Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery was established by Carlisle Corporation in 1893. It includes an historic town house dated 1689 and new displays, exhibition galleries and facilities added in 1990 and 2000. Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery has an impressive and diverse collection of paintings by a wide variety of regional and nationally important artists. The collection includes approximately 500 paintings dating from 1650 to the present day, including works by Arthur Hughes and Stanley Spencer. If you want to see a particular painting, please contact the collection. Where possible they will provide access for you.

The museum began in 1893 and has collected paintings since then. An art purchase scheme ran from 1933 to 1975 and acquired two hundred works by mostly contemporary artists for the collection. In 1949 Gordon Bottomley bequeathed his art collection of 600 works. Local people have also donated works and the museum has also made purchases with grants from funding bodies. Today the collection continues to develop with new acquisitions by contemporary artists.

Paintings in the collection include 'The Rift within the Lute' by Arthur Hughes, 'Cookham' by Stanley Spencer and contemporary works such as 'Nature Painting' by Keith Tyson.