National Art Gallery, Corfu Island has evolved into one of the well known Tourist Attractions in Corfu Island which is frequently visited by tourists in large numbers. The National Art Gallery and the adjoining Alexandros Soutzos Museum will give you a vivid insight into the history of Greek and Western European art and has been open to public since 1976. National Art Gallery, Corfu Island was founded in 1900.
Alexandros Soutzos, the famous art lover and a lawyer by profession, donated his property and his collection of works of art to create of a museum of painting. In 1918, under the directorship of Zacharias Papantoniou, the first constitution of the National Art Gallery was drawn up and in 1954, the gallery was merged with the Alexandros Soutzos Museum of Painting. National Art Gallery, Corfu Island presents Greek art of the period after the War of Independence. The primary collection of paintings had already been formed in the early years of the new state under governor Capodistria. It was further enriched with donations, particularly of works of western European art which had belonged to wealthy Greeks. According to the 1878 records, there were 117 works. Later, a large number of paintings were donated by Alexandros Soutzos which included paintings by Caravaggio, Andrea Pavia, Stefano Tzangarolo, Ghyzis, Lytras, Volanakis and others. Today, National Art Gallery, Corfu Island boasts of a collection of 9.500 paintings, sculptures, engravings, miniatures and furniture.
Significant donations were also made by George Averoff, Aikaterini Rodocanachi, Gregorios Maraslis, Antonis Benakis, Theodoros Rallis and Nikiphoros Lytras. The art treasures of the gallery were further enriched purchases of important works like the ‘Concert of the Angels’ by Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), ‘Crucifixion’ by Lorenzo Veneziano, the ‘Virgin’, a work of the 16th-cebtury School of northern Italy and an amazing collection of engravings from the 16th to the 20th century. The Euripides Coutlides collection was also added in 1977to the National Art Gallery in Corfu Island. These two collections which complement each other, present a complete view of the Greek 19th-century art.
You will find a specialized library on the History of Art at the National Art Gallery, Corfu Island. There are complete photographic workshop, a modern conservation workshop and also a wood restoration and carpentry workshop. A Gallery of Sculptures for the display of 19th and 20th-century sculptures is there on the ground floor of the main building.
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