Page 62 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Washington, DC

60  W ASHINGT ON , DC AREA BY AREA

1 National Gallery of Art

In the 1920s, American financier and statesman Andrew Mellon
began collecting art with the intention of establishing a new
art museum in Washington. In 1936 he offered his collection
to the country and offered also to provide a building for the
new National Gallery of Art. Designed by architect John Russell
Pope, the Neo -Classical building was opened in 1941. Other
collectors followed Mellon’s example and donated their coll-
ections to the Gallery, and by the 1960s it had outgrown the
West Building. I.M. Pei designed the innovative East Building,
which was opened in 1978. The building was paid for by . Ginevra de’ Benci
This depiction of a thought ful
Andrew Mellon’s children. young Florentine girl by
Leonardo da Vinci (c.1474)
The Alba Madonna is his only painting in
Painted c.1510 by Raphael, the US.
this work is considered
one of the major West Garden
achievements of Court
the Renaissance.

. Woman with a Parasol –
Mme Monet and her Son
(1875) This painting by
Claude Monet of his wife
hangs in the West Building.

Micro
Gallery

Portrait of a Young Man
and His Tutor
This charming work by French artist
Nicolas de Largilliere (1656–1746) Sculpture Garden
was painted in 1685. Ground Floor

060-061_EW_Washington.indd 60 04/04/17 2:38 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.2)
Date 23rd October 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm