William Wilkins was chosen over famed architect John Nash to design the London National Gallery , England’s answer to France’s “temple of the arts.” As such, it was the subject of fierce debate over Classicism and the more innovative post-Gothic styles. Before its opening in 1835, Pugin blasted this project as degenerate. Sir John Summerson called the dome arrangement: “clock and vases on a mantelpiece, only less useful”
Renovations brought the style to a more contemporary aesthetic as some rooms were minimalised and some rooms were lavished. The Sainsbury wing in 1991 relinquished most ornamentation yet retained the mimicry of post-Classicism. Robert Venturi’s post-modern addition did little to vary from the building’s original intent, though Prince Charles called it “a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved friend.”
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