Bellwether Gallery. Free art gallery and exhibition HTML & Astro template

About Bellwether Gallery

Bellwether Gallery uses burgundy, warm paper and ink, a compact institutional masthead and a serif/sans pairing. The homepage places a complete artwork beside the introduction; exhibition cards and collection grids retain the supplied image proportions. Its ten pages support a small cultural programme with clear records and practical visitor questions.

Best suited to: Small galleries and cultural venues presenting verified exhibitions, accurate artwork information, group enquiries and practical visitor guidance.

Desktop and mobile screenshots

Captured from version 1.0.0 on 30 October 2026. Open a screenshot to inspect the full page.

Choose your download

Both ZIPs contain the same 10-page design. Confirm your email to download. Newsletter emails are optional; no account or license key is needed.

What’s in the design

• Ten pages cover Home, The Gallery, Exhibitions, Everyday Light, Collection, Wheat Field with Cypresses, Learning & Groups, Visit & Access, Contact and 404.
• The exhibition directory filters three clearly labelled sample records by current, upcoming and archive status. Everyday Light has a complete concept page; the other records lead to contextual enquiries.
• The collection combines subject and artist filters across four real public-domain artworks, with a live result count, reset and empty state. Images use their full supplied proportions.
• Wheat Field with Cypresses has a complete record with artist, date, medium, dimensions, credit, accession number, rights and an official institutional source link.
• Other collection images open a native-dialog viewer with previous/next controls, arrow keys, Escape and focus return. Links to source records remain available without JavaScript.
• Learning & Groups includes looking prompts and an adult-organiser checklist. Visit & Access provides printable questions about actual opening, arrival, admission and access arrangements.
• Local responsive AVIF images with WebP fallbacks reduce artwork transfer size, while the full-image viewer retains its original WebP image quality. Both formats preserve the supplied proportions.

Verified page layouts

These 10 pages are included in both archives. Each link opens the live preview.

• Home ↗index.html
• Gallery ↗gallery.html
• Exhibitions ↗exhibitions.html
• Exhibition ↗exhibition.html
• Collection ↗collection.html
• Artwork ↗artwork.html
• Learning ↗learning.html
• Visit ↗visit.html
• Contact ↗contact.html
• 404 ↗404.html

How gallery enquiries work

The form prepares a reviewable email link; it does not issue tickets, book a visit, reserve entry, buy an artwork or send a message automatically. Replace [email protected] with a monitored address before launch.

Exhibition, group and access query values must match existing options. Native required-field validation runs before a draft appears. Editing any field hides the old draft, and submit remains hidden and disabled until the handler is installed.

An adult organiser can share broad group needs and possible dates. The initial enquiry discourages child names, private participant records and payment details. Actual arrangements need confirmation from the venue.

Set up the Astro edition

Extract the source ZIP and run these commands from its folder:

npm ci
npm run dev
npm run check
npm run build

The build produces a dist/ folder for static hosting. The source includes its shared template kit under vendor/template-kit, so it builds independently of our development workspace. Astro 7.4.4 and the Astro checker 0.9.12 are pinned; TypeScript 6.0.3 is the latest supported by that checker’s declared peer range.

Before you launch

• Choose HTML for direct file editing, or Astro for shared layouts and source-driven content.
• Replace fictional institution, dates, programme, location and visitor information with verified facts. Preserve exact artwork attribution and rights or document replacement permissions. Do not imply possession or display of works without a real basis.
• Edit exhibition data in src/site.ts and factual collection metadata in src/works.json. Keep subject/artist/status IDs and enquiry selections aligned. Test combined filters, empty/reset states, viewer keyboard/focus behavior, print layout and edited-draft clearing.
• Replace imagery with licensed content. Keep responsive variants, intrinsic dimensions, alt text and ASSETS.md credits aligned.
• Set PUBLIC_SITE_URL to the real domain/folder URL with a trailing slash for canonical/social metadata, robots.txt and a 9-page sitemap. Leave PUBLIC_PREVIEW unset for production.
• Upload the entire HTML folder or Astro dist/. Configure unknown paths to return 404.html with HTTP 404. Test enquiries or configure a separately tested delivery route if direct sending is required.

No ticketing, artwork sales, reservations, collection database backend, visitor accounts or message-delivery service. No real venue, physical exhibition, loan, admission or verified access claim.

License and assets

The original template code is released under the included MIT license. It permits personal and commercial use; retain the license notice when redistributing the code. Visible footer attribution is optional.

Gallery-setting photography by Andrea De Santis retains the Pexels License. Four public-domain artwork images and factual records come from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access programme (CC0), with individual source links and credits. Bellwether Serif and Sans are renamed Libre Baskerville and Public Sans derivatives with OFL notices. The Met Open Access (CC0). Full asset credits.

Release verification

The page inventory, screenshots and download manifests document the included layouts and assets. The HTML and independent Astro editions contain the same design and license notices. Customization requires its own accessibility, content and performance checks.

Version 1.0.0, reviewed 30 October 2026. Live preview. Plain HTML checksum. Standalone Astro source checksum. Bellwether is fictional. Exhibition titles, schedules, opening and address are illustrative. The four artworks belong to The Met collection; no ownership, loan, physical display or institutional affiliation is claimed. The gallery photo is not verified Bellwether premises.