IT is the world renowned collection of art and historic artefacts in Scotland that was once banned from leaving Great Britain.
But now it has emerged that over a million people have enjoyed the touring exhibition of The Burrell Collection nationally and internationally over the past three years while its home in Glasgow was being refurbished.
The international element of the roving exhibition, along with one-off loans of objects were sanctioned after a controversial act was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2014 allowing the collection to tour internationally.
It was originally against the wishes of Sir William Burrell, who left his collection of paintings, sculptures, textiles and antiquities to Glasgow in 1944. A shipping magnate, he was aware of the dangers of international freight and forbade his treasures to be sent overseas.
READ MORE: Burrell Collection set to get additional £1million investment in refurbishment plan
The Burrell Collection (Lending and Borrowing) Bill Committee had "not fully convinced" by Glasgow's claim that the tour would generate a £15 million contribution to the refurbishment of the building.
The law change permitted the planned world tour to raise funds for the collection’s A-listed building in Pollok Park that has been closed since late 2016 for a revamp which will expand display space and improve visitor facilities. It has been confirmed that so far 1.3 million people have visited exhibitions featuring works collected by Sir William Burrell in venues that range from Tokyo to London.
The total number of visitors who have enjoyed objects from The Burrell Collection rises to over four million by including single loans of objects to museums which were not in temporary exhibitions when counting venue visits.
The tour which began in 2016, has seen parts of the collection going overseas for the first time since it was given to Glasgow. It is due to conclude next year before The Burrell Collection opens again to the public in the spring of 2021.
Nearly 30 venues around the world will have hosted art from The Burrell Collection by the time the museum re-opens to the public.
Included are loans to New York’s Metropolitan Museum and the Musée de Cluny in Paris. It emerged last week that a further £1 million was to be invested in the Burrell Collection’s Renaissance project as part of its refurbishment.
Glasgow City Council agreed to spend £1,589,150 on an audio visual display, at the museum in Pollok Country Park, including a video wall and projection, touchscreens, tablets and computers.
The £66m budget for the Burrell Renaissance Project was approved in February 2017 by the council’s then executive committee. This included £15 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Among the venues which hosted objects from The Burrell Collection are The British Museum which borrowed Rodin’s The Thinker and The National Gallery in London which displayed 22 works as part of Drawn in Colour: Degas from the Burrell. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam also took 25 paintings and works on paper and a stained glass object which made up more than half of an exhibition of the work of Matthijs Maris.
READ MORE: Architect of Burrell Collection museum expresses concerns over £66m revamp
The Princess Royal and her husband were among the visitors to The Burrell Collection: A Voyage to Impressionism when it reached Shizuoka in Japan as part of a five venue tour of 80 paintings which will finish in early 2020. T Sir Angus Grossart, chairman of The Burrell Renaissance said: “The extraordinary quality of The Burrell Collection has long deserved wider international recognition and The Burrell Renaissance seeks to achieve that by showing some of these magnificent treasures. When it re-opens in spring 2021, The Burrell Collection will bring international audiences to appreciate Sir William’s exceptional legacy.”
The refurbishment of the Burrell Collection building and redisplay of objects will allow visitors, for the first time, to explore all three floors which will be dedicated to galleries, visible stores and special exhibitions.
It will see the museum’s gallery space increase by 35% and public space increase by 83%, allowing important and unique objects from Burrell’s Collection which have not been seen for decades or have never been on permanent display to go on show for visitors to enjoy.
Dr Bridget McConnell, chief executive of Glasgow Life said: “There has been a huge appetite from museum visitors to enjoy artworks from The Burrell Collection wherever they have been on display.
"Without the ability to make these loans overseas, some of the displays and exhibitions simply wouldn’t have been possible. We are looking forward to more people learning about the wonders of The Burrell Collection through the final loan dates as we continue to work towards delivering a museum ready to welcome visitors from around the world.”
Sir William, who lived from 1861-1958, collected almost 9,000 items reflecting his passion for art and history.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel