The English as Collectors

by Herrmann, Frank

• ISBN13: 9781884718830
• ISBN10: 1884718833
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-12-01
• Publisher: Oak Knoll Press

Author Biography

Frank Herrmann spent much of his life as a book publisher; but a strong interest in the working of the art market and the history of collecting led him to compile first, The English as Collectors and later, Sotheby's: Portrait of an Auction House. That firm asked him to join their management in the late 1970s and he became director in charge of overseas operations. In 1983, he started his own auction house for antiquarian books, Bloomsbury Book Auctions, where he is still active. Recently described as 'the formost authority on the history of the British art market', he has written many articles on collecting and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Together with his wife he has assembled one of the largest private collections of early nineteenth-century British ceramics. He now devotes much of his time to supporting a number of institutional libraries.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgments	xi
An Introductory Updating to the Second Edition	xiv
Introduction
Prefatory	3	(5)
Historical	8	(12)
The Acquisitive Impulse	20	(3)
Sources of Supply	23	(10)
The Growth of Expertise	33	(5)
The Economic Factor	38	(4)
The Literature	42	(3)
The Emergence of the Official Collector	45	(373)
PART 1. FROM THE BEGINNINGS TO 1824
The Great Trio: Charles I, Arundel and Buckingham	57	(8)
Dr Gustav Waagen
The First Collectors	65	(3)
Mrs Anna Jameson
Collecting as a Fashion: Mrs Jameson surveys the Eighteenth Century	68	(4)
Mrs Anna Jameson
Dr Waagen Again	72	(2)
Dr Gustav Waagen
An Exemplary Grand Tour	74	(6)
James Lees-Milne
Aedes Walpolianae	80	(12)
Horace Walpole
Horace Walpole's Journal of Visits to Country Seats (Melbury, Burghley)	92	(4)
Principles of Sculpture Collecting	96	(3)
James Kennedy
Collectors First Collected	99	(8)
Thomas Martyn
The Resta Drawings for Sale	107	(5)
John Talman
Reynolds Reports to the Duke of Rutland	112	(4)
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Strawberry Hill	116	(6)
R. W. Ketton-Cremer
A Case of Family Collecting: The Earls of Radnor	122	(3)
Helen Matilda
The Difficulties of Viewing Collections	125	(2)
William T. Whitley
The Vitturi Collections in English Hands	127	(6)
William Buchanan
Buchanan on the Orleans Collection	133	(6)
William Buchanan
The Orleans Dispersal: An Explanatory Postscript	139	(3)
Frank Herrmann
The Flemish Part of the Orleans Collection	142	(3)
William Buchanan
Dr Waagen Surveys the Post-Orleans Era	145	(8)
Dr Gustav Waagen
Dr Waagen on the Elgin Marbles	153	(1)
Lord Elgin's Rescue of the Sculptures from the Parthenon	154	(8)
Sir Henry Ellis
Fagan, an Early Importer	162	(1)
William T. Whitley
The Altieri Claudes	163	(3)
William T. Whitley
And a Postscript: The Altieri Claudes	166	(1)
William T. Whitley
Irvine reports to Buchanan from Italy	167	(5)
William Buchanan
Desenfans: The Amateur Professional	172	(6)
William T. Whitley
Desenfans tricked by Sir Joshua Reynolds	178	(1)
William T. Whitley
William Roscoe	179	(3)
Hugh Macandre
Michael Compton
Roscoe Late in Life	182	(1)
J.D. Passavant
Waagen meets William Young Ottley	183	(3)
Dr Gustav Waagen
Ottley's Life as a Collector	186	(3)
J. A. Gere
Lawrence's Collection spurned	189	(4)
George Redford
Buchanan Himself at Work	193	(5)
William Buchanan
Pictures with Pedigrees	198	(3)
Thomas Winstanley
and Pictures Without	201	(1)
A. C. R. Carter
Edward Solly	202	(6)
Frank Herrmann
The Remarkable Acquisition of Correggio's Education of Venus	208	(2)
Mrs Anna Jameson
The Beckford Collection sold	210	(8)
George Redford
Rogers on Fonthill Abbey	218	(1)
Lady Bessborough
Holkham Hall, 1833	219	(5)
J. D. Passavant
View before the Sale	224	(2)
Dr Gustav Waagen
The British Institution	226	(4)
Dr Gustav Waagen
An Extreme View quoted	230	(2)
William T. Whitley
Advertisement : Advice to Proprietors	232	(3)
PART 2. 1824 AND AFTER
The Changing Taste of Collectors	235	(4)
John Steegman
Prince Albert as Collector	239	(2)
John Steegman
Sir John Soane	241	(5)
Camilla Tyler
Sir Robert Peel	246	(3)
Frank Herrmann
The House of Samuel Rogers `A thenaeum'	249	(5)
The Collection of Samuel Rogers	254	(6)
Mrs Anna Jameson
On the Hazards of showing one s Collection	260	(3)
Rev. J. Maberley
The Founding of the National Gallery	263	(11)
William T. Whitley
The Stowe Sale	274	(6)
George Redford
A Sidelight on Stowe	280	(2)
Lord Hertford
Lord Hertford and his Agent	282	(6)
Lord Hertford
The Taste for Objets d' Art	288	(2)
John Steegman
Official Collecting: The Soulages Collection purchased	290	(3)
Frank Davis
Sale of the Bernal Collection	293	(6)
W. Roberts
A Generous Donation	299	(3)
W. Fox Strangways
The Eastlakes on Tour	302	(10)
Lady Elizabeth Eastlake
The Great Manchester Exhibition---and the New Connoisseurship	312	(8)
John Steegman
The Northwick Collection	320	(7)
George Redford
An Early Turner Collector	327	(2)
George Redford
Lady Charlotte Schreiber from her Journals	329	(14)
A Picture Sale at Christie s (1887)	343	(5)
George Redford
The Hamilton Palace Collection	348	(5)
George Redford
On the Use of Photography in the Study of Painting	353	(1)
Bernard Berenson
The Wallace-Bagatelle Collection	354	(7)
Germain Seligman
The Rothschilds of Waddesdon Manor	361	(4)
F. J. B. Watson
The Sport of Collecting: The Dream Come True; Luxor; The Failure of an Amateur `Scout'	365	(8)
Sir Martin Conway
The Great Exodus	373	(4)
Sir Robert C. Witt
Problems of Connoisseurship	377	(2)
Max Friedlander
The Tatton Turners	379	(3)
A. C. R. Carter
The Collection of Samuel Courtauld	382	(2)
Anthony Blunt
Collecting Costume	384	(3)
Dr. C. Willett Cunnington
The Twentieth Century	387	(19)
Frank Herrmann
Sir Karl Parker: Survey of a Recent Stewardship	406	(3)
J. Byam Shaw
Ian Robertson
Filling the Gaps	409	(2)
Sir John Rothenstein
The Need for More	411	(2)
Sir William Burrell's Purchase Books (1911---1957)	413	(5)
William Wells
Select, Annotated Bibliography	418	(19)
Index	437