London Art Tours - for the visitor to London who wishes to view and experience the incomparable art and architecture of the city, via galleries and exhibitions.

Courtauld Institute of Art Strand, London WC2R 1LA tel: 020-7845 4600 www.courtauld.ac.uk tube: Charing Cross or Temple daily: 10:00-18:00 admission: £5 (£4)

The Courtauld Institute of is a world-famous collection of paintings which contains some of the most well-known images in Western art. Samuel Courtauld was a textile millionaire whose collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings forms the nucleus of the institute which bears his name. But several other private collections have subsequently been added. A recent re-hang means that the works are grouped into their original collections. It provides a fascinating opportunity to compare and contrast the interests and tastes of the individuals who created them. The galleries are located in Somerset House, one of the grandest and most imposing classical buildings in London with a superb river frontage. Designed by Sir William Chambers and built 1776-1786 as government offices for the Navy Office and the Stamp Office, a forerunner of the Inland Revenue (which still occupies sections of the building). The Strand Building is a suitable home for the Courtauld since it was built to house the Royal Academy of Arts as well as the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. These are grand surroundings for a collection which astounds in its quality rather than its extent. The challenge of the Courtauld is to marvel at its riches. Somerset House is also the location for the Gilbert Collection of European silver and gold and the Hermitage Rooms, a changing loan exhibition of objects from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Botticelli, The Holy Trinity with Mary Magdalene & St. John the Baptist, c.1493 Breughel, The Woman Taken in Adultery, 1565 Rubens, The Entombment, 1613-6 Gainsborough, Portrait of Mrs Gainsborough, 1778-9 Monet, Autumn Effect at Argenteuil, 1873 Renoir, La Loge, 1874 Manet, A Bar at the Folie Bergeres, 1881-2 Cezanne, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, c.1887 Seurat, Young Woman Powdering Herself, 1888-90 Van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear, 1889 Gauguin, Te Rerioa (The Dream), 1897 Derain, The Dance, c.1906 Modigliani, Female Nude, c.1916 Delaunay, The Runners, 1924-5 For those seeking Seurat or Cezanne, Degas or Derain, Monet or Manet, van Gogh or van Dongen, the Courtauld is not to be missed.