94801 Cover 4/7/07 17:29 Page 1 Acceptance in Lieu

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is the lead strategic agency for museums, libraries Victoria House Report 2006/07 and archives. We are part of the wider MLA Partnership, Southampton Row working with the nine regional agencies to improve London people’s lives by building knowledge, supporting WC1B 4EA learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. Tel: 020 7273 1444 The partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the Fax: 020 7273 1404 Acceptance in Lieu sector and the public, leading the transformation of Email: [email protected] museums, libraries and archives for the future. © MLA 2007 Report 2006/07 Current news, developments and information are Registered Charity No: 1079666 ISBN 978-1-905867-21-9 available to view or download from: Designed by Satpaul Bhamra Printed by Spellman Walker www.mla.gov.uk

Copies of this publication can be The Partnership acts provided in alternative formats. collectively for the benefit Please contact: of the sector and the public, [email protected] leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future. MLA 94801 Cover 4/7/07 17:29 Page 2 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 1

Contents

Preface 3 1

Introduction 5 In situ Offers 7 Extension of the AIL Scheme 8 Operation of the Scheme 9 Criticisms of the Scheme 9 Panel Membership 9 Acknowledgments 10 2

AIL Cases 2006/07

1 Paintings at Port Eliot, Cornwall 11 2 Lake Windermere Boats 17 3 Carlo Portelli: The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari 21 4 Seat Furniture at Corsham Court 23 5 Charles II Gold Beaker 27 6 Evelyn de Morgan: The Valley of Shadows 29 7 Archive of the Earls of Erne 31 8 The Harcourt Papers 33 9 Five portraits by Thomas Gainsborough 36 10 Francesco Guardi: Isola di San Giorgio in Alga 39 11 Collection of Islamic Coins 41 12 Paul de Lamerie: Silver Plateau 43 13 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Early Printed Scores 45 14 Collection of 20th century paintings, prints and posters 47 15 Armour, Swords and Medieval Silver 51 16 Archive of the Henley Family 54 17 Archive of Leslie Durbin 55 18 Two Medieval Manuscripts on Hawking and Hunting 57 19 Two Medieval Liturgical Manuscripts 59 20 Photographic Archive of Fay Godwin 62 21 Four British 18th and 19th century Paintings 64 22 Giovanni Paolo Panini: The Lottery in the Piazza di Montecitorio 68 23 Sir Richard and Lady Burton Letters 70 Cover 24 William Nicholson: Begonias 72 27: Richard 25 Edgar Degas: Bronze Sculpture 74 Parkes Bonington: St Florent le Vieil 76 La Ferté 26 JMW Turner Watercolour: © The National 27 Richard Parkes Bonington: La Ferté 78 Gallery 28 Paintings by Francis Bacon and RB Kitaj 80 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 2

2 29 The Manchester Tiara 84 30 Rembrandt and Goya: Copper Plate, Prints and Drawing 86 31 Ceri Richards: The Force that through the Green Fuse: The Source 92 32 Ninth century Silver Penannular Brooch 94

Appendices

1 List of objects, allocations and tax values for 2006/07 96 2 Members of the AIL Panel 98 3 Expert Advisers 2006/07 99 4 Allocation of items reported in 2005/06 101 5 The Process of Making an Offer 102 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 3

Preface

The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme has become one of the most 3 important ways of enriching the UK’s public collections and archives. This report documents another successful year in which it has secured some quite remarkable cultural items for the nation, ranging from Old Master paintings through historic personal papers to a collection of boats.

How to fund the development of our collections has become the subject of an increasingly intense debate. The background is well known – that most public museums lack sufficient funding to pursue active acquisition strategies. There is no reason to hope that government can invest more in this area at a time of constraints on spending. In his introduction to this report Jonathan Scott, Chairman of the AIL Panel, argues for the extension of the AIL Scheme, which is based on tax relief on death duties, so that donors can take advantage of it during their lifetimes. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), which manages the AIL scheme, agrees and believes an overhaul of the tax framework around philanthropic giving is long overdue. We will work with a broad range of cultural institutions and organisations to present new arguments for the introduction of the kind of incentives which have proved successful in many other countries.

We believe the climate is right for this debate and we see growing support for it across the political spectrum. We also see increasing awareness of how the AIL Scheme operates as a highly efficient mechanism for assessing offers and processing acquisitions. Speaking in the House of Commons, the Minister for Culture, David Lammy, recently described the AIL Scheme as, “in almost every way the holy grail of public policy. Absolutely everybody is a winner under the Scheme. Owners of pre-eminent works of art and artefacts have their inheritance tax demands discounted when they offer their works in lieu of cash to settle the bill. The work of art in question is then saved for the nation, with public access guaranteed for ever, and the museum to which it is allocated gains a fine work for its collection at no cost to its ever- stretched budget.”

In the last decade the AIL Scheme has acquired collections and items to a value in excess of £250m. Its remarkable success is thanks in no small part to the work of the AIL Panel under Jonathan’s expert chairmanship and the contribution of the experts and advisers who help the Panel arrive at its recommendations. Further credit must go to Gerry McQuillan, who manages the AIL Scheme within MLA, and his team. Both Gerry and Jonathan enjoy enormous respect across the arts and cultural sectors and have turned the AIL Scheme into the success it is today.

One of the wonders of the AIL Scheme is the tremendous range of things it has helped to acquire and then place in appropriate museums, 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 4

4 galleries, libraries or archives. This report will astonish you with the sheer diversity of cultural items it encompasses. The Scheme is indeed something to celebrate. I encourage you to read this report and enjoy the fascinating information that will, I hope, lead you to visit the museums and archives which have benefited from AIL during the year.

Mark Wood Chairman MLA 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 5

1 Introduction The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Scheme has operated satisfactorily during 5 the year ended March 2007. Thirty-two cases were completed, as a result of which objects with a value of £25.3m were accepted on behalf of the nation and tax of £13.8m was written off. The figures for recent years are as follows:

Year to Number Value of objects Tax 31 March of cases accepted settled 2001 23 £24.6m £16.0m 2002 27 £35.1m £26.6m 2003 37 £39.9m £15.8m 2004 23 £21.7m £15.0m 2005 28 £13.0m £8.9m 2006 38 £25.2m £13.2m 2007 32 £25.3m £13.8m

The success of the Scheme is not, however, to be judged by bare figures, although the value of objects acquired is many times the combined purchase grants of all our national museums and galleries and is greater than the total annual grants for museum and gallery acquisitions made by the National Heritage Memorial Fund and The Art Fund. The success is demonstrated by the variety of beautiful and historically important objects acquired for the nation by their widespread distribution across the British Isles and by the impact of individual transactions on local regions.

Although no single item was as important as the Cimabue or the Titian accepted in previous years, acquisitions in 2006–2007 included attractive paintings by Reynolds and Gainsborough, a magnificent view of Rome by Panini, a rare early work by Francis Bacon, a princely silver plateau by de Lamerie, a massive silver brooch from Viking Ireland, the seat furniture for the Gallery at Corsham Court and a collection of boats on Lake Windermere. Archives acquired include the papers of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir William Harcourt, who introduced Death Duties in 1894 and who was thus, in a sense, the godfather of the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.

These acquisitions have been widely allocated across the United Kingdom to museums and galleries in Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Leeds, Manchester, Plymouth, Southampton, Sudbury, Swansea and Lake Windermere, as well as to national institutions in London and to a number of libraries and record offices.

Two cases demonstrate the beneficial impact of the Scheme on local regions. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 6

6 A series of portraits of the family of Lord St Germans from Port Eliot has been accepted in lieu. The paintings are of great local interest because of the influence of the Eliot family in Cornwall over the centuries, but they are also of national art historical importance because Sir Joshua Reynolds was born only a few miles away. The Eliots provided the great artist with some of his early commissions and continued to patronise him throughout his career. The paintings have been accepted in lieu in situ and have been allocated to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery which has entered into a loan agreement with the Trustees of the family, thus enabling the portraits to remain at Port Eliot. Although the paintings are beautiful and important in their own right, they would have lost much of their significance if they had been removed from the house for which most of them were commissioned. Port Eliot is a quite remarkably beautiful location; the house itself was partially remodelled by Sir John Soane and the romantic landscape, designed by Humphrey Repton, stretches down to the unspoiled estuary of the river Tamar. It is a magical ensemble which hitherto has not been open to the public. As a result of this transaction not only has the nation acquired some important paintings, but visitors now have access to an outstandingly beautiful estate which is a major addition to the tourist attractions of Cornwall.

During the last century the late George Pattinson built up a collection of boats associated with the Lake District. They include a very rare 18th century yacht and a number of 19th and early 20th century steam vessels, four of which are on the National Register of Historic Vessels. Unique is a much overused word but this is a unique collection which is not matched by a comparable group of boats associated with any other location. The collection has been accepted in lieu and allocated to the Lakeland Arts Trust (which runs the Abbot Hall Gallery and the Voysey House, Blackwell) so that it can become another major attraction in the Lake District. Many of the boats, having been kept in the water for a long period, are in urgent need of restoration. Through the generosity of the original collector’s family, the Lakeland Arts Trust has been granted a long lease both of the existing museum buildings and of lakeside repair facilities nearby so that visitors will be able not only to see the boats in the museum but watch the fascinating process of conservation repair work. The restoration costs are being met by a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Plans are being developed with local agencies in order to create a training scheme under which it is hoped that people will be trained in boat repairing skills while working on the restoration of the collection. The Lakeland Arts Trust deserves high praise for its supervision of a very complex project which will enhance an important tourist site in the Lake District. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 7

In situ Offers 7

The acquisition of the portraits at Port Eliot has been referred to above. The other important in situ offer was of the seat furniture in the Picture Gallery at Corsham Court, Wiltshire. Corsham contains one of the greatest collections of old master paintings in the country and the paintings are matched by the magnificence of the 18th century furniture, specifically acquired for the Picture Gallery in 1769, which is integral to the decoration. Corsham Court has been regularly open to the public for 200 years and is one of the few country houses which welcomes visitors throughout the year. It is very satisfactory that the acceptance of this superb set of furniture in its original upholstery ensures that the decoration of one of the most important Picture Galleries in the country remains intact.

In situ offers are a vital method of ensuring that key components of major collections of works of art are kept together. It has sometimes been argued that the British Country House and its ensemble of collections, park and gardens are one of Britain’s most important contributions to the arts. Visits to them are certainly among the nation’s most popular leisure activities and form a significant part of overseas tourists’ programmes. Houses denuded of key contents would, however, be much less attractive, which is why the in situ scheme is so important.

The museums and galleries that take on ownership of in situ objects acquire major objects for their collections but these are not often on display in their own galleries and they incur additional curatorial obligations and responsibilities. We should like to thank Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery for accepting allocation of the paintings at Port Eliot and the furniture at Corsham.

While we are on the topic of country house collections, it is worth noting a view currently circulating that it does not really matter if important houses are sold and stripped of their contents because in Britain today there are plenty of people with ‘new’ money to buy these assets. While there may be a valid case for allowing the workings of the market to operate freely, it is worth noting that most such new buyers are very concerned for their own privacy and that a number of important houses which used to be opened to the public by their previous owners are now kept firmly closed. As a result, access is no longer granted to important parts of our history and heritage. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 8

8 Extension of the AIL Scheme

In recent years there has been some discussion about the possibility of extending the AIL Scheme to permit the acceptance of works of art in lieu of Income and Capital Gains Taxes. We understand that The Art Fund raised a similar idea in 2005. It is, of course, quite anomalous that an object owned by the estate of John Smith who died last week can be offered in lieu of Inheritance Tax, whereas the same object belonging to John Smith while he was alive last month could not be offset against the owner’s other tax liabilities. It is equally anomalous that John Smith can Gift Aid cash or stock exchange investments but not heritage objects.

A number of factors make it desirable that the proposal to extend the Scheme should now be examined with urgency:

• the funds available to museums and galleries for new acquisitions are wholly inadequate in the very buoyant conditions of the art market when saleroom records are broken every month;

• it is not just the prices of old masters that are rising but contemporary works of art are similarly affected;

• at no time within living memory have so many of the nation’s first eleven masterpieces in private ownership been on the transfer list on offer to overseas buyers;

• lottery funds are unlikely to be available to assist with major acquisitions because such funds are being diverted to support the costs of the 2012 Olympics;

• if the creators of ‘new’ wealth are to be encouraged to fill the funding gap on behalf of our national institutions, their generosity needs to be stimulated by tax concessions and, since they are generally too young to be concerned with Inheritance Tax at this stage, the tax concession should be targeted at Income and Capital Gains Taxes.

If there are worries that such changes could prove to be unduly expensive for the Revenue, the simple solution is to cap the amount of tax that could be written off in any one year. The amount of Inheritance Tax that can be written off under the existing AIL Scheme is set at £20m annually, although this is neither a target nor a limit and, if it is likely to be exceeded, application can be made to the Treasury for an excess. When this happened in 1998–99 and again in 2001–02, on both occasions the Treasury took an understanding approach and agreed to the write off of £26m in both years. Any extended AIL Scheme could run in parallel to the existing one and could be capped in the same way. We believe that 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 9

there would be considerable support for such a proposal from museum 9 directors, from owners and from the great number of people who visit museums and galleries throughout the UK.

Although the rescue of Dumfries Houses is excellent news at the very least an urgent review should be made of the privately owned holdings of works of art currently under threat in the UK. A decision may be taken that the dispersal of great collections is inevitable and is not a subject of national concern but the process should not occur without any serious debate at national level and, as far as the Panel is concerned, without discussion as to whether the AIL Scheme could be amended so as to help to retain key masterpieces. The Panel urges the Secretary of State to review the matter with the Treasury before it is too late.

Operation of the Scheme

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the workings of the Scheme we have set out in Appendix 5 the section of last year’s report devoted to the subject.

Criticism of the Scheme

It is disappointing that we still sometimes hear carping criticism of the AIL Scheme on the grounds that is designed to benefit ‘toffs’. This is misguided because the purpose of the Scheme is to acquire important heritage objects regardless of ownership, provided that the offeror has a liability to Inheritance Tax. The criticism is also thoroughly misinformed. During the last year we have recommended the acquisition of objects from the estates of a modern photographer, a well known London art dealer, a contemporary silver designer, a number of recent collectors and several scholars who bought works associated with their own specialisation. Less than a third of the offers came from collections acquired more than a century ago. Detractors of the Scheme might be interested to know that we have had approaches about the possibility of recommending acceptance of archives of two Nobel Prize Winners. So much for ‘toffs’.

Panel Membership

In May 2006 David Barrie retired from the AIL Panel having served as the link between the Panel and the Board since his appointment to MLA in 2000. In February 2007 the new MLA Board appointed Geoffrey Bond, Chairman of MLA London, to the AIL Panel. In July 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 10

10 2006, we welcomed James Methuen-Campbell who is the current tenant of Corsham Court. He is a very knowledgeable curator of the famous collection at Corsham and he brings to the Panel his practical experience of living in a house that contains furniture and a painting that have been the subject of in situ offers. Needless to say, the Panel had completed its involvement with the Corsham offer in lieu prior to his becoming a member.

Acknowledgments

As always we offer our heartfelt thanks to the expert advisers who have helped us so generously with their time and advice on our cases over the year and who are listed in Appendix 3. We could not operate the Scheme if we were unable to rely on their assistance which is sometimes provided at great personal inconvenience. They spend a considerable amount of time assessing the objects that we refer to them. The advisers from the art trade are particularly helpful in providing us with detailed information about current values, parallels when no precise comparables are available, and general price trends. Most of the objects on which we seek their advice are, however, of great interest and beauty and we hope that they enjoy examining them prior to their reports as much as members of the Panel.

We also record our thanks to MLA for its support of AIL and in particular for providing the funding for the small honorarium offered to those expert advisers who are not in a salaried position or who lose income from giving their time and expertise. In addition it continues to fund the publishing of this report.

We are also grateful to the offerors and their agents and to the allocatees of AIL material for providing the photographs that enliven this report.

Johnathan Scott Chairman AIL Panel 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 11

2 1 Paintings at Port Eliot, Cornwall AIL Cases 2006/07 In October 1996 the Museums & Galleries 11 Commission (now MLA) was informed of the Details of the offers accepted offer of a collection of 38 paintings, principally and completed within the year to 31 March 2007 are portraits and three pieces of furniture, in lieu given below. of tax arising in connection with, among other events, the sale to the Getty Museum in 1994 We also considered a number of Rembrandt’s Daniel and Cyrus before the Idol of objects that did not meet Bel. The offer was made with a condition that the standards of pre-eminence the objects should remain in situ at Port Eliot. or where agreement on an acceptable open market value In the extended period of negotiations that could not be reached and ensued the offer was reduced in scale and the were, therefore, rejected. final offer consisted of the following items:

In other cases offers were 1. English School, 1632 withdrawn before the case Portrait of Sir John Eliot (1592–1632), was completed. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, three-quarter length we have not reported on 90.2 x 68.6 cm these cases. 2. David Beck (1621–1656) Portrait of John Eliot (d. 1685), in a red cloak, half-length 66.0 x 52.7 cm

3. John Ellys (1701–1757) Portrait of Mrs Hester Booth (1690–1773) in Harlequin Dress, full-length 218.4 x 144.8 cm

4. Michael Dahl (1659–1743) Portrait of Richard Eliot (d. 1748) and 5. Portrait of Harriot, wife of Richard Eliot 124.5 x 99.1 cm (a pair)

6. Attr. to Sir Joshua Reynolds Portrait of James Eliot (d. 1742) three-quarter length 121.9 x 97.8 cm

7. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1794) Portrait of Edward, 1st Lord Eliot, as a young man, half-length 73.7 x 59.7 cm 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 12

12 8. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Group Portrait of Richard Eliot and Family 85.1 x 111.8 cm

9. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Harriot Eliot (1714–1769), three-quarter length 124.5 x 99.1 cm

10. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Captain the Honourable John Hamilton, second husband of Harriot Eliot, half- length in feigned oval 73.7 x 61.6 cm

11. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Anne Bonfoy (1729–1810), eldest daughter of Richard Eliot, three-quarter length 124.5 x 100.3 cm

1. Joshua Reynolds: 12. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Captain Hugh Bonfoy (Item 12) Portrait of Captain Hugh Bonfoy (d. 1783) three-quarter length 124.5 x 99.1 cm

13. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Charles, Lord Brome (1738–1805), later 1st Marquess Cornwallis 124.5 x 99.1 cm

14. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Hope Nursing Love 125.7 x 99.1 cm

15. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Jemima, Marchioness Cornwallis (d.1779), and her son, three-quarter length 125.7 x 100.3 cm

16. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of Edward, 1st Lord Eliot (1727–1804) three-quarter length 125.7 x 99.1 cm 1. Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of Anne Bonfoy, eldest daughter of Richard Eliot (Item 11) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 13

17. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) 13 The Honourable Edward James Eliot (1758–1797) half-length 74.9 x 61.0 cm

18. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Edward Eliot, 1st Lord Eliot (1727–1804) half-length in feigned oval 72.4 x 60.3 cm

19. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Portrait of the Artist, half-length 73.7 x 61.0 cm

20. Benjamin Wilson (1721–1788) Edward Eliot, 1st Lord Eliot and his wife Catherine, 1759 180.4 x 127.0 cm

21. George Romney (1734–1802) 1. Joshua Reynolds: The Honourable John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Portrait of Charles, Lord Brome, later 1st Marquess Cornwallis (Item 13) Germans (1761–1823) half-length 74.9 x 61.0 cm

22. John Hoppner (1758–1810) John, 1st Earl of St Germans (1761–1823) three-quarter length 123.2 x 96.5 cm

23. Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) William, 2nd Earl of St Germans (1767–1845) half-length 73.7 x 61.0 cm

Port Eliot is an 18th century Grade I listed house on a peninsula in the Tamar estuary, five miles west of Plymouth. The house is situated at the heart of the 6,000 acre estate. It adjoins the parish church of St Germans which was the site of the principal centre of Christianity west of Winchester in Anglo-Saxon times. The bishopric merged with Crediton and moved to Exeter Cathedral shortly before the 1. Joshua Reynolds: Norman Conquest. The house is surrounded Portrait of Jemima, Marchioness Cornwallis and her son (Item 15) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 14

14 by a 31 acre garden and extensive parkland laid out in the late 18th century by Humphry Repton. The house itself was partially remodelled at the beginning of the 19th century to designs by Sir John Soane. The Eliots have lived at St Germans since the mid 16th century and the archive of the family which was also offered in October 1996 was accepted in lieu in 2001 and the case was described in the Annual Report 2000–02 (Case 25, pages 27–28). The archive, which includes Repton’s Red Book, is now in the Cornwall Record Office. The core of the collection of portraits offered in lieu is the group of 14 works by Sir Joshua Reynolds painted primarily in the 1740s at the start of his career, but including examples of his work up until the 1780s. 1. Joshua Reynolds: Reynolds was born a few miles east of Hope Nursing Love (Item 9) Plymouth at Plympton where his father was master of the free grammar school. His artistic talent was evident from an early age and in 1740 he was sent to London to be apprenticed to the Devonian artist Thomas Hudson. After three years with Hudson a minor quarrel led to his leaving the studio to start work on his own. He began to attract clients both in London and in the West Country. When his father died in late 1745, Joshua and two sisters moved to Plymouth. Although he spent time in London, his primary business arose from the gentry of Devon and Cornwall. A prominent local landowner, Richard Eliot, MP for St Germans and Liskeard, who was also auditor and Receiver-General to Frederick, Prince of Wales, became one of Reynolds’ principal patrons. As the list above testifies, the artist received many commissions to paint members of the Eliot family and their relations and was to remain on close terms with them throughout his life. Edward, 1st Lord Eliot, was one of the pallbearers at Reynolds’ state burial in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral on 3 March 1792. 1. Joshua Reynolds: The works by Reynolds at Port Eliot span the Portrait of Harriot Eliot (Item 14) period from the mid 1740s through to the early 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 15

15

1. Joshua Reynolds: Group Portrait of Richard Eliot and Family (Item 8)

1780s. One of his most important early works, (No. 14), date from the 1760s. (The alliance Group Portrait of the Eliot Family (No. 8), between the Eliot and the Cornwallis families painted in 1746 shows Reynolds influenced occurred in 1824 when Jemima Cornwallis, on the one hand by Van Dyck with whose granddaughter of the Marchioness, married Pembroke Family he would have been familiar Edward Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans.) through the engraving by Baron, and on the Edward Eliot, 1st Lord Eliot, whom Reynolds other, more surprisingly, by Hogarth. David painted as a young man in 1745/46 (No. 7), Mannings has pointed out that The Eliot Family sat for the artist again in 1781–82 (No. 16). is an ‘outdoor’ version of Hogarth’s The He was also portrayed by Benjamin Wilson Cholmondeley Family. Portraits from (No. 20). Lord Eliot’s eldest son, Edward James the 1750s include those of Anne Bonfoy, Eliot (No. 17), was painted by Reynolds in a daughter of Richard Eliot (No. 11), who in 1778. His brother John was created 1st Earl 1751 married Captain Hugh Bonfoy RN of St Germans in 1815. His portrait as a young (No. 12). She was a lady of the bedchamber man was painted by Romney (No. 21). An early to the elder princesses. Her portrait was one work by Lawrence from the end of the 18th of the first works by Reynolds to be engraved. century portrays his brother William who The portrait of Captain John Hamilton (No. 10) succeeded as the 2nd Earl (No. 23). dates to 1753. He was the second son of the Earlier members of the Eliot family are also 7th Earl of Abercorn and had married Harriot included within the collection. Sir John Eliot MP Eliot the year after the death of her first (1592–1632) was one of the most vocal husband Richard Eliot in 1748. opponents of Charles I’s attempts to curb the The portraits of Lord Brome (No. 13), the privileges of Parliament and in consequence Marchioness Cornwallis (No. 15) and the was imprisoned in 1629 in the Tower where actress Miss Morris, Love Nursing Hope he was to remain until his death (No. 1). 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 16

16 His son, also John (No. 2), is depicted in a tax outstanding. Following negotiations, the portrait by the Dutch artist David Beck who values were agreed in late 2006. The Panel had been an apprentice to Anthony van Dyck. recommended that the offer should be The portrait of the famous dancer and actress approved and the Secretary of State accepted Hester Booth (1690–1773) shows her in this recommendation in January 2007. The Harlequin dress. Her daughter, Harriet Craggs, offer was completed in March 2007. married Richard Eliot in 1726. Ownership has been allocated to Plymouth City The expert advisers considered that the Museum and Art Gallery which has agreed to paintings formed an unusually good group of keep the paintings in situ at Port Eliot. Initially family portraits from the early 17th century to the paintings will be removed from Port Eliot for the 19th century. The Reynolds portraits were conservation treatment and then shown at described as being highly important in national, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery before not just regional terms. The advisers noted that being returned to Port Eliot. The house and three of these were examples of the earliest grounds will open in 2008 and subsequent phase of Reynolds’ work and were of great years for 100 days. The acceptance of this art-historical interest in showing the offer settled £2,154,339 of tax. development of his style. Other examples came from Reynolds’ early post-Italian career in London and nearly all were closely connected with the Eliot family. Taken together with two other sets of pictures by Reynolds nearby, at Saltram and Pencarrow, those at Port Eliot constituted a ‘critical mass’ of work by England’s pre-eminent 18th century portrait painter. As a whole, the Port Eliot collection was of particular historic importance, both nationally and for Cornwall, and many elements were of considerable individual aesthetic interest. The experts agreed that it formed a coherent collection that would demonstrate the full range of its historic unity and development most fully by remaining in situ at Port Eliot. The Panel considered that the collection met the third and fourth criteria and that the paintings were in acceptable condition. However, there was a considerable delay in making a recommendation as it proved difficult to find a body that would take on public ownership and there was a long period during which the details of the in situ agreement were under discussion. When these issues had been resolved, the offerors chose to exercise their right to have the collection revalued at current market values, as opposed to the date when the offer was made, and to pay interest on the 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 17

2 Lake Windermere Boats

In May 2002, MLA was informed of the offer 17 of a group of boats associated with Lake Windermere, Cumbria. The boats included the following:

1. Sailing Yacht, circa 1780, length 26 ft 6 in, beam 5 ft 10 in

2. Steam Launch ‘Dolly’, circa 1850, length 41 ft, beam 6 ft 6 in

3. Twin Screw Steam Yacht ‘Esperance’, 1869, length 65 ft, beam 10 ft

4. Steam Ship ‘Raven’, 1871, length 71 ft 10 in, beam 14 ft 9 in

5. Steam Launch ‘Bat’, 1891, length 27 ft, beam 5 ft 6 in

6. Steam Launch ‘Lady Elizabeth’, circa 1895, length 18 ft, beam 5 ft 3 in

7. Steam Launch ‘Branksome’, circa 1896, length 50 ft, beam 9 ft

8. Early Motor Boat, 1898, length 16 ft, beam 4 ft

9. Motor Vessel ‘Canfly’,1922, length 28 ft, beam 5 ft 6 in

10. Motor Vessel ‘Jane’, 1938, length 16 ft, beam 5 ft 8 in

11. Yacht ‘Dawn’, 1934, length 17 ft, beam 5 ft 10 in

The earliest of the boats, the sailing yacht of circa 1780, was built for a Windermere family on the Cumbrian coast at Whitehaven and is a rare survival from the 18th century. S.L. Dolly is believed to be the oldest mechanically powered boat in the world. It was built for use on Lake Windermere and shows the transition from oar, sail and tide to mechanical power as means of 94801 11/7/07 07:10 Page 18

18

2. Steam Launch ‘Dolly’

2. Twin Screw Steam Yacht ‘Esperance’

2. Steam Ship ‘Raven’ 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 19

propulsion. Its importance has been recognised 19 by its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Vessels. Esperance is the oldest boat on Lloyds’ Yacht Register. It was built on the Clyde for the Furness industrialist H.W. Schneider who had a house on Windermere. The boat was immortalised by Arthur Ransome as Captain Flint’s houseboat in the classic novel Swallows and Amazons. Raven was also built on the Clyde for the Furness Railway Company. It was designed for use as a cargo 2. Steam Launch ‘Branksome’ boat taking materials from the railway terminus to the communities round the water’s edge. It has survived intact with the original engine, boiler and cargo handling crane. Bat is a product of the finest of the Lake Windermere boat builders, Brockbank, and was owned in the early 20th century by two radio engineers who were pioneers of radio control. Although Lady Elizabeth is thought to have been built by an American company it is a typical small launch of the end of the 19th century which was much used by anglers on the lake. Branksome, like Bat, was designed and built by Brockbank of Windermere and was the epitome of late-Victorian elegance being constructed of teak and equipped with walnut panelling. The original luxurious interior 2. Steam Launch ‘Bat’ and fittings have all survived. Canfly was built after the First World War at Bowness and originally employed a war surplus aeroplane engine to provide the power that gave the boat a speed of 30 mph. Dawn has a mahogany carvel hull and is a good example of a Bermudan rigged Windermere 17’ class yacht, a type of craft unique to Lake Windermere. The expert advisers considered that the boats formed a unique collection. Many of them were of very high individual importance, including the 1780 sailing yacht and Dolly, Esperance, Raven and Branksome, the last four all being on the National Register of Historic Vessels. They formed the most important and coherent collection of watercraft generic to one particular location in existence anywhere 2. Steam Launch ‘Lady Elizabeth’ in the world. They demonstrated the 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 20

20 continuous development of boating in the criteria, that they were in acceptable condition Lake District for almost 200 years from and after negotiation, were fairly valued. MLA, 1780 to the end of wooden boat building on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted in about 1960. The significance of the this recommendation in April 2006. The offer collection was not, however, limited solely was completed in March 2007. The acceptance to Lake Windermere and the Lake District of the offer settled £306,320 of tax. since it reflected important themes in nautical, social and business history that were of national significance. The advisers also pointed out that the maintenance and preservation of boats (especially for those that remain in water) gave rise to very particular concerns. While the Panel was convinced that this offer met the criteria, it had to be satisfied that the boats could be allocated to a destination which could ensure their long-term conservation. After discussion with the offeror it was agreed that a suitable local museum which had been awarded MLA Accreditation should be the allocatee. The Lakeland Arts Trust (LAT) which runs the Abbot Hall Art Gallery and the Voysey house, Blackwell, agreed to explore the possibility of taking on ownership. Under an imaginative package the offerors have most generously leased the site of the Windermere Steamboat Museum to the LAT, which has been awarded a grant of £465,596 by the National Heritage Memorial Fund to allow the boats to be taken out of the water and restored. A certain amount of conservation work will be carried out immediately and a new temporary storage building will be erected on the Museum site. LAT intends to recruit a team of specialist boat builders to restore the boats and to use the operation to create a centre of excellence in the field of historic boat restoration. New jobs will be created, and a training scheme will be established to give local people of all ages the skills needed for boat maintenance and repairs. In due course the boats will return to full public display and, where appropriate, will once again sail on Lake Windermere. With this plan in place the Panel was in a position to recommend that the boats were pre-eminent under the first, third and fourth 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 21

3 Carlo Portelli: The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari

In March 2004 MLA was informed of the offer Between 1544–46 he is inscribed in the Arte 21 of a painting by the 16th century Florentine dei Medici e Speziali, the guild that included artist Carlo Portelli, The Charity of St Nicholas Florentine painters. He is briefly mentioned in of Bari, oil on panel, 75 by 112 cm. The offer Vasari’s Lives of the Artists as a painter of was made with a wish that the painting should panels and of a large number of altarpieces. be allocated to the National Gallery. His first documented surviving work is the Carlo Portelli (before 1510–1574) was a altarpiece of the Trinity and Saints of 1544 in draughtsman and painter who spent his entire the Florentine church of Santa Felicità. The career in Florence. He studied with Ridolfo 1550s was the period of his maturity and while Ghirlandaio and developed a Mannerist style several altarpieces from this time survive in which has close affinities with that of Pontormo Florence, the total number of his known works and Bronzino. His drawings show the influence is not much greater than 20. of Michelangelo. He received commissions The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari depicts a from the Medici rulers of Florence and was story associated with the popular saint who in involved with the decorations for the wedding the fourth century had been bishop of Myra in of Cosimo I to Eleonora di Toledo in 1539. Asia Minor. He took his name, however, from

3. Carlo Portelli: The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari. © The National Gallery 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 22

22 the southern Italian city of Bari where it was required further study, it was certainly a refined believed that his mortal remains had been example of the school of painting associated brought following their theft from Myra by Italian with the decoration of the ‘studiolo’ of Eleonora merchants in 1087. di Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. There is a legend that Bishop Nicholas, The distinguished provenance added to the who was from a noble family, wished to use importance of the painting. his wealth for good purposes. He heard of The Panel considered that the painting a poor man in his diocese who had three met the second and third criteria, that it was in daughters but could not provide them with acceptable condition and that the valuation was dowries to enable them to marry; the girls a fair reflection of its current market value. therefore faced lives of prostitution. The saint, MLA recommended acceptance of the painting aware of their probable fate, threw three bags to the Secretary of State who accepted this of gold through the window of their house to advice in August 2004. There then followed provide the dowries, concealing his charity a considerable delay while uncertainties over under cover of darkness. The painting depicts the size of the tax liability payable were the saint throwing the bags of gold. One has resolved. This happened in late 2006 and the already been thrown and he holds the other offer was completed in March 2007. The two in his hands, preparing to lob them acceptance of this offer settled £210,000 of though the window. tax. The painting has been temporarily allocated As veneration of St Nicholas spread to the National Gallery pending a decision on throughout Europe and when this tale was permanent allocation. retold in north Europe, the notion of open widows at night would have made little sense. To get the gifts inside the house and conceal the identity of the giver, the story was therefore retold with Nicholas throwing the gifts down the chimney. The line of enrichment and development is complex, but it is generally accepted that the person who gave gifts at night via the chimney was the basis for the later figure of Santa Claus. In the early 19th century the painting belonged to Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, brother of the Emperor Napoleon. It passed later in the century to the collection of William Graham, the patron of Rossetti and Burne-Jones, who was also a trustee of the National Gallery. The expert advisers described the painting as a beautiful example of the Florentine ‘Studiolo’ movement, a category of work which is rare in general and particularly so in the United Kingdom. They noted the refined detail of the work and the elegant poses of the figures. While the specific attribution to Portelli 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 23

4 Seat Furniture at Corsham Court

23

4. The Picture Gallery, Corsham Court

In December 2004 MLA was advised of the offer of a suite of George III mahogany seat furniture which was commissioned in 1769 for the Picture Gallery at Corsham Court, near Bath, in Wiltshire. The offer was made with the condition that the items should be displayed in situ at Corsham and join Van Dyck’s important painting The Betrayal of Christ which was accepted in lieu in 1984 and has remained in situ hanging in the Picture Gallery at Corsham Court while ownership has been transferred to Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. Corsham House, as it was originally called, was built in the 1580s and was acquired in 1745 by Paul Methuen (1723–1795). He was the cousin and godson of Sir Paul Methuen (1672–1757) who had been a distinguished diplomat. Along with his father, Sir Paul had been responsible for the treaty of 1703, which formed the basis of Britain’s 18th century trade 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 24

24

4. Settee from the suite of mahogany seat furniture, Corsham Court 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 25

with Portugal, particularly the important trade 25 in wine. He held various offices at court in the first half of the 18th century and from 1715 built up a distinguished collection of Old Master paintings. His collection passed on his death to his cousin Paul Methuen who decided that if the paintings, previously hung in Sir Paul’s London residence, were to be transferred to Corsham Court, some rebuilding would be necessary. The principal addition was the Picture Gallery which was designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown as a triple cube, 72 feet in length. Robert and James Adam designed the large-scale pier glasses, with accompanying tables, to furnish the room. The symmetrical hang of the paintings has been maintained to the present day. The walls were hung with crimson silk damask which was held at the time to be the most suitable background for displaying paintings in gilt frames. In 1765, 700 yards of crimson silk were ordered from Morris and 4. Armchair from the suite of mahogany seat furniture, Young of Spitalfields at 13s. 6d per yard. At Corsham Court every stage the intention was to ensure that the finest designers and craftsmen were employed sent to Corsham House, being furniture for to provide a setting in the most fashionable Great Room”. taste within which the great collection of Cole is known to have worked with Thomas paintings could be appropriately displayed. Chippendale and the two men were employed Four years later a further 400 yards of earlier in the 1760s by the Duke of Atholl at crimson silk were ordered to cover the large Dunkeld House and Blair Castle in Scotland. suite of seat furniture. The Methuen day-books No documentation, however, has been found to record that on 3 April 1769 the mercer, link the design of the furniture to Chippendale Young, was paid for 478 yards of crimson silk and it is notable that another furniture maker’s damask at 14 shillings per yard. This was to name occurs repeatedly in the Corsham cover the full suite of furniture which consisted day-books. Henry Hill of Marlborough, Wiltshire, of 41 pieces, including 30 chairs, two pairs received payments totalling over £600 during of settees, six window seats and a the period when the Picture Gallery was being winged armchair. Today, the chairs and sofas built and decorated. Hill is known to have still retain that original crimson silk damask, produced very high quality furniture and woven in the same colour and pattern as the received commissions from London clients hangings and window curtains. The and although he is chiefly associated with upholstering of the suite would appear to marquetry furniture, especially tables and have been undertaken by the London firm of commodes, his involvement in the production George Cole (1747–74) of Golden Square, of this seat furniture cannot be ruled out. London. The day-book records on 17 April Stylistically the suite marks a turning point in 1769 a payment to Cole, “for upholstery goods the development of English furniture, 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 26

26 illustrating the transition from the rococo, as it was in outstanding condition and that the represented in the serpentine frames and valuation was a fair reflection of its current naturalistically carved foliage of the brackets, market value. The Panel had reached this to Neo-classicism, as exemplified by the conclusion in November 2005 at which stage terminals of the arm-rests, boldly carved with the final tax liability was still being discussed. conspicuous Antique-style paterae. The suite is Meanwhile, the details of the in situ agreement distributed not only within the Picture Gallery were finalised between the offeror and Bristol but in the other state apartments as well, City Museum and Art Gallery which had agreed significantly enhancing the harmony and unity to take ownership. As Corsham Court is open of these interiors. from mid March until the end of September for Corsham Court remains one of the foremost five days each week and at weekends at other country houses in England, remarkable for its times with the exception of December the history and architecture, and for the superb public access was considered to be acceptable. collection of furniture and works of art In June 2006, after the tax liability had finally contained within the state apartments. The been determined, eight pairs of armchairs, three Picture Gallery, in particular, is one of the finest pairs of window seats and a winged armchair, rooms from the mid 18th century, not just in which were located predominantly in the England but in the whole of Europe and in all Picture Gallery, were chosen for the final offer. essentials it presents the same spectacle to The Panel then recommended acceptance of the visitor as it did 240 years ago. The greatest the offer to the Secretary of State. The Minister care and attention have been devoted to the approved the offer in November 2006 and it preservation of the house by the Methuen was completed in March 2007. The furniture family who have shared the house with the has been allocated to Bristol City Museum and visiting public for 200 years. Art Gallery for display in situ at Corsham Court The expert advisers described Corsham in accordance with the condition of the offeror. Court as one of the great treasure houses of The acceptance of this offer settled England and stated that the furniture was of £2,450,119 of tax. such aesthetic quality that it would find a place in any national collection. Its importance, however, was such that it ought to remain in the context for which it was created. They noted that the furniture was in a remarkable state of preservation. Its design was traditionally associated with Robert Adam who was responsible for other elements in the Picture Gallery and, although no documentary evidence linked Chippendale with the manufacture, the experts agreed that both the design and manufacture were of the highest standard and suggested the participation of a cabinetmaker of the very highest calibre. The importance of this exceptional suite was not, however, dependent upon its attribution to a specific designer and craftsman. The Panel considered that the seat furniture met the second, third and fourth criteria, that 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 27

5 Charles II Gold Beaker

In January 2005, MLA was informed of the he entered into the fringes of government 27 offer of a gold beaker from the second half of administration. On the accession of James II in the 17th century. The beaker is engraved with 1685 he was appointed Ambassador to France the arms of Sir William Trumbull (1639–1716) where his deep Protestant beliefs were a of Easthampstead Park, Berkshire, impaling drawback, especially in the months after the those of his first wife Katherine, second revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After less daughter of Sir Charles Cotterell, Master of the than a year in Paris he was recalled and given Bequests and Ceremonies, and with the arms the embassy at Constantinople. He and his wife of the Levant Company, 10 cm high, 10 cm set sail for the East in April 1687, remaining in diameter at top and 301 gr. weight. The beaker Constantinople until July 1691, during which was made by George Garthorne and assayed time he enjoyed the most contented period of in 1685. his public service. William Trumbull, who was educated at It was at the beginning of Trumbull’s Oxford and enrolled at the Middle Temple, appointment to Constantinople on 29 March initially pursued a career in civil law specialising 1687 that the minute book of the Court of in the Admiralty and ecclesiastical courts. the Levant Company records that, “intimation In the early 1680s, through the influence of being given that the Lord Ambs Lady was in his father-in-law, John Dolben, Bishop of expectation of a Present as her Ladyship had Rochester and future Archbishop of York, understood other Ambs Ladys had had, it was

5. Charles II gold beaker 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 28

28 left to Mr Husband to provide a piece of gold especially the ambassador’s wife at the Sublime plate to the value of about £60 to be presented Porte, given the general separation to her Ladys in the Company’s name”. The of the sexes at the Ottoman Court. Levant Company had been formed during the The Panel considered that the gold beaker reign of Elizabeth I, initially as the Turkey met the first criterion, that it was in acceptable Company, but assumed its new name following condition and, following negotiation, that it was amalgamation with the Venice Company. acceptably valued. The Panel recommended It enjoyed special privileges that allowed it to that the offer should be approved. MLA, on trade in areas under Ottoman control and in its behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this earliest years its officials acted as the Queen’s recommendation in November 2005. The offer representative in Constantinople. When, after was completed in August 2006. The beaker a few years, a full English embassy was has been temporarily allocated to the Victoria established, the Levant Company paid the and Albert Museum while a permanent home is Crown for the cost of the embassy. found. The offer was made without either a wish The close connection between the Company or condition as to allocation. The acceptance and the Ambassador still existed a century later of this offer settled £92,939 of tax. in 1687 when Sir William set out for the voyage to Constantinople. A letter dated 13th April 1687, from John Verney, 1st Viscount Fermanagh, to his father, Sir Ralph Verney, notes that the Levant Company gave Trumbull and his wife a dinner at the Ship in Greenwich and presented Lady Trumbull with a beaker. Sir William’s will records, “I give the Gold Cup given me the Turky Company to remain as an heirloom in my Family.” One other example of a Levant Company beaker is known, that given to Lady Rushout, wife of Sir James Rushout, William III’s Ambassador to Turkey, which was presented in 1697. The Rushout beaker retains its cover which would appear to have been lost in the case of the Trumbull beaker. The loss of the cover initially caused concern to the expert advisers who felt that in its incomplete state the item could not be considered pre-eminent under either the second or third criteria. The Panel asked the advisers to reconsider the beaker not just in terms of its significance as an example of the goldsmiths’ art, but more widely as an object which could illuminate significant aspects of social and economic history. The expert advisers considered that the beaker was a rare survival of the material culture of diplomacy. It was of particular importance in documenting the role of women, 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 29

6 Evelyn de Morgan: The Valley of Shadows

In March 2005, MLA was informed of the painting she was asked to exhibit at the 29 offer of a painting by Evelyn de Morgan Grosvenor Gallery when it opened in 1877. In (1855–1919), The Valley of Shadows, signed 1887 she married the potter William de Morgan with initials and dated (lower right) who was a friend and business associate of ‘EdeM/1899’, oil on canvas, 118.1 x 193 cm. William Morris. Her artistic success helped The offer was made with a condition that the provide a measure of financial stability for her painting should be allocated to Leeds City husband’s precarious pottery business. Her Council for display at Leeds City Art Gallery. work was influenced by her admiration for Evelyn Pickering was born in London. Her Botticelli and also by her acquaintance with early drawing talent made her decide on an the later generation of Pre-Raphaelite artists, artistic career in spite of the disapproval of her particularly Edward Burne-Jones. barrister father. Encouraged by her maternal At a time when former religious certainties uncle, the artist John Roddam-Spencer, she had been rocked by scientific developments, enrolled at the Slade in 1873 and was among Spiritualism was a fashionable reaction to the the first generation of female students. She materialism of the day. The De Morgans were trained under the artist Edward J Poynter. committed members of the movement and Her talent was recognised by several prizes Evelyn’s art is steeped in its ethos. including the Slade Scholarship and on her Evelyn de Morgan explored both cosmic return from visits to Italy to study Renaissance mysteries and contemporary issues within a

6. Evelyn de Morgan: The Valley of Shadows 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 30

30 framework of myth and symbol. Many of her characteristic of this artist. The experts also paintings, such as The Valley of Shadows, are emphasised that the painting was extremely moral allegories. The De Morgans well made, both in its use of materials and in experimented with ‘automatic writing’ produced its artistic accomplishments. while in a trance and as a result of ‘dictation’ The Panel considered that the painting met from spirits. A collection of these pieces, printed the third criterion, that it was in acceptable in 1909, describes conditions in the afterlife condition and that it was fairly valued. The and gives advice on moral and spiritual Panel recommended that the offer should be development. These ideas were given visual approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of representation in Evelyn’s paintings, particularly State, accepted this recommendation in July in The Valley of Shadows. 2005. The offer was completed in August In The Valley of Shadows the central robed 2006. The painting has been allocated to figure is bathed in the light of an angelic Leeds City Council for display at Leeds City Art messenger, while to the left a king stands Gallery in accordance with the condition of the forlornly with his foot resting on a naked offeror. The acceptance of this painting settled captive. To the right, blind Fortune scatters £320,000 of tax. fruits to those entering the valley while in the foreground a clothed youth follows the hand of another who disappears into a darkened cave. The stone at the bottom right bears the inscription which provides a key to the meaning of the painting.

Dark is the Valley of Shadows; Empty the Power of Kings; Blind the Favour of Fortune; Hungry the Caverns of Death; Dim is the light from Beyond; Unanswered the Riddle of Life.

The experts described the picture as a rare example of a large-scale, ambitious, allegorical painting by a woman artist which was of importance for its imaginative complexity and quality of execution. Although Evelyn de Morgan was not a figure widely known outside specialist circles her work stood comparison with that of such near contemporary artists as Edward Burne-Jones, George Frederic Watts or Frederic Lord Leighton. Academic or ‘traditionalist’ paintings from this era were now attracting increasing scholarly attention after a period of relative neglect. It was noted that the allegorical subject-matter displayed considerable originality and developed an intellectual programme of its own in a way 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 31

7 Archive of the Earls of Erne

In July 2004, MLA was informed of the offer Crom Castle, County Fermanagh, the majority 31 of the archive of the Earls of Erne which was are concerned with the administration of the made with a condition that it should be family estates in and around Crom and other allocated to the Public Record Office, Northern parts of Fermanagh and with the extensive area Ireland, where the papers had been on deposit of Erne lands in Counties Donegal, Mayo and for many years. Sligo as well as in the city of Dublin. The Erne papers comprise circa The Creightons are believed to be descended 12,000 documents and volumes dating from from a Scottish branch of the Creichtoun family, 1611 to the latter part of the 20th century. who left Scotland in the 17th century and While some of the papers relate to the family acquired land in Fermanagh as part of the and personal affairs of the Creighton family of Plantations movement. In the 18th century this

7. Archive of the Earls of Erne: Letter of 12 August 1879 to Lord Erne from the tenantry of Lough Mask estate, Co. Mayo protesting at their treatment by Lord Erne’s agent, CH Bicott (Captain Boycott) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 32

32 property was increased in a somewhat The expert advisers considered the archive piecemeal fashion but the most important of importance both on a national and a regional addition was the Lifford estate, a parliamentary level. It was the prime record for a number of borough which sent two MPs to the Irish House very different estates in various parts of Ireland of Commons. As the family generally supported and, in the Crom Castle estate, it documented the government and sometimes allowed it an historic setting of outstanding natural beauty to nominate the candidate to one of their two and ecological importance which is today seats, Lifford was a major factor in their maintained by the National Trust. They noted elevation to the peerage. They were created that it is the most important and complete Baron Erne in 1768, Viscount Erne in archive for any estate in County Fermanagh 1781 and Earl Erne in 1789. and that its interest extended into Southern The property in Dublin, Rogerson’s Quay, Ireland with particularly significant material came to the family through the marriage of for Rogerson’s Quay in Dublin. The archive Abraham Creighton to the eldest daughter documented the important role of the Creighton of Sir John Rogerson who was Lord Chief family in the political, agricultural, economic and Justice of the King’s Bench. Other marriages social life of Ulster. The management of the in the late 18th century also eventually Loch Erne Yacht Club, one of the earliest yacht brought lands in Connaught, Mayo and Sligo clubs in Britain, was well documented. The 3rd into Creighton ownership. Earl’s meticulous attention to financial details In the early 19th century the 1st and had ensured very complete estate accounts and 3rd Earls acquired land by purchase and his son’s involvement with the Orange Order by 1883 the family estates totalled over was amply recorded. The workings of the Irish 40,000 acres. On the 1st Earl’s death in Land Commission were also well documented 1828 he left a considerable inheritance to as was the management of the estate in County his grandson in order that he could rebuild Mayo by the infamous Captain Boycott. Crom Castle which had been destroyed by The Panel considered that the archive met fire in 1764. He soon employed Edward Blore the third criterion, that it was in acceptable to provide designs and the building work condition and was fairly valued. The Historical continued throughout most of the 1830s. Manuscripts Commissioner advised the The archive contains nearly 500 drawings and Panel that the allocation of the papers to the plans for Crom Castle and its interiors as well as Public Records Office, Northern Ireland was for many of the estate buildings. Within three appropriate and, indeed, highly desirable. years of the completion of Crom, however, fire The Panel recommended to the Minister of again swept through the building and, although State for Northern Ireland that the offer should the rebuilding was to the original specifications, be approved and this advice was accepted in the work was carried out not by Blore but by November 2005. The offer was completed in the Dublin architect, George Sudden. April 2006 with the permanent allocation of the The rebuilding of the castle by the 3rd Earl Erne Archive to the Public Record Office, resulted in the estate becoming the social Northern Ireland. The acceptance of this offer centre of the area and its position on the banks settled £84,000 of tax. of Loch Erne, where the famous yacht club had been established in 1837, meant that during the regatta season the castle saw a succession of visitors including royalty, viceroys and many of the leading politicians and members of Victorian society. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 33

8 The Harcourt Papers

In June 2005, MLA was informed of the offer he also wrote for the Morning Chronicle 33 of the Harcourt papers. The offer was made showing his Liberal sympathies and his with a wish that the papers should be allocated opposition to Palmerston’s foreign policy. to the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, He combined journalism with his legal activities where approximately two-thirds of the papers in the 1860s, specialising in international law. had previously been on deposit. He became a QC in 1866 and a professor of The two principal components of the international law at Cambridge three years later. archive are the papers of Sir William Harcourt His political interest led him to enter the House (1827–1904) and his son Louis Harcourt, of Commons in 1868 as Liberal MP for Oxford first Viscount Harcourt (1863–1922). The City. Once in Parliament he soon demonstrated future Sir William was born into a family of considerable debating skills and, although he considerable distinction at the heart of the used these at times to criticise some of English establishment. After Cambridge, he Gladstone’s policies, he was offered and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple but accepted the post of Solicitor-General in late

8. The Hardcourt Papers: Telegraph (partly in cipher) of 8 May 1882 from Lord Spencer, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to the Home Secretary reporting on the situation in Dublin immediately following the Phoenix Park Murders. Thomas Burke, Permanent Under Secretary and Senior Civil Servant in Ireland along with Lord Frederick Cavendish, Chief Secretary for Ireland were murdered in Phoenix Park on the evening of 6 May 1882 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 34

34 1873. His first period in office was short-lived, great and the good across political divides. It however, and ended with the resignation of was not until the final months of his father’s life Gladstone’s government three months later. that he entered Parliament and although not When Gladstone returned to the Premiership in an orator, he was appointed a Minister within 1880, Harcourt was appointed Home Secretary two years and sat in Cabinet the following year. and the situation in Ireland was to take up most In 1910 he became Colonial Secretary in of his energies. Following Lord Salisbury’s brief Asquith’s government. His opposition to the administration in the winter of 1885/6, in suffragette movement made him the bête noire Gladstone’s third government Harcourt became of militant suffragists. He continued in office Chancellor of the Exchequer but only for the through the years leading up to and during the few months prior to Gladstone’s defeat over First World War and was part of Asquith’s his Home Rule Bill. coalition government. Failing health caused him When the Liberals returned to office in to leave the Commons when Asquith resigned 1892, Harcourt was reappointed Chancellor. in late 1916. In January 1917 the old family However, with Gladstone in his 80s the viscountcy created in the early 18th century question of the succession dominated political was revived and he was ennobled as Viscount and party life. Aided by his son, Louis, Harcourt Harcourt. Outside politics he helped found the jockeyed for position with Lord Rosebery and Museum of London and was a member of the John Morley but it was Rosebery who was advisory committee of the Victoria and Albert successful and once in office, he retained Museum and a trustee of the Wallace Harcourt as Chancellor. In the first Budget of Collection, National Portrait Gallery and British Rosebery’s premiership, Harcourt introduced Museum. It was the attainment of this last death duties at what was considered to be the position which he told Asquith was, “the only exorbitant rate of 8% on estates valued at over ambition which I have ever permitted myself in £1,000,000. Again, his tenure in office was life.” Throughout his life he kept a voluminous relatively brief as the government lost a vote diary which is included in the archive. in June 1895 and resigned. Harcourt lost his The wealth of additional papers includes constituency in the resulting General Election, deeds and manorial records from the medieval although he soon found a safe Welsh seat period and Royal Letters Patent under the which allowed him to return to the Commons Great Seal of Edward VI and Elizabeth I. and act as leader of the Liberal opposition. The Harcourt family’s literary interests in the The Liberals, however, were deeply split and 18th century resulted in correspondence with had no formal head until Campbell- Pope, Horace Walpole, Rousseau and the poet Bannerman’s election in 1899. Harcourt laureate William Whitehead. From the 19th continued to serve as an MP but his role in the century there are letters from many leading Liberal Party became marginalised and as his scientists including Darwin, Babbage, Faraday, health weakened he withdrew from political Davy, Airy, Lyell, Murchinson and Sedgwick. life, dying in 1904. There are earlier papers relating to George I’s Although Sir William’s son, Louis (known as coronation, detailed descriptions of the Loulou) never attained high public office, his American War of Independence and many close involvement with his father’s political letters from the royal household including activities gave him an unparalleled insight into Queen Charlotte and the royal princesses, the political life of late Victorian England. which give vivid descriptions of King George’s Whereas his father had an irascible nature, illness and recovery. A further insight into later Loulou was of a more accommodating royal gossip is the entry in Louis Harcourt’s temperament, which gave him access to the journal which records a deathbed confession 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 35

that Queen Victoria had secretly married fundamental importance for the history 35 John Brown. of Oxfordshire. The expert advisers considered that the The Panel considered that the material met archive, which was of very considerable extent, the first and third criteria, that it was in was of importance both on a national level acceptable condition and valued at a fair and for the county of Oxford. The papers of market price. The Panel recommended that Sir William and Louis Harcourt provided a the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf unique insight into the political life of the era of the Secretary of State, accepted this from the second half of the 19th century until recommendation in November 2005. The offer the years just after World War I. They noted also was completed in November 2006. The papers the large section of 18th and 19th century have been temporarily allocated to the Bodleian papers relating to science and the arts which Library, University of Oxford, pending a decision were of national importance. The advisers on permanent allocation. The acceptance of stated that family and estate papers were of this offer settled £1,488,140 of tax.

8. The Harcourt Papers: Entry in Louis (Loulou) Harcourt’s diary for 17 February 1885 reporting fifth hand allegations of Queen Victoria’s alleged marriage to John Brown 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 36

9 Five portraits by Thomas Gainsborough

36 In August 2005, MLA was informed of the native town. During the next decade he offer of five portraits by Thomas Gainsborough remained in Suffolk although by 1752 he had (1727–88). The paintings were offered with left Sudbury for Ipswich where he stayed until a condition that they should be allocated to his move to Bath in 1758. His earlier emphasis Gainsborough’s House, Suffolk where they on conversation pieces gave way to a had previously been on loan. The details of concentration on uncompromising head-and­ the portraits, all of which are oil on canvas, are shoulder portraits and the five portraits under as follows: consideration all belong to this period and genre. 1. Portrait of John Vere (c.1711–1790) The portraits of Mr and Mrs Vere date to circa and 1752. John Vere lived at Thorpe, Norwich and 2. Portrait of Mary, wife of John Vere (d. 1791) Henley, Suffolk. In 1742 he was appointed a each 76.2 x 63.4 cm (a pair) commissioner of the Salt Office by Sir Robert Walpole and he married Mary, widow of 3. Portrait of Thomas Vere (1681–1766) Reverend John Beaumont two years later. 76.2 x 63.5 cm He was a Justice of the Peace and Receiver- General of the land tax for Norfolk. His wife 4. Portrait of Nathaniel Acton (1726–1795) Mary was the elder daughter and co-heiress of 76.2 x 63.4 cm Thomas Vesey of Sproughton, Suffolk. The portrait of Thomas Vere belongs to the 5. Portrait of Caroline, wife of Nathaniel Acton mid 1750s. He was the son of a Norwich wool (c.1738 –1761) merchant and his own successful weaving 77.5 x 63.5 cm business led to a significant civic career in Norwich. He was sheriff in 1713, alderman in Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, 1722 and by 1735 mayor. In the same year Suffolk, in the house which now forms the he was elected to Parliament for Norwich and Gainsborough’s House Museum. He went to held the seat for over a decade. Sudbury Grammar School where his uncle was The final two portraits of Nathaniel Acton headmaster but is known to have missed and his wife Caroline were painted immediately lessons in order to sketch the local countryside. prior to Gainsborough’s departure for the A small inheritance in 1739 allowed him to fashionable world of Bath. Nathaniel Acton was go to London where, like Hogarth a generation the only son of another Nathaniel of Bramford earlier, he trained briefly with a silversmith. Hall, Suffolk and his third wife Elizabeth Of more lasting influence, however, was the (c. 1698–1744), the daughter of John Fowle St Martin’s Lane Academy where François of Brome Hall, Suffolk. He married Caroline Gravelot was drawing master. He may also Wearg on 27 March 1753 and they had two have had some involvement alongside Hayman sons and four daughters. He supported the in the decoration of the Vauxhall Garden Free-burgesses of Ipswich in 1755 and was supper boxes and his 1748 contribution to High Sheriff in 1772. the Foundling Hospital’s Court Room remains The expert advisers considered all these in situ at the Foundling Museum. works to be fine examples of Gainsborough’s He had established himself as an work from this early formative period of his independent artist by 1744 and was able to career. What gave them special importance divide his time between London and Sudbury. was the fact that they depicted members of He was married in London in 1746 and when East Anglian families which had become related his father died two years later he returned to his by marriage and the portraits had remained 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 37

37

9. Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of John Vere 9. Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of Mary, wife of John Vere

9. Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of Nathaniel Acton 9. Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of Caroline, wife of Nathaniel Acton 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 38

38 together as a family group. In addition, they The Panel considered that the portraits met were all in good condition. It was noted that the third criterion, that they were in acceptable they had been painted to hang in precisely the condition and, following negotiation, that they kind of setting which Gainsborough’s House were fairly valued. The Panel recommended now provided and that no other public museum that the offer should be approved. MLA, on offered the opportunity to see the artist’s first behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this East Anglian work in such an appropriate recommendation in February 2006. The offer context. They noted that another Gainsborough was completed in August 2006. The paintings portrait from the same source, that of Lambe have been allocated to Gainsborough’s House, Barry, had been purchased for Gainsborough’s Sudbury, in accordance with the condition of House in 2000. The experts pointed out that the offeror. The acceptance of this offer settled the earliest paintings in this set demonstrated £203,000 of tax. the artist’s ability to observe the human face and handle oil paint with a maturity well beyond his years. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 39

10 Francesco Guardi: Isola di San Giorgio in Alga

In October 2005, MLA was informed of the 1928 and it was advertised in The Burlington 39 offer of a painting by Francesco Guardi Magazine in January 1930. It was then sold to (1712–1793) Isola di San Giorgio in Alga, oil on another dealer with offices in London and by canvas, 45 x 59.5 cm. The offer was made with 1955 its existence is fully documented in a UK a condition that the painting should be allocated collection from which it passed by descent to to the Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery. the offering estate. As the family had purchased Before the offer of the painting could be other works from the London dealer there was given full consideration by the Panel, the no evidence to suggest that the painting left the question of provenance had to be addressed as UK after 1928. the standard work on the artist, Guardi: I Dipinti Francesco Guardi was baptised in Venice by Antonio Morassi, stated that the painting had on 5 October 1712. His father, a minor painter, been with a German dealer in 1941. Fortunately died in 1716. His sister married Giambattista the firm was still in existence and its records Tiepolo. His early work was generally produced showed that while it did indeed once have the in collaboration with his elder brother Gian painting, this was in 1925 and that it was Antonio (1699–1760) and consists mostly of returned unsold to the then owner. The London figure painting. In 1764 he was described as a dealer, Agnew’s, purchased the painting in late pupil of the famous Canaletto but this is

10. Francesco Guardi: Isola di San Giorgio in Alga 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 40

40 doubtful, although he was evidently aware of exceptional depth and luminosity. The treatment the latter’s paintings or engravings of them. of the reflections in the water was considered By the 1770s Guardi had evolved his own especially fine. The variety of boats and style in which topographical depiction was gondolas and the lively, distinctive figures secondary to the effects of light created with a provided both anecdotal interest and touches delicate and nervous brushwork. However, he of colour and movement. The painting was never sought international renown like earlier described as an exceptional example of veduta painters and spent his life working in Guardi’s later style which demonstrated the Venice and its surrounding hinterland. fluent and delicate paint handling that The island of San Giorgio in Alga, so named characterised the very best of the artist’s works to distinguish it from San Giorgio Maggiore, is from the 1780s. It had added significance in one of the smaller islands of the Venetian being one of the very rare works actually signed lagoon and is situated south-west of the city on by Guardi. the landward side of the canal connecting the The Panel considered that the painting met city with the Brenta river mouth. Initially it was the second and third criteria, that it was in the home of a small community of Benedictine acceptable condition and that it was fairly monks but in the 15th century it was occupied valued. The Panel recommended that the by a community of Canons Regular who built offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of the church and monastery. In the early 18th the Secretary of State, accepted this century fire engulfed the ecclesiastical recommendation in October 2006. The painting buildings which were then rebuilt. With the has been allocated to Cheltenham Museum collapse of the Republic at the beginning of and Art Gallery in accordance with the condition the 19th century the island became one of the of the offeror. The acceptance of this offer defensive emplacements along the western settled £560,000 of tax. edge of the lagoon. Today it is uninhabited and most of the buildings seen in Guardi’s view are crumbling ruins. In 1782 Pope Pius VI met Doge Paulo Renier at San Giorgio, an event depicted by Guardi in a painting now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The painting on offer is believed to date to the early 1780s, the same period as the Philadelphia painting. The expert advisers considered Guardi to be a key figure in 18th century Venetian art. His virtuoso brushwork and expressive approach to view-painting were popular particularly in England from the early 19th century onwards and his work was of major art-historical importance in the history of landscape and view-painting in general. Guardi’s free, almost impressionistic handling appealed to certain kinds of collectors and anticipated some of the painterly effects associated with 19th century art. The painting on offer was noted as being of very high quality with the composition beautifully proportioned, the sky having 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 41

11 Collection of Islamic Coins

In October 2005, MLA was informed of the (1077–1307 AD) and is one of the most 41 offer of a collection of 3,577 coins almost all complete collections of Seljuq coins ever of which are of Islamic origin. A small group of assembled. pre-Islamic coinage gives the context for the The Seljuq sultanate dates from the conquest collection. The offer was made with a condition of Baghdad in 1055 by the descendants of that the coins should be allocated to the the Central Asian Turkic Oghuz tribe. They soon University of Cambridge for display at the established hegemony over most of West Asia, Fitzwilliam Museum. including present-day Iran, Iraq and Syria. The collection contains a representative A branch of the Seljuqs established themselves group of Islamic coinage from the seventh to at Nicaea (present day Iznik in north-western the 20th centuries over a wide geographical Turkey) in the period 1078–1082 and became area from Muslim Spain in the west to India known as the Seljuqs of Rum (Rome), referring in the east. Among the many dynasties to the Roman Byzantine past of the Seljuq represented some are explored in particular territories. Following the fall of Constantinople depth. The largest group consists of nearly in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, they 600 coins of the Seljuqs of Rum established uncontested authority in Anatolia

11. Wajihid dinar from Uman (Oman) 11. Abbasid dinar from Baysh (Afghanistan) 339 AH (950/1 AD) 336 AH (947/8 AD)

11. Umayyad dinar from Ifriqiya (costal Libya, Tunis 11. Abbasid dinar from Dimashq (Damascus) and Morocco) 102 AH (720/1 AD) 251 AH (865/6 AD)

11. Ottoman sultani from Zabid (Yemen) 11. Abbasid dinar from Makka (Mecca) 954 AH (1547/8 AD) 293 AH (905/6 AD) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 42

42 and the following decades witnessed a 2006. The offer was completed in May vigorous flourishing of commercial, artistic 2006. The collection has been allocated to and cultural activity, centred in the new Seljuq the University of Cambridge for display at the capital of Konya. Fitzwilliam Museum in accordance with the Other large and systematic series of coins condition of the offeror. The acceptance of are those of the Abbasids (750–1258) who this offer settled £25,291 of tax. achieved the zenith of their powers in the ninth and tenth centuries and whose political capital was for much of this period in the newly founded city of Baghdad; the Ottomans who ruled much of the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Eastern Europe from the late 14th century until the beginning of the 20th century; the Ilkhanids, a Mongol dynasty which ruled much of the eastern Islamic world from the mid 13th century to the mid 14th century following the sack of Baghdad in 1258 and the end of the Abbasid caliphate. This collection formed the basis of the authoritative work of Michael Broome (1927–1997) who founded the Oriental Numismatic Society in 1970 and whose books include A Handbook of Islamic Coins (1985), the standard work of reference on the subject, and the forthcoming Coinage of the Seljuqs. The expert advisers considered that the collection was notable for its overview of Islamic numismatics and for its in-depth perspective into particular dynasties. The importance of the Seljuq coins was noted as providing a comprehensive insight into the coinage of this period. Individual coins from the Umayyad and Abbasid periods were singled out as being of particular rarity and importance, including an Umayyad Dinar, Ifriqiya, AH102 and an Abbasid Dirham, Makka AH293. The experts noted that the collection on offer would almost double the representation of Islamic coinage at the Fitzwilliam Museum and that it would complement the existing collection. The Panel considered that the collection met the third criterion, that it was in acceptable condition and that it was fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this recommendation in March 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 43

12 Paul de Lamerie: Silver Plateau

In October 2005, MLA was informed of the where his father, Paul de la Merie was a French 43 offer of a George II silver plateau by Paul de refugee officer in William III’s army. The family Lamerie (1688–1751). The plateau stands moved to London in the year following their only on four cherub shell and scroll feet and has a child’s birth and Paul was apprenticed to Paul shaped border cast and chased with applied Platel, a fellow Huguenot, in 1703. By 1713 he flowers and foliage and an inner border similarly had set up his own workshop in Windmill Street decorated on a matt ground. The centre is where he soon attracted the leading families engraved with a coat of arms, a Duke’s coronet as his customers. He also supplied silver for the above and an initial B (for Bridgewater). It is Jewel House. 75.6 cm (29 inches) wide and is fully marked In the 1720s he was in partnership with on the reverse. The offer was made with a Ellis Gamble, who had trained the young condition that it should be allocated to William Hogarth as a silver engraver (before he Manchester Art Gallery where it had been on turned to painting). The partnership between loan for several decades. de Lamerie and Gamble, however, only lasted Paul de Lamerie is widely recognised five years. In 1737–8 he was on the committee as the finest of the Rococo silversmiths of the Goldsmiths’ Company and served in all working in London in the first part of the of the offices of the company save that of 18th century. He was born in Bois-le-Duc Prime Warden. Despite his official positions, (now ’s-Hertogenbosch) in the Netherlands de Lamerie had a considerable, and justified,

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44 reputation for doing all he could to avoid eminent silversmith of his age. It was a superb paying duty on silver and using such tactics example of English Rococo silver, outstanding as inserting hallmarked disks into his new in both design and execution. The plateau was pieces of plate. a rare and particularly fine example of a form His business ledgers have not survived that is seldom found in English silver and there but he is known to have supplied plate as far is no comparable piece in any other museum in afield as Russia where his clients included the United Kingdom. They noted that it would the Empresses Catherine I and Anna. The have been used as part of the display of silver amount of plate that bears his mark means on the dining table and would have been a that he must have operated a system of visual statement of the wealth and standing of sub-contractors who carried out his its owner. Although the piece was made and commissions and to which he applied his hallmarked in 1749, the Duke of Bridgewater own mark. He was careful, however, to use acquired it at a later date and the style of the only the most skilled craftsmen. His style engraving of his coat of arms indicates that this owes much to French designs with heavy was towards the end of the 18th century. formal cast and applied ornament. From the The Panel considered that the plateau met 1720s there is an emphasis on asymmetry the second and third criteria, that it was in and rich figurative chasing. acceptable condition and, following negotiation, At some time after it was made the plateau that it was fairly valued. The Panel under consideration was acquired by Francis recommended that the offer should be Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of (1736–1803). Although he was youngest of State, accepted this recommendation in 11 children, he was the only male to survive into October 2006. The offer was completed in adulthood. He inherited the dukedom in 1748, February 2007. The acceptance of this offer aged 11. While passing through France on the settled £350,000 of tax. The plateau has been Grand Tour the Duke saw the Languedoc allocated to Manchester Art Gallery in Canal, which prompted an interest in accordance with the condition of the offerors. waterways. He went on to study science and engineering at Lyons. Although on his return to England he initially lived a rather rakish life, he soon began to concentrate on improving his estates, particularly those in Lancashire, centred on Worsley. From the late 1750s he set about developing the collieries in the area, planning and building the canals that made the transport of coal economical. The Bridgewater Canal, the first in England, took over a decade to complete and, although it was a considerable gamble, by the 1780s it had proved to be a commercial success. This led Bridgewater to further his interest in other waterways in several parts of the country and earned him the title of the father of inland navigation. The expert advisers agreed the plateau was of especial artistic importance and significant for the study of Paul de Lamerie, the pre­ 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 45

13 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Early Printed Scores

In October 2005, MLA was informed of the to arrange a series of trips around Europe. 45 offer of a collection of first and early editions In 1762 Mozart first visited Vienna to perform of the printed scores of Wolfgang Amadeus before the Empress Maria-Theresa. The next Mozart (1756–1791) which were published year the Mozarts performed at Versailles and during the composer’s lifetime. The offer was in 1764 the family was received by George III made with a condition that, if accepted, the and later performed at Buckingham House. collection should be allocated to the Bodleian The earliest scores in the collection date from Library where it had been on loan for a number this visit to England. of years. Mozart’s first four sonatas for violin and Mozart was born in Salzburg where his father, keyboard which he had composed in the Leopold, played in the Court orchestra of the previous two years were published in London in Prince-Bishop. His musical abilities were 1764. (Mozart’s compositions were catalogued evident by the age of five when his father began by in the mid19th century by Ludwig Köchel

13: WA Mozart: frontispiece to Mozart’s first printed music, published in London in 1765, when Mozart was eight and dedicated to Madame Victoire, daughter of Louis XV of France 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 46

46 and given a Köchel or ‘K’ number as an primary source for the music. The importance easy form of reference. These sonatas are of Mozart as one of the greatest composers K 6 & 7 and K 8 & 9.) The collection contains of classical music was beyond dispute. both the first and second London editions. The Panel considered that the collection The second dates to 1765 and the original met the third criterion, that it was in acceptable owner has written on the frontispiece, condition and that it was fairly valued. The “bought of the Author”. The Mozarts’ stay in Panel recommended that the offer should be London was prolonged until late July 1765, approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of but their success was by now on the wane State, accepted this recommendation in May as the novelty of a nine-year-old was not as 2006. The offer was completed in June 2006. marketable as that of a six-year-old. The collection has been permanently allocated Before returning to Salzburg, the family to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in accordance travelled through northern France and arrived with the condition of the offeror. The in The Hague, where another set of sonatas acceptance of this offer settled for keyboard and violin (K 26–31) £350,000 of tax. was published. This very rare edition, which is not known in any other UK collection, is included in the offer. A further 24 scores in the collection are not found in any other institutional library in the United Kingdom. The collection allows the course of Mozart’s career to be traced from these early years through to the end of his life with the first (Kozeluch) edition of Mozart’s final operatic masterpiece, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, K 620) which was published in parts in Vienna in 1791 and over the following two years. Again, there is no other copy of this first vocal score of the opera held in any UK library. Other highlights include the 1785 first edition of the six string quartets (K 387, 421, 428, 458, 464 and 465) dedicated to Mozart’s one-time teacher, Joseph Haydn. The expert advisers noted that Mozart’s printed music from his lifetime was extremely rare and that very few such items had appeared at auction in the last 15 years. This collection had been formed over a lifetime by the collector and dealer Albi Rosenthal. Given the increasing scarcity of comparable material it was unlikely that such a collection could ever again be formed. The advisers pointed out that almost half of the collection comprised first editions and in at least a third of these instances the autograph manuscript of the works had been lost. The first printed edition was, therefore, the 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 47

14 Collection of 20th century paintings, prints and posters

In July 2005 the Panel was asked to give an and a large collection of almost 3,000 posters, 47 indication of the likely success of an offer of mostly from the 20th century, along with a a very large collection of mostly 20th century collection of designs for French popular theatre. works in an estate that would need to The offer was made with the condition that the undertake a Deed of Variation if the offer was items should be allocated to the various to be pursued. With the help of very rapid collections where they had previously been responses from a number of museum curators, on loan. the AIL Panel was able to encourage the Friedrich Meckseper was born in Bremen offer in sufficient time for the necessary and trained to be a mechanic, but from legal changes to be made by the end of 1955 he studied art in Stuttgart and later in August 2005. Berlin. In 1963 he won the Prix de Rome, and As a result, in November 2005 MLA was in 1970, the prize at the International Print advised of the formal offer of a large group of Biennale in Tokyo. Meckseper has become material including over 160 works on paper by one of the present day masters of colour the contemporary German artist Friedrich etching and aquatint and his works show a Meckseper (b. 1936), ten works by Kurt preoccupation with form and space. He is Schwitters (1887–1948), two oils by Natalia among the most widely known and admired of Gontcharova (1881–1962), a gouache by living German artists. Over the past four Yves Tanguy (1900–1955), a sculpture and decades his prints, collages and paintings have 13 drawings by Kenneth Martin (1905–1984) been the subject of more than one hundred

14. Friedrich Meckseper: Grundstein des Babylon’schen Turmes (Foundation stone for the Towers of Babylon), 1962 (British Museum) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 48

48 individual exhibitions, including 30 in museums group of Meckseper’s prints and gouaches, throughout Europe, Japan, and the United offered for the British Museum and for the States. Hunterian Museum, comprised works from Kurt Schwitters, who was born in Hanover, all stages of the artist’s career from 1956 to was one the most influential German artists of 1991 and as such was of great value for the 20th century. He developed his own style study. Meckseper was described as a master of abstract art which he called ‘Merz’ and he printmaker who represented an aspect of is now acknowledged as the 20th century’s German art, Fantastic Realism, which was little greatest exponent of collage. He toured Europe known in the UK. successfully as an artist, poet and performance The experts noted that the group of works artist. With the rise of National Socialism in by Kurt Schwitters was of great importance not Germany the political climate was deeply only for the study of a highly important figure in suspicious of the radical experimentation which 20th century art, but also for display purposes. Schwitters explored and his work was included Schwitters’ work was often small (as here) in the notorious Entartete Kunst (Degenerate and benefited from being exhibited in groups. Art) exhibition in 1937. He moved to Norway The power of individual items was increased by but after the Nazi invasion of that country he the accumulation of artistic works, along with fled to England and settled in the Lake District books, catalogues and ephemera. where he lived until his death in 1948. The advisers considered Yves Tanguy to The expert advisers considered that the be a key Surrealist artist whose biomorphic,

14: Art Chantry, 1987, Anti War Poster: Give Peace a Dance: Legs Against Arms, 520 by 420 mm (Imperial War Museum) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 49

semi-abstract works played an important role Collection were considered to have visual 49 in the development of Abstract Expressionism impact and appeal and would be an important in New York during and after the Second World resource and reference collection for modern War. This was a particularly good example of his design students as well as having wide popular work in gouache and deserved to enter a appeal. The film posters vividly demonstrated national collection. the range of approaches to promotion taken by Kenneth Martin’s Reflector Mobile 1955 was the film industry in much of the Western World described as an important sculpture by this and one group showed in a particularly striking post-war British constructivist artist, whose way the different interpretations of British films reputation was continuing to grow. The group for non-British audiences. Such a large of 13 sequential drawings (1958–1959) by the collection with an exceptionally wide same artist was both rare and important. international range and such diversity of themes The vast collection of posters which had been was rare. As well as film posters there were assembled by the dealer Philip Granville was other groups on fashion, travel, political protest, considered to be of outstanding importance. entertainment, culture, sport, commerce, health Although often printed in large numbers and particularly HIV and AIDS awareness. relatively few survived the passage of time and The collection was truly international and their immediate use. They constituted an included examples from Australia, Belarus, important record of 20th century design. Almost Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech without exception, the posters in the Granville Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland,

14. D’ Arcy, Masius, Benton and Bowles: AIDS poster for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, 1992 (Science Museum) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 50

50 France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Davies: 8 monotypes), British Film Institute Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, (120 film posters), Design Museum Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, (280 design posters), Imperial War Museum Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, (85 political/war posters), Royal Academy of Thailand, Ukraine, UK and USA. Music (168 music posters) , Science Museum The Panel considered that the collection (243 public health posters), Manchester met in parts the second and overall the third Metropolitan University (1,150 mixed posters), criteria, that it was in acceptable condition Victoria and Albert Museum (790 mixed and that it was fairly valued. The Panel posters and 95 costume and set designs), recommended that the offer should be Hunterian Art Gallery (22 mixed posters and approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary 22 Meckseper etchings). The acceptance of State, accepted this recommendation in of this offer settled £341,390 of tax. October 2006. The offer was completed in January 2007. The archive has been allocated to the British Museum (Meckseper: 133 etchings, 1 monoprint and 3 gouaches), Tate (Schwitters, Gontcharova, Andreenko, Tanguy, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin and Léger), Southampton Art Gallery (John Warren

14. Maciej Kalkus: Fatalne Zauroczenie (Fatal Attraction), film poster for original, 1988, Polish release of the film (British Film Institute) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 51

15 Armour, Swords and Medieval Silver

In December 2005, MLA was informed engraved with a gilt Lombardic “A” on a hatched 51 of the offer of a group of four items of medieval ground, unmarked, English, second half of the metalwork and two of later date. The offer was 15th century, height 8.3 cm. made without either wish or condition as to allocation. The details of the metalwork are 2. An armet for the field, made in the Royal as follows: Workshops at Greenwich, with one-piece skull and low comb, hinged cheek-pieces 1. A parcel-gilt altar cruet, the pear-shaped meeting at the chin, and rounded visor with body on spreading circular foot bordered with double sights and numerous circular holes a gilt moulded wire, with similar gilt wire applied for breath, the lower edge of the helmet to the neck, the slightly domed hinged cover flanged to fit the gorget, circa 1535–40, with a small gilt scrolled thumb-piece, and height 25.4 cm. surmounted by a print, set in silver-gilt,

15. An armet for the field, made in the Royal Workshops at Greenwich, circa 1535–40, height 25.4 cm 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 52

52 3. Four swords The other objects in the offer are secular items. The armet is a piece of armour developed a. A medieval sword of late Viking type, in in the 15th century to enclose completely the excavated condition, with broad tapering blade head of the knight or warrior. It originated in with wide central fuller on each side incised Italy but was particularly popular in England. with Roman and Lombardic characters, arched The four swords, two from the 13th century and cross swelling towards the tips, and multi-lobed two from the 17th century, are also associated pommel the hilt with trances of tinning,13th with knights and warfare. The Viking type sword century, blade 81.3 cm. was found in the River Ouse in Yorkshire opposite Carwood Castle but its blade is b. An English medieval sword, in excavated probably of German origin. condition, with tapering double-edged blade The expert advisers considered the cruet to with broad central fuller on each face, copper- be of outstanding importance as only one other alloy ‘bow-tie’ quillions engraved within English silver cruet was known and that is of Romanesque decoration comprising scrollwork later 16th century date. It revealed that pre- involving grotesques within circular frames, and Reformation cruets were of unusually small size copper-alloy pommel of chamfered circular compared to post-Reformation examples. form, 13th century, English, blade 65.4 cm. While the position and power of the church at this time were well documented, there was very c. An English basket-hilted broadsword, with little hollow ware surviving. This piece was flattened tapering blade with ricasso and wide therefore of major importance to students and centre fuller on each face with a running wolf for the study of the period. Its design was mark, the ‘Irish’ hilt of typical form finely closely comparable to that of a pewter altar damascened throughout on the outer side with cruet of 14th century date, a secular flagon of close-set minute scrollwork in gold, the grip circa 1500 and another flagon found on the bound with silver wire, circa 1610, blade 85 cm. Mary Rose. Even within a European context only a handful of medieval silver cruets had survived. d. An English swept-hilt rapier with slender English pre-Reformation church plate was, with tapering blade of flattened hexagonal section the exception of chalices, exceedingly rare and with central fuller on each face of the forte there was no altar cruet in any UK museum. stamped “Me Fecit/Valencia” and blackened The armet was considered by the experts to iron hilt encrusted in silver with running be the earliest known helmet made at the royal scrollwork framing flowers and cherub-heads, armoury at the Palace of Greenwich. It had the reverse of the hilt with punched decoration, been established by Henry VIII and provided the grip probably 18th century, circa 1620, armour of the very highest quality to the blade 85.9 cm. Monarchy and the Court from the early 16th to the mid 17th centuries. Pre-1547 material, The small altar cruet was found in a such as this armet, appears to have been pawnbroker’s shop in Rochester circa made exclusively for the King. As the earliest 1900 and is a rare survival of ecclesiastical known Greenwich armet, it was pivotal to the silver from the English pre-Reformation church. study of the subject given that it was the Two cruets, one for water and the other for basis for all later 16th and 17th century wine, were used to fill the chalice during the Greenwich helmets. Mass. Cruets were small at this stage as only The two 13th century swords were the priest drank the consecrated wine considered to be rare examples of their type. at the communion. Although the 17th century swords were not of 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 53

particularly rare forms, the English basket-hilted 53 broadsword had exceptionally well-preserved gold damascened decoration. The rapier was outstanding on account of the superb quality of the applied decoration of running scrollwork with flowers and cherubs heads. The experts drew attention to the exceptional quality of these heads which were comparable to the decoration of the Twysden sword in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, recognised as the finest example of such workmanship. The Panel considered that the items met the second and third criteria, that they were in acceptable condition and, following negotiation, that they were fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this recommendation in June 2006. The offer was completed in September 2006. The acceptance of this offer settled £253,750 of tax. 15. An English swept-hilt rapier, grip probably 18th century, circa 1620, blade 85.9 cm

15. An English basket-hilted broadsword, circa 1610, blade 85 cm 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 54

16 Archive of the Henley Family

54 In 1996 the offer of the archive of the Henley which point the family moved to Crossrigg Hall, family of Leigh in Somerset was accepted in Cumbria. The marriage of Henry Henley and lieu and allocated to the Somerset Record Susanna Hoste in 1752 led to the acquisition Office. In December 2005 MLA was advised of the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. This that additional papers from this archive had remained in the family until its sale circa unexpectedly been discovered and it was 1836 to Spencer Cowper before being sold in proposed that these should be offered in lieu the mid 1840s to Queen Victoria. in order that they could be reunited with the In view of the low value of the offer the material that had been accepted in 1996. Panel used its own expertise and the advice The Henley estates in Somerset, Dorset and given in 1996 to evaluate the offer. The newly Devon were acquired mainly by Robert Henley discovered papers were judged to be integral of Taunton between 1576 and 1613 and to the archive accepted in lieu in 1996. The included the former Ford Abbey estates of the Panel considered that they met the third manor of Street and Leigh in Winsham as well criterion within a local context, that they were as the manors of Colway in Lyme Regis and in acceptable condition and that they were Maiden Newton, Dorset, along with four manors fairly valued. The Panel recommended that in Devon. These estates descended through the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf the family of Robert Henley and his second of the Secretary of State, accepted this wife, Elizabeth Freke, remaining intact recommendation in February 2006. The offer throughout the 18th century. The break-up of was completed in May 2006. The papers have the estate began with the sale of the Manor of been permanently allocated to the Somerset Maiden Newton in 1830. Leigh House Record Office following advice from the remained the centre of this estate until its sale Historical Manuscripts Commissioner. The in 1917 by Colonel Henry Cornish Henley at acceptance of this offer settled £1,600 of tax.

16. Detail from copy grant from Henry VIII to Sir Richard Pollard for the grazing of [the manor] of Leigh, 23 June 1516 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 55

17 Archive of Leslie Durbin

In January 2006, MLA was informed of the 55 offer of the archive of Dr Leslie Durbin MVO CBE. The offer was made with a condition that, if accepted, the archive should be allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Leslie Durbin (1913–2005) was one of the leading silversmiths of the 20th century who undertook numerous commissions for maces, processional crosses and other civic, university and religious regalia. His most famous single commission was for the Stalingrad Sword of Honour which Sir Winston Churchill presented to the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, in November 1943 at the Tehran Conference. George VI had proposed that the heroism of the people of Stalingrad, a million of whom had died in defending their city, should be marked by the presentation of a sword of honour. Durbin, then at the start of his career, was given leave of absence from the RAF to undertake the work on the elaborate sword of gold and silver. The blade of the sword bears the inscription, “To the Steel-Hearted Citizens of Stalingrad, the Gift of King George the Sixth, in Token of Homage of the British People”. Durbin’s best known designs were those he produced from 1984 onwards for the four £1 coins in which the emblems, of the home nations (thistle, leek, flax and oak) are entwined within the royal diadem. Leslie Durbin was born in Fulham. In his early teens he won a London County Council Trade Scholarship to the silversmithing class at the LCC Central School, where he remained for three years, from 1929 to 1938. He was apprenticed to Omar Ramsden, the finest 17. Leslie Durbin’s designs silversmith of the previous generation. In for the silver mace and 1938 he was awarded a Goldsmiths’ Company regalia for the University of Benin, Nigeria, which was scholarship for a full-time place at the Central established in 1971 School, followed by the Company’s travelling scholarship which gave him the opportunity to visit France, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Sweden. Important commissions came his way including a dish with a map of North America for the 1939 visit by the King and Queen to the USA and Canada. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 56

56 Following the War he set up in partnership also included. The most important literary item with Len Moss and was encouraged by the is the unpublished typescript of Leslie Durbin’s Omar Ramsden’s widow, who helped to autobiography. introduce him to important clients such as The expert advisers considered this to be a Sir Stephen Courtauld. He collaborated with the comprehensive collection of design work glass engraver Laurence Whistler in creating relating to all aspects of the output of one of the the silver and glass casket, in the form of an most important silversmiths of the 20th century. Ionic temple, which the then Queen Elizabeth In addition, the archive included working models presented to her husband George VI in 1949. and casts which added an important extra In the 1950s when there was much demand dimension. It provided the prime record for all for ceremonial silver both from institutions in of Durbin’s major commissions as well as the the UK such as the new colleges, universities many other smaller projects on which he and cities, and from the countries that were worked. The experts considered Durbin to be achieving independence throughout the world, a highly influential silversmith who was in the Durbin became the best known silversmith in forefront of a new aesthetic in silver design in Britain. Other notable pieces included a chain Britain, as it moved away from the Arts and of office for the National Chairman of the Crafts style. He was to influence a whole Townswomen’s Guild and in 1979 a silver oar, generation through both his example and his the symbol of the authority of the Admiral of teaching role at the Royal College of Art and the Cinque Ports, presented to the Queen the Central School. Mother when she was installed as Lord Warden The Panel considered that the archive met at Dover. His last designs included the the third criterion, that it was in acceptable special two pound coin minted in 1994 to condition and that it was fairly valued. The commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Panel recommended that the offer should founding of the Bank of England and that for be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary the five pound coin to commemorate the golden of State, accepted this recommendation in wedding anniversary in 1997 of HM The Queen May 2006. The offer was completed in July and Prince Philip. 2006. The archive has been permanently The archive covers all parts of Durbin’s career allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum and includes 15 folders each containing an in accordance with the condition of the average of 30 designs many on paper of offerors. The acceptance of this offer settled A1 size. In addition there are designs for such £115,500 of tax. work as the regalia for universities in Nigeria and Bermuda, designs for Ripon Cathedral, including one full-scale design for the screen and designs for the altar plate at the Guards’ Chapel, Wellington Barracks, and church plate for Coventry Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Bath Abbey, St Andrew’s Holborn and Manchester Cathedral. Correspondence includes letters between Ramsden and Durbin and a typed report on Durbin’s travelling scholarship with comments by Ramsden. There are full sets of papers relating to the Stalingrad Sword commission and the four £1 coins. A set of sales ledgers from the 1940s to the 70s is 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 57

18 Two Medieval Manuscripts on Hawking and Hunting

In November 2005, MLA was asked to give an 79 folios measure 250 x 150 mm, each with 57 initial opinion as to whether two early 15th 29–39 lines written in anglicana. It has two-line century manuscripts which were scheduled to initials either in burnished gold on divided be auctioned in the following January were grounds of pink and blue, some with red likely to be deemed pre-eminent if offered in acanthus infills, or on grounds of burnished lieu. Following advice from expert advisers the gold, one enclosing a coat of arms. There are offer was encouraged and the items were 31 borders of sprays of coloured and gilded withdrawn from auction. In February 2006 the leaves, flowers and discs springing from large formal offer was made of the two manuscripts, initials, 20 of them framing dog collars, with a wish that they should be allocated to huntsmen, hawks, hounds and their prey, and the British Library. two full-page and three half-page miniatures, The Kerdeston Hawking Book, an illuminated some partly damaged. manuscript on vellum, in English with some The volume comprises a prologue followed Latin rubrics, dates from the 1430s. Its by six treatises, three of which are only a few

18. Two pages (ff 31v –32r) from the Kerdeston Hawking Book, circa 1430. The miniature includes the arms of Sir Thomas Kerdeston of Norfolk and the right-hand page is the opening section of the treatise, “On the Crafte of Fawconrye and Haukynge”. © British Library 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 58

58 pages in length. Of the three substantial works, spiked, as was customary for the protection of the first is in the form of a dialogue supposedly hunting dogs. On two occasions, these collars between Cosmas, Senator of Rome, and are linked to his initial T, as if on leashes. The Ypocras (Hippocrates), the Athenian doctor Hawking Book was owned in the 19th century who died in 410 BC. The medieval author, who by the great collector, Sir Thomas Phillipps clearly had a sketchy knowledge of classical (cf. Case 19, pages 59–61) who was probably history, was seeking to lend his work the responsible for the current binding. The Hunting authority and prestige of ancient learning. Leaves were owned in the 18th century by This and the other treatises give instructions Thomas Lennard Barrett, Lord Dacre of the on how to care for and train hawks and falcons, South, who gave them to Horace Walpole, a and how to diagnose and cure their ailments. descendant of Kerdeston. The second volume, five Leaves from the The experts considered both manuscripts Kerdeston Hunting Book, consists of folios to be of considerable importance, noting that from an illuminated manuscript on vellum, in the three principal texts in the Hawking Book English and French, produced in London in the were all unique. Apart from the short fragments 1420s. The folios measure 281 x 188 mm, all which were preserved in the Hunting Leaves, tipped-in singletons, and have 41–47 lines in they were known only from this manuscript and two columns, written in anglicana. The Leaves accordingly were important additions to the have six three- to four-line initials in burnished corpus of Middle English texts. This gave them gold, two large initials with added coats of arms, considerable academic interest. They noted one with full border, the second with three- that if the manuscript’s prime value lay in its sided border and border to central margin, two text, it had added significance due to the appeal large historiated initials, one surrounded by a of the decoration. They observed that the full border of scrolling acanthus in pink, blue Hunting Leaves had presumably been salvaged and green enclosing three heads, as well as for their decorative value from a single parent a hare, a stag, a fox and a wild boar, and a manuscript devoted to hunting and hawking half-page miniature with the Crucifixion in which had now been destroyed or lost. The a green frame above the added half-page leaves had textual significance, one element miniature of the owners kneeling to St George. being unique, and some of the decorations The text contains an early version in English were of a high order. of Edward Duke of York’s dedication to his The Panel considered that the two cousin, Henry, Prince of Wales (the future manuscripts met the third criterion, that they Henry V) from The Master of Game as well as were in acceptable condition and that they fragments from other instruction manuals on were fairly valued. The Panel recommended hunting and falconry. that the offer should be approved. MLA, Both manuscripts appear to have been on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted produced for Sir Thomas Kerdeston of Norfolk this recommendation in March 2006. The (d. 1446). The Hawking Book has his arms offer was completed in October 2006. impaled with those of his first wife Elizabeth, The manuscripts have been permanently daughter of Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of allocated to the British Library following a Suffolk, and in the Hunting Leaves Sir Thomas recommendation from the Historical and his second wife, Philippa Trussell (d. 1452), Manuscripts Commissioner. The acceptance appear with their arms, kneeling before St of this offer settled £250,000 of tax. George on the opening leaf. Further evidence of Sir Thomas’s interest in hunting comes from his badge, a green and gold dog collar which is 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 59

19 Two Medieval Liturgical Manuscripts

In October 2005 MLA was asked to give 59 guidance as to whether a group of 29 manuscripts formerly in the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872) was likely to be judged pre-eminent. Sir Thomas was one of the greatest collectors of the 19th century and his collection ranged widely, embracing illuminated manuscripts Oriental as well as Western, medieval charters, antiquaries’ collections, and all manner of historical documents and early printed books. The Panel advised that as the Phillipps collection had originally consisted of circa 60,000 items, it could not accept that this particular group of only 29 items represented a significant part of the collection. Two of the 29 manuscripts, however, had sufficient interest to be potentially pre-eminent as individual items. Accordingly, in February 2006, MLA was advised of the offer of two medieval liturgical manuscripts, a Sacramentary and a Greek Gospel Lectionary (Phillipps MSS 3340 and 7667). The offer was made with a wish that they should be allocated to the British Library. The Sacramentary, a decorated manuscript on vellum, in Latin, was written in France in the mid tenth century, with later tenth and 11th century additions. It was probably made for Transmarinus, Bishop of Noyon (937–950). It has 206 folios, measuring 387 x 135 mm, red rubrics and large initials, including two half-page uncoloured interlace initials with zoomorphic terminals. A sacramentary contains the prayers recited by the priest during the principal liturgical service of Christian worship, 19. Latin Sacramentary, France, mid tenth century. the Mass or Eucharist, and its texts are divided Interlace initials, “Te” with zoomorphic terminals, from into the unchanging elements (the canon and the Eucharistic prayer, “Te igititur clementissime pater”, (We, therefore, [pray], most merciful Father) ordinary of the Mass) and the variable texts, the © British Library latter arranged according to the liturgical year. By the late 13th century, it had virtually been replaced by the missal. The liturgy was evolving throughout this period. In France, Roman and Gallican usages had combined to produce the Gelasian Sacramentary (spuriously attributed to the late fifth century Pope Gelasius I). In consequence, Charlemagne asked Pope 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 60

60 Hadrian I to provide for use throughout his importance for the study of the Christian empire an authentic Roman Sacramentary, church and liturgy in the Middle Ages. The early often known as the Gregorian Sacramentary. date and strong localisation of the manuscript The format of the Noyon manuscript is taken made it one of the most significant witnesses from the Gregorian Sacramentary sent by the for the development of the Gregorian rite. Pope to Charlemagne in the late 780s, as Its text, including additions, had still to receive reflected in the copy in Cambrai, made for the detailed examination it deserved and the Hildoard, Bishop of Cambrai (d. 816/17). pointing of passages for reading aloud and the The text, however, does not follow this model. presence of musical notation added to its It belongs among those hybrid examples, interest. The manuscript was also of highly sometimes termed ‘fused Gregorian/Gelasian’ unusual format being extremely narrow and but better considered as individual compilations was an important witness to a rare codiological for specific locations. Before it was acquired by tradition. The Greek lectionary was considered Phillipps this volume was at one point at Como by the advisers to be of especial importance for Cathedral, and later in the collection of the the study of Byzantine art and book production Reverend Henry Drury of Harrow. of which it was a very grand example. It was The Gospel Lectionary in Greek, an noted that it belonged to an identifiable group illuminated manuscript on vellum, was of manuscripts that were almost certainly produced in the Byzantine Empire at some time produced in Constantinople and that it would in the 11th or 12th centuries. It has 310 folios, be a fruitful area for further study to identify measuring 333 x 215 mm, with headings, titles the precise location of its production and the and initials in burnished gold, initials in colour patronage with which it might be associated. and gold, an initial with an evangelist, four The large, bold, double-spaced script, beautiful two-column and ten single-column headpieces illumination and high-quality production gave in gold and colours with birds and animals. the item artistic interest and it was fully worthy It comprises an evangelistary and menologion. of entering a national collection. A lectionary is the compilation of selected The Panel considered that the manuscripts texts from the Bible that are used in the various met the third criterion, that they were in services of Christian worship, particularly the acceptable condition and that they were fairly texts read to the congregation during the valued. The Panel recommended that the Mass. The present example is an evangelistary, offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf containing the appropriate sections from of the Secretary of State, accepted this the four Gospels. A menalogion is the Greek recommendation in May 2006. The offer equivalent of the Latin calendar of saints and was completed in July 2006. The manuscripts gives the names of the particular saints have been permanently allocated to the commemorated on each day of the year. British Library following a recommendation Before passing to Phillipps this manuscript from the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner. was owned by one of the most famous The acceptance of this offer settled collectors of Greek and Eastern European £406,000 of tax. manuscripts, Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, part of whose archive was accepted in lieu in April 2005 (see Appendix 4 below, page 101, and Annual Report 2005/06, Case 4, pages 26–27). The expert advisers described the Latin Sacramentary as a document of profound 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 61

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18. Greek Lectionary, Byzantine Empire, 11th or 12th centuries. The Gospel reading for Easter Sunday – the beginning of St John’s Gospel, Εν αρχη ην ο λογος – “In the beginning was the word” © British Library 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 62

20 Photographic Archive of Fay Godwin

62 In February 2006 MLA was informed of the mother was an American artist. Her childhood offer of the archive of the photographer Fay was spent in various locations worldwide and Godwin (1931–2005) one of the leading she did not settle in England until the mid British photographers of the second half of the 1950s when she worked in publishing, 20th century. The offer was made with a wish commissioning book covers and typography that the archive should be allocated to the for John Murray. She then moved to Penguin British Library. Books where she met her future husband Fay Godwin was born in Berlin where her Tony Godwin. During the early 1960s she father was in the British diplomatic service. Her began to enjoy photography, using it to record

20. Fay Godwin: Flooded tree, Derwentwater, 1981 © The British Library 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 63

her growing family, but she did not take the in London in 2001. This was accompanied 63 medium seriously until 1966 when she bought by an important publication, Landmarks, giving an enlarger and taught herself how to print. an overview of her complete output. When her marriage ended in 1969, goaded by The archive consists of her negatives, the advice of her former husband to get a ‘safe’ transparencies and digital images, and contact job, she bought a sophisticated camera. Her and reference prints, along with the exhibition interest in literature led her to photograph and book prints, works by other photographers poets and authors for illustration on dust she admired and her correspondence, jackets. Using natural light and often portraying particularly with the numerous literary figures the authors in their home environment, she was with whom she worked. There are particularly able to establish an easy rapport with interesting sets of letters from John Fowles, her subjects. Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin. Intellectual rights Wishing to move into areas other than in the images were also included in the offer. portraiture, she drew upon her love of walking The expert advisers considered Fay Godwin and the landscape for her first book, The Oldest to have been one of the leading British Road: An Exploration of the Ridgeway, in 1975. photographers of the last 40 years with a The British landscape was to be a recurring special empathy with the British landscape. theme in her work during the next quarter of They noted that she had a highly developed a century. She soon realised that it took long ability to capture the essence of the UK familiarity with any landscape and much trial countryside in a way rarely matched by other and error to capture its essence. She went on British photographers. The archive was of to produce several books on the wilder parts considerable importance as it covered the of the UK, including Wales, Romney Marsh and whole of her career and included both her north-east Scotland. In 1979 she worked with cameras and photographic equipment. the poet Ted Hughes to produce Remains of The Panel considered that the archive met Elmet: A Pennine Sequence. This and the Land the third criterion and in part the second, that it trilogy, Land, 1985, Our Forbidden Land, was in acceptable condition and that it was 1990 and The Edge of the Land, 1995, brought fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the her wide recognition and are generally regarded offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf as her finest work. She depicted the British of the Secretary of State, accepted this landscape not as a soft green and idyllic recommendation in May 2006. The offer was countryside but as a place of mystery and completed in October 2006. The archive has imagination which, in some respects, was been temporarily allocated to the British Library lonely and harsh but magnificent. pending a decision on permanent allocation. In 1986, just after photographs from Land The acceptance of this offer settled £266,362. had been exhibited to considerable acclaim at The archive could have settled a larger amount the Serpentine Gallery, she became the first of tax, but the offerors waived the hybrid photographer to be the subject of a programme elements. This generous gesture is on ITV’s South Bank Show. gratefully acknowledged. Always seeking to extend her range, she added colour photography to her repertoire and she embraced the digital revolution in the 1990s. Ill health lessened her output considerably after the late 1990s, but her outstanding career was recognised by a major retrospective exhibition at the Barbican Gallery 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 64

21 Four British 18th and 19th century paintings

64 In March 2006 MLA was advised of the offer went. In 1792 and 1793 they produced a large of three paintings by British artists from the number of oil paintings which were sold by 18th century and one from the early 19th public lottery in order to finance further travels. century. The details of the paintings, which are Thomas Daniell returned to London in 1794 all oil on canvas, are as follows: where he used his sketches to produce oil paintings for exhibition and six series of hand­ 1. Thomas Daniell R.A. (1749–1840) coloured aquatints, entitled Oriental Scenery, Sir Charles Warre Malet, 1st Bt, the British which had a considerable public impact and Resident at the Court of Poona, concluding a were admired by discriminating critics such as Treaty in 1790 in Durbar with Souae Madarow, JMW Turner. the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, signed Sir Charles Warre Malet (1753–1815) who and dated “T Daniell. RA: 1805” (lower left) entered the service of the East India Company 181 x 279.4 cm as a youth became resident at the court of the Peshwa at Poona in 1785. He was a leading 2. Richard Wilson (1713–1782) advocate of the expansion of British trade. Cicero and his two friends, Atticus and Quintus, Faced with the growing power of Tipu Sultan at his villa at Arpinum, signed with monogram of Mysore in the late 1780s, the Company “R W ” (lower centre) sought a counterbalance by alliances with the 91.8 x 129.5 cm Nizam of Hyderabad and the Peshwa in Poona. These difficult negotiations were brought to 3. Arthur Devis (1712–1787) fruition by Malet in June 1790 despite the Double portrait of the Misses Alicia and Jane mutual antipathy of the Nizam and Peshwa and Clarke in a wooded landscape, Walford Church in the face of the attempts made by the agents and Walford Court, Ross-on-Wye, of Tipu Sultan to thwart the proposals. Malet’s Herefordshire, signed “Art:r Devis/fe” success was rewarded with a baronetcy in the (on the trunk, lower left) following year. 91.5 x 71 cm Richard Wilson was born in 1713 in Montgomeryshire into a family connected to 4. Francis Hayman (1708–1776) many of the leading North Wales gentry. He Double portrait of received an excellent education especially in Mr and Mrs John Badger Weller the classics which was to have a decisive role 80 x 71.1 cm in his later painting. Having undergone the standard six year artistic apprenticeship he The Daniell was offered with a wish to Tate, began to paint portraits and in the process the Wilson with a wish to the Ashmolean and acquired important patrons such as the the Devis and Hayman were offered without Lyttleltons of Hagley. He was also interested either wish or condition. in landscape painting and contributed two Thomas Daniell was born in Surrey and roundels to the newly established Foundling spent his early years as a coach-painter before Hospital. Until his visit to Italy in 1750, however, entering the Royal Academy Schools. He his primary concern was portraiture. exhibited regularly at the Academy between Wilson’s period in Rome from 1751 to 1774 and 1784 when he received permission 1756 was to change this and he soon turned from the East India Company to travel with his his attention to the classical landscape tradition nephew William Daniell to India. Although as represented by Claude Lorrain and Gaspard based in Calcutta, they travelled widely, Dughet. When he returned to London he set up recording the subcontinent wherever they a studio in Covent Garden where he produced 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 65

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21. Thomas Daniell: Sir Charles Warre Malet, concluding a Treaty in 1790 in Durbar with the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire

21. Richard Wilson: Cicero and his two friends, Atticus and Quintus, at his villa at Arpinum 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 66

66 both Italian landscape views, often in numerous genteel attitude and elegant deportment. Devis versions, and classicising images of the English adopted the illustrations from a 1737 manual, country house and its parklands. He played an Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour, for the pose important part in the development of artistic life of some of his sitters. The clothes of those he in London, being director of the Society of painted are similarly not to be understood as Artists of Great Britain and then a founding depictions of the sitters’ individual taste. The member of the Royal Academy where he artist used doll-like mannequins which had their exhibited the painting under consideration in own miniature costume. These he painted 1770. It depicts Cicero and his friends Atticus repeatedly, albeit in varying colours. and Quintus in front of the villa in which Cicero Francis Hayman was born in Exeter but his was born. The scene is based on Book I of artistic career began in London where he was Cicero’s De Legibus in which the three friends a scene painter for the theatre. He was a friend debate the principles of justice and law, drawing of Hogarth and it may be through his influence inspiration from the beauty of the surrounding that he began to paint conversation pieces. His scenery. This theme would have appealed to most celebrated commission was in 1742 for the 18th century patron who would have seen the supper boxes in Vauxhall Gardens. in contemporary English society and its country Contemporary guides to the gardens identify houses, the recreation of Cicero’s estate and 50 of these decorative subjects as being by the pursuit of classical virtue. In the 19th Hayman. For the rest of his career his output century the painting was in the Northwick showed considerable versatility ranging from collection at Thirlestaine House and it was later history and theatre subjects to portraits and acquired for the Hillingdon collection. conversation pieces. He was also a prolific Arthur Devis painted almost exclusively in designer of book illustrations. Like Richard one genre, the conversation piece, the informal Wilson he contributed to the decoration of small-scale portrait in which the groups are the Foundling Hospital’s Court Room and was disposed in an easy familiarity. While he was involved in the establishment of the Society a highly successful artist in his day and for of Artists and was subsequently appointed 20 years ran a thriving studio in Great Queen Librarian of the Royal Academy. Street, London, by the 1760s his business The experts considered the Daniell to be one was in decline and he died almost unnoticed of the finest and most important early records in 1787. He was then forgotten for nearly of the British involvement in India. It was also 150 years. In the 1930s, Sidney Paviere, deemed to be one of the artist’s most important curator at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery pictures which would make a substantial in Devis’s native Preston, began to take an addition to any collection of British paintings. interest in the Devis family of painters and The experts noted the sensitivity to light, the published the results of his research in detail of the architecture and the individual 1950. Major exhibitions in the early 1980s portraits which showed Daniell to be among the firmly established Arthur Devis as a leading most responsive artists working in British India. innovator in his particular style of painting. Aesthetically the colour harmonies, especially Devis’s world has an exactness of detail, the reds and purples, made this painting if not of setting, with its painstaking particularly appealing. They regarded the representation of costume and furnishings painting as a detailed and important record of which makes his paintings both delightful and one of the most significant alliances which led important witnesses to the world of the gentry to the defeat of Tipu Sultan and reinforced in mid 18th century England. Personal and Britain’s position in India. In its portrayal of the individual character were less important than treaty in such a sympathetic, powerful and 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 67

monumental manner the painting was an 67 outstanding image of Britain’s colonial history. The Wilson was described by the advisers as a fine example of his landscapes. The classical story that inspired the painting made it a particularly attractive work showing a finely balanced composition that was comparable with the best landscapes that the artist produced at this date. The painting was autograph and showed little sign of studio participation. The Devis and Hayman were found to be good examples of the artists’ work which would make significant additions to local collections. The Panel considered that the Daniell and Wilson were pre-eminent under the second and third criteria and that the Devis and Hayman were pre-eminent within a local context under the third criterion. Their condition was acceptable. Following negotiation 21. Arthur Devis: Double portrait of the Misses Alicia on the Devis, the paintings were agreed as and Jane Clarke being fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this recommendation in November 2006. The offer was completed in March 2007. The acceptance of this offer settled £773,500 of tax.

21. Francis Hayman: Double portrait of Mr and Mrs John Badger Weller 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 68

22 Giovanni Paolo Panini: The Lottery in the Piazza di Montecitorio

68 In November 2005 MLA was advised of the exclusively thought of as a view painter. His offer of a painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini paintings of the buildings of Rome, both (1691–1765), The Lottery in the Piazza di ancient and contemporary, date to the last three Montecitorio, signed and dated 1747, oil on decades of his life. His output can be divided canvas, 105 x 165 cm. into two types; the veduta reale (accurate Panini was born in Piacenza which in the late depictions of existing buildings) and the veduta 17th century was part of the Duchy of Parma. ideale (either imaginary recreations of ancient Although he trained for the priesthood, he went buildings and ruins or imaginary juxtapositions on to study architectural painting and scene of existing monuments). His contemporary painting for which the city was a major centre reputation was equal to that of Canaletto and on account of the presence of the Farnese his art defined the way in which later court which created a constant demand for generations viewed 18th century Rome. theatrical spectacle . His early interest in The AIL painting shows the crowd in front of perspective and architecture is shown by his the Palazzo di Montecitorio, which was begun in 1708 summary of a manuscript treatise on the 1650 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini to a commission subject, written in the previous generation, to of Pope Innocent X. Building was suspended, which he added his own illustrations. By the however, on the Pope’s death in 1655 and time he left for Rome in November 1711 he it was only completed in 1694 by the architect had also received some architectural training. Carlo Fontana. He was responsible for the In Rome he studied further with the figure central belfry and triumphal arch entry. The painter Benedetto Luti. painting was commissioned by Domenico In his early career in the city he concentrated Orsini, 12th Duke of Gravina (1719–1789), on fresco decoration for the palaces of heir of Pope Benedict XIII, who had been aristocratic and ecclesiastical patrons. In created a cardinal in 1743, following the 1722 he received a commission from Pope death of his wife in the previous year. A Innocent XIII to decorate apartments in the compositional drawing is in the Metropolitan, Quirinal Palace. Meanwhile, he had been New York, and a closely related large pen, elected into the Academy of St Luke, the ink and watercolour drawing is in an Italian Roman academy for artists, and his reception private collection. Seven drawings for the painting is his first documented easel painting. figures in the foreground are known, two of In the 1750s he was to serve as Principal of the which are in the British Museum and another Academy. In 1724 he married the sister-in-law in the Courtauld. of the head of the French Academy in Rome. The expert advisers considered this painting Within a decade he was a member of the to be one of Panini’s masterpieces and far Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture in above the generality of his output which could Paris, a rare honour for an Italian artist. be of routine quality and repetitive. In contrast, Patronage from French ecclesiastics and this painting, which was not known in any other statesmen in Rome followed and he had version, represented not only one of the artist’s considerable influence on French artists who finest achievements but, in its depiction of came to Rome to complete their education, a specific event, was described as one of the especially Hubert Robert. pinnacles of the art of 18th century view His interests were spread widely and he painting anywhere in Europe. It offered a continued to practise as an architect as well unique insight into the character of Roman life as providing designs for decorative objects, at the time and was unusual in placing equal if temporary festival decorations, stage sets, and not greater emphasis on the figurative elements even firework displays. Today he is almost as on the architecture. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 69

The Panel considered that the painting met forward and the offer was revised so that it was 69 the second and third criteria, that it was in conditional upon allocation to that gallery. MLA, acceptable condition and that it was fairly on behalf of the Secretary of State, approved valued. The Panel recommended in January the offer in May 2006 and the offer was 2006 that the offer should be approved. The completed in August 2006. The acceptance amount of tax payable by the offerors, however, of this offer could have settled over was considerably less than could be satisfied £2,000,000 of tax but as the actual liability was by the acceptance of the offer and the galleries only £194,047 The National Gallery made good which had initially indicated their willingness the difference to the offering estate. The gallery to take part in a hybrid arrangement were was assisted by a generous grant of unable to raise the necessary funding. In the £150,000 from The Art Fund. Spring of 2006, The National Gallery came

22. Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691–1765), The Lottery in the Piazza di Montecitorio. ©The National Gallery 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 70

23 Sir Richard and Lady Burton Letters

70 A major group of papers relating to the 2006 that the offer should be approved. MLA, Victorian explorer and writer Richard Burton on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted (1821–1890) and his wife, Isabel, was this recommendation and the offer was accepted in lieu in February 2006 and the completed in March 2007. The acceptance of details of the case were fully reported in the this offer settled £7,000 of tax. The papers 2005/06 Annual Report (Case 14, pages have been allocated to the British Library. 46–47). Just as that offer was about to be completed a small additional group of Burton papers was located in the same estate. Rather 23. Letters of Sir Richard than delay completion of the first offer, it was and Lady Burton, and a agreed that the newly found papers would be photograph of Lady Burton © British Library treated as a separate offer but be assessed in the light of the first offer. The offer was made with a wish that the additional papers should also be allocated to the British Library. The items included an autograph autobiographical note drawn up in 1856, when Burton was arranging his expedition to East Africa, including a listing of Burton’s publications from 1849–1856, and a letter of 1872 from Burton believed to be the only extant letter to his wife, as she left instructions that all her husband’s letters to her were to be burnt after her death. The only two surviving letters from Isabel to her husband were also included in this second offer. There were, in addition, three other letters from Isabel, two of which are to members of her family. The third is to Luke Ionides and contains details of Isabel’s involvement in the planning of her husband’s expeditions. Finally a letter from Burton to a French correspondent in 1887 deals with one of his final projects, the translation of The Perfumed Garden. The expert advisers noted that the material was important not so much in its own right but as part of the material that had been accepted in lieu in the previous year. As part of that group of papers it was appropriate that this material should be acquired and united with the items already accepted. The Panel considered that in the context of the original offer this material met the third criterion, that it was in acceptable condition and following negotiation that is was fairly valued. The Panel recommended in October 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 71

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24 William Nicholson: Begonias

72 In May 2006, MLA was informed of the offer however, Nicholson was a major painter of a painting by William Nicholson, Begonias, within the precise area of his interest. signed with an initial “N” lower left and inscribed His extraordinary subtle use of colour and his “Begonias/by William Nicholson/Property of mastery of the effects of light falling on various Miss Marguerite Steen” (on reverse), oil on surfaces, especially silver, pottery, glass, fabric panel, 40.7 x 47 cm. The painting was offered and flowers, along with his ability to render from the estate of Lilian Browse with a reflection, translucence and shadow give him condition that it should be allocated to The a unique position in English 20th century art. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Modest in scale, Nicholson’s paintings have a William Nicholson (1872–1949) was born in tonal mastery, economy of means, sensitivity Newark, the son of an ironworks engineer who of touch, and acuteness of perception which was later to become the town’s MP. He soon are highly distinctive. showed an interest in art and entered the Begonias was painted relatively late in Herkomer Academy at Bushey when aged 16. Nicholson’s career by which time his palette In 1891 he went to Paris and studied for a brief had lightened and his handling of paint was period at the Académie Julian. In 1893 he becoming even freer. He painted the work while married Mabel Pryde whose brother James was staying at Bretton Park, the Yorkshire home of also an artist. His first success was for posters Lord Allendale. Nicholson had been staying designed with his brother-in-law, which were there during the winter of 1939–40 in order highly innovative in their bold outlines, simple to fulfill a commission to paint Lord Allendale’s lines and their use of pure flat colour. He went portrait. Writing to his daughter on Easter day on to design portrait woodcuts which were very 1940 Nicholson mentions Begonias as, “My popular, especially that of Queen Victoria which very latest still-life painted with an urge in an all was produced for the Diamond Jubilee in 1897. night sitting after a perfect dinner (O! the wine) With the new century he turned to painting at Bretton Park, home of Lord Allendale.” and was particularly successful as a portraitist, Nicholson gave the work to Marguerite Steen which brought him both a reliable income and who was to become his partner following his fame. His artistic interests lay elsewhere, separation from his second wife. Steen however, and his greatest achievements were described it as one of the most brilliant of his in the landscapes and still-lifes upon which his many flower paintings. It then passed to Lilian reputation now rests. Browse who had come to know Nicholson well William Nicholson, as an artist, was never as the result of organising the important joint aligned to any particular school or movement exhibition of paintings by Nicholson and and his famous son, Ben Nicholson, wrote that Jack B Yeats at the National Gallery in 1942. his motivation was that he “merely wanted to The expert advisers considered Begonias paint”. His independence is shown by his to be an exceptionally good example of refusal to be put forward for election to the Nicholson’s painting which demonstrated all Royal Academy, and by the fact that he never the strengths of his work; the refined colouring, exhibited there. He had no pupils or followers the technical bravura in depicting various and he never articulated any statement of his materials and his “restraint and opulence”. aims or artistic credo. His paintings are almost They noted that this still life had a distinguished without exception modest in scale and quite exhibition history and an impeccable unaffected by the various upheavals in artistic provenance and represented Nicholson at style and taste that marked the 20th century. his best, painting a subject at which he truly As the major retrospective exhibition at the excelled. It was remarked that Nicholson was Royal Academy in 2004/05 made clear, an artist whose best paintings had an 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 73

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24. William Nicholson: Begonias. © The Fitzwilliam Museum

importance in British 20th century art despite was completed in November 2006. The his isolated position in terms of artistic painting has been allocated to The Fitzwilliam movements. They noted that his reputation was Museum. The acceptance of this offer settled now established beyond the UK and that he over £105,000 of tax. was widely recognised as a major artist working on a minor scale. They noted that the striking colour of this work and the exuberant depiction of various surfaces and textures would give this painting considerable popular appeal. The Panel considered that the painting met the second and third criteria and that it was in acceptable condition. The price at which the painting was offered was considered to be an under-representation of its fair market price and the Panel suggested a value 25% higher than that originally proposed. This was accepted by the offerors. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this recommendation in August 2006 and the offer 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 74

25 Edgar Degas: Bronze Sculpture

74 25. Edgar Degas Préparation à la danse, pied droit en avant 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 75

In May 2006, MLA was informed of the offer Degas worked primarily in wax, with some 75 of a bronze sculpture by Edgar Degas, excursions into plaster and clay. His sculptures Préparation à la danse, pied droit en avant, show a directness of execution that was evident signed “Degas” on the base and numbered and from such features as the fingerprints of the stamped on the base with the foundry mark sculptor and the gouged surfaces produced by “57/K Cire Perdue A.A. Hébrard”, height 56 cm. the sculpting tools. The sculpture was offered from the estate of On Degas’ death, his studio was found to Lilian Browse with a condition that it should be contain some 150 pieces of sculpture, allocated to the Samuel Courtauld Trust for scattered over three floors. Most of them were display at the Courtauld Institute, London. in pieces and the inventory which was produced Edgar Degas (1842–1917) has been known records just over 100 identifiable works of since the 19th century as the foremost painter which 30 were considered valueless. Hébrard, of dancers and indeed almost half of his entire who made the bronzes, was able to salvage output of paintings and pastels consists of complete wax originals which he then used depictions of dancers in one form or another. to produce 24 sets in bronze of the complete This, however, was a relatively late interest and 74 surviving sculptures. Two of these sets were he was well into his 30s before he began his retained by Degas’ heirs. fascination with dancers in rehearsal which was The expert advisers considered the sculpture to characterise so much of his later output. to be an important example of Degas’ art. They It was only after his visit to New Orleans in noted that he was a figure of incontestable 1872–73 that the theme became pervasive in significance in 19th century art both as a his work. His initial exploration was through the sculptor and as a painter. The item on offer medium of drawing and pastel. These forms was a very fine example of the predominant were the public side of his interest, made for theme of the artist’s career. The experts display and exhibition. The sculptures were, in considered that it would be a significant contrast, private expressions and were almost addition to the collection at the Courtauld unknown during his lifetime. The one exception which had other examples of Degas’ interest in was The Little Fourteen-Year Old Dancer that dancers although they were drawings and Degas exhibited at the Sixth Impressionist paintings. It would provide the gallery with an Exhibition in 1881. opportunity to present sculpture as part of the Degas’ rejection of classical notions of versatility and range of Degas. beauty in favour of an earthy realism provoked The Panel considered that the sculpture the critics who described the sculpture as met the second and third criteria, that it “ugly”, “repulsive”, “horrible”, “vicious” and was in acceptable condition and that it was “a disturbing symptom of incipient criminality”. fairly valued. The Panel recommended that Thereafter, Degas worked on his sculptures for the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf his own interest and never showed any of his of the Secretary of State, accepted this other works in this format in public. Sculpture recommendation in August 2006 and the offer was, however, an integral part of his art and as was completed in November 2006. The the most important painter-sculptor of the sculpture has been allocated to the Samuel 19th century he anticipated the dialogue Courtauld Trust for display at the Courtauld between the two media that was to play such Institute Galleries where it joins other works in an important role in the development of two oil and pastel by Degas. The acceptance of this of the greatest artists from the first part of the offer settled over £157,500 of tax. 20th century, Picasso and Matisse. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 76

26 JMW Turner Watercolour: St Florent le Vieil

76 In May 2006, MLA was informed of the offer Turner was in Nantes by the beginning of of a watercolour by JMW Turner (1775–1851), October 1826 and after at least two days St Florent le Vieil, pencil, pen and ink and sketching in the city he took the steamer upriver watercolour, with touches of bodycolour and towards Angers. The village of St Florent dates scratching out, on blue paper, 13.7 x 18.5 cm. back to the seventh century and was the The offer was made with a condition that the site of a Benedictine abbey dedicated to the watercolour should be allocated to the fourth century saint. St Florent was said to have Ashmolean Museum where it had previously left the Roman army and led a hermit’s life on been on loan since 2003. the bank of the Loire. The rapid sketches Turner had first visited France in 1802 but Turner produced as the river steamer sailed the war in Europe had prevented any further past St Florent are in the Turner Bequest visit until he passed through the country again (TB CCXVIII FF 17V. 18). in 1819 on his way to Italy. The first sustained The watercolour was produced some time exploration of the French landscape took place after Turner’s return to England as part of the in 1821 and he returned again in 1824 and preparation for the first of three volumes called 1825. The visit of 1826, however, when he Turner’s Annual Tour. That for 1833 consisted made an extensive tour of north-west France, of 21 engravings of views on the Loire and was culminating in the journey inland along the available at the price of two guineas from late River Loire, was to be the most significant to 1832. Two further volumes of Annual Tour date. Turner was 51 and at the height of his appeared in the next two years given over to powers when he crossed the Channel in views of the Seine. The AIL watercolour August 1826. He travelled west along the together with the other 20 that were engraved, northern French coast, visiting Normandy and and a further three which were unused, Brittany before heading south to the mouth remained with Turner until 1850 when he of the Loire. passed all 24 to his dealer, Thomas Griffiths. He had just finished his involvement with He sold them to the collector Charles Stokes the Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast for 600 guineas, ie 25 guineas per watercolour. of England which was the first significant Stokes died in 1853 by which time seven of independent topographical series based on his the watercolours, including St Florent, had watercolours. Work had also begun on the left his collection but the remaining 17 passed major series, Picturesque Views in England and to his niece, Hannah Cooper, who eventually Wales, which was to continue into the middle of sold them to John Ruskin in 1858 for the next decade. There is evidence to suggest 1,000 guineas. He in turn gave them to that the trip to northern France may well have Oxford University. been planned with the specific view of providing The expert advisers considered that the material for a publication of topographical watercolour was of particular importance for views, although the exact type was only to study and a work of especial artistic interest. be decided upon at a later stage. They noted that the series of watercolours This was one of the first occasions on from the Loire was so highly rated in the which Turner made systematic use of blue 19th century that many of the works had been watercolour paper. The large sheets were damaged by over-exposure to light. Fortunately, folded into 16 to produce sections measuring this watercolour had largely escaped the 14 x 19 cm which could then be easily carried changes to the original appearance which in the pocket and refolded to give access to all affected others in the series. It was noted that the available sections. Turner was to make use the watercolours Turner produced during his of this paper repeatedly in the following decade. many tours of Europe constituted the 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 77

foundation of his achievement in the second offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf 77 half of his career. In these he forged new ways of the Secretary of State, accepted this of presenting the world, while adopting a recommendation in July 2006. The offer palette of vibrant colours that still appeared was completed in September 2006. The modern today. acceptance of the watercolour settled tax The Panel considered that the watercolour of £122,500. The work has been allocated met the second and third criteria, that it was in to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where, acceptable condition and that it was fairly following over 150 years of separation, it joins valued. The Panel recommended that the the other watercolours from the Loire senses.

26. JMW Turner: St Florent Le Vieil 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 78

27 Richard Parkes Bonington: La Ferté

78 In May 2006, MLA was advised of the offer of a Hertford (1777–1842) and Maria Emily painting by Richard Parkes Bonington, La Ferté: Fagnani (1770/71–1856). Lady Hertford’s an estuary in Northern France, oil on board, third child, Lord Henry Seymour (1805–1859), inscribed in the reverse, “R.P. Bonington/Vente who was probably illegitimate was recognised, Lord Seymour 1860”, 16.5 x 28.0 cm. The however, as the 3rd Marquess’s son. Although painting was offered with a wish that it should Lord Henry is best remembered for his interest be allocated to The National Gallery. in the turf – he was the first President of the Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828) English Jockey Club in Paris – under his was born near Nottingham and spent his mother’s influence he was also a noted childhood in the town. His father moved the collector and the present work was in his family to France in 1817 in order to become collection and included in the 1860 sale of a partner in a lace-making firm. While copying his estate. At that sale his half-brother bought works in the Louvre in 1819, the artist met four other works by Bonington which now Eugène Delacroix , with whom he was later to form part of the Wallace Collection. Following share a studio and he was soon enrolled in the the 1860 auction the present work remained atelier of Baron Gros. Over the next few years in France until 1991. It was subsequently he visited Normandy and other parts of northern acquired by the English collector from whose France. He exhibited two watercolours in the estate it was offered in lieu. Paris Salon in 1822 and a larger group, The precise location of the view that is shown including a lithograph in 1824. It was in late is not known although it is clear that it depicts 1823 that he began to paint in oils while a river estuary in northern France. The exact maintaining his love of watercolours. In date of the painting is also unknown but on 1826 he exhibited at the British Institution and stylistic grounds it would appear to date from in the same year travelled to Italy, where among circa 1824. other cities, he visited Venice, Padua, Florence The expert advisers noted that although this and Turin. In 1827, a coastal landscape was was a painting on a small scale and it might be accepted for the Royal Academy and five of argued that it was a relatively minor example his works were included in the Salon. He had by the artist, Bonington’s very early death meant equal success in the following year, but by July that his work was extremely scarce. As he was 1828 he was seriously ill and he died in London one of Britain’s supreme landscape artists, in September at the tragically early age of 25. every oil painting of substance by this artist, As an Englishman who grew up in Paris, if in good condition, should be considered of Bonington was the principle mediator between especial importance. the French and British schools in the 1820s The Panel considered that the painting met and witnessed the triumph of Constable and the second and third criteria, that it was in other English artists at the 1824 Salon when acceptable condition and, following negotiation, View of the Stour near Dedham (The Huntington that it was fairly valued. The Panel Library, California) was awarded a Gold Medal. recommended that the offer should be Bonington was also given a Gold Medal in that approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary year for his exhibit A Fishmarket Near Boulogne of State, accepted this recommendation in (Paul Mellon Collection, Yale). September 2006. The offer was completed in The Wallace Collection in London contains November 2006. The painting has been the finest collection of Bonington’s work which temporarily allocated to The National Gallery was assembled by the 4th Marquess of pending a decision on permanent allocation. Hertford. He was the eldest son of Francis The acceptance of this offer settled Charles Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of £245,000 of tax. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 79

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27. Richard Parkes Bonington, La Ferté: an estuary in Northern France. © The National Gallery 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 80

28 Paintings by Francis Bacon and RB Kitaj

80 In June 2006, MLA was advised of the offer of two paintings by Francis Bacon and RB Kitaj. The paintings were offered with a wish that they should be allocated to Tate where they had been on loan. The details are as follows:

• Francis Bacon (1909–1992) Figures in a Garden, c. 1936 oil on canvas, 73.5 x 94 cm

• RB Kitaj (b. 1932) Erasmus Variations, 1958 oil on canvas, 104 x 84 cm

Both works represents the youthful output of artists in their mid 20s who were working in London. Francis Bacon was born in Dublin to English parents although he moved to London at an early age. Visits in the late 1920s to Berlin and to Paris where he encountered the works of Picasso had a formative effect. His earliest professional work was as a designer of furniture and rugs. At the same time he began to paint in oils and his first exhibition in 1930 in his own studio was of five paintings and four rugs. Thereafter painting dominated his output and he exhibited in a group show at the Mayor Gallery, London in 1933. He had a further exhibition in a Curzon Street cellar in 1934. In the next few years his work took on a tougher figurative dimension and was influenced by seeing Sergei Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin and by the colour plates he discovered in a book of diseases of the mouth which he had bought in Paris in 1935. His work was rejected by Herbert Read for inclusion in the famous 1936 London Surrealist exhibition as being insufficiently Surrealist. Even at this stage Bacon was a realist painter, albeit a realist who showed a tormented, even horrific, vision of the world. It was only with the end of the war that Bacon achieved widespread recognition when Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944; Tate) was shown at the Lefevre Gallery. Bacon declared this to be his first mature work 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 81

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28. Francis Bacon: Figures in a Garden

and made a conscious effort to destroy as many profound impression. He and his family moved of his earlier paintings as he could retrieve. to Dulwich Village following his graduation Figures in a Garden, which was painted in about and he then studied at the Royal College of Art 1936 is a rare survival of the output from the where he met David Hockney. His teachers formative years of Britain’s greatest artist of the included Roger de Grey, Carel Weight and 20th century. David Sylvester. It was at this time that he Although RB Kitaj was born in 1932, in began work at home on his first major paintings. Cleveland, Ohio, to a Russian-Jewish mother Erasmus Variations dates from 1958 and and a Hungarian-born father, he spent 40 years was the first work in the major retrospective of of his life, from 1957 to 1997, in London. It was Kitaj’s output staged at the Tate in 1994. In the Kitaj who coined the phrase, ‘School of London’ catalogue for that exhibition Kitaj describes for the group of artists, including Bacon, this work as his “first modern art” and, “the first Hockney, Freud and Auerbach who formed synthesis of some of the strands that would such a vital part of the London art scene in the never leave me or my art: Symbolism-Surrealism, post-war years. the spectres in books and the woman question.” After leaving the US Army in 1957, Kitaj The artist had been reading the biography of enrolled at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Desiderius Erasmus, the great Reformation Fine Art at the University of Oxford. While there scholar and theologian, by the Dutch medieval he made frequent visits to the Ashmolean historian, Johan Huizinga. Kitaj wrote in the Museum where he encountered Old Master catalogue to the Tate’s exhibition, “The pretext drawings, particularly those of Raphael and for my painting was a page of doodles Erasmus Michelangelo, which were to make a lasting and had drawn in the margins of a manuscript. They 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 82

82 looked like the surrealist automatic art I had post-war period, inventing a new kind of been digesting unquietly for years. De Kooning’s portraiture for a world in which traditional surreal-automatic ‘Women’ were my favourite certainties and values had been shattered by paintings in the School of New York…and so I world war. This transitional work was of great adopted something of that mode here; Double interest, given that so few of Bacon’s pre-war Dutch (Erasmus and de Kooning, both of paintings had survived. Rotterdam). In Praise of Folly, I assigned each Erasmus Variations was considered to be disguised visage in this picture to a Woman I an early example of RB Kitaj’s fragmentary, had known in fleeting circumstances.” ‘collage’ method of picture-making, which he The expert advisers noted that early works, developed and refined throughout the 1960s especially oils, by Francis Bacon were and early 1970s. They noted that in its fusion extremely rare. Of the twenty works painted of disparate sources – European high culture, between 1929 and 1948 listed in the post-war American painting (de Kooning and 1964 catalogue raisonné only 12 were oils. Pollock) and the artist’s own biography – it was Five of these were in public collections, quintessential Kitaj, looking forward to later including two in the Tate, most notably Bacon’s masterpieces such as Kennst du das Land? ‘breakthrough’ triptych Three Studies for Figures of 1962 and The Autumn of Central Paris of at the Base of a Crucifixion. Although the 1972–3. In the late 1970s Kitaj moved away present work immediately preceded the Tate’s from these densely allusive compositions to triptych in the 1964 catalogue raisonné, it dated a more integrated heroic figure-style. Erasmus from almost a decade earlier. This was because Variations displayed the sharply drawn, Bacon did very little painting between 1936 and compartmentalised imagery characteristic of his 1944 and destroyed or abandoned several early work, contrasting with striking passages works. Although he had not evolved his mature of loose, expressive brushwork, and a marked style by 1936, Figures in a Garden, delicacy of touch, eg in the bottom left-hand nevertheless, contained certain motifs in flowers. At the same time, some of the faces embryonic form which the artist would later depicted had a caricatural, almost animal-like, develop, such as the crying or screaming mouth quality which brought to the whole picture a and the menacing dog. The division of the pulsating energy. composition into horizontal strips or bands of The Panel considered that both paintings colour also looked forward to later works by met the third criterion, that they were in Bacon. They noted that the Bacon, in its acceptable condition and that they were interpenetration of figure and vegetation and its fairly valued. The Panel recommended that evocation of a dark, mysterious wood or forest, the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf was reminiscent of works by Max Ernst. In of the Secretary of State accepted this addition, it showed that Bacon had been recommendation in November 2006. The influenced by Picasso’s biomorphic figures at offer was completed in February 2007. this period. The provenance of the painting was The paintings have been temporarily allocated also important as it had been owned both by an to Tate pending a decision on permanent important collector and, previously, by Diana allocation. The acceptance of this offer settled Watson. She was the artist’s second cousin and £1,137,500 of tax; £997,500 of which was had acquired it in January 1937 when it was for the Bacon and £140,000 for the Kitaj. shown at the Thomas Agnew Gallery in the exhibition Young British Painters. The experts considered that Francis Bacon was arguably the greatest British figurative painter of the 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 83

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29 The Manchester Tiara

84

29. The Manchester Tiara

In July 2006, MLA was informed of the offer of a diamond tiara by Cartier. It was offered with a condition that it should be allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum where it had been on loan since 1982. The tiara, which contains nearly 100 carats of diamonds, the largest individual stone being 6.0 cts, was commissioned in 1903 by Consuelo, Duchess of Manchester. It consists of a graduated frieze of flaming hearts, mounted in gold and set in silver. It is an extremely rare and historic piece of jewellery created by one of the most celebrated jewellers, the Parisian firm of Cartier. Consuelo Yznaga de Valle was born in 1858 in Louisiana. She came to Europe for ‘finishing’ and entered the court of Eugénie, the last Empress of France, and there met Jennie Jerome (later Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of Winston) and Alva Smith (later Alva Vanderbilt). In 1870 she returned briefly to Louisiana before travelling to Saratoga, a fashionable resort in upstate New York. There she met Viscount Mandeville, the future 8th Duke of Manchester whom she married in 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 85

1876. One of the first rich American beauties in which had been heightened by the sale 85 to marry into the British aristocracy, she quickly of the French Crown Jewels in 1887. captivated English society by her charm, The expert advisers considered the intelligence and wit and became friends with Manchester Tiara to be an exceedingly rare the Prince and Princess of Wales. She was an example of an aristocratic diamond-set jewel inveterate marriage broker and her schemes that was fully provenanced and had never been bore fruition in the number of American girls altered. It retained its original case and all its who came to England to marry well. She was original fittings. They described it as one of the the basis for the character Conchita Closson grandest tiaras worn by an American heiress in Edith Warton’s The Buccaneers and makes and a circlet of heroic proportions, made up a brief appearance under her own name in of graduated heart-shaped elements entirely Proust’s À la Recherche du Temps Perdu as set with diamonds. This tiara was a fitting crown she shops in London with the Duchesse de for a woman who charmed her way to the apex Guermantes. She was widowed in 1892 when of society, wherever she lived, and was her husband died at the age of 39. She died remembered fondly by all who met her. in 1909. The Panel considered that the tiara met the Although tiaras date back to classical times, third criterion, that it was in acceptable the fashion for wearing them was revived in the condition and that it was fairly valued. The 19th century and reached its height at the turn Panel recommended that the offer should of the 19th and 20th centuries. The firm of be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary Cartier had been founded in 1847 in Paris by of State, accepted this recommendation in Louis-François Cartier (1819–1904). In 1874, October 2006. The offer was completed in his son, Alfred, took over the management and February 2007. The tiara has been in turn, as the business expanded, his son, permanently allocated to the Victoria and Louis, entered the firm. By 1902, Cartier had Albert Museum, in accordance with the wishes opened premises in New Burlington Street, of the offeror. The acceptance of this offer before moving in 1909 to the position in New settled £81,975.20 of tax and the Victoria Bond Street that it still occupies. Tiaras were and Albert has contributed a hybrid element the most glamorous items of jewellery, worn of £114,024.80. not only at court but also at the theatre or opera, or to the many events invitations to which specified “tiaras will be worn”. They demonstrated both the jeweller’s art and the status of the wearer, ensuring that the sparkling brilliance of an array of shimmering diamonds attracted notice both to the jewels and to the bejewelled. The Manchester tiara is designed in the ‘garland style’ that Cartier popularised and which dominated jewellery design from 1895–1915. It reflects the refined elegance of the early 20th century aristocratic life which was to end with World War I. The tiara is composed of garlands, wreaths, flowers, swags, and bows, in a style inspired by the jewellery of pre-revolutionary 18th century France, interest 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 86

30 Rembrandt and Goya: Copper Plate, Prints and Drawing

86

30. Rembrandt: The Negress lying down – original copper plate

In August 2006, MLA was informed of the offer Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes of a copper etching plate and three prints by (1746–1828) Rembrandt and three proof prints and a drawing by Goya. The details are as follows: 5. Three working proofs from Los Caprichos 1799

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn a) Nadie se Conoce (Nobody knows himself) (1606–1669) Plate 6 etching with aquatint, on laid paper 1. The Negress lying down 276 x 183 mm the original copper plate for the etching 79 x 156 mm b) El Amor y la Muerte (Love and Death) Plate 10 2. The Negress lying down etching with aquatint, on laid paper etching, drypoint and burin, 1658 272 x 190 mm 79 x 156 mm c) Bellos Consejos (Pretty Teachings) 3. Christ returning from the Temple with Plate 15 his Parents etching with aquatint, on laid paper etching and drypoint, 1654 – only state 300 x 197 mm 95 x 147 mm 6. Portrait of Pedro Roldán 4. The Windmill in ink and ‘Escult’ in red chalk, 1798–99 etching, 1641 – only state 272 x 190 mm 145 x 208 mm 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 87

87

30. Rembrandt: The Negress lying down – etching

The four items by Goya were offered with a than by painting and in 17th century England, wish that they should be allocated to the British while his paintings were only in the Royal Museum to join the great collection of Goya Collection, his prints were widely known. In prints formed by Tomàs Harris and accepted 1662 John Evelyn wrote of “The incomparable in lieu of tax and allocated to the museum in Reinbrand, whose etchings and gravings are of 1978/79. The Rembrandt copper plate and a particular spirit.” Whereas his reputation as a associated print were offered with a wish that painter has waxed and waned, his prints have they too should be allocated to the British always been collected and held in the Museum. Rembrandt’s Christ returning from the highest esteem. Temple with his Parents was offered with a wish The copper plate for the print known since that it should be allocated to the National the 18th century as The Negress lying down, is Gallery of Scotland or the Hunterian Museum, one of only about 80 plates that have survived. Glasgow and The Windmill was offered with a It is one of Rembrandt’s finest and most wish that it should be allocated to the National understated works. The dark, rich tones that Gallery of Scotland or the Whitworth Art envelop the figure inspired the title. Rembrandt Gallery, Manchester. made this print late in his career, 1658, by Rembrandt was one of the greatest of all which time he had begun to create remarkable printmakers and in just over 300 etchings he painterly effects never before seen in explored the full expressive range of the print, printmaking, with combinations of velvety from small self-portrait etchings produced in his drypoint lines, films of ink left on the printing youth to the large prints of the 1640s and 50s. plate, and variously coloured papers. The pose During his lifetime his etchings were fully of a female nude seen from behind lying on her recognised throughout Europe as an individual bed had been explored in oil a decade earlier by contribution to art and were more widely Velázquez in The Toilet of Venus (1647–51). collected and admired than his paintings. His While the similarities are striking, Rembrandt reputation was more easily spread by prints can never have seen the Spanish master’s only 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 88

88 nude which was hidden in a Spanish example of Venetian art. At this period he was aristocratic collection until well after producing his greatest religious etchings such Rembrandt’s death and they are likely to as The Hundred Guilder Print (1649), The Three result from both artists being familiar with a Crosses (1653) and Ecce Homo (1655). common source. In contrast, this small print is on an intimate The other two Rembrandt etchings are from scale and depicts Mary and Joseph in puzzled earlier in the artist’s career. The Windmill is contemplation of their son whose hands they dated to 1641 and depicts the Little Stink Mill hold with tender intimacy. They consider the at the south-west corner of the Amsterdam city recent events in the Temple when the 12-year­ wall. This mill and another not visible in the old Christ had disputed with the Jewish etching were owned by the Leathermakers’ religious scholars and amazed everyone with Guild. The noxious odour from the tanning his understanding. process was the cause of the particular name As Rembrandt raised line engraving to a new given to the mill. Rembrandt’s interest in pure level of achievement in the 17th century, Goya landscape as a subject for his prints had begun did the same at the end of the 18th century for in the previous year and he was to explore the aquatint. Whereas in engraving the artist uses theme with growing intensity over the next the needle to cut directly into the soft copper decade or so until about 1652. plate, with aquatint the plate is coated with an By 1654, the year of Christ returning from the acid-resistant layer. This in turn is covered with Temple with his Parents, the landscape element a black layer, often of soot, which the artist then was no longer drawn from the flat vistas of draws through. Having completed the drawing, Rembrandt’s homeland but from the classical the plate is dipped into a weak acid solution

30. Rembrandt: The Windmill 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 89

which eats into the copper. The texture and the more suitable for satire, and which, at the 89 tone of the resultant image can be controlled same time, stimulate the artist’s imagination.” by subjecting parts of the plate to further 1799 was a time of social repression and immersion in acid while protecting those parts economic crisis in Spain. Influenced by where the desired effect has been achieved. Enlightenment thinking, Goya set out to With aquatint areas of even tonality can be analyse the human condition and denounce produced without the engraver’s need for social abuses and superstitions. Los Caprichos laborious cross-hatching. At various stages made clear his revulsion against ignorance and a proof print would be pulled from the plate intellectual oppression while displaying his to gauge the progress of the image, allowing ambivalence towards authority and the Church. the artist to arrive at the desired finished state. The use of aquatint with its solid areas of Los Caprichos was Goya’s first major essay dark and even pure black tone was crucial in in etching and consisted of 80 prints. The allowing Goya to project his figures against the announcement in the Madrid newspaper of dark void and to create a world of stupidity, 6 February 1799 of the forthcoming superstition, vice and even evil that is normally appearance of the set makes clear the hidden from daylight and normal perception. intention. “The author…has selected from The expert advisers noted the relatively small among the innumerable foibles and follies to number of existing copper plates by be found in any civilized society, and from Rembrandt, all of which are of great historical common prejudices and deceitful practices importance. Despite the reworking to which which custom, ignorance, or self-interest, have they have been subjected, they are objects of made usual, those subjects which he feels to be beauty. They pointed out that although the

30. Rembrandt: Christ returning from the Temple with his Parents 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 90

90 British Museum held the finest collection of they were based on prints and drawings Rembrandt etchings in the world, after the supplied by Ceán or by friends and colleagues. Rijksmuseum, it lacked an example of his This portrait of a 17th century Sevilian sculptor, copper plates. This would therefore be a highly shown full face, was described as sober but desirable acquisition. Each of the three prints lively, and remarkably life-like given that Goya was an excellent early impression which was recreating him from another graphic preserved the fine detail of one the greatest source, perhaps based on a print, that remains of all printmakers. to be identified. The drawing followed a The three Goya proof prints were considered conventional portrait format, and provided an by the expert advisers to be of considerable enlightening contrast to the brilliantly original importance. Having been taken from the plates inventions seen in the Los Caprichos prints. at the earliest stages of the printing process It was a perfect example of Goya’s ability to they not only preserved the finest detail but adapt his style and technique to the were important for showing Goya’s requirements of a particular type of work. development of the images. Proof impressions The Panel considered that all the items met are of great rarity and only 108 are known from both the second and third criteria, that they all 80 prints of Los Caprichos. For Plate 6 two were in acceptable condition and, following have survived, the one on offer and another in negotiation, agreed that they were fairly valued. the Norton Simon Museum; for Plate 10, two The Panel recommended that the offer should impressions, one in the Bibliothèque Nationale, be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary Paris and this one; for Plate 15, three of State, accepted this recommendation in impressions are known from the Metropolitan November 2006. The offer was completed Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale and the in February 2007. The items have been one on offer. The three proofs under review all temporarily allocated to the British Museum came from the same source, namely a group of pending a decision on permanent allocation. 25 that were put together by Goya and may The acceptance of this offer settled have formed part of a complete set. The prints £521,500 of tax. passed, via two known Spanish owners, to Otto Gerstenberg, the major early 20th century Berlin collector, and the sheets bear his collector’s mark on the verso. They thus had an assured and distinguished provenance. The advisers noted that Goya’s Portrait of Pedro Roldán was one of nine drawings of earlier Spanish artists ascribed to Goya (a tenth, in the Louvre is now considered to be of doubtful attribution). They were made, together with a portrait of Juan Agustin Ceán Bermúdez (Goya’s patron, friend and mentor, particularly in his early years at court), for engravings to illustrate Ceán’s Diccionario de los más ilustres profesores de las Bellas Artes published in 1800. The drawings, which in the end were never engraved, belonged to Ceán, which gave them the most direct and distinguished provenance possible. Executed in red crayon, 94801 9/7/07 11:19 Page 91

91

30. Goya: Los Caprichos: Plate 6 – 30. Goya: Los Caprichos: Plate 15 – Nobody knows himself Pretty Teachings

30. Goya: Los Caprichos: Plate 10 – 30. Goya: Portrait of Pedro Roldán Love and Death 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 92

31 Ceri Richards: The Force that through the Green Fuse: The Source

92 In August 2006, MLA was advised of the second stanza of Thomas’ poem. The theme offer of Ceri Richards’ painting The Force that of the poem is the dynamic and energetic cycle through the Green Fuse: The Source, oil on of life and its perpetual self-renewal through canvas, 113 x 132 cm. It was offered with a life, decay, death and regeneration. Although condition that it should be allocated to the written in 1933, its appeal and relevance to a Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea. world torn by war is easily understood. Ceri Richards (1903–1971) was born in A second major painting on the theme, Dunvant near Swansea, the eldest of three Cycle of Nature (Amgueddfa Cymru – National children. In his youth he was interested in Museum Wales) was painted in 1944. The third, mechanical drawing. On leaving school he was the painting under consideration, followed in given an apprenticeship with an electrical firm 1945 and takes its title directly from the poem. but very soon left this to study for four years at Swansea School of Art. From there he moved The force that through the green fuse drives to London in 1924 to take up a scholarship at the flower the Royal College of Art where his powerful Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees draughtsmanship was soon singled out for Is my destroyer. particular attention. He remained in London And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose after his studies, joining the group of artists My youth is bent by the same wintry fever. who looked to the international modern movement for inspiration. His first one-man The green force, the complex biomorphic show, however, was held at the Glynn Vivian form to the left with its suggestions of female Art Gallery in 1930–31. He never adopted a sexuality is balanced by the spiralling figures on purely abstract approach even though he the right of horse and rider. These two forms exhibited at the Objective Abstractions are entwined at the top and, to an extent, at the exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in 1934. bottom of the canvas. The vegetative forms At this time he was influenced by Continental (the crooked rose of the poem) rise up from the artists such as Picasso and Arp. As the 1930s left to entwine with the streaming tail of the progressed his affinity with Surrealist art horse, while the horse plummets towards the increased and this is evident in his works from stream pouring out of the ‘source’ which is also the late 1930s and is reflected in his purchase the point of origin for the green forms. Richards of Max Ernst’s 1927 masterpiece, The Bride in this way gave vibrant pictorial expression of the Wind. to the cyclical nature of the force with which Richards returned to Wales in 1940 and Thomas was concerned. settled in Cardiff where he was appointed The expert adviser considered the painting Head of Painting at the School of Art. He to be a particularly fine example of the work had two London exhibitions during the war, in of Ceri Richards. Given that the inspiration 1941 at the Leger Gallery and in 1944 at the came from the work of the pre-eminent Redfern Gallery. This was a particularly creative Welsh poet of the 20th century, the painting period in the artist’s career due, in part, to his represented a significant point of convergence engagement with Dylan Thomas’ poem, The of two important figures in Welsh culture. The force that through the green fuse drives the significance of the group of paintings inspired flower. The most ambitious of the paintings in by the Thomas poem was demonstrated by the the Redfern show, although titled at the time inclusion of the second of the three paintings Allegory of Red and Blue Figures was later in the national collection in Cardiff. It was noted renamed, The force that drives the water that the first of the three paintings was still in a through the rocks which is the opening of the private collection. The adviser described all 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 93

three as central to Richards’s artistic output November 2006 and the offer was completed 93 and among his best works. The importance of in the following month. The painting has the painting on offer had been recognised by been allocated to the Glynn Vivian Gallery in its inclusion in many exhibitions both in England accordance with the condition of the offeror. and in Wales. The acceptance of this offer settled The Panel considered that the painting met £13,626 of tax. The painting could have the second and third criteria, that it was in settled a much larger amount of tax but the acceptable condition and that it was fairly offerors waived the considerable hybrid valued. The Panel recommended that the offer element. This very generous gesture is should be approved. The Welsh Minister for gratefully acknowledged. Culture accepted this recommendation in

31. Ceri Richards: The Force that Through the Green Fuse: The Source 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 94

32 Ninth century Silver Penannular Brooch

94 In December 2005 MLA was advised of the offer of a ninth century silver penannular brooch,17.8 cm long, 11.0 cm maximum hoop width and 204 g in weight. The brooch was found in the mid 19th century and was reported as having been discovered in the ruins of Ballyvolan Fort, near Kilmartin, County Wicklow. It was offered with a condition that it should be allocated to the Ulster Museum, Belfast. The form of the bossed-penannular brooch originated in late Roman prototypes of the fourth century AD, but evolved with changing styles of decoration and available metals. By the ninth and tenth centuries, the presence of permanent Viking settlements and the silver they brought with them, increased the use of that formerly rare metal for ornaments such as brooches. Gold was rarely used in metalwork in this period. Annular rings with joined terminals are found from the eighth century. Later, in the ninth century, the penannular ring, with unconnected terminals, came into fashion in the north of Ireland. These were first made with plain silver and subsequently became decorated with metal bosses. They are believed to have been made in Viking Ireland and then distributed around the North Sea area. The decorations often used various animal motifs and the birds seen on the Ballyvolan Brooch derive from Anglo-Saxon jewellery. They were worn both by men (on the shoulder) and by women (on the breast). Forty-six bossed penannular brooches have survived from the period. The Ballyvolan Brooch belongs to the second highest of the weight categories into 32. Ninth century Silver which these items are divided and while the Penannular Brooch form follows the general convention, there are no direct comparisons for the bird motifs and terminal decorations. The expert advisers considered the Ballyvolan Brooch to be the finest example of a particular sub-type of penannular brooch which has rhomboidal terminals. The interlacing zoomorphic decoration, typical of this class of brooch, was unmatched in elegance of 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 95

execution and the brooch itself was an 95 imposing and substantial piece, in very good condition. Although the precise find-spot was not known, its general provenance from Kilmartin was not in doubt and County Wicklow was in the main area of Viking activity in Ireland. The brooch reflected the wealth of the Viking settlers in the area and their access to silver through Viking trade and commerce across Europe and beyond. The brooch’s combination of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon influenced animal ornament with a native Irish brooch type suggested a degree of cultural interchange between the Irish and Viking population. Evidence of similar interchange was known from excavations on sites in Dublin and Wicklow which were both Viking towns. The advisers noted the rarity of this type of object 32. Ninth century Silver Penannular Brooch – detail and the fact that the Ballyvolan Brooch was among the finest of the group in terms of its however, does not collect for its own sake and workmanship and state of preservation. In agreed that, should the proposal succeed, it addition to its undoubted academic interest, would donate the brooch to the Ulster Museum. it also had a considerable aesthetic appeal. A new offer in lieu was accordingly made The Panel considered that the brooch met with the allocation condition being to The Art the second and third criteria, that it was in Fund. The Panel recommended that this revised acceptable condition and that it was fairly offer should be approved and MLA, on behalf valued. In May 2006 the Panel recommended of the Secretary of State, accepted this to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland recommendation in January 2007. The offer that the offer should be approved. Approval of was completed in the following month. The the offer was not, however, forthcoming as the acceptance of this offer settled £158,562 of amount of tax payable by the offerors was less tax and The Art Fund has contributed a hybrid than the brooch could have satisfied. The Ulster element of £117.959. It has donated the Museum, the conditional allocatee, could not brooch to the Ulster Museum. As the Ulster provide the Northern Ireland Minister with an Museum closed in 2006 for refurbishment and assurance that it had the necessary hybrid is not due to reopen until 2009, it has agreed to funding in place. Efforts were then made to find place the brooch on temporary loan to the another museum which would be prepared to National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. come forward with the necessary funds to make good the hybrid payment. In November 2006, The Art Fund came forward with the imaginative suggestion that it would pay the hybrid element. The National Heritage Act 1980, under which items accepted in lieu are allocated to public bodies, specifically mentions The Art Fund (the National Arts Collection Fund) as an appropriate body. The Art Fund, 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 96

Appendices Appendix 1

96 List of objects accepted, allocations and tax values for 2006/07 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 97

Description Tax Settled Allocation

Paintings at Port Eliot, Cornwall £2,154,339 Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery 97 to remain in situ at Port Eliot Lake Windermere Boats £306,320 Lakeland Arts Trust Carlo Portelli: The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari £210,000 to be decided Seat Furniture at Corsham Court £2,450,000 Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery to remain in situ at Corsham Court Charles II Gold Beaker £92,939 to be decided Evelyn de Morgan: The Valley of Shadows £320,000 Leeds City Art Gallery Archive of the Earls of Erne £120,000 Public Record Office, Northern Ireland The Harcourt Papers £1,488,140 Bodleian Library Five Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough £203,000 Gainsborough’s House Musuem Francesco Guardi: Isola di San Giorgio in Alga £560,000 Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery Collection of Islamic Coins £25,291 Fitzwilliam Museum Paul de Lamerie: Silver Plateau £350,000 Manchester Art Gallery Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Early Printed Scores £350,000 Bodleian Library Collection of 20th century paintings, prints and posters £341,040 British Film Institute British Museum Design Museum Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow Imperial War Museum Manchester Metropolitan University Royal Academy of Music Science Museum Southampton Art Gallery Tate Victoria and Albert Museum Armour, Swords and Medieval Silver £253,750 to be decided Archive of the Henley Family £1,600 Somerset Record Office Archive of Leslie Durbin £115,500 Victoria and Albert Museum Two Medieval Manuscripts on Hawking and Hunting £250,000 British Library Two Medieval Liturgical Manuscripts £406,000 British Library Photographic Archive of Fay Godwin £266,362 to be decided Four British18th and 19th century Paintings £773,500 to be decided Giovanni Paolo Panini: The Lottery in the Piazza di Montecitorio £194,047 National Gallery Sir Richard and Lady Burton Letters £7,000 British Library William Nicholson: Begonias £105,000 Fitzwilliam Museum Edward Degas: Sculpture £157,500 Samuel Courtauld Trust for the Courtauld Institute Galleries JMW Turner Watercolour: St Florent le Vieil £122,500 Ashmolean Museum Richard Parkes Bonington: La Ferté £245,000 to be decided Paintings by Francis Bacon and RB Kitaj £1,137,500 Tate The Manchester Tiara £81,975 Victoria and Albert Museum Rembrandt and Goya: Copper Plate, Prints and Drawing £521,500 to be decided Ceri Richards: The Force that through the Green Fuse: The Source £13,626 Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum Ninth century Silver Penannular Brooch £158,562 The Art Fund (Ulster Museum)

Total £13,782,110 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 98

Appendix 2

98 Panel Members Jonathan Scott – Chairman David Barrie until July 2006 Geoffrey Bond from February 2007 Patrick Elliott Ms Katherine Eustace Mark Fisher MP Andrew McIntosh Patrick James Methuen-Campbell from July 2006 David Scrase Dr Lindsay Stainton Ms Lucy Wood Dr Christopher Wright 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 99

Appendix 3

Expert Advisers Charles Beddington Charles Beddington Ltd 99 2006/07 Hugh Belsey Independent Consultant Carl Boardman Oxfordshire Record Office Peter Boughton Grosvenor Museum, Chester Patrick Bourne Fine Art Society Plc Robert Bowman Robert Bowman Gallery David Blayney Brown Tate Richard Calvocoressi Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Marian Campbell Victoria and Albert Museum Dawson Carr National Gallery Zelda Cheatle Zelda Cheatle Gallery Mary Clapinson formerly Bodleian Library Colin Coleman Independent Consultant William Collier William Collier & Co, Ltd Alexander Corcoran Lefevre Fine Arts Ltd Vesta Curtis British Museum Alastair Dickenson Alastair Dickenson Fine Silver Ltd Simon Dickinson Simon C Dickinson Ltd Peter Durrant Berkshire Record Office James Ede Charles Ede Ltd Elizabeth Einberg Independent Art Historian Gerard Faggionato Gerard Faggionato Ltd Peter Finer Peter Finer Ltd Sam Fogg Sam Fogg Rare Books Charlotte Gere Independent Consultant Philippa Glanville Independent Consultant Martin Harrison Independent Art Historian Keith Hartley Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art John Hayes (deceased) Independent Art Historian Michael Hoppen Michael Hoppen Gallery David Fraser Jenkins formerly Tate Paul Joannides University of Cambridge Daniel Katz Daniel Katz Ltd Martin Kauffmann Bodleian Library Robin Kern Hotspur Ltd Susan Lambert Independent Consultant Lowell Libson Lowell Libson Ltd Anthony Malcolmson Independent Consultant David Mannings University of Aberdeen James Mayor Mayor Gallery Barbara Mears Spink Christopher Mendez Christopher Mendez Ltd Lucy Morton Independent Consultant Geoffrey Munn Wartski Ltd Richard Ovenden Bodleian Library Nicholas Poole-Wilson Bernard Quaritch Ltd 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 100

100 Martin Postle formerly Tate Elizabeth Prettejohn University of Bristol Thom Richardson Royal Armouries Rupert Ridgewell British Library William Rose Independent Consultant Timothy Schroder Independent Consultant Michael Simpson Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox Ltd Peyton Skipwith formerly Fine Arts Society Susan Sloman W/S Fine Art Lewis Smith Koopman Rare Art Annamarie Stapleton Independent Consultant Charles Truman C & L Burman Ltd Ian Warrell Tate Leslie Webster British Museum Anthony Wells-Cole Temple Newsam House, Leeds Aidan Weston-Lewis National Galleries of Scotland Catherine Whistler Ashmolean Museum Sir Christopher White Independent Consultant Christopher Whittick East Sussex Record Office Juliet Wilson-Bareau Independent Consultant Andrew Wilton Tate – Visiting Research Fellow Joan Winterkorn Bernard Quaritch Ltd Christopher Wood Christopher Wood Gallery Robert Woosnam-Savage Royal Armouries Andrew Wyld W/S Fine Art 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 101

Appendix 4

Allocation of items • The 12th century manuscript of Peter of Poitiers which was 101 reported in the case 3, pages 24–25, in the 2005/06 Report has been AIL Reports 2005/06 allocated to the British Library. This was in accordance with but only decided in the wish of the Offeror. 2006/07 • The Archive of the Earls of Guilford which was case 4, pages 26–27, in the 2005/06 Report has been allocated to the British Library (the Greek papers of Frederick North, Earl of Guilford) and to the East Kent Archive Centre, Dover (the estate papers relating to the Waldershare estates). The offer was made with a wish that these two repositories should be the allocatees.

• The Archive of the Earls of Coventry which was case 5, pages 28–29, in the 2005/06 Report has been allocated in its entirety to the Worcestershire Record Office. The offer had been made with a wish that the archive should be allocated to the four repositories where it had previously been on loan: Worcestershire Record Office, Birmingham City Archives, Somerset Record Office and Warwickshire Record Office. Copies of the material previously on loan are being supplied by Worcestershire Record Office to the other three repositories.

• The Archive of Sir Richard and Lady Burton which was case 14, pages 46–47, in the 2005/06 Report has been allocated to the British Library. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• The Archive of Roger Fry and Helen Anrep which was case 17, pages 52–53, in the 2005/06 Report has been allocated to the Tate Archive. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• Stanley Spencer’s Portrait of Eric Williams which was case 38, pages 104–105, in the 2005/06 Report has been allocated to the Stanley Spencer Gallery, Cookham. The offer was made with a wish that the portrait should be allocated to the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon which was unable to provide appropriate public display of the painting and so declined to apply for permanent allocation. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 102

Appendix 5

102 The Process of Since the report of the Acceptance in Lieu Panel is generally consulted making an Offer by those wishing to offer heritage objects in lieu of tax or by their professional advisers, we repeat here the section from the 2005/06 AIL Report, appropriately updated, which describes in detail the process of making an offer and also the criteria which we use in deciding whether an object is appropriate. We apologise for using the inelegant phrase ‘heritage object’ but it is a convenient catch-all to cover the very wide range of objects that are offered: paintings, furniture, silver, jewellery, archives and innumerable other items. Offers of land or buildings are considered separately by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in consultation with English Heritage, The Countryside Agency and English Nature as well as the corresponding bodies in the devolved administrations.

The legislation under which heritage objects and land can be accepted in lieu is contained in Sections 230 and 231 of the Inheritance Tax Act (IHTA) 1984, which was originally enacted as the Capital Transfer Tax Act 1984. The Inland Revenue published the official guidance to this legislation, Capital Taxation and the National Heritage [IR67] in 1986. The legislation permits the acceptance in lieu of:

• land and buildings • objects which are or have been in certain buildings and • objects which are individually pre-eminent or form a pre-eminent group or collection.

Offers in lieu of heritage objects are administered by the Acceptance in Lieu Panel, which is an independent body set up in 1992 by the Museums & Galleries Commission, the predecessor of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Panel consists of eleven members who are all experts in some particular field. One of them is selected as a representative of the Historic Houses Association and at least one is chosen for having links with Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland as a representative for museums and galleries outside England.

Offers in lieu can be made either when an estate has a liability to Inheritance Tax or when an owner disposes of objects that have previously been conditionally exempt from Inheritance Tax, or one of its earlier forms, Estate Duty or Capital Transfer Tax. (HM Revenue & Customs will not at present consider accepting heritage objects in lieu of Income, Capital Gains, Corporation or other taxes.) 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 103

After considering the alternative methods of paying the resultant tax, the 103 owner may select one or more heritage objects to offer in lieu and then assess their value together with an appropriate professional adviser. The offeror or an agent contacts the Heritage Team of HM Revenue & Customs with details of the proposed offer. The address and telephone number is:

HM Revenue & Customs, Heritage Team, Ferrers House, PO Box 38, Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham, NG2 1BB Tel: 0845 30 20 900

If HM Revenue & Customs agrees that the offer is competent to proceed, ie that the offeror is the person responsible for the payment of the tax and that there is a liability to taxation which could be met by the offer of such a heritage object or objects, the case is referred to the AIL Panel.

The Panel meets once a month, with interim ad hoc meetings if required, to decide whether objects offered appear to be pre-eminent. Wherever possible some or all of the members of the Panel view the object.

Criteria for Pre-eminence

Objects are regarded as pre-eminent if they would constitute a ‘pre­ eminent’ addition to the collection of a national, local authority, university or other independent museum or are ‘pre-eminent’ in association with a particular building. The criteria for pre-eminence are based on the long established ‘Waverley criteria’. These are used to assess the importance of objects which have been referred to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

AIL Criteria

The criteria are:

• that the object has an especially close association with our history and national life • that it is of especial artistic or art-historical interest • that it is of especial importance for the study of some particular branch of art, learning or history • that it has an especially close association with a particular historic setting. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 104

104 The Panel interprets these criteria with some freedom, while maintaining rigorous standards of excellence. An object needs to meet only one of the criteria in order to qualify as pre-eminent.

Under the first criterion we would typically include objects closely associated with historic personages or events or, for instance, with British political, cultural or religious movements. This criterion typically covers portraits and archives associated with some well-known historic figure. However, it might be extended to embrace, for instance, a collection of classical antiquities which illustrate the importance of the Grand Tour to the formation of national taste in the 18th century; a group of objects brought back from the travels of a famous Victorian explorer or designs relating to the Festival of Britain in 1951. We do not interpret this criterion solely in terms of national history nor do we adopt an elitist approach to what is important for history. The criterion might therefore extend to cover an archive which is important for an understanding of the history of a region, and views of towns, houses or landscapes or portraits of local worthies, which are significant in a regional context, even if they are not great works of art and are not of national significance. We feel that it is important to give due weight to items the impact and resonance of which are primarily regional.

The second criterion embraces not only the works of great masters, but also painting and sculpture by artists who were important in their day and made a significant contribution to the artistic life of their times even if they were not international figures. We do not limit our recommendations to the works of such artists as Gainsborough, Turner and Bacon and the most notable foreign painters, but we think that it is right that we should also recommend acceptance of paintings by, for instance, artists who are key figures of a local school. This criterion also applies to outstanding examples of decorative or applied art.

The third criterion covers archives, good samples of the work of local potteries or furniture manufacture, notable examples of the costume or embroidery of previous centuries, objects which, although not important in themselves, form part of a collection that is important – the complete library of a 18th century botanist, for instance, or a collection of medieval antiquities that includes ‘Gothic’ objects deliberately faked to attract enthusiasts for the age of Ivanhoe – and non-British works of art which illustrate the history, culture and taste of other countries or civilisations. It would also cover important engineering plans and models, key examples of design and technology and scientific apparatus. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 105

The criterion for association with a particular setting embraces not only 105 objects currently in a historic building but those which may have been removed from it as a result of sale, inheritance or gift and are being returned to their original setting.

Association with a Building

Under the legislation, anything may be accepted when “it appears to the Ministers desirable for the object to remain associated with a building”. The building concerned, however, must be owned either by the government or by a heritage organisation, such as the National Trust.

The wording of the legislation is so all-embracing that it could cover an electric cooker in the kitchen or a wheelbarrow in the potting shed. Objects associated with a building do not themselves have to be pre-eminent but the Panel takes account of their contribution to the history of the place and to its atmosphere. Furniture and china in a historic house need not be of museum quality to be worthy of acceptance in lieu but should be attractive and appropriate to their setting. There is a general understanding that, in order to qualify, the objects must have been associated with the property for a number of years or with a person who lived there for a significant period.

Expert Advice

The Panel always seeks independent advice. Two or more expert advisers are appointed in each case, generally museum curators or scholars in the field and members of the art trade. These experts examine the object, assess its condition and provide written reports to the Panel, advising whether the object meets any of the criteria listed above, whether its condition is appropriate for museum ownership and whether the price at which it is offered represents the open market price. In the light of this advice and of the collective knowledge of its members the Panel then makes a recommendation to MLA. When the object is offered from a non-English estate or is offered with an allocation to a non-English museum or repository, the recommendation is made to the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish minister, as appropriate. Unfortunately, this increases the time involved in finalising an offer. It is hoped that the handling of such cases can be brought in line with those made in England. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 106

106 When heritage objects are offered which, although interesting, are not pre-eminent or are in poor condition and would need substantial conservation, the Panel may suggest to the offeror that some other object from the same collection might be substituted. Where an object is substituted at the Panel’s request, it is treated for taxation purposes as if it had been part of the original offer.

Open Market Price

The price at which the object is offered should represent the open market price at the time of the offer. Where the open market price is based on a recent saleroom comparison we include the buyer’s premium with the hammer price. If comparable objects have been sold at auction or by known private sales through dealers or agents, it is not too difficult to agree the price. In cases, however, where nothing similar has been sold in recent years, because of the rarity of the object, its exceptional beauty or its historical associations, it may be harder to assess what it might have fetched at auction. An artist may have produced only a few great works, all concentrated in one brief part of his career, and it may be that none of these paintings has been sold on the open market for many years. In such circumstances, a comparison with recent sales of inferior works from the artist’s oeuvre might well result in a false valuation. The value of works by contemporaries may form a better basis for assessing the correct price.

The Panel spends a great deal of time testing the Expert Advisers’ opinions on price and strives to be scrupulously fair to the offeror. We are not seeking to extract a bargain on behalf of the nation but to arrive at a fair price. On a small number of occasions, however, we have been unable to reach an agreement with the offeror’s agents and have therefore had to tell the Secretary of State that we could not recommend acceptance of the offer.

We emphasise our wish to be fair. When the Expert Advisers consider that an object has been offered at a valuation below the open market price, we ask the offeror’s agent if they wish to revise the price upward. On some occasions, of course, the offeror may be aware that the offer is below the open market price but is content that the value of the object covers the tax liability and is generously willing to forego any benefit from the higher market price which might have been agreed. In other cases, where the agreed value more than covers the tax that is payable, the museum or gallery has to pay the offeror the difference between the tax liability and the tax that could have been settled by an item at the agreed open market value. The latter are termed ‘hybrid arrangements’. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 107

Provenance 107

As a result of the growing awareness of the looting carried out under the Nazi regime, the provenance of all objects for the period 1933 to 1945 is thoroughly investigated. In the case of chattels from historic British collections this is, of course, no problem. Where, however, the ownership history of objects is not documented, in particular in the case of paintings by foreign artists, it is necessary to make detailed enquiries so as to ensure that objects which were either looted or sold as a result of duress are not acquired on behalf of the nation. This is inevitably a slow process, but it is important to ensure that all possible steps have been taken to investigate the whereabouts of objects offered for the relevant period. A similarly rigorous investigation is undertaken in respect of the offer of archaeological items. The provenance has to be fully established to prevent the acquisition of objects which have been improperly excavated or illegally imported into this country.

Allocation

Objects can be offered without any conditions, but many offerors are concerned about the future destination of things that they have loved and make their offers conditional upon allocation to a particular museum, gallery, library or archive. If MLA, on behalf of the Minister, agrees that the institution named in the condition is an appropriate recipient then the object is transferred to that location when the due process has been completed.

Alternatively, the offer can be made with a wish, which is not binding on MLA or the appropriate Minister in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, that the object should be allocated to a particular institution. When an object has only been offered with a wish, its availability is advertised on the MLA website and in the Museums Journal and, after considering the responses received, the Panel advises MLA whether the nominated location is in fact appropriate. In most cases the offeror’s wishes are complied with but if, for instance, a similar object is already in the nominated gallery, whereas it is not represented in another equally suitable institution, or if the nominated gallery is unable to provide suitable access, we may recommend that the object should be allocated elsewhere. In all cases, the ability of the museum or gallery to provide adequate and safe display is an essential condition for being considered an appropriate location. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 108

108 When an offer is made without any condition or wish, the object is also advertised on the MLA website and in the Museums Journal and the Panel then makes a recommendation to MLA on the basis of interest expressed. In the case of archives, the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner and Chief Executive of The National Archives advises on allocation.

We are keen to broaden the range of museums and galleries benefiting from the scheme. We therefore encourage curators throughout the country to watch the MLA website so that they are aware of what may be available and to make applications for objects which they consider appropriate for their collections. They must be aware, of course, that they will not always get what they would like if there is competition for the same object. Some curators have been cultivating relations with potential offerors for many years. When these efforts have resulted in the object having been on display in the museum or gallery, or on deposit in an archive repository during the owner’s lifetime, it is only right that such arrangements should, normally, continue undisturbed.

In situ Offers

On numerous occasions over many years, owners of objects on loan to houses belonging to the National Trust have offered pictures and furniture with a condition that they should remain in situ. By an extension of this process, it is possible for an offeror to make an offer of the important contents of a historic house which is not in public ownership. If these chattels are judged to be pre-eminent, they can remain in situ on condition that provision for adequate access is agreed and that security and conservation arrangements are accepted as satisfactory. In these cases, the ownership of the object or the contents of certain rooms is transferred to a suitable museum or gallery and the owner of the house then enters into a loan agreement with the institution so that the chattels can remain in their historic location. This is an excellent arrangement whereby groups of particular importance can be kept together for the benefit of visitors.

The loan agreement is a complex document, involving as it does both the public and the private sectors in a long-term contract. It is widely felt that the existing standard agreement is rather unwieldy and efforts are currently being made by a small working party to produce a more ‘user friendly’ document. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 109

At present there are in situ arrangements covering, paintings at Arundel 109 Castle, Dodington Hall, Floors Castle, Holkham Hall, Norton Conyers, Port Eliot, Sledmere House, Highclere Castle and Cawdor Castle, sculpture at Castle Howard and Mellerstain, furniture at Newburgh Priory, furniture and sculpture at Hagley Hall, furniture and tapestries at Houghton Hall, furniture and paintings at Corsham Court and Longleat.

Time involved

The processes involved in an offer in lieu are, inevitably, time consuming. After HM Revenue & Customs has passed a case to MLA, these processes include the Panel’s initial consideration, the appointment of Expert Advisers, the visits of the Advisers to see the object and their work in assessing the price, the Panel’s subsequent review of the case, the agreement of the price with the offerors and their agents, the recommendation to MLA, its decision and the final agreements on allocation. Where in situ cases are involved, it is also necessary to seek conservation and security reports and to agree loan and public access arrangements between the museum to which the object has been allocated and the owner of the property in which it is being retained. The Panel does all it can to minimise delays but, where the nation is foregoing large sums of tax, proper procedures must be observed in assessing the objects on offer.

Benefits to the Offeror

There are several benefits to the offeror who makes an offer in lieu to settle an Inheritance Tax liability instead of simply writing out a cheque.

Offerors are able to apply a higher portion of the value of an object to satisfy a tax liability if they offer the object in lieu than if they sell the same object at auction. This is because of the special price or ‘douceur’ which is available in cases of offers in lieu. If, for example, in order to settle a tax liability, a taxable estate sells an object valued at £100,000 on the open market, Inheritance Tax is generally payable at a rate of 40% (ie £40,000) and the estate only receives a net sum of £60,000. If, however, the same object is offered in lieu, 25% of the tax that would have been payable (ie £10,000, being 25% of the £40,000 tax payable) is remitted to the estate, with the result that the object has a tax settlement value of £70,000. An object is, therefore, worth 17% more if it is offered in lieu of tax than if it is sold on the open market at the same price. This constitutes a significant benefit. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 110

110 In fact, the benefit may be significantly greater than this. The open market value assessed by the Panel is the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium which is currently as high as 20%. This offers a major benefit compared to sale at auction.

It is worth bearing in mind that, while a sale at auction may produce an exceptional price, such a result cannot be guaranteed and, after the sale, tax and interest due to HM Revenue & Customs must be paid. However, in an AIL transaction the price is fixed with certainty and interest ceases to accrue from the day on which the offer is made. Furthermore, the agent’s fees to an estate for negotiating an in lieu transaction may well be less than the seller’s commission and publicity costs incurred for sale at auction.

There are further attractive, although intangible, benefits. Many owners like to think that objects which may have been in their families for centuries can remain in the UK and they welcome the opportunity of having a say in their allocation. Where an object is offered in situ, it can still remain an integral part of a collection, even though ownership will have changed.

Funding for Hybrid Arrangements

Sometimes the object that is offered in lieu has a substantially higher value than the Offeror’s tax liability. In these ‘hybrid’ situations, as mentioned above, the museum, library or archive that wishes to acquire the object has to pay the difference between the open market value and the tax liability. The value of the most outstanding works of art has risen so sharply in recent years that a major painting may be worth in excess of £40m. The tax liability of deceased estates is, however, generally well below such a sum. In consequence, if a really important painting is offered in lieu, it will involve a ‘hybrid’ arrangement. If, for example, a Picasso is valued at £40m, with a rate of Inheritance Tax of 40%, the acceptance of the painting could settle up to £28m of tax. An inheritance tax liability on the scale of £28m is, however, very rare, given the scope for tax planning that currently exists.

Even if the liability of the offering estate were to be as high as £10m, this would still leave the acquiring gallery with the need to raise £18m (£28m – £10m) to secure the painting. This sum is far beyond the purchase grant or acquisition reserves of any UK institution. It is, therefore, highly desirable that additional funds should be made available either through the Heritage Lottery Fund or National Heritage Memorial 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 111

Fund to help such acquisitions. These sources, should, if necessary, be 111 supplemented by special government grants.

A happy example of this has occurred recently. In 2003, the Trustees of the Sutherland Estates offered a Titian to the Nation in lieu of Inheritance Tax with the condition that it should be allocated to the National Galleries of Scotland. The acceptance of this important painting could have settled up to £14m of tax. As the actual liability was only £2.4m the balance of the price was met by a combination of a major grant of £7.6m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £0.5m from The Art Fund and a Special Grant of £2.5m from the Scottish Executive. The National Galleries of Scotland was itself able to raise £1.0m.

The Waverley Report, half a century ago, at a time of far greater financial stringency, specifically predicted the need for exceptional Treasury grants to support the acquisition of exceptional items which were threatened with export from this country. The Land Fund was the alternative. Since then the Land Fund has been dissolved and the National Heritage Memorial Fund created to act as the fund of last resort for the protection of the UK’s heritage. Its effectiveness has, however, been seriously compromised by the inadequate level of funding that it has received in the last few years. Although in 2007/08 its grant from Government has doubled to £10m it will not be in a position to assist in more than a handful of cases each year and at the highest levels of the art market, a year’s grant of £10m is insufficient to provide the UK with the financial strength to compete in the world market.

Conditional Exemption

The Panel also advises HM Revenue & Customs on new cases of conditional exemption, that is, on heritage objects on which Inheritance Tax is deferred provided that adequate public access is given. In the last year we advised on 12 cases. The process is similar to that in respect of Offers in Lieu. Owners with potential Inheritance Tax liabilities send a list of the objects which they consider to be eligible for conditional exemption from the tax, along with images and a statement as to why they believe them to be pre-eminent. Cases are referred to the Panel by HM Revenue & Customs in the first instance. The Panel then selects appropriate expert advisers for each class of object and, having considered their reports, informs the Revenue whether it considers that the object or, more usually, objects, meet the criteria as set out in the Inheritance Tax Act 1984, as amended by the Finance Act 1998. 94801 4/7/07 12:39 Page 112

112 The Panel has to be satisfied that the object or collection or group of objects is pre-eminent for its national, scientific, historic or artistic interest and may take account of any significant association with a particular place when this is relevant. In considering whether an object is of national interest this includes an interest within any part of the United Kingdom.

Owners may also seek exemption for objects on the grounds that they are historically associated with a particular building of architectural significance. In such cases, English Heritage advises HM Revenue & Customs and makes periodic checks on the exempted objects in their setting.

The Panel does not make recommendations to the Revenue on the requirements for public display of exempted objects. 94801 Cover 4/7/07 17:29 Page 2 94801 Cover 4/7/07 17:29 Page 1 Acceptance in Lieu

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is the lead strategic agency for museums, libraries Victoria House Report 2006/07 and archives. We are part of the wider MLA Partnership, Southampton Row working with the nine regional agencies to improve London people’s lives by building knowledge, supporting WC1B 4EA learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. Tel: 020 7273 1444 The partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the Fax: 020 7273 1404 Acceptance in Lieu sector and the public, leading the transformation of Email: [email protected] museums, libraries and archives for the future. © MLA 2007 Report 2006/07 Current news, developments and information are Registered Charity No: 1079666 ISBN 978-1-905867-21-9 available to view or download from: Designed by Satpaul Bhamra Printed by Spellman Walker www.mla.gov.uk

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