The Victoria Art Gallery is a public

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

in Bath,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and houses over 1,500 objects of art including a collection of oil paintings from British artists dating from 1700 onwards. The ground floor was at one time a public library.

The gallery

The building was designed in 1897 by John McKean Brydon, and has been designated as a Grade II*

. It originally was partly used as a public library but was converted in 1990 to house and display only art works. The building is constructed of limestone

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

rendered in its upper half and occupies a corner site. It is a two storey building with an attic tower with a lead-covered dome. There are nine bays on Bridge Street and one on Grand Parade and each floor consists mainly of one large rectangular room. A flight of stone steps rises to the circular entrance hall which leads to the former library. The main stair is approached through an arch and is a seventeenth century revival stair made of mahogany with bulbous balusters. The ceiling is barrel-vaulted. The upper landing has Ionic marble columns and a coffered dome, embossed with signs of the

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

in relief. The Upper Gallery is lit by a range of skylights and has a coved ceiling, a copy in plaster of the Parthenon frieze, and a panelled dado with

triglyph Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...

s. The exterior of the building includes niches, the central niche being larger and flanked with Ionic columns and pilasters, holding a statue of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, by Andrea Carlo Lucchesi, and friezes of classical figures by

George Anderson Lawson George Anderson Lawson (Edinburgh 1832 – 23 September 1904) was a British Victorian era sculptor who was associated with the New Sculpture movement. Life He was born at Edinburgh in 1832, the son of David Lawson and Anne Campbell. He wa ...

on either side. The council offices, the

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 ...

, continue the building to the south-west. The Gallery was named to celebrate Queen Victoria's sixty years on the throne. It is run by

Bath and North East Somerset Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. Th ...

council and houses their collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. There are two main galleries, the Upper Gallery and the Lower Gallery, linked by an imposing

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

hallway and grand staircase.

The collection

The collection includes over 1,500 decorative arts treasures including a display of British oil paintings from 17th century to the present day including works by

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

Thomas Jones Barker Thomas Jones Barker (19 April 1813 – 29 March 1882) was an English historical, military, and portrait painter. The Barkers of Bath Thomas Jones Barker was born at Bath in 1815, into a family of artists. His grandfather, Benjamin Barker, was ...

and

Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...

. Other items on display include sculptures, glassware and decorative artistic objects. Cuts to funding from central government now mean that it has introduced charges for entrance to temporary exhibitions for the first time since the gallery was opened. Either of the two galleries are available for hire as venues for wedding ceremonies or drinks receptions.

Selected exhibitions

Temporary exhibitions at the gallery have included: * ''

Grayson Perry Grayson Perry (born 1960) is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, and cross-dressing, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "pre ...

: The Vanity of Small Differences'' (9 January – 10 April 2016) * ''James Tower Ceramic Artist: A Centenary Celebration'' (21 September – 24 November 2019) * ''

Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the la ...

and the Masters of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

'' (15 February – 26 May 2020) * ''

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...

, Minton, Ryan: Unholy Trinity'' (10 July – 19 September 2021) * ''From Hogarth to

Hodgkin Hodgkin is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (1914–1998), British physiologist and biophysicist * Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1994), British chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964, wife of Th ...

: Our Best Prints'' (5 March – 4 May 2022)

Gallery

File:Victoriaartgallerysideview.JPG, The side of the gallery showing the old entrance and statue of Queen Victoria File:Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, foyer.jpg, Foyer of the gallery Art Gallery and Library, Bath 02.jpg, Plan of the Gallery

References

External links

Museum website
{{Authority control Museums in Bath, Somerset Art museums and galleries in Somerset Decorative arts museums in England Grade II listed buildings in Bath, Somerset 1900 establishments in England Buildings and structures completed in 1900 Art museums established in 1900