National Gallery

The National Gallery collects Great Britain’s national collection of European paintings. Located in Trafalgar Square, Westminster, it was founded in 1824. The Neoclassical structure, designed by the Greek Revival architect William Wilkins.

The collection currently comprises only some 2,000 works. It has the most comprehensive collection of Italian Renaissance paintings outside Italy, with works by most of the great Florentine and Venetian masters of that period. There are also impressive holdings of works by various British, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Flemish painters from the 15th to the 19th century. Among the artists represented are Leonardo, Raphael, and Vermeer. The museum’s small collection of French Impressionist and Postimpressionist paintings is notable, and most of the works are exhibited.