Painting galleries: Information for visually impaired visitors

We have provided the following interpretation to make the Paintings galleries more accessible to visually impaired visitors.

Large print labels

All information panels, labels and other texts are available in large print-books. These are situated either in the bench or under the main panel (where there is not a bench in the room). Each book contains:

• Introduction to each room with diagram of layout
• Room introduction panel
• All paintings labels wall by wall
• All other labels for cases etc are at the back of the book

A list of the paintings appears below.

Books

Each book is coloured to match the room to which it belongs.

List of paintings with Braille descriptions and raised images

Room 88

Thomas Gainsborough 1727-88
John Purling
Probably late 1770s
Oil on canvas
Museum no. P.28-1970

John Constable 1776-1837
Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree
About 1821
Oil on paper
Museum no. 786-1888

Room 87

John Constable 1776-1837
Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill
Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1815
Oil on canvas
Museum no. FA.37

Room 82

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851
Life-Boat and Manby Apparatus Going off to a Stranded Vessel Making Signal (Blue Lights) of Distress
Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1831
Oil on canvas
Museum no. FA.211

William Blake 1757-1827
The Virgin and Child in Egypt
Signed and dated 1810
Tempera on canvas
Museum no. P.25-1953

Paul Delaroche 1797-1856
St Cecilia and the Angels
Signed and dated 1836; exhibited at the Paris Salon 1837
Oil on canvas
Museum no. 553-1903

Room 81

Edward Burne-Jones 1833-98
The Mill – Girls Dancing to Music by a River
Signed and dated 1870; completed and exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery 1882
Oil on canvas
Museum no. CAI.8

Jean-François Millet 1814-75
The Wood Sawyers
Probably 1850-2
Oil on canvas
Museum no. CAI.47

Hands-on

There are three hands-on panels in the Paintings galleries. Two are in Room 87 and one is in Room 88a. Braille versions of the text are provided with each of the hands-on panels. This is located underneath the hands-on panel, on a pull out drawer.

Constable, Turner and the exhibition landscape

Room 87

In this gallery you can find a photographic reproduction of one of Constable’s sketchbooks. This is located under the main introduction panel on wall A.

On wall C you can find a display of oil painting materials. Beneath this is a hands-on panel, with a flip-book showing the layers of an oil painting and samples of the different materials used as a support, such as canvas and board.

Watercolours

Room 88a

In this room you will also find a wall-mounted case exploring the materials used in watercolour painting, on wall B. The hands-on panel beneath this includes different watercolour brushes which you can touch.