Dulwich Picture Gallery: The World’s First Purpose-Built Art Gallery

I recently paid a visit to the beautiful Dulwich Picture Gallery: the world’s oldest purpose-built art gallery.

Not only does it house an incredible art collection with works by Constable, Rembrandt and Gainsborough, but it has some incredible architecture to admire and even contains a mausoleum…

Early Origins: The Elizabethan Actor

In 1605 Edward Alleyn, a very wealthy actor, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, purchased the manor of Dulwich. In 1619 he founded the College of God’s Gift, today known as Dulwich College.

He bequeathed his art collection to the college upon his death in 1626, including many paintings of Kings and Queens of England, 26 of which still survive in the collection today. 

In 1686 another large donation of artworks was made to the college by, another actor, William Cartwright. 

Up until the early 1800s these paintings were displayed in the College itself. 

The Gallery’s Founding 

In 1790 two art dealers based in London called Sir Francis Bourgeois from Switzerland and his business partner Noël Desenfans from France were commissioned to create a National Collection of artworks for Poland by the King of Poland.

They travelled around Europe for years collecting artworks. Unfortunately by 1795 the Kingdom of Poland had been partitioned and ceased to exist as a state.

They tried to sell the collection to the Tsar of Russia to no avail and efforts from Desenfans to encourage the British to establish a national collection were also fruitless.

Desenfans and Bourgeois died in 1807 and 1810 respectively and the collection was left to Margaret Desenfans, his widow, along with £2000 and instructions to build a new gallery in Dulwich to display the works to the public.

Bourgeois also wanted his friend, architect Sir John Soane to design it. Margaret ended up having to also put in £4000 of her own money for the project to get it finished. 

The gallery opened to the public in 1817. 

Sir John Soane Designs The First Ever Public Art Gallery

Sir John Soane, best known for designing the Bank of England in the late 18th century, due to budget constraints, designed the building in a ‘plain and substantial manner’, with a raw brick exterior. 

The design consists of a series of interlinked rooms. The rooms are lit by skylights, to illuminate the paintings indirectly. 

There are also lots of Soane’s classic semi-circle details throughout. 

Remember, Soane was designing the first ever public art gallery, so there was no set template. His design in Dulwich has gone on to be very influential for architects designing art galleries since.

The Mausoleum

Soane also included a mausoleum for the founders, Margaret, her husband and Francis Bourgeois to be buried in. This is not a feature that caught on for subsequent galleries.

The idea came from the fact that after Noel died, Bourgeois had commissioned Soane to design a mausoleum in the Desenfans’ house but never received the necessary permission.

In World War Two extensive damage was caused to the gallery. The mausoleum and West wings were damaged by a V1 rocket in 1944 and bones were found scattered across the front lawn. The 3 coffins apparently today contain approximately one skeleton each. 

There is also a mysterious fourth coffin without a name on it.

A Design That May Look Familiar…

If you look at it from the outside, you can see that the top of the mausoleum is designed to recall an ancient funerary monument, surrounded by urns.

Does the design look familiar to you? In the 1920s Giles Gilbert Scott used this very Soane-esque design as inspiration for the iconic red telephone box. Scott was, for a time, a trustee of the Sir John Soane Museum.

You can see an example outside the gallery today so that you can compare! 

Sir John Soane’s own family tomb at St Pancras Old Church also has the same design. See photos here.

My Art Highlights

Here are just a few of my highlights from the collection.

I naturally loved the Canaletto paintings of 18th century London. This is a view of London from the terrace of Somerset House painted in 1750.

Note how many church spires can be seen over in the City and how St Paul’s Cathedral towers above all else.

This is a view of the old Westminster Bridge painted in 1750.

It depicts the Master of the Goldsmith’s Company river procession on Lord Mayor’s day. Westminster Abbey can be seen on the right with the four towers of St John Smith Square behind it to the left.

I liked this very sweet painting of a young Queen Victoria as a four year old girl.

It was painted by Stephen Denning in 1823 and despite her age was aimed to display the maturity of a future Queen.  

I also enjoyed the painting of Philip IV of Spain (1644) from the studio of Diego Velazquez.

The portrait shows the prominent ‘Habsburg jaw’, a genetic trait passed down through generations of the Habsburgs due to inbreeding. 

Visiting the Gallery

The gallery is a really lovely place to visit, not too big and in a beautiful location. The cafe was very nice too!

They are open 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday. Tickets are £15 for an adult, £7.50 if you’re under 30 and free for under 18’s.

The best way to get there from central London is by train, either London Bridge into North Dulwich or London Victoria to West Dulwich.

Find out more about visiting here. 

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