It was an arrangement reminiscent of Sidney Smith’s Tate Gallery in London, designs for which had featured prominently in the 1894 Art Journal. The portico was modified from Vernon’s 1896 design, which involved paired Corinthian columns, half-fluted, standing on blocklike piers. On 24 March 1902 the keystone of the pediment above the entrance portico was laid. The entire southern elevation of the gallery was completed in 1901 with the opening of a long picture gallery (Court 12), with two domed sculpture galleries at each end (Courts 11 and 13). The lighting is almost perfect, designs for the roof having been furnished by London correspondents after careful study of all the latest improvements in European galleries’. By 1900, the International Art Notes reported ‘one wing of the building, about one fourth of the whole structure, is at present completed, and gives rich promise of future beauty … The interior is divided into four halls, each 100 feet by 30 feet, communicating with each other by pillared archways. Ĭonstruction then began immediately on Court 9, the largest unbroken exhibiting space in the suite of galleries, and Court 10, a replica of Court 8. Court 8 is divided into three internal spaces by arches sitting on pairs of Ionic columns. The Fairfax Galleries (Court 7) consist of two simple rooms with a small square chamber at the northern end (Court 6). The right wing of the facade, looking towards the portico, with the James Fairfax Galleries and Court 8 behind, was built between 18. Vernon’s designs were approved on 2 December 1895 and building works commenced on 13 April 1896. Opened to the public in 1859, this building was an elegant, low-lying neoclassical structure of the Ionic order that sat sympathetically within its semi-parkland setting. Architectural inspiration, according to the National Art Gallery of NSW trustees, should be taken from William Playfair’s National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. Vernon was under instruction to make his building ‘as strictly classical as possible’. This was erected to designs by government architect Walter Liberty Vernon, who had replaced James Barnet in 1890. It took 11 years before construction began on a fine sandstone building to encase Hunt’s unadorned ‘art barn’.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |