Contextual Lecture: Dulwich Picture Gallery in Context
The rich culture of the Picture Gallery – eminent collections, building and institution – evolved over two vexed centuries, to achieve world-fame for exhibitions and education. The first public gallery in England, with pictures mostly acquired by the Founders from collections dispersed by the continental wars, opened in 1817; its declared aim was to inspire and educate painters. The lecture will explore the significance of the collection, some personalities in the Gallery’s history, and relations with Dulwich College and Village and the Royal Academy; it concludes with the initiatives of the splendid recent era in the reconstructed Gallery following the bomb of 1944.