Cardiff University was founded by Royal Charter in 1883 and combines impressive modern facilities with more traditional accommodation, including a number of listed buildings. Contained within these buildings are a considerable number of quality paintings from various artists which have been acquired over the years. Apart from numerous portraits, the paintings tend to have no particular rationale and therefore do not form a collection as such. Some of the buildings have their own carefully selected paintings, for example, the Council Chamber in the main building has portraits of all the previous Vice-Chancellors while Aberdare Hall has portraits of its founder and of women academics. Those artists most represented in the Collection are John Elwyn, Eric Malthouse, Will Roberts and John Wright.