Boase Collection Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase (1898-1974) was Director of the Courtauld between 1937-1947. He had studied medieval history at Oxford and had a lifelong interest in the history of the Church. He turned his attention to the history of art during the 1930s and travelled widely SPECIAL COLLECTIONS throughout Europe and the Middle East.
While based at Cairo during the war years, in charge of British Council activities in the Middle East, he developed an interest in the history of the Crusades and took the opportunity to study Islamic and Christian monuments in the area.
He left the Library a collection of material about the history of the Crusades, architecture and travel in the Middle East.
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INTRODUCTION Blunt Collection Wilde Collection Anthony Blunt (1907-1983) was Director of the Johannes Wilde (1891-1970) bequeathed his The Book Library’s closed access collection Courtauld Institute between 1947 and 1974. collection of drawings, engravings, books, pho- (CABS) contains a General Collection and a num- Throughout this time he donated publications tographs and manuscripts to the Institute. The ber of named bequests. to the Library and after his death the Courtauld Book Library holds his books as well as his col- The General Collection comprises more than 3000 received most of the rest of his library. lection of off-prints and archive material. items donated or purchased by the Institute since the 1930s. This is printed material relating to the In the forty years between 1939-1979 Blunt Wilde’s association with the Institute began af- history of art, dating from the early 16th-century produced a body of work which testifies to his ter WWII when he was appointed Reader in His- tory of Art, becoming Deputy Director in 1948. to the present day, about half of which is in for- importance in the field of art history. In 1940 Although his scholarly interests were wide eign languages. his Cambridge fellowship dissertation was pub-
ranging, his most significant contribution was
1693 architectorumAndreae Putei Perspectiva pictorum etPerspectiva pictorum lished as Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-5644. the re-assessment of Michelangelo’s drawings There then followed a stream of scholarly
- as exhibited at The British Museum in 1953 and 1700 works focusing particularly on Poussin, French the catalogue published in the same year. His 17th-century art and architecture, Italian Ba- collection of books also reflects another of his roque architecture and the Royal Collections. great passions, 16th century Venetian painting.
Blunt’s scholarship was indebted to the prima- His lectures, addressed to students at the Cour- ry source material in his collection. The Library tauld during the 1950s, about Venetian painting
now holds his collection of early printed books, were published posthumously in 1974 followed . some 500 titles in total. by his lectures on Michelangelo in 1978. The Library also holds in its archives unpublished lectures concerning painting in Parma and Fer- Specific subjects covered include; architecture, Seilern Collection rara and Florentine art. engraving, drawing, painting and sculpture, from Count Antoine Seilern (1901-1978) bequeathed ancient times to modern; early guidebooks to Italy most of his collection of works of art, now and France, travellers’ accounts and descriptions known as the Princes Gate Collection, and his Antal Collection of classical sites, emblem books, artists' lives and entire library to the Institute. After he arrived Frederick Antal (1887-1954) studied under Max general works of art history and theory. in England from Vienna in 1939, Count Seilern Dvorak in Vienna, and worked with Johannes became a personal friend of Johannes Wilde by Wilde in Budapest at the Museum of Fine Arts. Criteria for placing items in CABS include age and way of their shared interests. His art collection He spent some time in Florence and Berlin be- rarity, unusual formats and conservation con- is the result of nearly fifty years of a scholarly fore settling in England in 1933 where he occa- cerns. approach to acquisition and ranges over some sionally lectured at the Courtauld. He was espe- In addition there are a number of bequests. These 600 years from an early Italian altarpiece cially interested in the methods of art history are collections which were formed around the through to works from the 20th-century. and he developed a Marxist interpretation in the interests of particular figures formerly associated field. His international reputation was estab- with the Institute. The bequests are described in The book collection reflects Seilern’s art inter- lished with his book on Florentine painting of the 14th and early 15th century, published in this guide, with biographical information about ests and particular strengths are Flemish and 1948. the collector. Italian art, especially Venetian artists of the
16th- and 18th-centuries. His collection about Most of the bequests contained both published Antal’s collection of books includes a fine selec- or illustrated by Rubens is probably one of the material as well as archives. Please see the Guide tion of works on Hogarth, an artist to whom he finest in existence. to the Archives for further information about the applied his Marxist approach toward the end of unpublished papers held as part of the bequests. his life.