The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, England. The museum is located in the

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, b ...

area of the City of London. It is a stone building in a semi-Gothic style intended to be sympathetic to the historic

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

, which is adjacent and to which it is connected internally.

History

The

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

had commissioned and collected portraits since 1670, originally to hang in the

. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Corporation's art collections grew through gifts and bequests to include history paintings and other genres of art. The first purpose-built gallery for displaying the collection was completed in . This building was destroyed in

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

in 1941, resulting in the loss of 164 paintings, drawings, watercolours, and prints, and 20 sculptures. It was not until 1985 that the City of London Corporation decided to redevelop the site and build a new gallery. The building was designed in a postmodern style by the British architect

Richard Gilbert Scott Richard Gilbert Scott (12 December 1923 – 1 July 2017) was a British architect, born in London, the son of Giles Gilbert Scott and great-grandson of the great Gothic Revival architect George Gilbert Scott. He was educated at Harrow, Chart ...

. The new facility, which was intended to house a collection of about 4,000 items, was completed in . The centrepiece of the collection, John Singleton Copley's huge painting depicting '' The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar'', was placed in a prominent position in the entrance hall of the gallery.

Vivien Knight Vivien Margaret Knight (9 November 1953 – 18 December 2009), was a British art historian and gallerist, and the head of the Guildhall Art Gallery, from 1983 until her death. Early life Knight was born on 9 November 1953, at Solihull Hospital, ...

was head of the Gallery, from 1983 until her death in 2009.

Amphitheatre

The Guildhall complex was built on the site of London's Roman amphitheatre, and some of the remains of this are displayed ''in situ'' in a room in the basement of the art gallery.

References

External links

* * Art museums and galleries in London Roman London Museums in the City of London Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Archaeological museums in London Art museums established in 1885 1885 establishments in England {{UK-art-display-stub

History

Amphitheatre

See also

References

External links