Borough’s prized art goes online
Reporter: LEWIS JONES
Date published: 04 July 2011
ON SHOW . . . Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses by John William Waterhouse is just one of Gallery Oldham’s pieces on the new website
ART-LOVERS can now browse the borough’s masterpieces from the comfort of their own home.
Works from Gallery Oldham and the Saddleworth Museum are now available on a new website launched by the BBC and the Public Catalogue Foundation.
More than 60,000 works are displayed as part of the first phase of the project to get some 200,000 paintings from the national collection available to view online.
A total of 550 pieces from Gallery Oldham are on the site www.bbc.co.uk/yourpaintings.
They include the large painting entitled The Death of Cleopatra, by John Collins, and impressive pieces by William Stott.
Among the works is the stunning oil painting entitled Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, by John William Waterhouse.
The masterpiece has only just been shipped back to the borough having been on loan to a gallery in Madrid.
Curators have welcomed the new site that will bring the magic of art to computer screens across the world. Curator Patricia Francis said: “The team came in and photographed every painting even if it was undergoing conservation.
“It’s great and I think it will encourage visitors to come to the gallery to see them in person.
“Not all our paintings are displayed all the time but this will trigger interest and we always say that people just have to ask if they want to see something behind the scenes.”
Saddleworth Museum also boasts its own space on the site with a total of 17 paintings displayed.
They include titles such as Wade Lock and Winter Sunlight Over Diggle, by Saddleworth-based artist John McCombs, as well as Rushcart Festival At Saddleworth Church, painted by John Holland in 1826.
Curator Peter Fox said: “It’s wonderful because it makes the works accessible.
“Being a small gallery we don’t often have the resources to put things online like this, it’s brilliant to be alongside the big museums and galleries.”
Both collections can be found by following the tabs Galleries and Collections and then clicking on Manchester.
