The nucleus of the Art Collections of the Royal Institution was the presentation of thirty-seven early paintings from William Roscoe's sale of 1816 by a group of his friends, described by Roscoe in Catalogue of a Series of Pictures illustrating the Rise and Early Progress of the Art of Painting in Italy, Germany, etc. (Liverpool, 1819). The collection of casts was described in John Foster, jnr's Catalogue of the Casts in the Statue Gallery of the Liverpool Royal Institution (Liverpool, 1823). A combined catalogue was produced by Thomas Winstanley in 1836, Catalogue of the Pictures, Casts from the Antique, etc. in the Liverpool Royal Institution.

In 1840, money was sought for the purchase of paintings and the building of a permanent gallery, and a Gallery Committee was appointed to oversee these developments. The new building, on the east side of Colquitt Street, was opened in January 1843.