Early in 2016, following a successful fundraising campaign, the Holburne Museum in Bath purchased Thomas Lawrence’s preparatory oil sketch for one of his most celebrated paintings, Arthur Atherley (left). This is the first oil painting by the great Royal Academician to enter the Holburne’s important collection of British eighteenth-century portraits. Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) lived […]
My co-curator, Rachel Dickson, and I were delighted when, in the summer of 2015, just as we were preparing to celebrate Ben Uri’s centenary with a major collection exhibition, Out of Chaos, at Somerset House, this early oil by Clare Winsten (1892–1984) came to light. A portrait of one European Jewish émigré to London by […]
This year Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance purchased a portrait of an elder from the Penzance Jewish Community by John Opie (1761–1807), A Portrait of an Old Jew from c.1779 from a private collection. Painted in the style of Rembrandt, an artist whom Opie admired, the portrait stares directly at us out of […]
Standing outside Sir Frederick Gibberd’s modern atrium of Coutts & Co., gracefully incorporated into the Georgian building on the Strand and waiting to explore their portrait collection as part of a study day organised by the Understanding British Portraits network, I wondered about the Coutts’s taste as collectors. The semi-reflective glass façade would not give […]
Until taking on the role of Assistant Curator at the Mercers’ Company – a Great Twelve City Livery Company – I had always worked with public collections. Researching and cataloguing a private collection has opened my eyes to a different world, which I am still learning to navigate three years on. And being relatively new […]
James Gillray (1756-1815) was one of the greatest caricaturist of the 18th century. From around 1775 until 1810, he produced nearly 1,000 prints—including brilliantly finished portrait caricatures of the rich, famous, or frivolous, wonderfully comic caricatures of people being awkward, and unquestionably the best satiric caricatures of British political and social life in the age […]
I had been looking forward to the Understanding British Portraits Study Day at Hardwick Hall from the moment it was announced. Since first encountering ‘Bess of Hardwick’ 12 years ago when I moved to the area I have become something of an enthusiast. Combined with my equally keen interest in 16th and 17th century portraiture, […]
The Garrick Club in London holds a remarkable collection of art works representing the history of the theatre, much of which is displayed throughout the building. There are over 1,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures, a fascinating selection of theatrical memorabilia, and thousands of prints. The new Collections Online Catalogue has just been launched, and can […]
I felt a strong draw to this workshop, ‘Henry Hering’s early asylum photography; the collection in context’. My interest was triggered by my familiarity with the photographs themselves, but it was the word ‘context’ in the title that hooked me. No, the word itself is not particularly arresting, but the prospect of gaining some knowledge […]
As one would expect of a family seat, portraits have historically been - and continue to be - a vital component of the decorative scheme of Woburn Abbey. A number of spaces in the main house are devoted to didactic dynastic displays: from the Grand staircase, which provides a visual lineage of the Russell family […]
