Queen Victoria will be the guest of honour at a family extravaganza at the Victoria Art Gallery to celebrate a major re-hang of the Upper Gallery.
Costumed characters from the Natural Theatre Company dressed as Queen Victoria and a top-hatted gentleman will parade around the Gallery, familiarising themselves with its 21st century visitors, for the grand re-opening on Saturday 5 May from 11am to 4pm.
Children can also dress up in Victorian aprons, waistcoats and hats, as well as taking part in a crown- and tiara-making workshop and tucking into a Queen Victoria cake.
The Victorian Celebration marks the completion of the Upper Gallery’s first major re-hang for six years.
The space has been temporarily closed from 17 April to 4 May while the paintings were taken down and the opportunity taken to redecorate the walls in a new colour (turquoise) which will enhance all aspects of the Upper Gallery’s wide ranging collection.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “This is a major project from Bath & North East Somerset Council which will transform the look and feel of the Upper Gallery. The main change in the new hang is that it will encompass European art alongside the Gallery’s British paintings. It’s a wonderful opportunity to revisit the Victoria Art Gallery and enjoy it in a whole new light.”
Old favourites like the beautiful ‘Adoration of the Magi’ by a follower of Hugo van der Goes are on display plus ‘Small Harbour Scene’ by Paul Klee – one of only a handful of his oil paintings on show in Britain.
The new arrangement also aims to do justice to one of the collection’s most important and popular highlights; Gainsborough’s newly conserved full length portrait of Captain William Wade, Master of Ceremonies at Bath’s Upper Assembly Rooms. The restoration reveals how Gainsborough had to take the picture back for alterations, adding architectural elements after receiving complaints that it was improper for a gentleman to wear formal dress in a landscape.
The re-opened first floor of the gallery also features a rediscovered painting by the important 20th century French artist Maurice de Vlaminck, which was purchased for just £28 in 1938 and has now been authenticated by Paris’s renowned Wildenstein Institute.
Also showing is a special group of paintings of the Bath Blitz by Stanley Haines, Clifford Ellis and Leslie Atkinson. This small display, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Bath Blitz, runs until 1 July.
The Victoria Art Gallery, near Pulteney Bridge in Bath, is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sundays 1.30pm to 5pm and closed on Mondays. Admission is free. For more details call 01225 477233 or visit the Gallery’s website http://www.victoriagal.org.uk.
