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Dulwich Picture Gallery is one of the finest examples of gallery architecture in Britain. It was designed and built by the leading architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837) at the personal request of his friend Sir Francis Bourgeois, who had left a fund of £2,000 to establish a permanent home for his collection.
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- It's Got A Unique Origin Story
- It's An Architectural Marvel
- Some of Its Founders Are Buried in The Gallery
- It Inspired The Telephone Box
- It Houses A world-class Collection
- It's Had Some Pretty Impressive visitors
- It Contains The World's Most Stolen Painting
- You Can Sleep Over in The Gallery
The Dulwich Picture Gallery grew out of three separate art collections. The first, by Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur Edward Alleyn, included several portraits of English kings and queens. He gave his collection to Dulwich College (the school he founded) when he died. 26 of these pictures are still in the Dulwich collection. This was added to b...
Soane designed Dulwich Picture Gallery as a series of interlocking rooms, lit by overhead skylights. The skylights are designed to light the paintings beneath indirectly. It sounds simple, but Dulwich Picture Gallery was the first of its kind in the world, and has influenced the design of art galleries across the world ever since. Looking at the ra...
Remember Bourgeois and Mr and Mrs Desenfans? The threesome credited with founding the gallery are still there: in a unique mausoleum inside the gallery. All three died before the gallery opened, but their incredible work is beautifully honoured in the building itself.
Giles Gilbert Scott, designer of the classic K2 telephone kiosk, took inspiration from Dulwich Picture Gallery's mausoleum roof. Soane's 'pendentive' roof, seen on both the Dulwich Picture Gallery and Soane's mausoleum in St Pancras Old Churchyard both inspired Scott's design. (Scott had just been made trustee of Sir John Soane's Museum when the co...
Because of the unique nature of its birth, plus some impressive bequests, Dulwich Picture Gallery contains one of the world's finest collections of Old Masters; that is, European painters working before 1800. There's a rich offering of Dutch, Flemish, French and Italian paintings inside, as well as plenty of British portraits dating from Tudor time...
Because of its world class collection of Old Masters, Dulwich Picture Gallery has long been a popular destination for art students: John Constable, William Etty, JMW Turner, and even Vincent Van Gogh are said to have visited the gallery. Dickens gives the gallery a mention in The Pickwick Papers; the protagonist Samuel Pickwick visits the collectio...
Rembrandt's small early portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III has been stolen and recovered four times, most recently in 1983. It's nicknamed the 'takeaway Rembrandt' and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most frequently stolen artwork in the world. It's 'steal-ability' is probably down to its size: just less than 30cm by 25 cm. Jacob de Gh...
Dulwich Picture Gallery hosted its first ever sleepover for kids in 2015, called Pillows and Paintbrushes. Sleepovers are just one of many special events hosted by the gallery: you can watch films, hear live music, learn to paint and enjoy talks and tours... Find out more here.
May 24, 2023 · Desenfans and Bourgeois died in 1807 and 1810 respectively and the collection was left to Margaret Desenfans, his widow, along with £2000 and instructions to build a new gallery in Dulwich to display the works to the public. Bourgeois also wanted his friend, architect Sir John Soane to design it.
The world’s first purpose-built public art gallery, the small Dulwich Picture Gallery was designed by architect Sir John Soane and opened in 1817 to house nearby Dulwich College’s collection of paintings by the Old Masters, including work by Rembrandt, Rubens, Gainsborough, Poussin and Canaletto.
The Gallery was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and houses one of the country’s fi nest collections of Old Masters, especially rich in French, Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings...
