13 May 08

'Home from Sea' by the pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes (1832 - 1915)

Three galleries on the second floor of Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum have reopened to the public today after being renovated.

They have had an overhaul of the roof, installation of new roof-lights, improved lighting and environmental standards and redecoration. The galleries will display the renowned collections of paintings by Walter Sickert and the Camden Town Group, British Landscapes including works by Samuel Palmer and JMW Turner and the Thomas Combe collection of art by the Pre-Raphaelites.

In conjunction with the Ashmolean redevelopment, the Western Art galleries in the historic Cockerell building are undergoing a programme of renovation. It is a phased process and will be completed in time for the opening of the Ashmolean’s new building in autumn 2009.

European art from the 14th to the 18th centuries will be displayed on the first-floor galleries, 19th-century art on the second floor, and the 20th-century art collections will be presented in two new galleries on the top floor of the new Rick Mather building.

This initial phase comprised the re-hang of the Dutch and Flemish still life paintings on the first floor and the renovation of the second floor galleries. The next phase involves work in a number of first-floor galleries, including a new cross-cultural look for the 18th-century collection, with a gallery devoted to Britain and Italy: The Grand Tour.

Following this will be the redisplay of Italian Renaissance art and finally improvements to galleries devoted to aristocratic collecting and to European Baroque art, including the Museum’s renowned paintings by Claude and Poussin.