About National Gallery
The collection started modestly: in 1824, the British government bought 38 paintings from the Angerstein collection. Today there are about 2,300, and the building designed by William Wilkins, opened in 1838, still keeps its facade on Trafalgar Square pretty much as it was, with the square serving as an open-air waiting room.
Start at the Sainsbury Wing, a 1991 addition devoted to Renaissance painting, and then go hunting for a few heavyweights: Holbein's The Ambassadors, Velázquez's The Toilet of Venus (the Rokeby Venus) and Piero della Francesca's The Baptism of Christ. Since entry is free, no one expects you to see it all.
