Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake, National Gallery | reviews, news & interviews
Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake, National Gallery
Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake, National Gallery
An unsung hero of art history is commemorated
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Sir Charles Eastlake: painter, scholar, author, collector and translator, and the first director of the National GalleryAll images © National Gallery, London
We are still acknowledging our 21st-century debts to the energy, curiosity, determination and passion for discovery of a host of Victorian polymaths, and here is another. Sir Charles Eastlake (1793-1865) was a painter, scholar, author, collector and translator – fluent in German, French, Italian – and the first director of the National Gallery, rising above disputes with trustees and the government to set the scene for the role it plays today.
We are still acknowledging our 21st-century debts to the energy, curiosity, determination and passion for discovery of a host of Victorian polymaths, and here is another. Sir Charles Eastlake (1793-1865) was a painter, scholar, author, collector and translator – fluent in German, French, Italian – and the first director of the National Gallery, rising above disputes with trustees and the government to set the scene for the role it plays today.
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