Editing Scottish National Gallery (section)

==History==
[[File:Edinburgh Castle and National Gallery (3610788685).jpg|thumb|Edinburgh Castle and National Gallery ({{Circa|1865}})]]
The origins of Scotland's national collection lie with the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, founded in 1819. It began to acquire paintings, and in 1828 the Royal Institution building opened on The Mound. In 1826, the Scottish Academy was founded by a group of artists who, dissatisfied with its policies, seceded from the Royal Institution, and in 1838 it became the [[Royal Scottish Academy]] (RSA). A key aim of the RSA was the founding of a national collection. It began to build up a collection and from 1835 rented exhibition space within the Royal Institution building.<ref name="history">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/history-architecture-121/ |title=Scottish National Gallery - History & Architecture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140207031139/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/history-architecture-121/ |archive-date=7 February 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=27 January 2014}}</ref>

In the 1840s, plans were put in place for a new building to house the RSA.<ref name="history" /> The noted Scottish architect William Henry Playfair was commissioned to prepare designs, and on 30 August 1850, [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]] laid the [[foundation stone]].<ref name=listed>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB27679|desc=1 THE MOUND, NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND WITH RAILINGS|cat=A|access-date=26 February 2019}}</ref> The building was originally divided along the middle, with the east half housing the exhibition galleries of the RSA, and the western half containing the new National Gallery of Scotland,<ref name=listed/> formed from the collection of the Royal Institution.<ref name="history" /> In 1912 the RSA moved into the Royal Institution building, which remains known as the [[Royal Scottish Academy Building]]. When it re-opened, the gallery concentrated on building its permanent collection of Scottish and European art for the nation of Scotland.

In the early 21st century, the National Galleries launched the Playfair Project, a scheme to create a new basement entrance to the National Gallery in [[Princes Street Gardens]] and an underground connecting space, called the Weston Link, between the gallery and the renovated Royal Scottish Academy building. The new underground space opened in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgalleries.org/aboutus/special-projects/the-playfair-project// |title=Playfair Project |publisher=National Galleries of Scotland |access-date=3 April 2012}}</ref>

In 2012, the gallery's [[umbrella organisation]], National Galleries of Scotland, underwent a rebranding exercise, and National Gallery of Scotland was renamed the Scottish National Gallery.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Potter|first1=MatthewC|title=The Concept of the 'Master' in Art Education in Britain and Ireland, 1770 to the Present |date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351545471|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzkrDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Scottish%20National%20Gallery%22%20rebranded%20%22National%20Gallery%20of%20Scotland%22&pg=PA17|access-date=12 April 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=O Street creates unifying brands for Scottish galleries - Design Week|url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/9-june-2011/o-street-creates-unifying-brands-for-scottish-galleries/|website=[[Design Week]]|access-date=12 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412093312/https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/9-june-2011/o-street-creates-unifying-brands-for-scottish-galleries/|archive-date=12 April 2018|date=8 June 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2023, the organisation was rebranded once more, and adopted the shorter name ''National Galleries Scotland''. Each of its galleries was also rebranded and the Scottish National Gallery is now billed as ''National Galleries Scotland: National''.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/new-look-national-galleries-scotland |title=New look for the National Galleries of Scotland |website=www.nationalgalleries.org |date=29 March 2023 |access-date=29 March 2023}}</ref>