A MUSEUM has celebrated its links with two national institutions.

The Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, held a reception yesterday to mark its partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Wallace Collection.

Two of the museum's current exhibitions have been made with loans from the two partners.

The Boucher: Landscapes exhibition was curated by Jo Hedley from the Wallace Collection and features works loaned by the collection alongside one of the Bowes Museum's own landscapes.

The Norman Parkinson: Portraits in Fashion exhibition features photographs from the National Portrait Gallery alongside dresses from the museum's own collection.

The Bowes Museum's director, Adrian Jenkins, said the number of people visiting each year has risen from nearly 65,000 in the mid-1990s to 115,000 this year.

This was partly due to a successful programme of exhibitions.

He added: "The national museums are working very closely with the regional ones.

"However, there's an assumption that the ideas must all come from nationals, it's a two-way street and we're quite happy to play that game."

Sandy Nairne, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, said: "The reason why this kind of collaboration is so good is we're able to use different collections in different ways."

Published: 04/03/2005