Lady Lever Art Gallery facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Lady Lever Art Gallery

The grand entrance to the Lady Lever Art Gallery.
Established	1922 (1922)
Location	Port Sunlight, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom
Visitors	210,790 (2019)

The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a famous museum located in the beautiful village of Port Sunlight, England. It was created by a successful businessman named William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme. He built the gallery and filled it with his amazing art collection, opening it to the public in 1922. Today, it is one of the National Museums Liverpool.

The gallery is a fantastic example of what wealthy people liked during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. It shows the personal taste of Lord Leverhulme, who collected a wide variety of art. You can see many British paintings and sculptures from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.

Besides paintings, the gallery has impressive collections of English furniture, Wedgwood pottery, and beautiful Chinese ceramics. There are also interesting ancient items, like Greek vases and Roman sculptures. Most of the art was part of Lord Leverhulme's original gift, but the museum continues to add new pieces. The gallery also has five special period rooms, which are set up to look exactly like rooms from grand houses of the past.

The Story of the Gallery

William Lever began collecting art in the late 1800s. At first, he used the art in advertisements for his popular Sunlight Soap. His soap factory was just a short walk from where the gallery now stands!

As he became wealthier, his love for art grew. He started collecting more and more, choosing pieces that he personally enjoyed. He mainly collected British art, but he was also interested in art from other cultures. He collected Chinese ceramics, Roman sculptures, and Greek vases because they had inspired many British artists.

Lord Leverhulme built the gallery to share his collection with everyone. He named it the Lady Lever Art Gallery in memory of his wife, Elizabeth, who was known as Lady Lever. She had passed away in 1913, and the gallery was a tribute to her.

The Building

The beautiful building for the gallery was designed by architects William and Segar Owen in 1913. It was built in the Beaux-Arts style, which is known for being grand and elegant, with details inspired by classical Greek and Roman buildings.

The gallery officially opened in 1922. The opening ceremony was attended by Princess Beatrice, who was the youngest daughter of the famous Queen Victoria.

In 2016, parts of the gallery were carefully restored. This £2.8 million project brought some of the rooms back to their original design. Workers reopened old doorways to make it easier for visitors to walk around and improved the lighting to make the art look its best.

• Gallery Rooms
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  The Main Hall, where visitors enter the gallery.

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  A room with classical sculptures and ancient Greek pottery.

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  The Adam Room, designed in a popular 18th-century style.

What Can You See Inside?

The Lady Lever Art Gallery has a wonderful collection of art, especially from the Victorian era in Britain.

Paintings

The gallery is famous for its collection of paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites. This was a group of artists who wanted to paint in a style they felt was more pure and detailed, like art from before the famous artist Raphael. You can see works by key members like John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

The collection also includes paintings by other famous British artists, such as J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. There is also a large number of paintings by William Etty.

Pottery and Sculpture

One of the highlights is the gallery's collection of Wedgwood pottery. Much of it was bought from another collector in 1905. Part of that collection once belonged to Charles Darwin, the famous scientist, whose grandfather was Josiah Wedgwood himself! The gallery has one of the world's best collections of a special type of Wedgwood called jasperware.

You can also see many amazing sculptures from a 19th-century movement called New Sculpture. These sculptures look very realistic and lifelike. Artists featured include Edward Onslow Ford and John Gibson.

Gallery of Artworks

See also

In Spanish: Lady Lever Art Gallery para niños

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