The Painter's View
Eastern Mediterranean and British
archaeology, 2300 BC - 1690 AD
In the galleries you can see pictures and sculptures spanning five centuries, from the Renaissance to the present day. The artists represented are mostly British, with the notable exception of a group of paintings from Belgium and the Netherlands from the 17th and 19th centuries. These were once owned by the Baron de Ferrieres, who founded the Art Gallery in 1898.
The Baron's taste for the fine detail at which the Dutch excelled is evident in pictures by Gerrit Dou, Gabriel Metsu and Jan Steen, among others. Flowers in a glass vase was painted around 1700 by Rachel Ruysch, a still life specialist and celebrated woman artist.
She and her contemporaries were interested in the close observation of nature and this continues in 19th-century Dutch paintings, such as those by Cornelis Springer and B C Koekkoek, whose work can also be seen.
The Cotswolds have inspired many painters, from the early 18th. century onwards. The pair of large panoramic views showing Dixton Manor and the adjoining countryside provide a fascinating insight into life on the land before mechanisation. No less impressive for its accuracy is Thomas Robins' bird's-eye view of Charlton Park, in which an embryonic Cheltenham nestles beyond the neatly laid-out estate.
In the Victorian era many local artists, such as Briton Riviere, were obliged to pursue their careers in London. At the turn of this century, however, the trend was reversed when painters returned to the countryside in order to escape city life. At Painswick near Cheltenham, Charles Gere and his halfsister Margaret formed an offshoot of the Birmingham School of artist-craftsmen, many of whom are portrayed in his picture The tennis party.
You can also see examples of modern movements in art, such as in the Post-Impressionist colouring of Vanessa Bell and the visionary style of Stanley Spencer.
Village life, Gloucestershire, 1940,
by Stanley Spencer
His Village life, Gloucestershire, with its portraits of himself and the women he loved, was a souvenir of his wartime visit to Leonard Stanley near Stroud and shows villagers witnessing the second coming of Christ.