The Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London is one of the city's more reclusive gems. Located in the midst of the financial district, the gallery is off the more obvious tourist routes, and is a wonderfully peaceful and intriguing place to visit as a result.
The Corporation of London Art Collection
A custom-designed building, opened in 1999, the Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the Corporation of London, amassed since the 1600s, as well as the remains of London's Roman amphitheatre. The gallery is now free to enter, having scrapped entrance charges in April 2011, and is subsequently seeing an increase in visitors. Yet the building, for all its impressive design, retains something of its secretive air.
The free tours take place on Friday afternoons, and last for roughly an hour, starting at 12.15pm. Small groups get up close and personal with painters such Millais, Tissot, Copley and Rossetti. It isn’t possible to see all 4,500 paintings in the Guildhall's collection, or even the roughly 250 paintings which are on show – that would take rather longer than an hour. Instead, the tours focus on a selection of the guide's favourites and it has to be said, on the evidence of my visit, the man has taste.
Millais's charming portraits of his daughter drew smiles. The First Sermon sees five year-old Effie bright and attentive in her pew, while The Second Sermon sees her fast asleep. The novelty of church-going had clearly worn off. Other paintings in the tour included Dante Gabriel Rossetti's portrait of doomed love, La Ghirlandata, James Tissot's depiction of social awkwardness Too Early and, of course, John Singleton Copley's Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, one of the largest paintings in Britain. When the gallery was rebuilt in the 1990s, the architects were given a precise brief – incorporate a space large enough for the Copley.
London’s Roman Amphitheatre
The tours finish in the basement, where the remains of London's Roman amphitheatre are preserved in situ. It was long known that London had an amphitheatre, but it wasn't until digging for the new gallery's foundations began in 1988 that archaeologists discovered its precise location. Now a Scheduled Monument and World Heritage Site, the amphitheatre has given up some of the last secrets of Roman London. Finds include brooches and belt buckles, hair pins and food bowls, coins and cups. Most of the finds are now in the Museum of London. Extraordinarily, a sizable portion of the timber drains survive.
Venturing back upstairs, past the statues of Henry Irving and Geoffrey Chaucer, it's tempting to linger. The gallery has generous seating on which to perch and contemplate, so there's no reason not to indulge.
The Guildhall Art Gallery is at Guildhall Yard, and is open from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and from 12 noon to 4pm on Sundays. The nearest tube stations are Bank and St Paul's.
Paris Franz - Paris Franz is a London-based freelance journalist, specialising in the arts, history and travel.
