Manchester Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
Manchester Art Gallery is a publicly-owned art gallery in Manchester
, England. It was formerly known as Manchester City Art Gallery.
The gallery was opened in 1824 and today occupies three buildings, the oldest of which - designed by Sir Charles Barry - is Grade I listed and was originally home to the Royal Manchester Institution
. The gallery was extended by Hopkins Architects
in 2002 to take in the Manchester Athenaeum, designed in the Palazzo style by Barry in 1826. The gallery is free to enter and houses the civic art collection, which includes works of local and international significance.
to a rectangular in plan on a raised plinth
. The roof is hidden by a continuous dentil
led cornice
and plain parapet
. Its eleven-bay facade
has two three-bay side ranges and a central five-bay pediment
ed projecting portico
with six Ionic
column
s. Set back behind the parapet is an attic
with small windows that forms a lantern
above the entrance hall.
The Manchester Art Gallery is strong in its representation of the English school, with works by Thomas Gainsborough
and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
.
The gallery houses several works by the French impressionist Pierre Adolphe Valette
who painted and taught in Manchester in the early years of the 20th century and some of his scenes of foggy Manchester streets and canals are displayed. A Cézanne
hangs in the same room, showing the similarity in treatment and subject between his misty French river bridge and Valette's bridge in a pre-Clean Air Act
Mancunian fog. L. S. Lowry
was one of Valette's students and the influence on Lowry of impressionism can be seen at the gallery, where paintings by the two artists hang together.
The museum houses The Picnic (1908), a work by the British Impressionist painter Wynford Dewhurst
, who was born in Manchester.
As well as paintings, the museum holds collections of glass, silverware and furniture – including two pieces by the Victorian reformist architect and designer William Burges
.
English School
Flemish School
French School
German School
Italian School
Hungarian School
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England. It was formerly known as Manchester City Art Gallery.
The gallery was opened in 1824 and today occupies three buildings, the oldest of which - designed by Sir Charles Barry - is Grade I listed and was originally home to the Royal Manchester Institution
Royal Manchester Institution
The Royal Manchester Institution was an English learned society founded on 1 October 1823 at a public meeting held in the Exchange Room by Manchester merchants, local artists and others keen to dispel the image of Manchester as a city lacking in culture and taste.The Institution was housed in a...
. The gallery was extended by Hopkins Architects
Hopkins Architects
Hopkins Architects Partnership LLP is a prominent British architectural firm established in 1976 by Sir Michael and Lady Patricia Hopkins. The practice has won many awards for its work and has twice been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, including in 2011 for the 2012 London Velodrome and in...
in 2002 to take in the Manchester Athenaeum, designed in the Palazzo style by Barry in 1826. The gallery is free to enter and houses the civic art collection, which includes works of local and international significance.
Architecture
The two-storey gallery, designed by Barry, is built in rusticated ashlarAshlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
to a rectangular in plan on a raised plinth
Plinth
In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...
. The roof is hidden by a continuous dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
led cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and plain parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. Its eleven-bay facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
has two three-bay side ranges and a central five-bay pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed projecting portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
with six Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s. Set back behind the parapet is an attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
with small windows that forms a lantern
Lantern
A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...
above the entrance hall.
Collections
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
.
The gallery houses several works by the French impressionist Pierre Adolphe Valette
Pierre Adolphe Valette
Pierre Adolphe Valette was a French Impressionist painter. His most acclaimed paintings are urban landscapes of Manchester, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery. Today, he is chiefly remembered as L. S. Lowry's tutor....
who painted and taught in Manchester in the early years of the 20th century and some of his scenes of foggy Manchester streets and canals are displayed. A Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
hangs in the same room, showing the similarity in treatment and subject between his misty French river bridge and Valette's bridge in a pre-Clean Air Act
Clean Air Act 1956
The Clean Air Act 1956 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was in effect until 1964, and sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in England and the Department of Health for Scotland.The Act introduced a number of...
Mancunian fog. L. S. Lowry
L. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist born in Barrett Street, Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years at 117 Station Road , opposite St...
was one of Valette's students and the influence on Lowry of impressionism can be seen at the gallery, where paintings by the two artists hang together.
The museum houses The Picnic (1908), a work by the British Impressionist painter Wynford Dewhurst
Wynford Dewhurst
Wynford Dewhurst, R.B.A. was an English Impressionist painter and important writer on art. He spent considerable time in France and his work was profoundly influenced by Claude Monet.-Biography:Wynford Dewhurst was born in Manchester in 1864...
, who was born in Manchester.
As well as paintings, the museum holds collections of glass, silverware and furniture – including two pieces by the Victorian reformist architect and designer William Burges
William Burges (architect)
William Burges was an English architect and designer. Amongst the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, Burges sought in his work an escape from 19th century industrialisation and a return to the values, architectural and social, of an imagined mediaeval England...
.
Collection
Paintings
Dutch School- Backhuysen, Ludolf - 1 painting;
- Borch, Gerard terGerard ter BorchGerard ter Borch was a Dutch genre painter, who lived in the Dutch Golden Age.-Biography:Gerard ter Borch was born in December 1617 in Zwolle in the province of Overijssel in the Dutch Republic....
- 2 paintings; - Brekelenkam, Quirijn vanQuirijn van BrekelenkamQuirijn or Quiringh Gerritsz van Brekelenkam , was a Dutch Baroque genre painter. He probably studied under Gerard Dou, and as a result his paintings from the 1640s and 1650s are similar to those of the Leiden fijnschilders.-References:* Elizabeth Alice Honig, "Brekelenkam, Quiringh [Quirijn] ...
- 2 paintings; - Jan van de CappelleJan van de CappelleJan van de Cappelle was a Dutch Golden Age painter of seascapes and winter landscapes, also notable as an industrialist and art collector. He is "now considered the outstanding marine painter of 17th century Holland"...
-3 paintings - Cuyp, AelbertAelbert CuypAelbert Jacobsz Cuyp was one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz...
- 2 paintings; - Dou, Gerrit - 1 painting;
- Heem, Jan Janszoon deJan Janszoon de HeemJan Janszoon de Heem was a Dutch Golden Age still-life painter and the son of Jan Davidszoon de Heem and the brother of Cornelis de Heem...
- 1 painting; - Hobbema, Meyndert - 1 painting;
- Hooch, Pieter dePieter de HoochPieter de Hooch was a genre painter during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a contemporary of Dutch Master Jan Vermeer, with whom his work shared themes and style.-Biography:...
- 2 paintings; - Ochtervelt, JacobJacob OchterveltJacob Ochtervelt , was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:According to Houbraken "Jakob Ugtervelt" was a pupil of N...
- 2 paintings; - Ostade, Adriaen vanAdriaen van OstadeAdriaen van Ostade was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works.-Life:...
- 1 painting; - Ruysdael, Salomon van - 2 paintings;
- Snyders, Frans - 1 painting;
- Sorgh, Hendrik MartenszoonHendrik Martenszoon SorghHendrik Martenszoon Sorgh , was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works.-Biography:He was a pupil of David Teniers the Younger and Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech. Sorgh painted mostly interiors with peasants. His kitchen interiors feature elaborate still lifes...
- 2 paintings; - Steen, JanJan SteenJan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century . Psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour are marks of his trade.-Life:...
- 1 painting; - Velde, Adriaen van de - 1 painting;
- Velde the Younger, Willem van deWillem van de Velde the YoungerWillem van de Velde the Younger was a Dutch marine painter.-Biography:Willem van de Velde was baptised on 18 December 1633 in Leiden, Holland, Dutch Republic....
- 2 paintings;
- Beechey, WilliamWilliam BeecheySir Henry William Beechey , English portrait-painter, was born at Burford, the son of William Beechey and Hannah Read ....
- 2 paintings; - Constable, JohnJohn ConstableJohn Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
- 1 painting; - Gainsborough, ThomasThomas GainsboroughThomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
- 10 paintings; - Hogarth, WilliamWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
- 2 paintings; - Kneller, Sir Godfrey - 1 paintings;
- Landseer, Sir EdwinEdwin Henry LandseerSir Edwin Henry Landseer, RA was an English painter, well known for his paintings of animals—particularly horses, dogs and stags...
- 3 paintings; - Lawrence, ThomasThomas Lawrence (painter)Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
- 1 painting; - Lely, PeterPeter LelySir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin, whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.-Life:...
- 1 painting; - Lowry, L. S.L. S. LowryLaurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist born in Barrett Street, Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years at 117 Station Road , opposite St...
- 1 painting; - Reynolds, JoshuaJoshua ReynoldsSir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
- 4 paintings; - Souch, JohnJohn SouchJohn Souch was an English portrait painter. He flourished in the early seventeenth century in the North West of England, and perhaps epitomises the role of art in English local life at that time.- Early life :...
- 1 painting; - Stubbs, GeorgeGeorge StubbsGeorge Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses.-Biography:Stubbs was born in Liverpool, the son of a currier and leather merchant. Information on his life up to age thirty-five is sparse, relying almost entirely on notes made by fellow artist Ozias Humphry towards the...
- 1 paintings; - Turner, J. M. W. - 1 painting;
- Valette, Pierre AdolphePierre Adolphe ValettePierre Adolphe Valette was a French Impressionist painter. His most acclaimed paintings are urban landscapes of Manchester, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery. Today, he is chiefly remembered as L. S. Lowry's tutor....
- 5 paintings;
Flemish School
- Francken the Younger, FransFrans Francken the YoungerFrans Francken the Younger , was a Flemish Baroque painter and the best-known member of the large Francken family of artists....
- 1 painting; - Teniers the Younger, DavidDavid Teniers the YoungerDavid Teniers the Younger was a Flemish artist born in Antwerp, the son of David Teniers the Elder. His son David Teniers III and his grandson David Teniers IV were also painters...
- 3 paintings;
French School
- Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille - 2 paintings;
- Degas, EdgarEdgar DegasEdgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
- 1 painting; - Dughet, GaspardGaspard DughetGaspard Dughet , also known as Gaspard Poussin, was a French painter born in Rome.A pupil of Nicolas Poussin, Gaspard Dughet was the brother of Poussin's wife...
- 1 painting; - Gauguin, Eugène Henri PaulPaul GauguinEugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
- 1 painting; - Gellée, ClaudeClaude LorrainClaude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, , dit le Lorrain) Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French...
- 1 painting; - Mengin, CharlesCharles MenginCharles August Mengin , was a French painter of the Academic art movement.He was born in Paris, France, and was educated by Gecker and Alexandre Cabanel. Mengin first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1876....
- 1 painting; - Pissarro, CamilleCamille PissarroCamille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
- 1 painting; - Renoir, Pierre Auguste - 1 painting;
- Vernet, Claude-Joseph - 1 painting;
German School
- Zoffany, JohanJohann ZoffanyJohan Zoffany, Zoffani or Zauffelij was a German neoclassical painter, active mainly in England...
- 1 painting;
Italian School
- Daddi, BernardoBernardo DaddiBernardo Daddi was an early Italian renaissance painter and apprentice of Giotto. He was also influenced by the Sienese art of Lorenzetti....
- 1 painting; - Giordano, LucaLuca GiordanoLuca Giordano was an Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain....
- 1 painting; - Mura, Francesco deFrancesco de MuraFrancesco de Mura was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, active mainly in Naples and Turin. His late work reflects the style of neoclassicism....
- 1 painting; - Reni, GuidoGuido ReniGuido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...
- 1 painting; - Turchi, AlessandroAlessandro TurchiAlessandro Turchi was an Italian painter of the early Baroque, born and active mainly in Verona, and moving late in life to Rome. He also went by the name Alessandro Veronese or the nickname L'Orbetto....
- 1 painting; - Zuccarelli, FrancescoFrancesco ZuccarelliFrancesco Zuccarelli was an Italian Rococo painter.He was born at Pitigliano, in southern Tuscany, where he initially apprenticed with Paolo Anesi...
- 1 painting; - Giovanni Ansaldo - 1 painting
Hungarian School
- Wagner, Alexander vonAlexander von WagnerAlexander originally Sándor von Wagner was a Hungarian painter.- Biography :Wagner was born in Pesth. After graduating from the Real-Gymnasium in his hometown at the age of nineteen, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna, where he was a student of Henrik Weber...
- 1 painting
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Greater ManchesterGrade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester-See also:*Architecture of Manchester*Conservation in the United Kingdom*Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester*List of tallest buildings in Manchester*Scheduled Monuments in Greater Manchester-Bibliography:...
- Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester