Pierre Mignard’s The Marquise De Seignelay Joins National Gallery 2026-2027 UK Masterpiece Tour

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best arts and entertainment magazine UK” discover Pierre Mignard’s stunning 1691 portrait The Marquise de Seignelay, as the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour brings this breathtaking Baroque masterpiece to four UK venues from August 2026.

The National Gallery has announced the second painting for its Masterpiece Tour 2025-27: Pierre Mignard’s striking 1691 portrait The Marquise de Seignelay. This major Baroque work will travel to four regional UK venues between 2026 and 2027, bringing a significant French masterpiece to audiences outside London.

The Painting: A Portrait of Power, Myth, and Maritime Heritage

In the portrait, Pierre Mignard depicts the recently widowed Catherine-Thérèse de Goyon de Matignon-Thorigny, Marquise de Seignelay (1662–99), as the sea goddess Thetis. Her eldest son, Marie-Jean Baptiste (1683–1712), appears as the Greek hero Achilles. The composition draws on classical mythology, with Thetis as the mother of Achilles by the mortal Peleus.

Mignard used lavish ultramarine — an extremely expensive blue pigment — for the Marquise’s robe, underscoring her wealth and high status. Extensive marine imagery throughout the work references her late husband’s role as head of the French Navy. The background landscape is believed to show the shores of Martinique, an island in the West Indies acquired for the French crown by the Marquise’s father-in-law in 1664. The portrait presents her as a figure of both cultural and international importance.

Masterpiece Tour 2026-2027 Itinerary

The painting will visit four partner venues, three of which are coastal, perfectly suiting the maritime themes:

• South Shields Museum and Art Gallery: 29 August 2026 – 8 November 2026
• The Cooper Gallery, Barnsley: 13 November 2026 – 20 February 2027
• Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool: 27 February 2027 – 5 June 2027
• Ferens Art Gallery, Hull: 11 June 2027 – 5 September 2027

Each venue will create its own tailored display, highlighting connections between the painting and local collections, landscapes, and community interests.

Strong Community and Youth Engagement

The tour emphasises local collaboration. At South Shields, the exhibition will include co-created elements developed with New Writing North’s Young Writers programme, students from South Tyneside College, and members of Our Voice Counts.

Barnsley’s Cooper Gallery will work with Next Big Thing, the museum’s youth group. Blackpool’s Grundy Art Gallery continues its partnership with The Magic Club, a local young people’s charity, marking the second year of collaboration on the tour and offering sustained engagement across multiple years. Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery will draw on insights from community groups to shape its presentation.

Building on the Success of the Monet Tour

The current Masterpiece Tour features Claude Monet’s The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil (1872). It is on display at South Shields until 25 March 2026 alongside works from regional collections and pieces co-created by Emotionally Based School Avoidant (EBSA) young people. It then moves to Grundy Art Gallery (28 March – 13 June 2026), where it will be accompanied by a new sonic artwork created by participants of The Magic Club in collaboration with artist Kelly Jayne Jones. The tour concludes at Ferens Art Gallery (19 June – 13 September 2026) with a co-curated exhibition involving Flourish, a creative group for disabled and neurodivergent children and young people.

Proven Impact of the Masterpiece Tour

Since launching in 2014, the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour has reached over 401,000 people across the UK. The broader National Touring programme has engaged 1,467,618 visitors in the same period. Supported by Hiscox, the initiative allows regional museums to display major works from the national collection for three years while partnering with local community organisations each year.

The programme strengthens regional cultural ecosystems, makes world-class art more accessible, and fosters new interpretations through community creativity.

National Gallery Director Sir Gabriele Finaldi highlighted the importance of sharing the collection widely and learning from partner organisations. North East Museums Director Keith Merrin noted significant increases in visitor numbers at South Shields following the Monet exhibition.

About the Partner Venues

• South Shields Museum and Art Gallery forms part of North East Museums and explores the area’s rich social, industrial, and maritime history.
• The Cooper Gallery in Barnsley, opened in 1914, houses a collection spanning the 17th to 20th centuries in a welcoming town-centre setting.
• Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool is a hub for contemporary art in a historic Carnegie building, with a strong programme of exhibitions and community engagement.
• Ferens Art Gallery in Hull holds an outstanding collection of Old Masters, marine painting, and modern British art, gifted to the city in 1927.

A Shared National Collection

The National Gallery, founded in 1824, holds the nation’s collection of Western European paintings from the late 13th to early 20th century. Works by artists such as Leonardo, Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Velázquez are cared for with the goal of providing the widest possible public access.

Through initiatives like the Masterpiece Tour, the gallery continues to ensure that this shared cultural heritage reaches audiences throughout the UK.

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