The Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts is the oldest fine arts institution in Britain.  It is located in the heart of the West End on Piccadilly.  It is known best for hosting some of the capital’s finest temporary and touring exhibitions.

On permanent display is:

• Paintings by members (Reynolds, Gainsborough, Constable, Turner)
• 18C furniture
• Queen Victoria’s paintbox
• The only Michelangelo sculpture in the country
• The unfinished marble tondo of the Madonna and Child
• The famous copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper

The British Museum

The British Museum holds in trust for the nation and the world:

• A collection of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures

The collection is housed in one of Britain’s architectural landmarks and is one of the finest in existence covering two million years of human history.  There are no admission fees to the collection.

Enjoy a selection of hot and cold dishes and light refreshments in the restaurant and outdoor café.  There are two shops adjacent to the galleries that sell merchandise inspired by the current exhibitions and the works of the Academicians and a great selection of art books.

The British Museum Company Limited was founded in 1973.  Their goal is to advance the educational aims of the Museum.
 
The National Gallery

The permanent collection of the National Gallery consists of Western European Paintings dating from about 1250 onward.  Some of those famous artists include:

• Vincent Van Gogh:  1853-1890.  Van Gogh is today one of the most popular of the Post-Impressionist painters.  He was not widely appreciated during his lifetime.  His works are characterized by expressive and emotive use of brilliant color and energetic application of impastoed paint.  He was born in Holland.  In 1890, while suffering from a bout of depression, he

shot himself in the chest and died two days later.
• Leonardo da Vinci:  1452-1519.  Leonardo was Italian.  His surviving paintings are rare and many of his projects were never completed.  He continues to be revered as a universal genius.  He was fascinated by the mystery of the face and by the possibility of reading the ‘motions of the soul’ through gesture and facial expression.  One of his most famous paintings is a portrait of his wife, known as the ‘Mona Lisa.”  This painting is famous for its sitter’s enigmatic expression.
• Michelangelo:  1475-1564.  Born in Italy.  He was a painter, on panel and in fresco, a sculptor, architect and poet.  He was the first artist recognized by contemporaries as a genius.  The theme of the dead Christ recurs throughout his work, and is the subject of his early ‘Entombment.’
• Rembrandt:  1606-1669.  He was Dutch, and was probably the greatest Dutch painter as well as one of the most important artists in the tradition of western European art.  The profound interpretations of the Bible as well as the psychological depth of his portraits remain unique.  The self portraits he made provide us with a pictorial autobiography, however, he probably thought of himself primarily as a history painter as is represented in the collection by “Belshazzar’s Feast’, ‘The Woman taken in Adultery’ and a number of other paintings of religious subjects.

Disclaimer:  The URL address in the resource box of this article is not associated with any of the attractions mentioned.  This article is offered a resource for vacation planning in London, England.

Written by:  Connie Limon.  For more information about vacationing in London, England, visit http://smalldogs2.com/LondonEngland  For a variety of FREE reprint articles with various other special topics, visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com
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© 2007 Connie Limon  All Rights Reserved