The National Art Collections Fund (Art Fund) has helped to secure half a million works of art for public collections across the United Kingdom,including some of the world's best-loved master- pieces. Published to accompany the Art Fund centenary exhibition at the Hayward Gallery,London, this beautiful book presents an overview of national collecting, fashion and taste over the past century. Spanning 4,000 years of history, it is a magnificent treasure trove of art of every kind.Sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs,ceramics, metalwork, furniture, archaeological objects and ethnographic material are juxtaposed in this rich survey of the achievements of the Art Fund over its first hundred years.

The National Art Collections Fund (Art Fund) has helped to secure half a million works of art for public collections across the United Kingdom,including some of the world's best-loved master- pieces. Published to accompany the Art Fund centenary exhibition at the Hayward Gallery,London, this beautiful book presents an overview of national collecting, fashion and taste over the past century. Spanning 4,000 years of history, it is a magnificent treasure trove of art of every kind.Sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs,ceramics, metalwork, furniture, archaeological objects and ethnographic material are juxtaposed in this rich survey of the achievements of the Art Fund over its first hundred years.

Fully illustrated and interwoven with the dramatic and intriguing stories behind the acquisitions, the book includes essays by some of the leading experts in the world of art. They unearth the Art Fund's extraordinary and continuing contribution to making great art accessible to everyone and raise vital questions about the future of museum collecting.

In-depth case studies and illustrated entries describe works ranging from famous paintings such as Botticelli's Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child,Vel~zquez's "Rokeby Venus" and Picasso's Weeping Woman to contemporary art including Anish Kapoor's Turning the World Inside Out and Rachel Whiteread's Untitled (History). Other spectacular featured works include Michelangelo's study for the Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel, precious jewels recovered by divers from the wreck of the Spanish Armada ship the Girona, the celebrated Luttrell Psalter and Canova's Three Graces.

JPMorgan Foreword

Walter Gubert

Preface

Susan Ferleger Brades, David Barrio

Introduction: How the National Art Collections Fund Works

Brian Allen

Rebels and Connoisseurs

Juliet Gardiner

The Ones That Got Away

Philip Conisbee

A Century's Achievement: Celebrating 'the greatest collectors of all

Richard Verdi

The Future of Collecting

Martin Bailey

Biographies

Chronology

Catalogue

Richard Verdi

Case Studies:

Diego Velazquez, The Toilet of Venus ('The Rokeby Venus')

Lynda Nead

Hans Holbein, Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan

Flaminia Gennari Santori

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais

James Hall

The Girona Treasure

Robert StCnuit

Xie Chufang, Fascination of Nature

Roderick Whitfield

The Free Admission Campaign

Polly Toynbee

Lenders to the Exhibition

Credits and Acknowledgements

Index