Art Gallery Connections and a Horse!

 “Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can” so said the American actor Danny Kaye.

The National Portrait Gallery (pictured above right) was established in 1856 and was the first portrait gallery in the world. Today it holds an extensive collection of 215,000 portraits of historically important and famous British people, of which 150,000 date from the Tudor period to the present day and are on display in the Gallery. The painting I was most interested to see was the portrait of Dylan Thomas (pic left) painted by Augustus John circa 1937-38. Working from the top to the bottom, I visited every room and viewed all the portraits, but to no avail – the one I wanted to see was missing. I asked about its location only to be told that it is on loan – to the Glynn Vivian!

Dulwich Picture Gallery and its Swansea connection

 

Sir John Morris, the industrialist who established Morriston for the tinplate and copper workers, had a sister Margaret Morris who married a French art collector and dealer Noel Desenfans (both pictured right). The couple along with their friend British landscape and history painter, Francis Bourgeois started to collect works of art. These paintings were the foundations of today’s Dulwich Picture Gallery.

 

Desenfans died in 1807, leaving Bourgeois to inherit the collection. Sadly, Bourgeois died in 1811, leaving instructions in his will that the sum of £2,000 (£93,000 today) was to be used to fund the construction. Margaret contributed £4,000 before she died in 1814. The gallery (left) was designed by Sir John Soane and is situated in the grounds of Dulwich College. It was opened to students in 1815 and then 1817 to the general public. 94 years after the opening of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery (below left) opened in 1911. This was achieved after Richard Glynn Vivian (below right), art collector and philanthropist, offered in 1905 his collection of paintings, drawings and china to Swansea, with an additional endowment of £10,000. The building was designed by the Swansea architect Glendinning Moxham whose other buildings include The Poplars in Pontlliw, Glen Hir on Road and St. Hillay’s Church, Killay.

Richard Glynn Vivian laid the foundation stone in 1909. Whilst the building was under construction, it had its first art theft when 13 engravings were stolen by Richard Williams, a man from Hafod. When he was arrested at his lodgings, the engravings which were valued at £11 10s – about £900 today, were discovered.

 

There are many works hanging in the Glynn Vivian, too many to mention  but I will go into detail of a few and their connections.

 

Augustus John (left) was the country’s leading portrait artist during the 1920s. Some of his subjects of note were T. E. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and of course Dylan Thomas. This is the portrait that normally hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. It was Augustus who introduced Dylan to Caitlin Macnamara, at The Wheatsheaf pub, Rathbone Place, West End, London.

 

Gwen John, (right) the older sister of Augustus, was also a portrait artist. It was after her death in 1939, aged 63, that her reputation grew. Augustus and Gwen studied at the Slade School of Art, and both had colourful private lives. A number of their works were acquired by the Glynn Vivian curator William Grant Murray, who was also the principal of the Swansea Art School. One of Murray’s students was Ceri Richards (below left) who came from Dunvant. Ceri went on to study at the Royal College of Art. He is remembered for his wooden reliefs and paintings, and also for his designs for the stained-glass windows for both Derby (below centre) and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedrals (below right). Studying under     

Glenys Cour (left). Her art works primarilyCeri Richards, at Cardiff College of Art from 1945 – 1948, was was Glenys Cour (below left). Her art works primarily concern colour and light (right); her subjects include Greek artefacts and mythology including the tales of Mabinogion. From 1963 to 2000 Glenys taught painting and architectural glass at Swansea Institute of Higher Education. Her works have been exhibited widely here in the UK and across Europe. She is one the founding artists of the Mission Gallery in Gloucester Place.

Glenys unveiled the ‘new’ memorial stone at Cwmdonkin Park, dedicated to Dylan Thomas, on 9^th November 2018, marking the 65^th anniversary of his death. The original stone was cut by her husband the sculptor Ronald Cour, in 1963.

 

Other Swansea artists include, Alfred Janes, known for his still life and portraits, Mervyn Levy, artist, art teacher, friend of L.S. Lowry also Cedric Morris portrait artist and plantsman who had a family connection with Margaret Morris.

 

Nearly thirty year earlier, 1824, the National Gallery was founded.  Its existence came into being after the Government of the day brought, 38 paintings including works from Raphael and Hogarth,  from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein.  The collection in the gallery is much smaller than European galleries. 

 

Prior to this date, during the later 18^th century saw a number of nationalisations of royal and princely art collections.  Great Britain at the time did not follow the rest of the other countries.  The British Government during 1777 had an opportunity to purchase art collection, when the descents of Sir Robert Walpole put up his collection for sale.  John Wilkes, MP argued that the Government should buy this collection.  Nothing came of Wilkes’s appeal and 20 years later, Catherine the Great brought the collection, which today is housed at State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

 

The aforementioned, art dealer Noel Desenfans and his partner Sir Francis Bourgeois a ready-made national collection to the Government.  The offer was declined, and Bourgeois bequeathed the collection to his old school, Dulwich College, on his death.

 

Following the Walpole sale, many other artists including James Barry and John Flaxman made renewed calls for the need of a National Gallery.  1805, the British Institution was established.  This institution was a private society to exhibit works from both dead and alive artist of the time.  They to attempted to address the issue.

 

John Julius Angerstein 
painted by Thomas Lawrence, 1790

It was during 1823, when another major art collection came on the market, the art collection of the previous aforementioned John Julius Angerstein.  The Whig MP, George Anger Ellis, proposed on the 1^st July to the House of Commons, that this collection should be purchased.  Another key player in establishment of the Gallery was Sir George Beaumont, one of the founding members of the British Institution.  With added impetus and a further conditions place, that the Government buy the Angerstein’s collection, but also to find a suitable building.  The unexpected payment of a war debt from Austria, was the move for the Government to buy the collection.

 

Finally, the first gallery opened during May 1824, in Angerstein’s former townhouse, No 100 Pall Mall.  1826, Beaumont’s collection was added and 1831 saw a further 35 paintings from Reverend William Holwell Carr. 

 

No 100 was frequently overcrowded, which caused subsidence.  The collection briefly moved to No 105 Pall Mall.  The novelist Anthony Trollope who described the building as “dingy, dull, narrow house, ill-adapted for the exhibition of the treasures to be held”.  In turn No. 105 was demolished to make way for the opening of a road to Carlton House Terrace. 

 

1832, new construction work began by William Wilkins, on the site of the King’s Mews, Charing Cross. It was here during the 1820s that the area had been transformed and incorporating Trafalgar Square.

 

Let us look more into John Julius Angerstein.  Angerstein was born 1735, St. Petersburg, Russia.  Arriving in London aged 15, during 1749, Angerstein became a businessman, Lloyd’s underwriter and also a patron of the fine arts and collector. In his role as a merchant, it is said that Angerstein own a third of shares in the salve trade in Grenada.  It is from these profits that Angerstein was able to build his art collection.    Although a slave owner, Angerstein was a member of the Committee for the Relief for the Black Poor, an organisation with strong abolitionist connection.

 

One of his items in his collection was the hoof of Marengo.

 

Napoleon Crossing the Alps
by Jacques-Louis David

Marengo was the famous war horse belonging to Napoleon.  Marengo was one of the 52 horses in Napoleon’s personal stud, he was named after the Battle of Marengo, 1800.  He measured 14 hands he was a reliable, steady and courageous horse.

 

Marengo had been wounded 8 times, he saw action during the Battles of Austerliz, 1805; Jena-Auerstedt, 1806; Wagram, 1809 and Waterloo, 1815.

 

It was at the Battle of Waterloo, that Marengo was captured by William Petre, 11^th Baron Petre.  He was eventually brought back to the United Kingdom, where he was sold to Lieutenant-Colonel Angerstein of the Grenadier Guards.  Marengo died aged 38, 1831.  His skeleton is now in display at the National Army Museum, Chelsea.  

The aforementioned, Richard Glynn Vivian's father, John Henry Vivian, who had a conversation with Napoleon on the Island of Elba.