In Portrait Gallery’s Past: Rat Stomping & A Murder-Suicide

“According to the records, 34 rats were captured and killed between 1940 and 1946, with the staff’s boots being the main weapon of choice. The events surrounding [a] 1909 murder-suicide, in which a man shot his wife then himself in one of the galleries, minutes after they had been seen looking at portraits together, are recorded in detail.”