News & Info > Inspiration for pupils at London Galleries Inspiration for pupils at London Galleries Pupils studying Art, Photography and History of Art enjoyed a trip to some of London’s best known Art Galleries on Tuesday 11 October. Middle Sixth Form pupils started off the day studying 16th Century portraiture in both the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery. In particular, pupils enjoyed seeing first hand, works by Holbein, Titian and Raphael which really helped broaden their understanding of the A2 Study Units based upon the themes of Character and Identity and Power Status. At the Victoria and Albert Museum, the group studied Raphael’s preparatory sketches (cartoons) documenting the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul which were later translated into a series of epic tapestries to decorate the Sistine Chapel under the patronage of the Medici pope, Leo X. Pupils commented in particular on the vast scale of these works and the great detail achieved by Raphael - something which they said they hadn’t really appreciated when studying these works in the classroom. Fifth Form pupils studying Art visited the National Portrait Gallery and saw the ‘Picasso’s Portraits’ exhibition which they found highly interesting and informative. They went on to the British Museum where they had a chance to examine tribal art exhibits, which relates to their current project, ‘Animal, Mechanical, Ethnic’. Fifth Form Photography pupils also visited the National Portrait Gallery where they saw the William Eggleston photography exhibition; Eggleston was a pioneering American photographer renowned for his vivid, poetic and mysterious images. The exhibition of 100 works surveys Eggleston’s full career from the 1960s to the present day and is the most comprehensive display of his portrait photography ever. Finally the group then went on to Victoria and Albert Museum to see ‘The Camera Exposed’, an exhibition displaying over 120 photographs from the 19th Century to the present day. All in all, it was a really successful trip and one which really helped cement pupils’ learning whilst also broadening their artistic and cultural awareness. William Eggleston