The National Gallery is an art gallery in London, located on the north side of Trafalgar Square. It houses Western European paintings from 1250 to 1900 from the national art collection of Great Britain. The collection of 2,300 paintings belongs to the British public, and entry to the main collection is free, although there are charges for entry to special exhibitions.
Despite having been founded without an existing royal collection on which to build, the National Gallery has grown to be a collection of international renown since its foundation in 1824. It was shaped mainly by its early directors, including Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two-thirds of the collection. Although small in comparison with other national art collections such as the Louvre, the National Gallery is notable for covering a broad art-historical scope with paintings of consistently high quality, making it possible to trace every major development in Western painting from the Early Renaissance to the Post-impressionists through its collection. The Gallery's 19th-century origins have, however, resulted in particularly strong holdings of the Italian and Dutch schools, while historically it was slow on the uptake of modern art. (Full article...)