The National Gallery stands in the very heart of London. But London itself also features prominently in the actual stories of a remarkable number of artists and paintings in the collection, both as a place of dramatic historical events and as a magnet for ambitious artists seeking success and reputation.    

This wide-ranging tour reveals the collection’s many connections to some of London’s most famous - and infamous - sites and landmarks (as well as some less known). Taking in the cultured but dangerous court of Henry VIII, and how Victorian London was visited by and influenced two of the most important names in the development of modern painting.

This tour takes a look at the collection’s quieter paintings reflecting on themes of the wilderness, isolation, reflection and temptation.   

Artists such as Guido Reni have been drawn to these themes: whether that's the depiction of the desert as an inhospitable place, or the scenes of beauty and tranquility in our collection.  

This tour so happens to fall on Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

In this journey into the collection we focus on the features of everyday objects and how they can reveal symbols and clues that offer us a deeper understanding of paintings. 

Challenge yourself to understand the symbolism of the scattered pots in Nicolaes Maes's ‘The Idle Servant’  or the coffee pot in Hendrick ter Brugghen's 'Jacob reproaching Laban', and leave with a new investigative skills.