Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #738968 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Review
"The National Gallery is a unique cultural achievement: a supreme collection of pictures owned and enjoyed by the people. How it happened, the mixture of principle and politics, muddle, scholarship, philanthropy and luck is a peculiarly British story. And it is told, for the first time, lucidly and compellingly, by Jonathan Conlin in this admirable book." --Neil MacGregor, director, British Museum

From the Publisher
The first ever history of the National Gallery, with over 260
illustrations.

From the Back Cover
"The National Gallery is a unique cultural achievement: a
supreme collection of pictures owned and enjoyed by the people. How it
happened, the mixture of principle and politics, muddle, scholarship,
philanthropy and luck is a peculiarly British story. And it is told, for
the first time, lucidly and compellingly, by Jonathan Conlin in this
admirable book. This is far more than the history of an institution: it is
the story of the struggle to give paintings a central place not just in
London, but in the nation's life." Neil MacGregor, Director of the British
Museum, former Director of the National Gallery

Witty, sophisticated, opinionated, it will provoke as well as inform. Peter
Mandler, University of Cambridge

Customer Reviews

A scholarly work
I bought this book having read a good review in a newspaper. It certainly is beautifully presented with oodles of illustrations and masses of notes. My one small criticism is that it is, to my mind, a very scholarly work and not really an easy read for the layman - I felt a little adrift in a world of experts. Perhaps it is more of a definitive text than a ripping yarn!

Excellent Book
Jonathan Conlin has a really great style of writing, and while I agree with another review that it doesn't always make easy reading, it is inspirational in its enthusiasm for the topic.