National Gallery - Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian

Title: National Gallery - Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian

Rating (out of 100): 85 (not taking into account the repetition of portraits)

Mood: like watching the Girl with a Pearl Earring movie

Website: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

Timeout / Culture Critic: http://www.timeout.com/london/art/event/9143/renaissance-faces-van-eyck-to-titian.html / http://www.culturecritic.co.uk/exhibitions/renaissance-faces-van-eyck-to-titian/

The National Gallery’s current temporary exhibition is entitled Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian (£10 in the Sainsbury Wing). If the permanent collection of the National Gallery and the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery had a child, this would be it. The exhibition features portraits (in the formal and informal sense) as well as sculptures and other objects focused on faces and people. While beautiful, the show is very small (it’s over before it’s barely begun). What is further disappointing is that a large portion of the paintings in the “temporary” exhibition are actually part of the permanent collection usually on display. Taking that into account, I felt pretty silly paying £10 to see a show which contained a number of paintings that I have already seen before (albeit beautiful).