National Portrait Gallery
Ewan Christian is mostly remebered today for his design of the National Portrait Gallery (1890–95) in St Martin's Place, London, situated just north of Trafalgar Square. However, the building, faced in Portland stone, is not typical of his work and was built towards the end of his life, being completed shortly after his death. Christian was an unexpected and controversial choice for such a commission and was appointed by the donor for the new building W. H. Alexander (1832–1905). In the autumn of 1889 the architect embarked on a study tour of continental museums and art galleries in order to prepare himself for the task, an exhausting project which included visits to Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Kassel and Dresden.
Christian was obliged to match the Greek Classical style of the National Gallery (built in 1838 by William Wilkins 1778–1839), which was set immediately to the south of the NPG site and adjoined it on its east side, but he provided a strikingly original design for his main north block towards Charing Cross Road based on the style of a Florentine Renaissance palazzo. The first floor for this block has large round-arched windows which bear portrait busts in roundels of famous painters, sculptors, antiquarians and historians, including Hans Holbein, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Anthony van Dyck, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, William Hogarth, Louis Francois Roubiliac, Sir Francis Chantrey and Horace Walpole. The impressive pedimented entrance block is richly treated with more portrait busts in roundels, which include that for the 5th Earl Stanhope (1805–75) whose campaign in parliament had led to the NPG's foundation in 1856 (the Gallery first opened in a Georgian house in Great George Street, Westminster in 1859). He is flanked by busts of Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) and Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–59), historians who gave support to the idea of a National Portrait Gallery. The entrance frontage is modelled on the facade of the late-fifteenth century oratory of Santo Spirito in Bologna which Christian probably saw on one of his earlier Italian study tours. Above the doors are the Royal Arms sculpted by Frederick C. Thomas (fl.1892–1901) who was also responsible for the busts.
Read more about this topic: Ewan Christian, Life
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