I mean, we’ve now been to the Prado, the Vatican Museums and many other museums in Italy, and more recently the Louvre, so why not The National Gallery in London? We started with some of the famous highlights, like The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks (we also saw a copy of this in Exeter cathedral), and one of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
If you look at enough paintings, even uninitiated people like us can start to recognize certain artist’s works.
Since we were in England we tried to focus on English paintings. Like many art museums, the building itself is interesting.
The painting on the left is, I kid you not, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. The middle painting caught my eye. It’s The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. They had a special exhibit of Millet, which was disappointing.
We saw so many Canalettos on this trip! There were some here and at Sir John Soane’s museum and the Wallace Collection. The painting with sailboats is by JMW Turner.
The National Gallery is smaller than The Louvre (which is also broader) and the Prado in Madrid. It felt more manageable. I also enjoy the free museums in London. I don’t feel compelled to make the most of my money while I’m there. There was also no line for The National Gallery, at least when we went.