Royal Collection

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VAN DYCK - Charles I with M. de St Antoine (1633)
VAN DYCK - Charles I with M. de St Antoine (1633)

The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation.[1][2] It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as tapestries, furniture, ceramics, books, and other works of art. It is physically dispersed between a number of locations some, like Hampton Court Palace open to the public and not lived in by the Royal Family, whilst others like Windsor Castle are both residences and open to the public. The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London exists to show displays and exhibitions from the collection for several months at a time. There is also a Queen's Gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

Contents

[edit] History

Few items survive from before King Henry VIII. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a passionate collector of Italian paintings, and a major patron of Van Dyck and other artists. His collection was sold after his execution in 1649, but large numbers of works were recovered for the collection after the Restoration of 1660, when the Dutch Republic also presented Charles II with the Dutch Gift, and Charles later bought many paintings and other works. George III added very large numbers, especially of prints and drawings, and Queen Victoria and her husband Albert were keen collectors of contemporary and old master paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria and Albert.

[edit] Collection highlights

[edit] Paintings, prints and drawings

CANALETTO, Giovanni Antonio - Return of the Bucentoro to the Molo on Ascension Day (1732)
CANALETTO, Giovanni Antonio - Return of the Bucentoro to the Molo on Ascension Day (1732)
CARAVAGGIO, Michelangelo Merisi da - A boy peeling fruit (1593)
CARAVAGGIO, Michelangelo Merisi da - A boy peeling fruit (1593)
RUBENS - The Assumption of the Virgin (1612-17)
RUBENS - The Assumption of the Virgin (1612-17)

Anglo-American

Dutch school (200+ works) [3]

English school

Flemish school

French school

German school

Italian school

[edit] Furniture

[edit] Decorative arts

  • Fabergé - One of the finest collections in the world;
  • Sèvres Porcelain - Arguably the world's largest collection;
  • Chelsea porcelain - Complete service completed 1763
  • Gobelins Tapestry - Sets of: 28 Don Quixote Tapestries, Jason and the Golden Fleece & Les Amours des Dieux

[edit] Sculpture

[edit] Management

The Royal Collection Department is part of the Royal Household, responsible for the cataloguing, conservation, cleaning, restoration and display of the books, pictures, sculptures and other works of art collected by the British Royal Family. Buildings do not come under its remit.

[edit] Galleries

[edit] Furniture

RIESENER, Jean Henri Riesener - Louis XV Roll-top Desk (1700)

THOMIRE, Pierre-Philippe - Pair of Candelarbra (1828)

[edit] Sculpture

CANOVA, Antonio - Dirce, 1820-4

CANOVA, Antonio - Fountain Nymph (Ninfa delle fontane), 1815-17

CANOVA, Antonio - Mars & Venus, 1815-17


[edit] Paintings

Dutch paintings

HALS, Frans - Portrait of a man (1630)

REMBRANDT van Rijn - Agatha Bas (1641)

STEEN, Jan - A woman at her toilet (1663)
English paintings

GAINSBOROUGH, Thomas - Johann Christian Fischer (1774)

REYNOLDS, Joshua - The Death of Dido (1781)
Flemish paintings

BRUEGEL the Elder, Pieter - Massacre of the Innocents (1565-7)

DYCK, Anthony van - Cupid and Psyche (1639-40)

RUBENS, Peter Paul - Pythagoras advocating vegetarianism (1618-20)

TENIERS the Younger, David - The Virgin and Child with Saints Stephen, Jerome and Maurice (1656)
French paintings

GELLEE, Claude - A view of the Roman Campagna from Tivoli, evening (1644-5)

LA TOUR, Georges de - St Jerome (1621-3)
German paintings

CRANACH the Elder, Lucas - The Judgement of Paris (1537-40)

DÜRER, Albrecht - Portrait of Burkard von Speyer (1506)

HOLBEIN the Younger, Hans - 'Noli me tangere' (1524)

ZOFFANY, Johann - The Tribuna of the Uffizi (1772-78)
Italian paintings

ALLORI, Alessandro - Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1613)

ANGELICO, Fra - Blessing Redeemer (1423)

BELLINI, Giovanni - Portrait of a young man (1505-09)

CANALETTO, Giovanni Antonio - Entrance to the Grand Canal; Looking East (1744)

CARAVAGGIO, Michelangelo Merisi da - The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew (1571-1610)

CARRACCI, Annibale - An allegory of Truth and Time (1584-5)

CORREGGIO, Antonio da - The Holy Family with Saint Jerome (1517-19)

DADDI, Bernardo - The Marriage of the Virgin (1330-42)

DUCCIO, di Buoninsegna - Triptych (1305-8)

FETTI, Domenico - David with the head of Goliath (1620)

LEONARDO DA VINCI - The babe in the womb (1511)

LOTTO, Lorenzo - Andrea Odoni (1527)

MANTEGNA, Andrea - The Triumphs of Caesar, IX - Julius Caesar on his triumphal chariot (1484-92)

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti - The Resurrection (1532)

RAPHAEL, (Raffaello Sanzio) - St Paul Preaching in Athens (1515)

RENI, Guido - Cleopatra with the Asp (1630)

RICCI, Sebastiano - The Adoration of the Magi (1726-30)

TINTORETTO, Jacopo - Esther before Ahasuerus (1547-48)

TITIAN, Vecelli - Portrait of Jacopo Sannazaro (1514-18)

VERONESE, Paolo - The Marriage of Saint Catherine (1580)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Royal Collection - What is the Royal Collection?
  2. ^ The Royal Collection > About the Royal Collection
  3. ^ The Social Affairs Unit - Web Review: Dutch Paintings at the Royal Collection
  4. ^ The real Da Vinci code | | Guardian Unlimited Arts
  5. ^ The Royal Collection - The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance & Baroque

[edit] External links

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Museums with major collections of Western European & American Paintings Paintings (mid-13th century to 20C)
  1. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
    16,783 paintings [1]
  2. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
    11,900 paintings [1]
  3. Royal Collection, London, UK
    7,000 paintings [2]
  4. Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
    6,000 paintings [3]
  5. National Museum of Serbia , Belgrade , Serbia
    5,600 paintings and around 8,400 drawings and prints [4]
  6. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    5,500 paintings [5]
  7. Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France
    5,033 paintings [6]
  8. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy
    4,800 paintings [7]
  9. Tate Collection, London, UK
    4,442 paintings [8]
  10. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
    4,000 paintings [9]
  11. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium
    3,200 paintings [10]
  12. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
    3,000 paintings [11]
  13. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
    3,000 paintings [12]
  14. Das Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
    2,700 paintings [13]
  15. National Gallery, London, UK
    2,300 paintings [14]
  16. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
    2,200 paintings [15]
  17. Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
    2,000 paintings [16]
  18. Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA
    1,900 paintings [17]
  19. Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
    1,800 paintings [18]
  1. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
    1697 paintings (inc. 200 paintings from Christ Church Picture Gallery) [19] [20]
  2. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
    1,600 paintings [21]
  3. Gräflich Lambergsche Gemählde-Gallerie, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna, Austria
    1,600 paintings [22]
  4. Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna, Austria
    1,500 paintings [23]
  5. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
    1,400 paintings [24]
  6. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA
    1,200 paintings [25]
  7. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK
    1,181 paintings [26]
  8. Fogg Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
    1,100 paintings [27]
  9. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA
    1,011 paintings [28]
  10. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain
    1,000 paintings [29]
  11. Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway
    1,000 paintings [30]
  12. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut, USA
    900 paintings [31]
  13. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
    900 paintings [32]
  14. Le Musée Condé, Chantilly, France
    850 paintings [33]
  15. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
    800 paintings [34]
  16. Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands
    800 paintings [35]
  1. Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome, Italy
    800 paintings [36]
  2. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, USA
    800 paintings [37]
  3. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany
    750 paintings [38]
  4. Wallace Collection, London, UK
    650 paintings [39]
  5. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK
    644 paintings [40]
  6. Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
    530 paintings [41]
  7. Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy
    500 paintings [42]
  8. Vatican Museums, Vatican City
    460 Paintings (ex. Raphael Stanze, Sistine Chapel) [43]
  9. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA
    450 paintings [44]
  10. Musée National Picass, Paris, France
    250 paintings (small selection of work by other artists) [45]
  11. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    200 paintings [46]
  12. Notable Exceptions (lack of information):
    Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
    The Phillips Collection, Washington, USA
    Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
    Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France
    Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, France
    Musée Marmottan-Monet, Paris, France
    Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel, Germany
    Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy
    Palazzo Spada, Rome, Italy
    Gallerie dell'Accadenia, Venice, Italy
    Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy
    Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy
    Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy
    Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, Italy
    Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
    Museo Civico di Castelvecchio, Verona, Italy
    Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, Italy
    Galleria nazionale di Parma, Parma, Italy
    Galleria nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy
    Museo nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa, Italy
    São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo, Brazil
    n.b. it should be noted that this list is controversial, in so far as it contains only quantitative analysis of museum holdings. These may or may not reflect actual artistic quality of collections in question.
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