Christ Church Picture Gallery is an art gallery located inside Christ Church, a college of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England. The gallery holds an important collection of about 300 Old Master paintings and nearly 2,000 drawings. The Gallery consists largely of Italian art from the 14th to 18th centuries. including paintings by famous artists such as

Fra Angelico Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his '' Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent".Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists''. Pengu ...

, Salvator Rosa and Paolo Veronese. The Gallery also holds drawings by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, and a great range of other Italian and European artists, as well as a collection of

Russian icons The use and making of icons entered Ancient Rus' following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity in AD 988. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by Byzantine art, led from the capital in Constantinople. A ...

. The greater part of the collection was bequeathed by a former member of the college, General John Guise, arriving after his death in 1765. Since then, the collection has been supplemented by several bequests, notably from William Fox-Strangways and

Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...

, both of thom donated 14th and 15th-century Italian paintings. The Gallery is open to the public.

History

The picture gallery's collection was started by a bequest of 184 paintings and around 2000 drawings from General John Guise, a former Christ Church undergraduate and British army officer who had fought at the Battle of Oudenarde. His bequest consisted of Italian paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, with painters such as

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed with ...

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

and Paolo Veronese represented. The 14th and 15th-century paintings were donated by W. T. H. Fox-Strangways and

. Both men had lived in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in the 1820s and 1830s where they collected art. Smaller bequests were made by

Lord Frederick Campbell Lord Frederick Campbell (20 June 1729 – 8 June 1816) was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was lord clerk register of Scotland, 1768–1816; Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Burghs (1761–1780) and for Argyllshire (1780–1799). B ...

, Sir Richard Nosworthy, and others. C. R. Patterson donated his collection of 18th and 19th-century

2020 theft

On 14 March 2020, burglars broke into the Gallery by night and stole 3 paintings; Salvator Rosa's ''A Rocky Coast'', ''with Soldiers Studying a Plan'',

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

's ''

A Soldier on Horseback ''A Soldier on Horseback'' is a c. 1616 painting by Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck. It was held at Christ Church Picture Gallery until its theft in March 2020. The painting's empty frame now hangs at its former location in the Gallery. Histor ...

'', and Annibale Carracci's ''A Boy Drinking.'' The estimated value of the stolen paintings is over £10 million. As of November 2022, the perpetrators have not been caught, and three empty frames hang in the gallery to mark where the stolen paintings were formerly displayed.

Building

The Gallery is accessed inside

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, in the

Canterbury Quadrangle The Canterbury Quadrangle is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It stands on the site of the former Canterbury College. A Brief History of Christ Church p.8 On the west side is Christ Church Library, whose north façade ...

near

Oriel Square Oriel Square, formerly known as Canterbury Square,Hibbert, Christopher, ''The Encyclopedia of Oxford''. London: Pan Macmillan, 1988, pp. 295–296. . is a square in central Oxford, England, located south of the High Street. The name was changed ...

. The current building was designed by Philip Powell and

Hidalgo Moya John Hidalgo Moya (5 May 1920 – 3 August 1994), sometimes known as Jacko Moya, was an American-born architect who lived and worked largely in England. Biography Born 5 May 1920 in Los Gatos, California, US, to an English mother and Mexican f ...

, and was opened in 1968. After the current building opened, the gallery first became open to the public.

References

External links

Christ Church Picture Gallery website
Art museums and galleries in Oxford Picture Gallery Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Museums of the University of Oxford Art museums established in 1968 1968 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in Oxford Christ Church Picture Gallery {{coord , 51.7507, -1.2545, scale:1000_region:GB, display=title