The National Gallery

The National Gallery began in eighteen twenty-four not as a grand institution, but as a collection of thirty-eight paintings housed inside a private townhouse at number one hundred Pall Mall. These works were purchased by the British government from the estate of a Russian-born banker named John Julius Angerstein. Because the original townhouse was cramped and quickly became overcrowded, the public frequently ridiculed it for its small size when compared to continental rivals like the Louvre in Paris. This pressure eventually led to the construction of the current building here at Trafalgar Square, which opened to the public in eighteen thirty-eight.