National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is an art museum, located in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1937 by the US Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W. Mellon in 1937; other donors were Lessing J. Rosenwald (22,000 prints and drawings), Samuel H. Kress, Paul Mellon and the late Ailsa Mellon Bruce, the son and daughter of the founder, Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch and Joseph E. Widener with more than 2,000 sculptures, paintings, decorative art, and porcelains. Two buildings comprise the National Gallery of Art: the West Building (architect John Russell Pope, 1941), and the East Building (architect I. M. Pei, 1978). The design for the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden was created by Laurie D. Olin, landscape architect.

Da Vinci, Ginevra dei Benci.

The Gallery's collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts is one of the finest art collections in the world. "The nucleus of the original collection was 21 masterpieces, once owned by Catherine II of Russia and purchased in the early 1930s by Mellon from the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. These works included the Annunciation (c.1434) by Jan van Eyck, Titian's Venus with a Mirror (1550-55), and Raphael's Alba Madonna (c.1511). The beautiful portrait Ginevra dei Benci (c.1475), the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere, is another highlight of the gallery's collection. The American art holdings include James A. M. Whistler's Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl (1862)." [1]

In its collection:

The Coming Storm by Winslow Homer, 1901.

> The Collectors Committee, an advisory group of private citizens, has made it possible to acquire paintings and sculpture of the twentieth century. Key works of art have also come to the Gallery through the Patrons' Permanent Fund. In addition, members of the Circle of the National Gallery of Art have provided funds for many special programs and projects. The Sculpture Garden is a gift to the nation from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. [2]

Other Masterpieces at the Gallery:

* The Small Cowper Madonna by Raphael.

* Portrait of Bindo Altoviti by Raphael.

* Rembrandt, Self Portrait (detail).

* Jacques-Louis David, Portrait of Napoleon.

* Eugene Boudin, Beach Scene at Trouville.

Thomas Moran, Green River Cliffs, Wyoming.

Green River Cliffs, Wyoming by Thomas Moran was acquired in 2011, as a gift of the Milligan and Thomson Families. [3]

## See also[edit]

* American Painting
* Gallery of American Masterpieces
* American landscapes painting

## External links[edit]

* Congressman Mica’s quest pits FTC against National Gallery.
* The National Gallery Sculpture Garden.
* National Gallery of Art.