The Burrell Collection & Pollok Park
Eclectic fine art & a lovely park
Shipping magnate Sir William Burrell (1861–1958) was rich beyond most people's wildest dreams and far keener on collecting fine art than most too.
The result was one of the world's largest solo collections - around 9,000 items from a truly eclectic range of eras and cultures: from stained glass and medieval tapestries; to Middle Eastern antiquities; to Chinese ceramics; and even the occasional Old Master: Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait (1632) and Frans Hals’ Portrait of a Gentleman (1639) among them.
In 1944 it all ended up in the city of Glasgow's hands who built a bright, bold building to house the collection in an attractive parkland on the city's outskirts.
Text © Christian Williams
Images by dun_deagh, Jean-Pierre Dalbéra