Items related to Suggestions for a National Gallery (Classic Reprint)
Synopsis
Excerpt from Suggestions for a National Gallery<br/><br/>Gallery, which might be made an appropriate termination to this side of the building. In order to give additional height and importance to the Facade when seen from Parliament Street, I propose to do away with the parapet which now divides the northern side of Trafalgar Square from the carriage road and foot pavement, and with the two ?ights of steps which ascend to them, and to substitute one broad ?ight of steps at least two thirds the breadth of the square. From all points from which the National Gallery would be seen to most advantage, the road would be concealed and the steps would appear to be the real approach to the building. This would, of course, add considerably 10 its apparent height and would give it grandeur and dignity. It must always be borne in mind that the National Gallery will be best seen from a distance as it occupies the culminating point of a long and gentle rise. Parliament Street will probably, in the course of time, assume a very different appearance from that which it now presents, and will, form one continuous broad street uniting Trafalgar Square with the houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. It is impossible that any edifice occupying the site of the National Gallery can look well from Parliament Street when cut in half by the Nelson Column. If this column were removed and the statue of Nelson were grouped with the Lions a far more effective monument might be produced and one less absurd and incongruous than that now existing. Fountains too, of better design ought to be constructed. With these and a few other changes Trafalgar Square might be made a really handsome feature in the metropolis, instead of being as a French writer has not unjustly characterised it, a monument of the bad taste of the English nation.
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About the Author
Austen Henry Layard, Esq., DCL (1817-1894) was a traveler, archeologist, art historian, author, and politician. He led a series of excavations in the Middle East, primarily in Persia, from 1845 to 1847. His most famous discovery was the Library of Ashurbanipal in 1849. Layard also served as trustee of the British Museum, where many of his excavated relics still reside on display.
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