23 May 2016

The Burton Gallery at York Art Gallery will be temporarily closed until Sunday 29 May 2016 while our curators work on an exciting new rehang of some of the gallery’s most famous Old Masters.

On display will be Italian Old Master paintings with a religious focus, portraiture and ‘vedute’ (views) and Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings which show how artists of the region specialised in landscape, lavish still life banquets and genre painting such as commonplace tavern scenes.

Works by early 20th century modern artists demonstrate the enduring influence of Impressionism and Post Impressionism, including the shared influences of Degas, Gauguin and Whistler. Abstract paintings by Michael Ginsborg and Ben Nicholson explore how artists have experimented with colour, form and texture to develop new ways of seeing.

Old favourites such as Hogarth’s Studio by E. M. Ward and Clifford’s Tower by L. S. Lowry will be included, along with paintings by York artist William Etty.

This gallery is named after John Burton, a local farmer, mine owner, horse dealer and amateur artist who bequeathed 126 Victorian paintings to the gallery in 1882.

Since then, York Art Gallery’s fine art collection has grown substantially and now represents over 600 years of European Art, from Renaissance to contemporary painting and sculpture.