Quite convenient, in a way, since it is not in Room 22 of the National Gallery in London, its usual perch, but 200 miles away on the flowery slopes of Powys in central Wales. This refreshing spring break at the tiny Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown is courtesy of NG’s Masterpiece Tour, which sends favorite paintings from the collection to far-flung corners of the UK. Her tenure in Newtown ends next week, and in the fall Saskia will travel to the Beacon Museum in Cumbria, before visiting Carmarthenshire early next year. It turns out that this is only the second time the portrait has ever appeared anywhere near Wales. The first time was when it was stored in a former quarry in the middle of Snowdonia during World War II. Saskia has been installed for a few weeks now when I arrive, but there is still a sense that no one can believe their luck. A couple who admire her, the locals Kay and Terry Prout, tell me that this is actually their second visit. “For the first time, we only saw it through the glass door,” says Terry. We said, ‘Is he really a Rembrandt?’ The journey began a few weeks earlier when I was taken along a gloomy series of corridors deep into NG in one of their maintenance studios. In front of the painting – leaning against the wall and leaning helplessly on a bright green foam block – stood Gracie Divall, the gallery’s exhibition manager for national tours. The project had come down here so that the conservators could check that it was suitable for travel and that all the documents had been signed, he explained. In a few days, it would be packed and loaded into a travel cage so that a specialized art handling company could get it on its way. People need to have access to great art locally, says Susan Foister, NG Deputy Managing Director Everything had to be done right. “We’ve been talking about projects like this for about six to 18 months, and now it finally happens,” Divall said, looking at Saskia as an affectionate but anxious parent. It was shining. “It’s a bit like the night before Christmas.” Masterpiece Tours began in 2014, following the gallery’s extremely successful UK tour of Diana and Titian’s Actaeon two years ago, and the painting was purchased in conjunction with the National Gallery of Scotland. Noticing the excitement of the public outside London and taking the cue from similar works being tested by other museums, the curators decided to create something more regular. While NG has always lent works for specific exhibitions, often abroad, many paintings from this seemingly “national” collection have rarely visited galleries in the UK – creating the surreal situation where Rembrandt or Monet were more likely to appear in Vienna or Washington. rather than in British cities and towns whose taxpayers also finance their co-owners. “We wanted to try to remove some of the obstacles,” said Susan Foster, the gallery’s deputy director, as we speak. “People need to have access to great art locally.” The first iteration of the project involved a painting that took about six weeks in three regional galleries each year. Now, NG wants to create multi-year partnerships, working closely with sites that have not borrowed projects in the past to share know-how and select projects that may resonate with their visitors. Last year, Oriel Davies and her collaborating gallery temporarily captured the tender portrait of an 18th-century Chardin boy, The House of Cards. Once Saskia completes her term, she will be followed by an impressively colorful Tobias and the Angel from Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop (circa 1470-5), who will tour in 2023. “We had people say, ‘Oh, my grandmother had a stamp of this in her house,’” Divall recalls. “But the real picture captures them. “When you only see a postcard or something like that on a screen, seeing the texture, the way the light falls, is completely different.” In Wales, Oriel Davies director Stephen Jones-Hughes admits that having a Rembrandt under his roof is therefore stressful. “We do not intend to think about value, but it is amazing to have this painting here,” he says. “Probably worth more than the whole of Newtown.” Does he feel nervous, then? “I used to say a lot about CCTV.” NPG on tour R Rembrandt’s Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcade costume at the Oriel Davies Gallery. Photo: Dewi Tannatt Lloyd Most of all, though, it’s an emotion. “Half an hour before he arrives, you pick up the phone, saying he’s on his way. You say, “Okay, everyone, fix your laces, show your best behavior.” But then the most amazing thing is when you take a step back and it is on the wall. It just shines. “ Oriel Davies had to prove that it could keep NG boards safe – everything from lighting and security to temperature and humidity are covered by custom loan agreements, followed by on-site inspections. Equally important, though, was that they had great ideas for what they could do. Drawing on his gallery’s expertise in contemporary work, Jones-Hughes used Saskia as an anchor for two new exhibitions, both crammed into the jewelry space. One is a series of new portraits (photos, videos, paintings). the other focuses on spring and the mythological goddess of flowers in Wales Blodeuwedd. “It’s not just the case of the National Gallery putting one of their works of art here,” he says. “Everyone was really interested in how we could benefit and how they could. It is two-way. “ When Chardin was at home, the number of visitors increased by almost 40%. In a small town in the middle of Wales that is sometimes difficult, hosting works of this caliber is a real attraction as well as a point of pride. “It’s not like there’s a photo gallery right across the street and a portrait gallery next door or whatever,” says Jones-Hughes, explaining that Rembrandt’s presence here helped encourage visitors who stayed away during the pandemic. “It opens discussions about art. “It’s a bit like having a celebrity in the city.” Radiantly, he remembers a family of many generations who came across Coventry and spent two and a half hours here. “They bought me a Magnum from Iceland across the street. “They just did not want to leave.” As a gallery manager, has he spent time alone with Saskia? Laughs. “Oh, everyone here has, I think. “I was talking to Carol Naden, our retail manager, and she said she has to bite herself every day.” The broader context, of course, is that national institutions are under intense pressure to distribute their treasures more fairly. Earlier this year, the Arts Council of England admitted that its funding was around £ 21 per capita for people living in London, compared to an average of £ 6 per capita elsewhere (a difference the Culture Minister happily tweeted). Nadine Dorries, whose constituency is in Bedfordshire). The cultural part of the Michael Gove Leveling Fund will cost up to 9 429 million outside London, in addition to the 75 75 million in additional ACE investment. Being fully aware of the way the wind blows, the museums based in the capital are rushing to cooperate with the peripheral areas. NG has only tried works such as the 2019 Artemisia Visits, where it saw Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as Catherine of Alexandria appear in a number of unexpected locations – including a Newcastle girls’ school, a rural Yorkshire doctor’s office and a women’s clinic. prison in Surrey (traveled in a specially sealed box, so there was no risk of damage). Last month, the gallery announced a “downloadable” exhibition at Cromer, which, inspired by a local work, will see life-size reproductions of NG paintings on the streets of the seaside town. Says Foster: “Obviously, some areas do not have a lot of cultural infrastructure, along with social and economic infrastructure. That’s why we chose a gallery in a rural area of Wales as well as one in Cumbria, which is an area of great deprivation. “ Divall agrees that the philosophy of the old museum – creating great performances and the public will come wherever they live – is simply no longer enough. “Even if you can get to London, the National Gallery can be a scary place: it’s a big building and a big collection. Where do you start? What are you looking at;” Back at the Oriel Davies, which is quiet for the weekend, I stand for a few moments, enjoying some of my own private time. I have seen the painting on the walls of the National Gallery many times, but I never thought I would be late. Here, in a gallery probably not much larger than the artist’s own studio, is a more intense and intimate encounter. Alone in a room with a Rembrandt. At my elbow, another pair walks through the door. are vacationing in southern Wales, several hours away, and bypassed after seeing the chart on local BBC news. “It’s a great thing to have it here,” says the man. “We may never get it again.” His partner is smiling. “Our son lives in London and I bet he has never seen it,” he says. “So it’s one in the eye for him.” Rembrandt’s Saskia van Uylenburgh is in Oriel Davies, Newtown until June 26 and then at the Beacon Museum and the Camarthenshire Museum.
