GCSE Art Students Visit the National Gallery

The National Gallery is a world famous art museum in London’s Trafalgar Square that possesses some of the world’s finest art pieces. It offers a chance to witness beauty for free.  I was lucky enough to visit the gallery once again with DLD College London and other Year 11 GCSE Art students.

I enjoyed walking within its walls, and disconnecting from the world outside. The walls of the gallery wear the paintings with pride, gratitude and respect for those who weren’t scared to display their thoughts and ideas on a canvass. Every painting has a story, a secret that is sometimes hidden on purpose, and I enjoyed trying to unveil it just by carefully looking, to discover what the art hides. Nick Pace a professional painter and a National Gallery lecturer offered his help. He introduced us the Leonardo da Vinci’s only surviving drawing ‘The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist’, and the painting ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ which we carefully studied. We were concentrating on studying the head of the angel in particular while discussing what portraits are.

Next, we spent the day in a private studio run by Nicholas Pace, learning to paint and recreating our own versions of one of the gallery’s most famous paintings ‘Portrait of a Young Man’ by Bronzino from 1550. Whilst learning to paint in the under painting working technique the artists used, we also learned some eye opening secrets about the lives of those who made history. I immensely enjoyed this experience. The workshop offered me a chance to release my urge to create and I feel inspired to make my own art.

Anna Schwarz
GCSE Y11 Art DLD College London student