The collection
About four hundred paintings, of which a hundred and twenty hang at any one time. These are the ones visitors ask about most.
Faces from three centuries
Hung shoulder to shoulder in Room II, the way a family hall once held its likenesses. Nobody here is named on our walls: we look at the painting, not the pedigree.
House rule no. 3
Fewer labels, more benches. If a painting asks for ten minutes, there should be somewhere to sit for them.
Weather, water and long evenings
Valleys at dusk, harbours, fleets in a squall and farms under snow. Rooms IV and VIII are hung at a lower height, so every horizon sits close to your eye line.
Tables, windows and quiet work
Fruit on a ledge, flowers in the grass, a letter read by the window. Several of these are on loan to The Quiet Table until January.
Cleaned slowly, by hand
Our conservation studio sits behind a glass wall in the Garden Court. On Wednesday afternoons you can watch a painting being cleaned, a square centimetre at a time, and ask the conservator what they have found.
- Open studio, Wednesdays 14:00 to 16:00
- One painting in treatment at a time, named on the studio door
- Adopt a frame and your gift pays for its repair
Come in, and take your time
Doors open at ten. Thursdays stay open until nine, with the lights a little lower and the rooms a little quieter.
Under 18s and members walk in free