Christ Church Picture Gallery is an art gallery located inside Christ Church, a college of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England. The gallery holds an important collection of about 300 Old Master paintings and nearly 2,000 drawings. The gallery consists largely of Italian art from the 14th to 18th centuries. including paintings by famous artists such as

Fra Angelico Fra Angelico, O.P. (; ; born Guido di Pietro; 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent" ...

, Salvator Rosa and

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , ; ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana (Veronese), The Wedding ...

. The gallery also holds drawings by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, and a great range of other Italian and European artists, as well as a collection of

Russian icons Russian icons represent a form of religious art that developed in Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Christianity after Kievan Rus' Christianization of Kievan Rus', adopted the faith from the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in ...

. The greater part of the collection was bequeathed by a former member of the college, General John Guise, arriving after his death in 1765. Since then, the collection has been supplemented by several bequests, notably from William Fox-Strangways and

Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...

, both of thom donated 14th and 15th-century Italian paintings. The gallery is open to the public.

History

The picture gallery's collection was started by a bequest of 184 paintings and around 2000 drawings from General John Guise, a former Christ Church undergraduate and British army officer who had fought at the Battle of Oudenarde. His bequest consisted of Italian paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, with painters such as

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...

and

represented. The 14th and 15th-century paintings were donated by W. T. H. Fox-Strangways and

. Both men had lived in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

in the 1820s and 1830s where they collected art. Smaller bequests were made by Lord Frederick Campbell, Sir Richard Nosworthy, and others. C. R. Patterson donated his collection of 18th and 19th-century

2020 theft

On 14 March 2020, burglars broke into the gallery by night and stole 3 paintings; Salvator Rosa's ''A Rocky Coast'', ''with Soldiers Studying a Plan'',

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...

's '' A Soldier on Horseback'', and Annibale Carracci's ''A Boy Drinking.'' The estimated value of the stolen paintings is over £10 million. As of November 2022, the perpetrators have not been caught, and three empty frames hang in the gallery to mark where the stolen paintings were formerly displayed.

Building

The gallery is accessed inside

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, in the Canterbury Quadrangle near

Oriel Square Oriel Square, formerly known as Canterbury Square, Hibbert, Christopher, ''The Encyclopedia of Oxford''. London: Pan Macmillan, 1988, pp. 295–296. . is a square in central Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathed ...

. The current building was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and was opened in 1968. After the current building opened, the gallery first became open to the public.

References

External links

Christ Church Picture Gallery website
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Oxford Picture Gallery Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Museums of the University of Oxford Art museums and galleries established in 1968 1968 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in Oxford Christ Church Picture Gallery