As part of a project to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings online, the stories behind the paintings and where to see them for real, Royal Holloway in Egham is set to host special curator led tours for the public.

As part of a project to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings online, the stories behind the paintings and where to see them for real, Royal Holloway in Egham is set to host special curator led tours for the public.

The open day on Sunday February 10, 1pm to 4.30pm, will allow all to explore the renowned Royal Holloway Collection, as part of the BBC’s Your Paintings week of events.

The week celebrates the Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) completing the digitisation of the nation’s pictures after 10 years of work.

“I am delighted to be showing people the more well-known Victorian paintings in the Picture Gallery, including works by Millais, Frith and Landseer, says the Royal Holloway Collection’s curator Laura MacCulloch. “But I’m really excited to be showing them works in more out of the way places around campus, which the public do not normally visit.”

Many of the pictures were bought by Thomas Holloway in his last years of his life, between 1881 and 1883. These paintings were the final touch to his generosity in founding Royal Holloway in 1879.

A self-made multi-millionaire, whose fortune had been made in patent medicines, he paid well over £80,000 (equivalent to more than £6million in today's terms) for the collection.

Free picture gallery and hidden paintings tours at Royal Holloway, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX: 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm. Tour tickets (free of charge) will be available on the day from the Information Desk, outside the Picture Gallery.

Photo: John Everett Millais, The Princes in the Tower, 1878 ©Royal Holloway, University of London