
The story
In the middle of Edinburgh, on an artificial hill called the Mound that links the old and new towns, stand two Greek-temple buildings in honey-coloured sandstone. The southern one is the Scottish National Gallery, designed by the city's great classical architect William Henry Playfair and opened in 1859.
Inside, the walls are a deep red, and the Scottish collection is a draw in its own right. The best-loved picture is Henry Raeburn's small portrait of a clergyman skating on a frozen loch outside Edinburgh, arms folded, gliding, painted around 1795 and known to everyone here as the Skating Minister.
The gallery also reaches well beyond Scotland. It shares with London's National Gallery two of Titian's great mythologies, 'Diana and Actaeon' and 'Diana and Callisto', painted in the 1550s for the king of Spain, which the two museums bought together to keep in Britain. Around them hang Botticelli, Raphael, Velazquez's early kitchen scene of an old woman frying eggs, and a strong run of Impressionists. Entry to the permanent collection is free.
Collection
38 works
The Feast of HerodPeter Paul Rubens, 1636
The Mystic Marriage of Saint CatherineNicolas Poussin, 1628
The Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist and an Unidentified SaintTitian, 1517
El MédicoFrancisco Goya, 1780
Madonna del PasseggioRaphael, 1516
Poplars on the EpteClaude Monet, 1891
Self-portraitRembrandt, 1657
The Finding of MosesGiovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1740
The Holy Family With a Palm TreeRaphael, 1506
The Miracle of the Loaves and the FishesBartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1674
The Robber of the Sparrow's NestJean-Antoine Watteau, 1712
The Virgin Adoring the Christ ChildAndrea del Verrocchio, 1470
The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ ChildSandro Botticelli, 1485