this spectacular room at the National Gallery is reopening after 2 years
the Julia and Hans Rausing Room has been given a £4 million face lift
the National Gallery reopens on Wednesday, after over 100 days of closure due to the coronavirus lockdown. but one gallery has waited even longer to welcome visitors.
the newly-renamed Julia and Hans Rausing Room is the National’s largest gallery and it’s been closed for nearly two years for a major refurbishment. it’s one of their most visited spaces thanks to housing the 17th-century Italian Baroque collection. this is the room to see works by artists including Caravaggio, Artemisia and Orazio Gentileschi, Guido Reni and Guercino.
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the purpose of the major renovation was to reinstate the original decorative scheme of its architect, Edward M Barry (1830–1880), as seen in a painting of 1886 (on loan from the Government Art Collection). the dark red wall cloth, the ornate painted frieze and the lunettes (half-moon shaped spaces whose designs here alternate winged lions with dolphins), have all been reinstated according to the original colour scheme. the plaster decoration has even been tip-gilded with 23.5 carat gold leaf.
photo: @maxwellmuseums
it’s been nearly 30 years since this room was last restored. measuring 34 by 12 metres, it was always intended to display paintings on a grand scale. that grandeur is most certainly back, and in their 5-star review at the weekend, the Times called it “lavishly restored, richly rehung” and that the “experience it offers is mesmerising.” The Director of the National Gallery Gabriele Finaldi told Apollo magazine “It’s difficult to describe how splendid that room now looks compared to what it was like when we closed it just over two years ago.” it was very much the backdrop of choice for photographs from the press view at the weekend.
the big draw here will also be Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (about 1615–17) which the Gallery acquired in 2018.
Julia and Hans Rausing, who get naming rights after donating £4 million to the restoration, say ‘We are pleased to have been able to support the restoration of Room 32 back to its original colour schemes and thank all those involved over the past 21 months at the National Gallery. the refurbished room provides a wonderful backdrop to paintings by the foremost Italian painters of the 17th-century.”
photo: @maxwellmuseums
you can see this spectacular new space for yourself from Wednesday. but, you’ll need to book ahead and follow the much publicised social distancing guidelines.
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