Take five: eras in the history of the National Gallery

IN April 1824, Parliament approved an expenditure of £60,000 to buy 38 paintings from the heirs of the late John Julius Angerstein, leasing his townhouse in Pall Mall to display them. The National Gallery was born and this, as MP Joseph Hume put it, rescued ‘the country from a disgrace which the want of such an establishment had long entailed upon it’. The museum opened about a month later, on May 10, 1824.

Victorian era: the Gallery moved to Trafalgar Square in 1838. Sir Charles Eastlake— appointed keeper in 1843, director in 1855—extended the collection with Dutch, Flemish and early Italian works. In 1880, director Frederic Burton bought Leonardo’s The Virgin of the Rocks from Lord Suffolk

Early 20th century: in 1906, the National Art Collections Fund bought Diego Velázquez’s

The Toilet of Venus as its first purchase for the gallery. The museum remained open during the First World War, albeit moving some paintings to secure storage. In 1924, on its first centenary, it acquired van Gogh’s

Sunflowers and Raphael’s

The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels

Second World War: all paintings were evacuated 10 days before the start of hostilities; the building was bombed nine times between October 1940 and April 1941. In March 1942, the gallery mounted its first Picture of the Month exhibition (Titian’s Noli me tangere) to boost national morale

Mid–late 20th century: Tate, hitherto part of the museum, became independent in 1955. The gallery’s northern extension opened in 1975, with the Sainsbury Wing completed in 1991

Contemporary: On May 10, the National Gallery will launch its NG200 celebrations with 12 simultaneous exhibitions at venues throughout the UK