OCTOBER 2006

GREAT COLLECTIONS AND COLLECTORS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Members of Farnham Decorative & Fine Arts Society met at the Maltings on 17th October for their monthly lecture.  Nicholas Merchant, a lecturer and fine arts consultant, talked about “Great Collections and Collectors of the 19th Century”.

The speaker explained how the ethos of collecting changed from the 18th C to the 19th C.  The earlier collectors were wealthy aristocrats, whose aim was to amass their own private collection, an indulgence seldom on view to anyone else.   William Weddell, a Yorkshireman whose money originated from the South Sea Company, and King George IV exemplify this tradition.

In complete contrast, many 19th.C. collectors   intended to bequeath their treasures to the nation, leading to the building of many public galleries and museums throughout Britain.  Prince Albert aimed to raise the interest of the  public in good art and design;  he bought pictures by such artists as Bouchier and Cranach and promoted the Great Exhibition of 1851. The profits from this exhibition were used to establish the South Kensington Museum, the first public museum for Arts and Science.  Later this became the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The V & A is now home to collections bequeathed by many 19th.C. collectors.  The Jones Collection was financed by a successful military tailoring business, which flourished during the Crimean War;  it includes French furniture, paintings and Sevres porcelain.   The Shriver Collection was built up by the widow of a wealthy, Welsh steel-maker; she left diaries recording her acquisitions and how well she haggled over prices.  She bought porcelain, enamels, fans and playing cards.  An Australian left the Salting bequest, which includes a Vermeer painting “Woman at the Virginals”.  Money from theYorkshire woollen trade enabled William Sheepshanks to leave 200 paintings to the V & A, despite opposition from his family.

John Bowes made his fortune from mining coal beneath the sea.  He went to live in France, marrying a French woman and filling a chateau with French furniture.  When the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, he moved back to England, building a house in the style of a French chateau at Barnard Castle in Yorkshire.  This is now open to the public as the Bowes Museum, with an exceptional collection of mid-19th.C. French furniture and porcelain.

The lecturer concluded this interesting and well-illustrated account by saying that as a result of many  altruistic 19th C collectors, the UK has some of the finest museums in the world.

Before the lecture the Chairman, Frances Ashworth, gave out notices.  She thanked the Young Arts Team, led by Janet Radley and Beth MacCulloch, for their hard work, which had resulted in the recent excellent 4th. Schools Art Exhibition. The bust of George Baxter, the Society’s first President, had been unveiled recently, and will be displayed permanently at the Maltings.  The September visit to Danson House & William Morris’ Red House was a success;  the next visit on 20th. November to Spencer House, the Churchill Museum & the Cabinet War Rooms is fully booked, but members can still be placed on the waiting list.  The same is true of the Tour to Dresden & Berlin in May 2007.  The next Study Day on 23rd. November about the Royal Library Windsor is almost fully booked. 

Finally a reminder was given that the next lecture is on the 14th. November, the second Tuesday in the month, not the usual third one.