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Podcast: London History
Episode: 42. How the National Gallery Began
Description: Get to know the man behind the beginnings of the National Gallery. With the assistance of artists such as Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West, John Julius Angerstein started to establish a collection of Old Master Paintings. In total, he collected 38 important works of art, some were displayed at Woodlands and others at his rooms at his town house at 100 Pall Mall. Many of Angerstein’s earlier purchases of pictures for his collection were by British artists. By 1804, Angerstein’s collection, at that stage consisting of only 25 paintings, was said to be the best and most celebrated collection in Great Brit...