National Gallery Receives Gift of Three Swiss Paintings, Including First Kauffmann History Painting
On July 1, 2026, the National Gallery in London announced a gift of three paintings from Dallas-based collectors Richard and Luba Barrett, featuring the first history painting by Angelica Kauffmann to enter a UK national collection. 'Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes' (1787–8) is also the first work by the 18th-century Swiss-born artist to join the Gallery’s current collection; a previous Kauffmann bequeathed in 1835 was destroyed in the Plymouth Blitz in 1941. The gift also includes 'Portrait of Louis Montchal' (1885), the first painting by Swiss modernist Ferdinand Hodler to enter the National Gallery, and 'Four Large Trees' (before 1850) by Alexandre Calame. All three works go on display from July 2, 2026.
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The Barrett gift strategically expands the National Gallery’s holdings of Swiss art, adding a female Old Master rarely represented in British public collections. Kauffmann’s preparatory oil for a commission by Catherine the Great underscores her standing as a founding Royal Academy member. Hodler’s portrait joins his landscape acquired in 2022, bolstering the Gallery’s representation of turn-of-the-century Symbolist modernism. Calame’s tree study reinforces the Gallery’s position as the largest British holder of his works, reflecting an institutional investment in Swiss landscape traditions spanning the 18th and 19th centuries.
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- Artists: Angelica Kauffmann, Ferdinand Hodler, Alexandre Calame
- People: Richard Barrett, Luba Barrett, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, Louis Montchal, Catherine the Great
- Museums: National Gallery, Tate Britain, Scientific-Research Museum of the Academy of Arts of Russia
- Locations: London, Dallas, St Petersburg, Plymouth, Geneva
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