The National Gallery and the Art Fund

The Art Fund is an independent charity that secures works of art for the UK’s public collections. It has a long history of supporting acquisitions at the National Gallery.

As early as 1906, only three years after it was founded, the Art Fund presented Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus to the Gallery, following a successful fundraising appeal. More recently, the Art Fund pledged £1 million towards the campaign to secure Titian’s Diana and Actaeon – its largest-ever grant for a single work of art.

Altogether the Art Fund has helped the National Gallery to acquire 124 works of art through gifts and grant awards. A selection of the masterpieces that have entered the collection with the Art Fund’s assistance are shown below.