Sir Paul Getty

Sir Paul Getty K.B.E. (1932–2003) was a great philanthropist of wide-ranging interests who adopted British citizenship in 1998.

Sir Paul Getty's establishment of a generous endowment for the benefit of the National Gallery has helped to make possible the acquisition of paintings by Caravaggio, Daddi, Holbein and Poussin, among others.

The endowment fund remains an ongoing legacy which continues to allow the Gallery to acquire major paintings for the nation. A further donation from the Getty family improved access to the Gallery by creating a new ground floor entrance, which was named in honour of Sir Paul Getty and opened to the public in 2004.

Selected works

A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?)

Hans Holbein the Younger

A solemn woman wearing a soft cap of dense white fur sits with a red squirrel in her lap and a glossy-feathered starling at her shoulder. Common pets in the fifteenth-century, these animals also have a symbolic meaning and serve as clues to the sitter’s identity. She is thought to be Anne Lovell,...

Room 27

Saint Jerome

Albrecht Dürer

This small double-sided painting was most probably made for private worship. The front shows Saint Jerome kneeling in front of a crucifix wedged into the stump of a tree. He beats his chest with a rock in empathy with Christ’s Passion (his torture and death at the Crucifixion). The lion resting b...

Room 25

Boy bitten by a Lizard

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

An effeminate youth recoils in pain as he is bitten by a lizard, which clings tenaciously to his finger. In the foreground is a magnificent still life of fruit, with a rose and sprig of jasmine in a glass vase. Look closely and you can see the reflection of a room in the curved surface of the vas...

Not on display

A View of Rhenen seen from the West

Salomon van Ruysdael

Dawn is breaking over the town of Rhenen, but already the cows are alert, drinking in the river, and boats are moving upstream. The sweep of the clouds, the outward curve of the sails and the ripples on the water suggest a slight breeze. The Dutch flag lifts slightly on the boat closest to us. Sa...

Not on display

The Coronation of the Virgin

Bernardo Daddi

The coronation of the Virgin was a very popular subject in Florentine painting. Inspiration for the images came not from the Bible but from legends recounting the Virgin’s glorious reception into heaven by Christ, where she took her place by his side.Daddi and his large workshop of assistants pai...

Not on display