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The 'Royal Collection' is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is technically not the private property of the monarch, being held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as tapestries, furniture, ceramics, books, and other works of art. It is physically dispersed between a number of locations some, like Hampton Court Palace open to the public and not lived in by the Royal Family, whilst others like Windsor Castle are both residences and open to the public. The Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London exists to show displays and exhibitions fromn the collection for several months at a time.

Contents

History

Collection Highlights

Paintings, Prints and Drawings

Furniture

Decorative Arts

Sculpture

Management

Gallery

References

External links

History

Few items survive from before King Henry VIII. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a passionate collector of Italian paintings, and a major patron of Van Dyck and other artists. His collection was sold after his execution in 1649, but large numbers of works were recovered for the collection after the Restoration of 1660. George III added very large numbers, especially of prints and drawings, and Queen Victoria and her husband Albert were keen collectors of contemporary and old master paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria and Albert.

Collection Highlights

Paintings, Prints and Drawings

''Anglo-American''
:
★ West, Benjamin - 60 paintings;
''Dutch School (200+ works)'' ^[1]
:
★ Cuyp, Aelbert - 7 paintings;
:
★ Borch, Gerard ter - 2 paintings;
:
★ Dou, Gerrit - 4 paintings;
:
★ Hals, Frans - 1 paintings;
:
★ Hobbema, Meyndert - 2 paintings;
:
★ Hooch, Pieter de - 3 paintings;
:
★ Metsu, Gabriel - 1 painting;
:
★ Mytens, Daniel - 2 paintings;
:
★ Ostade, Adriaen van - 5 paintings;
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★ Rembrandt van Rijn - 6 paintings;
:
★ Ruysdael, Salomon van - 1 painting;
:
★ Ruisdael, Jacob van - 1 painting;
:
★ Steen, Jan - 7 paintings;
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★ Vermeer, Johannes - 1 painting;
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★ Velde, Adriaen van de - 4 paintings;
:
★ Velde, Willem van de...the Younger - 7 paintings;
:
★ Weenix, Jan - 1 painting;
:
★ Wouwerman, Philip - 5 paintings;
''Flemish School''
:
★ Bruegel, Jan - 1 painting;
:
★ Bruegel, Pieter - 1 painting;
:
★ Frans Francken the Younger - 1 painting;
:
★ Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger - 1 painting;
:
★ Gossaert, Jan - 1 painting;
:
★ Massys, Quentin - 1 painting;
:
★ Memling, Hans - 1 painting'
:
★ Rubens, Peter Paul - 13 paintings, 5 drawings;
:
★ Teniers, David - 5 paintings;
:
★ Van Dyck, Anthony - 26 paintings;

''English School''
:
★ Beechey, William - 17 paintings;
:
★ Gainsborough, Thomas - 30 paintings, also a rare mythological work Diana and Actaeon;
:
★ Hogarth, William - 3 paintings;
:
★ Hoppner, John - 7 paintings;
:
★ Kneller, Sir Godfrey - 15 paintings;
:
★ Landseer, Sir Edwin - 100 paintings and drawings;
:
★ Lawrence, Thomas - 50 paintings;
:
★ Lely, Peter - 20 paintings;
:
★ Reynolds, Joshua - 20 paintings;
:
★ Stubbs, George - 18 paintings;
''French School''
:
★ Clouet, François - 3 paintings;
:
★ Dughet, Gaspard - 3 paintings;
:
★ Gellée, Claude - 5 paintings;
:
★ Liotard, Jean-Étienne - 16 paintings;
:
★ Monet, Claude - 1 painting;
:
★ Poussin, Nicolas - A large collection of his drawings at Windsor, second only to that in the Musée du Louvre;
:
★ Tour, Georges de la - 1 painting;

''Italian School''
:
★ Allori, Alessandro - 1 painting;
:
★ Angelico, Fra - 1 painting;
:
★ Bassano, Jacopo - 4 paintings;
:
★ Bellini, Giovanni - 1 painting;
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★ Bernini, Gianlorenzo - 50 drawings;
:
★ Borromini, Francesco - 100 drawings;
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★ Bronzino, Agnolo - 1 painting;
:
★ Canaletto, (Giovanni Antonio Canal) - Over 50 paintings and 140 drawings, the greatest collection in the world;
:
★ Carlevaris, Luca - 4 paintings;
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★ Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da - 2 paintings;
:
★ Carracci, Agostino, Annibale and Ludovico - 5 paintings, more than 350 drawings;
:
★ Caravaggio, Polidoro da - 9 paintings;
:
★ Castiglione, Giovanni Benedetto - 260 drawings;
:
★ Correggio, Antonio Allegri - 2 paintings;
:
★ Daddi, Bernardo - 1 painting;
:
★ Domenichino, Zapieri - 1 painting, 1,700 Domenichinos in thirty-four albums, the Royal Collection’s largest holdings by a single artist;
:
★ Duccio di Buoninsegna - 1 painting;
:
★ Gentile da Fabriano - 1 painting;
:
★ Fetti, Domenico - 3 paintings;
:
★ Guercino, (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) - 1 painting, and largest group of Guercino drawings in the world, some 400 sheets, as well as 200 by his assistants and 200 other works;
:
★ Giordano, Luca - 12 paintings;
:
★ Leonardo da Vinci - 600 drawings, finest collection of Da Vinci drawings in the world; ^[2]
:
★ Longhi, Pietro - 2 paintings;
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★ Lotto, Lorenzo - 1 painting;
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★ Mantegna, Andrea - 9 canvases known as The Triumphs of Caesar
:
★ Michelangelo Buonarroti - 20 drawings;
:
★ Parmigianino - 2 paintings and 30 drawings
:
★ Pesellino, Francesco - 1 painting;

:
★ Raphael, (Raffaello Sanzio) - 8 Paintings, as well as an extensive collection of drawings. ''There are seven full-size cartoons for the tapestries designed to hang in the Sistine Chapel. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Raphael attained the zenith of his reputation. Consequently, the Raphael Cartoons have became some of the most famous, and widely imitated, paintings in the world. Since 1865 they have been on loan from the Royal Collection to the V&A.'';
:
★ Raffaellino del Garbo - 1 painting;
:
★ Reni, Guido - 1 painting;
:
★ Ricci, Sebastiano - 6 paintings;
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★ Romano, Giulio - 6 paintings;
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★ Sacchi, Andrea - 130 drawings;
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★ Sarto, Andrea del - 2 paintings
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★ Strozzi, Zanobi - 1 painting;
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★ Tintoretto, Jacopo - 3 painting;
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★ Titian, (Tiziano Vecelli) - 4 paintings;^[3]
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★ Vaga, Perino del - 2 paintings;
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★ Vasari, Giorgio - 1 painting;
:
★ Veronese, Paolo - 1 painting;

:
★ Verrio, Antonio - 1 painting;
:
★ Zuccarelli, Francesco - 27 paintings, together with 8 works collaborated with Antonio Visentini;
''German School''
:
★ Dürer, Albrecht - 1 painting;
:
★ Holbein, Hans - 7 paintings, 80 drawings and 5 miniatures;
:
★ Lucas Cranach the Elder - 2 paintings
:
★ Winterhalter, Franz Xaver - 120 paintings, 20 drawings & watercolours;
:
★ Zoffany, Johan - 17 paintings;

Furniture

:
★ André-Charles Boulle - Several examples
:
★ Jean Henri Riesener - Roll-Top Desk
:
★ Adam Weisweiler - Pietra Dura commode as well as other pieces

Decorative Arts

:
★ Fabergé - One of the best collections in the world;
:
★ Sèvres Porcelain - probably the best collection in the world;
:
★ Chelsea porcelain - complete service completed 1763
:
★ Gobelins Tapestry - Sets of: Don Quixote, Jason and the Golden Fleece & Les Amours des Dieux

Sculpture

:
★ Canova - 3 works: Mars and Venus, Dirce & Fountain Nymph
:
★ John Gibson - Queen Victoria

Management

'The Royal Collection Department' is part of the Royal Household, responsible for the cataloguing, conservation, cleaning, restoration and display of the books, pictures, sculptures and other works of art collected by the British Royal Family. Buildings do not come under its remit.

Gallery

;'Paintings'

References

1. http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000293.php
2. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1860869,00.html
3. http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=381

External links

★ Offical Site