Major art booty at Buckingham Palace
One thing royalty are good at is collecting decent art, especially royalty of the British kind. Only Elton John comes close. One can only imagine the hours Her Maj spends fingering the Royal Collection in-between episodes of Pointless.
And now, in a move that some people are calling ‘unprecedented’ and ‘how nice’, 65 paintings from said right Royal Collection that normally reside in Buckingham Palace’s Picture Gallery have been shifted by heavy-set men to The Queen’s Gallery (because the former’s being dollied up to ‘to ensure the building is fit for the future as an official residence of the Sovereign and a national asset for generations to come’) and our current sovereign has said us lot can go and take a look.
Featuring artists even contestants on Ant ‘n’ Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway have heard of, including Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Dyck, Canaletto, names, names, names, 34 of the paintings were acquired by George IV, who also commissioned John Nash to do a Grand Designs on Buckingham Palace’s back bottom to turn it into the principal royal palace in the 1820s and, while he was at it, create the Picture Gallery to show off the good stuff.
They’re calling it Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace, it runs from 4th December until 31st January 2021, and if you’re in luck you’ll clock Princess Beatrice dusting the nick nacks.
And can you imagine the gift shop?
Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace
The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 4 December 2020 – 31 January 2022.
Details + Tickets: www.rct.uk
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