The streets of London’s West End have been turned into a gallery – 44 perfect, framed reproductions of National Gallery paintings now hang in the most unexpected places between Soho and Seven Dials.
Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Rembrandt have all become street artists vying for the attention of passers-by.
The Grand Tour encourages people to make the short journey to the National Gallery to see the originals for free. Each picture is in a replica frame with an information plaque next to it – just as in the real Gallery – and a phone number for an audio guide to the work.
The Tour, which continues through September 4, has been made possible as a result of the collaboration between the National Gallery and HP. The National Gallery houses arguably the world's greatest collection of Western European paintings. For HP, the standards of colour reproduction required by the gallery provide the ultimate testing ground for print technology.
HP has reproduced the paintings so they exactly mirror the format of the originals. Steve Gill, Vice President and managing director, HP UK & Ireland said “This is a really exciting initiative for HP to be involved in and has provided us with an opportunity to demonstrate some of our leading edge technology. Our imaging, printing capabilities and portfolio have enabled us to support the National Gallery with this Grand Tour concept, by producing high quality colour reproductions of these wonderful masterpieces.”
Opening ceremony of The Grand Tour
The origins of the Grand Tour date back to the 17th Century, when the wealthy upper classes undertook a journey of cultural enlightenment across Europe, in a life-changing trip that could last for months or even years.
Now, thanks to the National Gallery and HP, the idea of the Grand Tour has been democratised and turned on its head. Rather than the public seeking out its art – art seeks out its public, interrupting their everyday lives and reminding them of the treasures just around the corner.
National Gallery Director Charles Saumarez Smith said “I am very delighted that the National Gallery's long-standing association with Hewlett-Packard is continuing with a characteristically imaginative effort to bring art into the local community and to encourage new audiences to be aware of the great works of art to be seen in London.”
A bike messenger stops to admire one of the paintings
The National Gallery has turned to HP for some of the technological tools used in the conservation process of its 2,500 works of art. High-resolution digital images of originals are stored on HP servers, and large-format HP printers create accurate, life-sized reproductions of the painting. This technology allows the staff to examine the paintings in the minutest detail and guides their conservation work.
The National Gallery and HP have also collaborated to create Print on Demand, the first system of its kind in the world.
Print on Demand lets you order a reproduction of any work in the collection. All prints are made on a semi-gloss paper, which gives a close match to the surface appearance of varnished painting. The reproductions are printed using a HP 5500ps DesignJet printer. Prints are made with UV-stable pigments on a durable paper and have a lightfast expectancy of 70 years if not exposed to extreme conditions.
The system uses high-resolution digital images made directly from the paintings, rather than the photographic transparencies used for conventional posters. So visitors can take home a perfect digital copy of their favourite masterpiece.
A map of the entire Grand Tour (including a selection of ‘mini-tours’) and a picture gallery are all available on a specially created website -
www.thegrandtour.org.uk .
Printable version
