The exhibit at the Old Master Picture Gallery is an in-depth look at the painting's composition, acquisition and reception a story told through paintings, sketches, letters and objects.
In early July a scholarly study-day at the gallery kicks off a master paintings and drawings week during which London's dealers show off their treasures.
Most of them were returned after 1815, but the French royal collection remained accessible in the Louvre, and it was in England, with spectacular private collections but no national gallery, that old-master exhibitions were first established.