As part of the refurbishment of the National Gallery in London Brenda Berman and Annet Stirling of Incisive Letterwork were awarded the contract to design and carve the lettering for the project.

For signage and graphics the Gallery uses a style of lettering called Bembo and Incisive Letterwork were asked to use this as a starting point for their design.

They referred back to the original Bembo type designed by Aldus Manutius and cut by Francesco Griffo in the 1490s. The challenge was to design letters which would look good as large cut forms along the frieze of the portico as they would at a much smaller and massed scale on the donor plaques for the entrance hall.

The width of the original face was retained in the new design but the \'thins\' were thickened and the serifs turned into small slab serifs.

The lettering is asked to do a variety of different jobs and Incisive Letterwork designed three related versions of the basic alphabet.

The widest and largest version is used in the newly carved name of the Gallery in the portico above the main entrance.

The proportions of the frieze meant the letters had to be fairly widely spaced because the letter height can be no more than 400mm yet the words \'THE NATIONAL GALLERY\' had to fill a substantial part of the 18m wide portico.

The most likely reason why the name had not been carved when the building was originally erected is that it had been built to house both The Royal Academy and The National Gallery.

Carving and gilding of the new lettering was finished last month (June), Brenda Berman and Annet Stirling having been assisted on this part of the project by Exeter-based lettercutter and sundial specialist Ben Jones.

The main entrance hall features 24 Portland stone plaques carved with the names of donors to the Gallery from 1826 to 2002. The narrow version of the Bembo face was used for these.

Legibility required the largest capital height possible for the letters and 33mm was achieved by narrowing the original design. This also had the effect of making the mass of lettering into a pleasing yet readable abstract pattern. A team of letterers helped to carve these stones.

For the Getty entrance and the Annenberg Court, Incisive Letterwork used the letter width most closely related to Manutius\'s original design. The 150mm letters for the Getty entrance are carved straight into the existing Portland stone and then gilded. The Annenberg Court inscription above the staircase was carved in Bath stone and cast in plaster by Simplicity Plaster Casters. The letters are 295mm high.

The last part of the project is still awaiting completion. It is another large carved donor stone for the East Wing.

The job architect was Nigel Bailey from Dixon Jones and Incisive Letterwork were both employed by the Gallery directly and subcontracted to specialist contractors Szerelmey.