The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House

The renowned art collection originally built up by the industrial magnate Samuel Courtauld in the 1920s, and since greatly expanded thanks to generous gifts and bequests, is now permanently housed in the splendid architectural surroundings of London's Somerset House. The nineteenth-century core of the collection reflects Samuel Courtauld's policy of buying paintings by the leading Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. As a result of subsequent expansion, the collection bearing Courtauld's name now also embraces important paintings ranging in period from the fourteenth century to the twentieth, including works by Bruegel, Rubens, Gainsborough, Goya, and Modigliani. This invaluable survey includes a representative selection of 77 paintings from all periods, each reproduced in color and accompanied by an authoritative note. An illustrated account of the growth of the collection and of the history of Somerset House has been provided by the Director of the Courtauld Gallery, John Murdoch.