this tour – supported by Art Fund – explores the creative possibilities that castles have presented to artists over the last 500 years. The tour will resume at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens on 8 September following the exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff, which was cut short due to COVID-19.
Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, says: ‘The National Gallery was created for the benefit of the British public, but we must recognise that a number of visitors may find it difficult to make the journey to London. We hope that the Castles: Paintings from the National Gallery, London tour of these great masterpieces will reach people who have never visited their national collection or haven’t done so for a long time, and we hope that many of those whom we do reach will then feel inspired to visit or revisit the collection. We look forward to seeing the different ways in which these paintings will be displayed in each setting.’
Paintings of castles play a significant role in the National Gallery’s collection. Some – like Albert Cuyp’s sunlit depiction of the crumbling Ubbergen Castle or Jan van Beerstraaten’s snowy Castle of Muiden in Winter – chronicle real buildings, capturing their physical state of preservation as well as a particular mood. Other castles are imaginary, providing the backdrop for stories from Ancient Rome, as with Claude’s Enchanted Castle, or Christian legend, as with Gustave Moreau’s Saint George and the Dragon. Still more use castle architecture as a metaphor: in Gerard David’s Adoration of the Kings, the crumbling castle ruins symbolise the decline of the old pagan order with the rise of Christianity.
Castles: Paintings from the National Gallery, London, enables audiences beyond London to access these paintings in their own locality, and in close proximity to a local castle: Cardiff Castle and Sunderland’s Hylton Castle.
Stephen Deuchar, Director of Art Fund, says: ‘We were proud to have been amongst those who made possible the purchase of this powerful and important picture, and we admire the National Gallery’s ingenuity and determination in making it so widely available to the UK public through the 2020–-21 tour.’
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
Castles: Paintings from the National Gallery, London
8 September 2020 – 15 November 2020
The next stop on the tour is Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.
The Castles: Paintings from the National Gallery, London tour will allow Sunderland Museum to highlight one of its most important works including a large oil painting by Sunderland-born artist Clarkson Stanfield (1793–1867), The Castle of Ischia from the Mole, 1839–41. Stanfield was one of the most popular marine painters of his day and friend of Turner. An oil painting of Hylton Castle painted around 1830 by an unknown artist will also be shown.
Other topographical images from the watercolour and prints collection will form part of the exhibition, some of this work being rarely seen by visitors.
Jo Cunningham, Exhibitions, Collections and Archives Manager at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, says: ‘We are thrilled to host the Castles: Paintings from the National Gallery, London tour and look forward to seeing Bellotto’s The Fortress of Königstein from the North here in Sunderland for our audiences to experience. It will also be a fantastic opportunity to highlight some of the most important works from our own collection including a large oil painting by Sunderland-born artist Clarkson Stanfield, The Castle of Ischia from the Mole.’
Image
NG6668
Bernardo Bellotto, The Fortress of Königstein from the North, about 1756–-8 © The National Gallery, London
Oil on canvas, 132.1 × 236.2 cm
Bought with the support of the American Friends of the National Gallery, the National Gallery Trust, the Estate of Mrs Madeline Swallow, the Art Fund (with a contribution from The Wolfson Foundation), Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, The Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, The Manny and Brigitta Davidson Charitable Foundation, The Sackler Trust and through private appeal, 2017
The National Gallery
The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of Western European paintings from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Bellini, Cézanne, Degas, Leonardo da Vinci, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. The Gallery’s key objectives are to enhance the collection, care for the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. More at nationalgallery.org.uk
Art Fund
Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. In the past five years alone Art Fund has given £34 million to help museums and galleries acquire works of art for their collections. It also helps museums share their collections with wider audiences by supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, and makes additional grants to support the training and professional development of curators. Art Fund is independently funded, with the core of its income provided by 151,000 members who receive the National Art Pass and enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions and subscription to Art Quarterly magazine. In addition to grant-giving, Art Fund’s support for museums includes Art Fund Museum of the Year (won by St Fagans National History Museum near Cardiff in 2019) and a range of digital platforms.
National Museum Cardiff
Imagine a Castle: Paintings from the National Gallery, London
28 January – 17 March (closed earlier than planned due to COVID-19)
The first stop on the tour was the National Museum in Cardiff. The Fortress of Königstein Castle from the North (1756–8) painted by the Venetian master, Bernardo Bellotto, along with a selection of European Old Master paintings were all shown in Wales for the first time.
Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales is a family of seven museums and a collections centre, which are all free to enter thanks to the support of the Welsh Government. Together, it is home to the nation’s art, history, heritage and science collections, which will continue to grow so that they can be used and enjoyed by both present and future generations. More at museumwales.ac.uk
One of its museums, St Fagans National Museum of History which explores the history and culture of Wales, won the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019.
As a registered charity, Amgueddfa Cymru is grateful for all support. The events and exhibitions programme is supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Sunderland Culture
Sunderland Culture was set up in 2016 to bring together the cultural programmes of Sunderland City Council, University of Sunderland and Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust into a single, independent, resilient delivery model and realise the ambition of a city brimming with creative potential. Sunderland Culture works in National Glass Centre and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Arts Centre Washington, The Fire Station and delivers programmes of cultural engagement and events across the whole city. It works across the city to ensure the power of great art, culture and creativity is harnessed for the benefit of Sunderland, its residents and visitors. Sunderland Culture’s mission is to improve life for everyone in Sunderland through culture.
In spring 2017 Sunderland Culture was successful in its bid to be one of 16 pilot areas for the Great Place scheme, jointly funded over three years by Arts Council England (ACE) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) with funding made possible by National Lottery players, to put arts, culture and heritage at the heart of communities. On April 1, 2018, Sunderland Culture joined Arts Council England’s National Portfolio. More at sunderlandmuseum.org.uk.
