Private Art Collections in 1900 London
Private art collections of more or less importance were contained in Buckingham
Palace, St. James' Palace, Marlborough
House, York House, and Clarence
House, to view which very special permission was requisite.
At the Foreign Office there were some
highly interesting portraits of statesmen; and in the Speaker's
house, and in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament, were portraits of
distinguished legislators.
At Apsley House, Grosvenor House, Stafford House, Chesterfield House, Devonshire
House, Bridgewater House, Montague House, at Lord Rothschild's, Piccadilly, and
at the Baroness Burdett-Coutts' (Stratton Street, and Holly Lodge, Highgate) there
were superb objets d'art, and pictures interesting by reason of their historical
association.
A written application to the private secretaries of the owners of these mansions
would as a rule secure permission to see these pictures, etc., some of the collections
being shown systematically on certain days in the week.
Both at Lambeth Palace and Fulham
Palace were many impressive portraits of former prelates and other Church dignitaries.
At the Sir John Soane Museum, Lincoln's
Inn Fields, were Hogarth's Rake's Progress and The Election, also works by Turner,
Eastlake, Ostade, Canaletti, etc.
At the Foundling Hospital could be seen Hogarth's March to Finchley, and Moses brought to Pharaoh's daughter, and some examples of Gainsborough, Kneller, and Reynolds.
In the Halls of the City Companies, and in those of the Inns
of Court, were many works of art; and in the Grand Lodge, Freemasons'
Hall, Great Queen Street, were some excellent portraits of past Royal Grand Masters.
Many of the Learned Societies possessed particularly interesting portraits; as
also the College of Physicians and the College of Surgeons; and the Governors'
rooms in the leading hospitals.
Some of the West-end Clubs, the Garrick, for instance, had good paintings
and engravings.
While, lastly, there were the ateliers of countless artists in London, ranging
from those of stately Melbury Road, Holland Park, South Kensington, and St. John's
Wood, to very modest ones in remote suburbs, where lovers of art, properly introduced,
would be courteously received and be able to feast the eye upon all kinds of good
work, completed or in progress.
Fine Art in the City is referred to in the Guildhall Museum.
Sculpture I have not referred to, because there was no Gallery, national or otherwise,
devoted to it.
There were examples scattered about at the Victoria and Albert Museum, at the British
Museum, and at the Sir John Soane Museum (Flaxman, Westmacott, etc.), while there
were annual exhibits at the Royal Academy.
In Westminster Abbey and St.
Paul's Cathedral there are examples of British Art; at the Crystal Palace
are casts of most of the great standard works; and there are some beautiful specimens
of sculpture in the private art collections of the Metropolis.
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Learned Societies in 1900: Scientific London |