Virtual Tour: Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London

We might not be able to go to art galleries but we can view art on screen through Virtual Tours of an Art Gallery.

I'm going to be doing a future blog post listing of those places where you can view the art in the gallery online.

Virtual Tour of National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing

First up is a Virtual Tour of the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing 

This is where you can find the Gallery's collection of Early Renaissance paintings from 1200 to 1500.

Renaissance is the French word for rebirth and can be associated with the concern in Italy for recreating the achievements of Antiquity whose art was seen as supreme. Historians usually refer to two periods, the Early and the High Renaissance, the earlier period coinciding approximately with the 15th century.

The term also applies generally to the more realistic style that was introduced by Masaccio and Donatello in Florence, and by extension, is sometimes used of works of the same period in Northern Europe, for example those of Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the Netherlands.

Figures became weightier and more three-dimensional, and the space they occupied was more convincingly constructed.

• It's powered by Oculus using Matterport's 3D camera technology - which means you can get a 3D experience
• Navigation is a bit tricky but perservere and you will get used to it. 
• Click the red circles to find out about the painting

See if you can find three of my favourite paintings.....

The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan by Eyck

The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van EyckOil on oak panel of 3 vertical boards
Dimensions 82.2 cm × 60 cm (32.4 in × 23.6 in);
panel 84.5 cm × 62.5 cm (33.3 in × 24.6 in)

Jan van Eyck is credited with originating a style of painting characterised by minutely realistic depictions of surface effects and natural light. This was made possible by using an oil medium, which allowed the building up of paint in translucent layers, or glazes.

• FIND OUT ABOUT The Arnolfini Portrait by viewing a video (4 minutes below)

The Wilton Diptych

The Wilton Diptych  by unknown artist
egg on oak, painted on both sides of each panel 53cm x 37cm

The Wilton Diptych (c. 1395–1399) is a small portable diptych of two hinged panels - painted on both sides - which fold together to protect the inner paintings.

READ ABOUT The Wilton Diptych on Wikipedia

The Battle of San Romano

The Battle of San Romano by Paulo Uccello
Tempera on panel, 320cm x 180cm

• See the Battle of San Romano up close
• Read 
• about Paulo Uccello (1397–1475), Italian painter and mathematician
• Technical Bulletin about Ucello's Battle of San Romano
• More images of parts of the painting on Wikimedia Commons

You can also explore room by room

To do this, you need to

• view the interactive map of the Sainsbury Wing - and then 
• click a room number and 
• review the paintings in that room.