|
|
Article: Box of delights
- Article from:
- New Statesman
- Article date:
- May 18, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright New Statesman Ltd. May 18, 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
The seemingly sleepy county town of Bedford hides a treasure trove of art, discovers William Cook
Behind the humdrum high street of an unassuming market town, a new gallery has just opened, built to house one of the country's best collections of British art. If it was anywhere else in Britain, this treasure trove would be impressive, but here in sleepy Bedford, it seems downright surreal, rather like finding a huge stash of old Masters in a drab suburban semi.
On the top floor of this two -room gallery are landscapes by Constable, Turner and Sisley, alongside a royal flush of pre-Raphaelites: Mulais, Rossetti, Burne -Jones, Holman Hunt and Ford Madox Brown. Bedford Gallery has a rich array ...