Author Description

The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, was opened to the public in 1877, primarily to show the annual Autumn Exhibitions of the Royal Liverpool Academy. Many British contemporary works were purchased through this means - a selection process which was often farsighted and adventurous, and which continued well into the 20th century. Not surprisingly high and late Victorian art is strongly represented in the Gallery's holdings. There is a stunning collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, including works by Millais, Burne-Jones and Rossetti, among others. Through the acquisition of earlier art collections, many delightful pieces from other periods can also be found here, such as a quartet of Old Master paintings: a Rembrandt self-portrait, Rubens's Virgin and Child with St Elizabeth and the Child Baptist, a fine late Poussin landscape and one of Murillo's most endearing Virgin and Child panels. There are 17th-century Dutch landscapes, and a fine collection of early Italian and Mannerist paintings. This century has seen the purchase of paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Monet and Seurat, as well as Nicholson, Nash, and Hockney. It is the Victorian galleries that provide the core of the collection, however. Among these are Millais' Isabella, Dante's Dream by Rossetti and the ever-popular And when did you last see your father? by William Yeames. Together with some excellent 18th-century British pieces they make the Walker one of the finest collections of British art.