'Scottish National Portrait Gallery', Christopher Baker, Director
Wed, Oct 9th 2013 at 12:00 am - 2:00 am
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD
Our speaker this week was Christopher Baker who has recently been appointed as Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
First of all Christopher gave us the history of the Gallery dating back to the time when Thomas Carlyle was the motivating person and was the driving force to set up the Gallery. The building itself was designed by Robert Rowand Anderson. Portraits date from the time of Mary Queen of Scots right up to the modern era.
Christopher described the recent re-furbishment of the Gallery which has led to a new lease of life both for staff as well as visitors.
In his excellent slide presentation Christopher showed a wide range of portraits over the years. The Gallery also houses the National Collection of Photographs.
Since the Gallery re-opened in December 2011 the number of visitors has grown from 200,00 to 400,000 per annum. Long may this continue.
The vote of thanks on behalf of our club was given by Jim Goodbrand.
Report by Robert Menzies
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