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The National Gallery is a must. Its facade dominates Trafalgar
Square,  where many celebrations and rallies take place.  You
must have seen this  facade on TV News.  The Gallery's  huge
collection of old master paintings includes many key works of
the Renaissance:  The Arnolfini Marriage Group,  a cartoon by
Leonardo da Vinci and one of two versions of  The Madonna of
The  Rocks  (see Tondi 3).  Constable is here.  His landscapes
come alive when light strikes blobs of paint to reveal leaves. 

The British Museum houses our plunder from the days when
we still had an empire.  The Greeks want their marbles back,
but we're not playing ball. Now, ignore all the archaeological
stuff and go round to the back door. Up a flight of stairs you
will find an Art Gallery. This doesn't house a static collection.
One month it may exhibit  Chinese watercolours or Japanese
prints, the next Indian art or sketches by a old master. Each
visit will open your eyes to a different aspect of world art.    

Royal Academy of Arts: home of Michelangelo's Tondo Taddei
(see Tondi 2) also called The Virgin and Child with the Infant
St John.  The  R.A. owns a great collection of works by its old
boys, including Constable.  Its annual Summer Exhibition (of
contemporary  art)  runs from  June to  August.  Some of the
daubs are utter rubbish, but there is enough good quality art
to make a visit  worthwhile.  Using acrylic paints can produce
spectacular results.  And don't miss the room of miniatures.  
R.A. Annual Summer Exhibition 2008: 9 June to 17 August.  

The Victoria and Albert Museum,  now known as the  V & A,
houses a wonderful collection of arts and crafts:  everything
from netsuki to ironwork.  Visit the  Cast Room to gape at a
superb collection of famous statues - copies of the originals
- including  Davids by Donatello and Michelangelo.  There is
also a small collection of beautiful terracotta statuettes and
a new  Sculpture Gallery  is due to open this Spring.  While
here  (South Kensington)  all you need do is cross  the road
to view the most spectacular building since the Taj Mahal...

...The Natural History Museum,  where the  dinosaurs hang
out.  Neither taxidermy nor palaeontology strikes me as an
artform (sorry, stuffers and bone-pinners), but 3 awesome
exhibits must qualify: a life-sized model of a blue whale in
the Whale Hall,  a huge  buddha-like foetus in a womb you
enter (with heartbeat) and a snapping and snarling T. rex.

Dulwich College Picture Gallery: this award-winning gallery
houses a major collection of old master paintings including
Poussin's  The Nurture of Jupiter (one way to milk a goat!),
Two Peasant Boys  by Murillo  and  Gainsborough's brilliant
portrait  The Linley Sisters:  dreamy Mrs Sheridan and pert
and enticing Mrs Tickell. How many artists could catch such
distinctive  personalities when painting two pretty women?
Murillo's Flower Girl is here. Without false sentiment Murillo
conveys the wistful,  careworn look of a  working-class girl.

Kenwood House: restyled by Robert Adam. The Adam library
is a work of art in itself.  The Iveagh Bequest has  Vermeer's
Guitar  Player  among its  treasures.  Visit in spring when the
daffodils bloom. Lakeside classical concerts are performed on
summer evenings,  but stock up on insect repellant:  midges
ate my Jack Russell terrier!    We scratched for a week!   
No concerts in 2008,  because of local residents' complaints!

The William Morris Gallery in Lloyd Park, Walthamstow, is off
the path beaten by most tourists.  It's for anyone interested
in the  Arts and Crafts  Movement  and the  Pre-Raphaelites.
There is a small  collection of  Rodin  sculptures.  Lloyd Park,
though limited,  boasts a good collection of  waterfowl,  with
mandarin ducks and black  Australian swans.  Take a picnic.

The Horniman Museum is something of an oddity.  It houses
three disparate collections:  Ethnography  (art and artifacts),
Natural History and Musical Instruments. What have beetles,
violins and  Japanese  masks got in common?  The Horniman
Museum.  If you  want  variety,  here it is.  If you have  been
brainwashed into believing that religion is a good thing, view
the  Spanish  Inquisition  torture chair and think again!  This
ghastly relic represents just one of the pogroms in Europe.   

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, has a huge collection
of nautical paintings, from artistically uninteresting copies of
ships to dramatic sea battles of the highest quality. It has at
least one Canaletto.  The  Painted Hall in the old Royal Naval
College is awesome.  The  Queen's House, designed by Inigo
Jones in 1616,  contains the UK's first cantilevered staircase.

Whitechapel Art Gallery in the East End, where the Ripper did
his thing,  is determinedly avant-garde.  Many of its displays
show less  artistic merit than a  Soho  stripjoint,  but its best
exhibitions are memorable.  If you're into modern art,  try it.

Kew Gardens has a major collection of botanical illustrations.
The gardens are magnificent.  Visit in May or June  when the
rhododendrons are in bloom.  Kew Palace reopened in 2006,
after extensive restoration.  There are hothouses, statues....

Open House is not a place  but an event,  in mid September.
Buildings large and small  that are usually shut to the public
open their doors to reveal their  treasures for one  weekend.
You must live for 700  years to see them all,  so choose with
care.  Get a free booklet listing the venues from any library.
For more information see their websites

National Gallery, London - Royal Academy of Arts
The British Museum - Victoria and Albert Museum
Natural History Museum - Dulwich Picture Gallery
Kenwood House - The National Maritime Museum
William Morris Gallery  -   The Horniman Museum
Whitechapel Art Gallery   -   Open House London
Kew Gardens - Queen's Gallery,  Royal Collection

      Last revision: 17 March 2008      

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