Art Gallery at Reading Museum
Photograph - probably 1920s
Art Gallery, Reading Museum looking east
One of two views of the Art Gallery at Reading Museum looking east. The top lit art gallery was an extension to the original 1880s museum and was opened in 1897 in memory of William Isaac Palmer (1824-1893). William was a partner in Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory with his brothers George and Samuel.
William was instrumental in the establishment of both a free library and the museum. He generously contributed around £20,000 towards the building of the Town Hall and Schools of Science and Art and bequeathed his art collection to the Museum. Many of the artworks from the Palmer Bequest can been seen on the gallery walls in this photograph.
Mounted above the picture rail you can just glimpse parts of Reading’s Bayeux Tapestry replica. This full-size copy of the Bayeux Tapestry came to Reading in 1895. It was bought for the town by Arthur Hill, a former Mayor of Reading and was one of the first exhibits in the new Art Gallery. In 1927 the Tapestry was taken down, cleaned, repaired, and remounted as 25 separate panels and housed in dust-proof cases by Heelas of Reading. It was then sent on tour across England.
In the centre of the gallery is a plaster copy of Dionysus by George Blackall Simonds (1843-1929). The marble version created in 1879 can been seen at Shipley Art Gallery in Tyne and Wear. Simonds was a member of the Reading brewery family and a sculptor of national and international significance. He is also responsible for the statue of Queen Victoria in Town Hall Square and the Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens, both in central Reading.
Museum object number