What is the significance of the names on the outside of the Art Gallery and who are they?
The names were probably chosen by Frederick Eccleston Du Faur, President of the Gallery Trustees from 1892 - 1915, and a member of the Board since 1876. Forty-four names were intended. Thirty-two names are found on the existing elevations, lettered in bronze below the entablature. Seven intended names are known from architectural drawings, the other five are unknown.
Painters appear on the southern half of the front elevation, and on the adjoining side elevation to the south : [moving to the right from the entrance] Giotto, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Murillo, Rubens, Andrea del Sarto, Botticelli, Bellini, Cimabue, Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Tintoretto, Velasquez, Vandyck and Gainsborough.
Sculptors appear on the northern half of the front, and were presumably intended for the adjoining side elevation to the north : [moving to the left from the entrance] Michael Angelo [sic], Donatello, Ghiberti, Pheidias, Cellini, Canova, Jean Goujon, Pythagoras, Praxiteles and Anthemius.
Architects appear on the rear elevation : Christopher Wren, Philibert de l'Orme, Perrault, Juan de Herrera, Mansart and Inigo Jones.
The names intended for the unbuilt part of the rear elevation are found on drawings from 1895 for the front, south and rear elevations. These drawings correspond with the names as installed, except that those on the side elevation are placed in a different order [Leonardo da Vinci, Correggio, Tintoretto, Bellini, Botticelli, Cimabue, Velasquez, Vandyck and Gainsborough].
A drawing dated 27 November 1895, for the elevation of the small portion of the Art Gallery built in 1896, shows six names: Ictinus, Phidias, Raphael, M. Angelo [sic], Titian and C. Wren. Five of these names appear on the elevations that were completed; one, Ictinus, must have been intended for the unbuilt north elevation.
The names intended for the rear elevation towards the north, which was never built, were Sansovino, Bramante, Palladio, Vignola, Vitruvius and Brunellescho.
(Research by Steven Miller, Archivist) |
