National Gallery Visitor Information.

The National Gallery takes up the entire north side of Trafalgar Square. It was built in 1838 and has 2200 paintings. Its masterpieces include: Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Cezanne, Hogarth, and Gainsborough.

The neoclassical National Gallery is not based on a former royal collection, but was begun as late as 1824 when the government agreed to buy 38 paintings belonging to the Russian, John Julius Angerstein.