Museum Masterpieces: The National Gallery, London

Explore the halls of London’s greatest museum with this visually rich and engaging course guided by a distinguished art historian.

Course Description

This course takes you on an inspiring tour through the National Gallery in London, home to one of the world’s most extraordinary collections of European painting. From medieval icons to Impressionist masterpieces, you will encounter artists who shaped Western art: Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Hogarth, Turner, Constable, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and many more. Each lecture explores the artworks in their cultural, historical, and stylistic contexts, showing how the National Gallery preserves not just masterpieces but also the story of European civilization.

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Lecture List

01: The Story of the National Gallery, London
Discover the museum’s fascinating history, from its founding to modern preservation and exhibition techniques.
Duration: 36 min

02: Late Medieval Painting
Explore the Sainsbury Wing collection (1250–1500) with its Italo-Byzantine masterpieces.
Duration: 30 min

03: Early Renaissance Italian Painting
See how Florence pioneered naturalism and perspective with works like Uccello’s Battle of San Romano.
Duration: 31 min

04: Netherlandish Portraits and Devotional Images
Study the optical realism of Jan van Eyck and Geertgen tot sint Jans.
Duration: 32 min

05: Florence—Center of 15th-Century Italian Art
Examine Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo, and Justus of Ghent’s artistic achievements.
Duration: 29 min

06: 15th-Century Venetian Art
Discover how Mantegna and Antonello da Messina emphasized light and color in Venetian art.
Duration: 33 min

07: The High Renaissance in Central Italy
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and other masters in their peak period.
Duration: 31 min

08: Titian and His Venetian Contemporaries
Highlights of Titian’s masterpieces, alongside early contemporaries.
Duration: 31 min

09: Venetian Masters—Tintoretto and Veronese
Masterworks of brushwork, light, and color in Venetian painting.
Duration: 29 min

10: Painting for the Courts, c. 1515–1575
Mannerist art by Correggio, Barocci, and others.
Duration: 33 min

11: Northern European Masters—Bosch to Bruegel
The intensity and innovation of Bosch, Holbein, and Bruegel.
Duration: 32 min

12: The Innovation of Carracci and Caravaggio
Rome’s artistic revival through Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus and Carracci’s works.
Duration: 29 min

13: The Rise of French Art—Poussin and Claude
Two major figures who combined landscape and history painting.
Duration: 31 min

14: Flemish Masters—Rubens and Van Dyck
Examine Rubens’s drama and Van Dyck’s refined court portraits.
Duration: 29 min

15: A Golden Age of Spanish Painting
El Greco, Zurbarán, Velázquez, and Murillo’s masterpieces.
Duration: 31 min

16: Dutch History, Portraiture, Genre Scenes
Explore the diverse subjects of Dutch Golden Age painting.
Duration: 28 min

17: Dutch Still Lifes, Townscapes, Landscapes
From Hobbema’s landscapes to Cuyp’s detailed scenes.
Duration: 30 min

18: The Genius of Rembrandt
Follow Rembrandt’s career across portraits, biblical scenes, and daily life.
Duration: 28 min

19: Venetian and Spanish Masters, c. 1740–1820
Explore Canaletto’s Venice, Melendez’s still lifes, and Goya’s portraits.
Duration: 29 min

20: The Charms of 18th-Century French Painting
Rococo elegance through Lancret, Boucher, and others.
Duration: 29 min

21: British Painting Comes of Age
Hogarth’s satire and Stubbs’s animal portraits.
Duration: 29 min

22: British and French Masters, c. 1785–1860
Nature and Romanticism with Constable, Gainsborough, Géricault, and Courbet.
Duration: 31 min

23: Impressionism in France
Impressionist icons: Manet, Monet, and Renoir.
Duration: 33 min

24: Post-Impressionism
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Degas, Seurat, and Rousseau’s innovations.
Duration: 35 min