About Edinburgh - Scott Museum

Perhaps the greatest charm of the National Gallery of Scotland is its size, for this comprehensive and high-quality can be enjoyed in a leisurely hour or two. Housed in a splendid classical revival building designed by William Playfair in 1848, it spans the history of European painting from the Italian Renaissance to French Impressionism. Many rooms are decorated to Playfair's original color scheme, and contain fine examples of furniture contemporaneous with the artistic movements.

Italian Renaissance pictures include a lovely Madonna and Child by Verrocchio and Raphael's Bridgwater Madonna, part of the Duke of Sutherland's collection. The loan of this painting in 1946 helped give the National Gallery international significance. Northern Renaissance pictures includes Hugo van der Goes' Trinity altarpiece, commissioned in the 15th century for an Edinburgh church.

Titian and Tintoretto represent Venice, El Greco and Velazquez Spain- look out for the superb and tactile picture entitled An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, where you can practically feel the eggshell. Works by French artists include Poussin's cerebral and detached cycle of the Seven Sacraments, and some superb Impressionist pictures glowing with light.

There are also German, Flemish and Dutch works, all of great quality. Leave time to enjoy the Scottish collection, housed in an underground extension, built in the 1970's. This concentrates mainly on 18th and 19th century artists such as Allan Ramsay, David Wilkie and Henry Raeburn; the latter's engaging portrait, The Reverend Robert Walker Skating, is among the Gallery's most popular pictures.

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