Overview
Up until 1972, the National Art Gallery used representatives in London to advise them on the purchase of international works. These purchases were predominantly British. It was over this period that the majority of the International Paintings Collection was acquired.
Of the British painting, there are strengths in the area of Edwardian painting, Camden Town painting, and a small selection of early modern British works, including a strong selection of works by Frank Brangwyn and Stanley Spencer.
A significant exception to this British focus in this collection is a group of works by Russian artist Natalia Gontcharova. Individual paintings of particular note are John Singleton Copley’s Mrs Humphrey Devereux, John Webber’s Portrait of Captain Cook, and Anne Estelle Rice’s Portrait of Katherine Mansfield.