London has some fantastic art galleries. Of course the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and the Tates (Britain and Modern) are all on the list and for the modern art fancier the Saatchi Collection and White Cube have pole position.But there are plenty of much less well known galleries – some practically unknown to anyone but Londoners.·The Estorick Collection specialises in modern Italian art – Futurists, Surrealists, even the occasional figurative artist. It’s housed in a Georgian mansion, though the white-walled, bare gallery inside feels quite contemporary.·The Whitechapel Gallery isn’t a secret, but its awkward position – near nothing else except Jack the Ripper walks – prevents many tourists finding it. A regularly changing series of contemporary art exhibitions makes it a fascinating place to drop into; you can also borrow an audio tour with a difference to experience the Whitechapel streets a different way.·The Wallace Collection is another not-quite-secret gallery, with an offbeat selection of works including fine French art (Watteau in particular) as well as arms and armour and porcelain, all displayed in a fine mansion that retains much of its original furnishings and atmosphere.·The Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park is one of the capital’s most unusual art spaces, in a restored Victorian water tower. Contemporary art exhibitions are complemented by talks and workshops; when you’ve finished looking at the art works, the park outside awaits you.·The Queen’s Gallery, entered by the side of Buckingham Palace, is far more deserving of a visit than the palace. There are some masterpieces, particularly old master drawings, and temporary exhibitions highlight aspects of the royal collections.·Viktor Wynd Fine Art in Mare Street, Hackney, is more a curiosity shop than an art gallery, but worth a visit for its eccentric ambience, lectures, events, and meetings of the Last Tuesday Society. Like nothing else in London, that’s for sure!·The Wapping Project, Bankside, is focused on the art of photography and holds regularly changing exhibitions. It’s close to Tate Modern, so you can make a nice afternoon of the South Bank, perhaps finishing off with a trip to the British Film Institute, or if you’re fed up with art and fancy a drink instead, why not spend the evening at Vinopolis?·I’m going to put the Soane Museum in here, even though I always put the Soane museum in any post I write about London museums and galleries. Because it’s really good. It’s eclectic – architectural models and drawings, Hogarth paintings, Egyptian sarcophagi – and it’s full of character and it’s free.·Goldsmiths Hall isn’t an art gallery but it holds regular exhibitions of the goldsmith’s art; if there’s one on, it’s worth checking out. I remember one amazing show there, with baroque soup tureens, huge salvers crawling with eels and lobsters and goblets with chubby cherubs teetering on the rim; and some interesting contemporary work, too, from tableware to jewellery and fine pens.·UCL Art Museum is a slightly different take on what a gallery is all about; it’s an archive of art education, as well as art. Since the Slade was the first art school to admit women, it has a good collection of work by women artists, such as Gwen John, Paula Rego, and Dora Carrington, and also has the neoclassical artist Flaxman’s copy of plaster casts, spectacularly displayed under the dome of the library.