Acceptance in Lieu Report 2005/06

12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 3

Acceptance in Lieu

Report 2005/06 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 4 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 1

Contents

Preface 3 Introduction 5

The process of making an offer 7 Criteria for pre-eminence 8 Association with a building 10 Expert advice 10 The Panel’s recommendation 10 Open market price 11 Provenance 11 Allocation 12 In situ offers 13 Time involved 14 Beneﬁts to the Offeror 14 Conditional Exemption 15

Funding for hybrid arrangements 16 The Contracting Out Order 2005 17 Panel membership 17 Acknowledgments 18

AIL cases 2005/06

1 Nicholas Hilliard: Two Portrait Miniatures 19 2 Jean-Étienne Liotard: Portrait Miniature of Laura Tarsi 23 3 12th Century Manuscript of Peter of Poitiers 24 4 Archive of the Earls of Guilford 26 5 Archive of the Earls of Coventry 28 6 My Ladye Nevells Booke 30 7 Three Bronzes by Gertrude Spencer Stanhope 33 8 The Hengrave Hall Archive 34 9 The ‘Viotti’ Violin by Antonio Stradivari 36 10 Meindert Hobbema: Wooded Landscape 38 Cover 11 The Harpur-Crewe Archive 40 The Viotti 12 Collection of Chinese Bronzes, Ceramics and Paintings 42 Stradivari Violin: 13 The Newton Hall Athena 44 front, side and back views 14 The Archive of Sir Richard and Lady Burton 46 © The Royal 15 Collection of Chinese Carvings and Ceramics 48 Academy of 16 Duncan Grant: The Ass 50 Music 17 Archive of Roger Fry and Helen Anrep 52 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 2

18 Paintings from Penrhyn Castle 54 19 Pablo Picasso: La Femme qui Pleure 58 20 Three Watercolours by JMW Turner 61 21 Collection of Early 19th Century Welsh and English Porcelain 64 22 Collection of 19th & 20th century Paintings Drawings and Prints 69 23 John Everett Millais: Twins 71 24 Two pieces of English silver 74 25 JMW Turner: Naples from the Mole 76 26 A William and Mary Silver Toilet Set 78 27 The Scottish National Covenant of 1638 80 28 Ten Sculptures by Barbara Hepworth 82 29 Chattels from Chirk Castle 86 30 CR Ashbee: Two Peacock Pendant Brooches 88 31 Morris & Co. Inlaid Mahogany Secretaire 90 32 Group of Scottish Portraits 92 33 Bloomsbury Furnishings and Ceramics 94 34 Edward Lear: Jerusalem 96 35 Rosalba Carriera: Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham 98 36 Samuel Palmer: Yellow Twilight 100 37 Collection of Meissen Stoneware and Porcelain 102 38 Stanley Spencer: Eric Williams 104

Appendices

1 List of objects, allocations and tax values for 2005/06 106 2 Members of the AIL Panel 108 3 Expert Advisers 2005/06 109 4 Allocation of items reported in 2003/04 and 2004/05 111 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 3

Preface

It is always a welcome moment in the Museums, Libraries and Archives 3 Council’s year when the AIL Report is published and there is the opportunity to reﬂect on the enormous contribution the Scheme makes towards enriching the collections in the UK’s museums, libraries and archives. The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Scheme is in fact now the most important single source of acquisitions for the UK and it is worth noting that in the year under review more cases have been completed than in any single previous year.

MLA has a wide range of programmes aimed at improving access to the treasures which enrich our national, regional and local collections. AIL, along with the PRISM Fund and the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, ensures not only that museums, libraries and archives can provide wider and improved access and better use of existing collections but also that they can continuously enrich the collections which they present to the public.

Britain’s leading cultural institutions were founded on the private collections of enlightened individuals, which provided the impetus for the establishment of the great public collections. The British Museum, founded in 1753, Dulwich Picture Gallery (the ﬁrst public art gallery in the UK), which opened to the public in 1817, the National Gallery established in 1824, and the Tate Gallery of 1897 – all had at their core a collection formed by private individuals. A similar history could be traced for the municipal collections which opened up in almost every major city in Victorian Britain. AIL provides a model way of ensuring that many of the most important items in private collections can continue to become part of our public heritage.

Museum or galleries must offer collections of objects which have significance, meaning and value. This significance may vary from that of a work of art of world importance to a simple historical artefact that tells the story of a particular part of the UK and the role it had at a particular point in history. To draw out this significance these objects need to be interpreted, arranged and displayed in ways that reflect the changing interests of those who visit museums and the various facets of meaning that each object contains. Indeed, it is a misunderstanding of the role of museums and how they engage their audiences if it is supposed that a static, unchanging museum display can ever be an appropriate method of attracting and exciting an audience and encouraging a developing and maturing understanding of the objects on display.

The fact is that museums, libraries and archives must all develop if they are to ﬂourish and to engage a growing and changing audience. The most successful of these institutions have always been characterised by a dynamic combination of two intertwining activities – the care of existing 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 4

4 collections and the enhancement of those collections through active and planned acquisition. Of course, museums can refresh their exhibitions by redisplay or rehanging of works which have been stored out of view. An increasingly vigorous programme of loans and exchanges is also helping to inject innovation and energy into the UK’s museums domain. But the third vital strand, acquisition, is absolutely crucial. MLA is proud that AIL makes such a vital contribution to that activity, but for the health of the domain as a whole, it is not encouraging to note that other sources of acquisition funding have, in relative terms, gone into decline. There is a challenge here to all three domains both to ﬁnd new ways to generate non-public funding and to marshal new arguments for public funds based on demonstration of the real economic, educational, cultural and lifestyle value of these institutions.

Mark Wood Chairman, MLA 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 5

Introduction

Once again we had a busy year with a wide range of transactions 5 successfully concluded. During the 12 months ended 31 March 2006, we completed 38 cases as a result of which objects with a value of £25.2m were accepted on behalf of the nation and tax of £13.2m was satisﬁed. 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

Once again there was a glorious mix of paintings, miniatures, sculptures, furniture, porcelain, jewellery and manuscripts. Objects included the Viotti Stradivarius, one of the great musical instruments of the 18th century, there were ten sculptures from Barbara Hepworth’s studio in St Ives, there were miniatures of Francis Bacon and of Elizabeth’s favourite, Lord Essex, by Hilliard and an exquisite portrait of a Greek lady by Liotard. We should also mention a Samuel Palmer watercolour that featured prominently in the recent exhibition at the British Museum, valuable study collections of Chinese, Meissen, Swansea and Worcester porcelain and a number of important archives.

These objects have been widely distributed throughout the UK, to Barnsley, Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Lewes, Liverpool, Manchester, Northampton, Oxford, Swansea and York as well as to national museums, galleries and libraries in Edinburgh, Cardiff and London. As usual the Ashmolean and Fitzwilliam Museums have done well but this is largely due to the excellent relations which they have fostered with lenders to their collections and the wish that lenders have expressed that their loans should eventually be converted into offers in lieu on their deaths. We strongly urge other museums and galleries to develop similar relationships with lenders to their collections. The National Trust has also acquired chattels that had belonged to the families of the original owners of Penrhyn Castle, Chirk Castle and Ickworth. The County Record Office in Derbyshire has benefited from the Scheme as has Cambridge University Library and the National Library of Scotland. Objects accepted in previous years were allocated during 2005/06 to the Ashmolean, the Holbourne Museum, Bath, the National War Museum of Scotland, Falmouth Art Gallery, the Ulster Museum, Tate St Ives and Temple Newsam House, Leeds and manuscripts were allocated during 2005/06 to the British Library, the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, Sheffield City Archives and the Tate Archive. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 6

6 The market value of the objects acquired in lieu during the past year amounted to £25.2 million. This is a sum substantially greater than the combined purchase grants of all museums, galleries and libraries in the UK. At a time when museum resources are so tightly stretched, the AIL Scheme represents a vital source of new acquisitions for our public collections. Furthermore, if the owners, instead of offering the objects under the Scheme, had had to sell on the open market to raise funds to meet their tax liabilities, it is highly likely that a signiﬁcant number of important works of art and archives would have been sold to overseas buyers, thus putting further pressure on the Export Reviewing system and further risking the loss of these treasures to the nation. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 7

1 The process of making an offer Since the report of the Acceptance in Lieu Panel is generally consulted 7 by those wishing to offer heritage objects in lieu of tax or by their professional advisers, we think that it would be helpful to them if we were to describe in detail the process of making an offer and the criteria which we use in deciding whether an object is appropriate. We apologise for 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. If it is considered that this information is useful, a similar section will be repeated in our report each year.

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 ten members who are all experts in their 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 consider accepting heritage objects in lieu of Income, Capital Gains, Corporation or other taxes). After considering the alternative methods of paying the resultant tax, the owner may select one or more heritage objects to offer in lieu and then assesses their value together with an appropriate professional adviser. The Offeror or an 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 8

8 agent contacts the Heritage Section of HM Revenue & Customs with details of the proposed offer. The address and telephone number is:

HM Revenue & Customs, Heritage Section, 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, i.e. 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.

AIL Criteria

The criteria are:

1 that the object has an especially close association with our history and national life,

2 that it is of especial artistic or art-historical interest,

3 that it is of especial importance for the study of some particular branch of art, learning or history,

4 that it has an especially close association with a particular historic setting.

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. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 9

Under the first criterion we would typically include objects closely 9 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 an eighteenth 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, although we have not yet completed any offers of such objects.

The criterion for association with a particular setting embraces not only 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. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 10

10 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.

The Panel’s recommendation

In the light of the experts’ 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 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 such cases can be brought in line with those made in England.

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 might be substituted. Where this happens at the Panel’s request, it is treated for taxation purposes as if it had been part of the original offer. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 11

Open market price 11

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 in the past, we have, however, 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’.

Provenance

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 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 12

12 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.

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 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 13

country to watch the MLA website so that they are aware of what may 13 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 as has been mentioned in the Introduction with regard to the Ashmolean and Fitzwilliam Museums. 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. It is hoped that a ﬁrst draft of this will be available during 2006.

At present there are in situ arrangements covering paintings at Arundel Castle, Corsham Court, Dodington Hall, Floors Castle, Holkham Hall, Norton Conyers, Sledmere House, Sudeley Castle, 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 and furniture and paintings at Longleat. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 14

14 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 or to the relevant Minister in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, their 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.

Beneﬁts to the Offeror

There are several beneﬁts to the Offeror who makes an offer in lieu to settle an Inheritance Tax liability.

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 it for the same price 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% (i.e. £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 (i.e. £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.

In fact, the advantage to the Offeror 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%. If the Offeror sells at auction, the net price received will not, of course, include the buyer’s premium. An AIL offer may thus produce an even greater net benefit than a sale at auction.

It is worth bearing in mind that, while a sale at auction may produce an exceptional price, which is higher than the AIL Panel is able to 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 15

recommend at the time of the offer. Such a result cannot be guaranteed 15 and, after the sale, tax and interest due to the Revenue must be paid. 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.

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 18 such 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 Act 1984, as amended in the Finance Act 1998.

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.

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. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 16

16 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, gallery 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 is likely to 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 the National Heritage Memorial Fund to help such acquisitions. These sources should, if necessary, be 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 National Arts Collection 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. Even when, in 2007/08, its grant from Government is doubled to £10m it will not be in a position to assist in more than a handful of cases each year and when it comes to 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 17

competition for the greatest works of art, a year’s grant of £10m is 17 insufﬁcient to provide UK galleries with the ﬁnancial strength necessary to succeed in the world market.

In 2005/06, however, even with its limited annual grant, the National Heritage Memorial Fund has been particularly generous to those institutions involved in hybrid offers. Three major grants of £322,487, £283,853 and £250,000 were vital in securing the hybrid offers of My Ladye Nevells Booke (Case 6, pages 30–31), the Hengrave Hall Archive (Case 8, pages 34–35) and the Viotti violin (Case 9, pages 36–37). The National Arts Collection Fund was a generous supporter of the appeals for the Viotti violin and My Ladye Nevells Booke, contributing £151,000 and £24,000.

The Contracting Out Order 2005

In late March 2005, following the recommendations of the Goodison Report, MLA took on a number of functions that had previously been carried out by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The administration of the export licensing procedures for cultural goods and of the Reviewing Committee for the Export of Works of Art are now within the Acquisitions, Export and Loans Unit of MLA. The issuing of indemnities for all English national museums and all UK non-national borrowers under the Government Indemnity Scheme is operated within the same unit, which is also the base for the National Security Adviser and his team of consultants.

The 2005 Order gave MLA the power to act on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in approving offers in lieu under Section 230 IHTA 1984 and allocating items under Section 9 of the National Heritage Act 1980. This has considerably improved efﬁciency. MLA can give these approvals and make the allocations much more quickly than Ministers who had a plethora of other tasks that competed for their attention.

Panel membership

Last year three members of the Panel retired. Alastair Laing and Georgina Stonor joined the Panel as our expert advisers on archives and old master paintings respectively in 1995, while Angela Weight had been a Panel member since 2001. We are most grateful for their invaluable advice over the years and, not least, for the note of cheerful and sometimes iconoclastic controversy that they introduced to our staid proceedings. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 18

18 They have been succeeded to the Panel by Patrick Elliott of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Kate Eustace, formerly of the Ashmolean Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, David Scrase of the Fitzwilliam Museum and Christopher Wright, formerly of the British Library.

Acknowledgments

Once again we offer our heartfelt thanks to our many expert advisers who are listed in Appendix 3. They spend a considerable amount of time assessing the objects which we refer to them. Their reports on the historical importance of the objects which are offered are careful, detailed and scrupulously impartial. They pay great attention to the condition of the objects under consideration and to any requirement for restoration before an object enters a public collection. 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. Unless we had complete conﬁdence in their integrity and knowledge, we could not make our recommendations to MLA.

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 which is sent to every Accredited museum and gallery in the UK and to all of the principal record repositories. The help of both the Offerors and their agents and of the allocatees of AIL material in providing the photographs that enliven this report is gratefully acknowledged. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 19

1 Nicholas Hilliard: Two Portrait 2 Miniatures AIL Cases 2005/06 In March 2002, MLA was informed of the offer 19 of two portrait miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard. Details of the offers accepted The offer was made with a wish that they and completed within the should be allocated to the National Portrait year to 31 March 2006 Gallery (Item 1) and the Scottish National are given below. We also Portrait Gallery (Item 2). The details of the considered a number of miniatures are as follows: objects that did not meet the standards of pre-eminence 1. Portrait miniature of Sir Francis Bacon, or where agreement on an on vellum, with gold inscription and date acceptable open market ‘f 1578 Si tabula daretur digna, Animum mallem value could not be reached – Æs. S. 18.’ Oval, 75 x 62 mm, in a modern and were, therefore, rejected. frame In other cases offers were withdrawn before the case 2. Portrait miniature of Robert Devereux, was completed. For reasons 2nd Earl of Essex. On vellum, oval, 44 mm high of commercial confidentiality, in a gilt-metal frame we have not reported on these cases. Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619) trained first as a jeweller, his father being a goldsmith from Exeter. After a short stay in Switzerland during the reign of Mary Tudor, he returned to London in 1559 and made his first known miniatures in the following year. In the Arte of Limning he wrote that he had trained himself in miniature painting by following Holbein’s technique and copying engravings by Durer. By 1572, when he first painted Queen Elizabeth, he was in high favour at court. The Queen, however, was slow to pay and he sought employment in France for two years shortly after his marriage to Alice Brandon in 1576. He remained the dominant figure in portrait miniature painting until the emergence of Isaac Oliver in the 1590s. Hilliard continued, however, as Court Limner to James I. His technical innovations include the use of burnished gold and new techniques for depicting jewels, using coloured resin over burnished silver for gemstones and blobs of thick white paint highlighted with silver for pearls. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was one of the greatest philosophers of his age and a leading statesman and lawyer of the early 17th century. He was born in York House in the Strand, London, in 1561, the second son of Sir 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 20

20 Nicholas Bacon. He spent most of his childhood David Piper put forward the thesis that the at Gorhambury, near St Albans. At the age of 12 Metropolitan miniature, along with that now he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge and offered in lieu and the full-length Portrait of a stayed there until late 1575 under the personal Young Man among Roses in the Victoria and tutelage of the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Albert Museum, were all images of Robert John Whitgift, who was then Master of Trinity. Devereux from the same period. This has now He was entered at Gray’s Inn in mid 1576 but been accepted by all the leading scholars of after a short period he joined the entourage of the iconography of the reign of Elizabeth. Sir Amias Paulet, the newly appointed English By 1588, when the miniature was painted, ambassador to France, and was on the Robert Devereux was 22 or 23 and had been Continent for the next two and a half years. an earl for 12 years. He caught the Queen’s eye Although he studied languages, statecraft and following his success as Colonel-General of civil law, most of his time was spent in routine the Cavalry during the war of 1586 in the diplomatic tasks. Hilliard was also in Paulet’s Netherlands. Advanced by his step-father, retinue, probably at the suggestion of Elizabeth Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, he was soon herself, who wanted a likeness of her French noted as being constantly with the Queen. In suitor, the Duc d’ Alençon. 1588 she granted him the use of York House The miniature of Francis Bacon was painted and on St George’s Day of that year she in 1578 and the inscription points to the created him a Knight of the Garter. In the same intellectual qualities that were already clearly year he attended her as both General of Horse discernable in the sitter: “I would prefer a portrait and Master of the Horse on her famous visit of his mind if it could be done well enough.” to Tilbury, at the time of the threatened Bacon and Hilliard remained linked for the rest Armada invasion. of the painter’s life and forty years later, only a The expert advisers considered that this few weeks before his death, the then Lord miniature was important for the study of the Chancellor records a gift to “Old Mr Hillyard”. work of Hilliard, the pre-eminent artist of the The expert advisers considered that this Elizabethan age, of his patronage by the circle miniature was of considerable importance. of the Earl of Leicester and above all of the It was a rare example of a work painted during iconography of Robert Devereux, the royal Hilliard’s French sojourn and was the earliest favourite of the last years of Elizabeth’s reign. known portrait of one of the greatest The Panel considered that both of the Elizabethan and Jacobean statesmen. The miniatures met the ﬁrst and second criteria, and other extant portraits of Bacon are of two types that they were in acceptable condition and fairly that date much later, i.e. c.1610 and 1618. valued. The Secretary of State accepted this The second miniature is now generally recommendation in September 2002. For considered to be an image of Robert Devereux, various technical reasons the exact amount of 2nd Earl of Essex (1565–1601), the favourite tax payable by the offering estate was not of Queen Elizabeth in the latter part of her reign. established until June 2005 and it was only at The identiﬁcation is based on what is that point that HM Revenue & Customs could recognised as another likeness of the same act upon the Ministerial approval. The offer was sitter, also by Hilliard and now in the completed in December 2005. In March 2006 Metropolitan Museum, New York, which bears the miniatures were permanently allocated to the inscription, “Ano. Dmi. 1588 / Ætatis Suæ. the National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish 22”. This had been catalogued previously as National Portrait Gallery in accordance with the being a portrait of Fulke Greville (1554–1628) wishes of the Offeror. The acceptance of this but he would have been 34 in 1588. In 1957 offer settled £490,000 of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 21

1. Hilliard: Francis Bacon (approximately actual size)

1. Hilliard: Robert Devereux (twice actual size) 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 22

2. Liotard: Laura Tarsi (twice actual size) 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 23

2 Jean-Étienne Liotard: Portrait Miniature of Laura Tarsi

In March 2002, MLA was informed of the such a large and impressive miniature suggests 23 offer of a portrait miniature by the Swiss artist that the sitter was Granby’s mistress, although Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789) of Laura there is no documentary evidence to Tarsi in a Turkish costume, watercolour and substantiate this. Another 18th century painter, bodycolour on ivory, 9.7 x 7.6 cm, in a gold Rosalba Carriera, produced miniatures of their frame with the inscription, ‘Laura Tarsi, A Venetian mistresses for English patrons on the Grecian Lady’. The offer was made with a wish Grand Tour. that the miniature should be allocated to the The experts all accepted the miniature to Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. be of particular importance. They noted that Liotard was born to French parents in Liotard was widely considered to be one of the Geneva in 1702. His father, who was a jeweller, most accomplished artists of the 18th century encouraged his son to become an enamel and working as a portraitist both in pastel and in miniature painter in order to learn to decorate miniature. The experts described this item as watches and jewellery. Liotard studied in Paris an outright masterpiece and noted the rarity with the miniaturist Jean-Baptist Masse and of miniatures on ivory by Liotard. They also lived in the French capital for 12 years before noted the rarity of Liotard’s works in UK public moving to Rome. There he met the English collections, the only signiﬁcant group of his Grand Tourists Viscount Ponsonby and the portraits being in the Royal Collection. Earl of Sandwich. Together they sailed to In 1754 Augusta, Princess of Wales, the Constantinople where Liotard remained for four mother of George III, commissioned a pair of years, learning Turkish and adopting Turkish portraits of herself and her late husband and a dress. The city had a signiﬁcant European further series of portraits of herself and her community and Liotard established himself as nine children. Liotard himself visited Britain the leading portraitist, working in oils, pastels twice but many of his works, previously in this and enamels. country, have been sold abroad. The experts The miniature of Laura Tarsi was also drew attention to the exceptional size of commissioned in 1740/41 by John Manners, the portrait and to the very high quality of the Marquess of Granby (1721–1770), the eldest painting, noting that the jewel-like surface was son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland, while on the well preserved. Grand Tour. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu The Panel considered that the miniature met records in her letters that Granby left Venice for the second and third criteria, and that it was in Constantinople in April 1740 and remained acceptable condition and, following negotiation, there until 1741, by which time he had to return that it was fairly valued. The Panel had reached to Britain following his election to the borough this position by February 2003 but the exact of Grantham. amount of tax payable by the offering estate The sitter is not known, other than through was only established in June 2005. At that this and two other portrait miniatures by point, the Panel recommended that the offer Liotard. One is in the Hermitage while the other of the Liotard should be approved. MLA, on is in the National Museum of Fine Arts in behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this Stockholm. The item on offer was known in recommendation in the same month. The offer England in the mid 18th century when Gervase was completed in December 2005. The Spencer made a copy in enamel which is now in miniature has been allocated to the Fitzwilliam the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is assumed Museum in accordance with the wish of the that Laura Tarsi was a member of the Greek Offeror. The acceptance of this offer settled community in Constantinople and was closely £350,000 of tax. linked to Granby. The fact that Liotard produced 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 24

3 12th Century manuscript of Peter of Poitiers

24 In March 2002, MLA was informed of the offer of a manuscript of 123 leaves dating from the last quarter of the 12th century in a contemporary binding. It contains the text of two works by the theologian Peter of Poitiers, Allegoriae super tabernaculum Moysi and Allegoriae super Leviticum. The volume retains its original Romanesque blind-stamped binding. The offer was made with a wish that the manuscript should be allocated to the British Library. The pages of the manuscript are 245 x 175 mm and contain two columns of 37 lines written in brown-black ink in a protogothic bookhand. The decoration includes two-line initials of red and three illuminated initials of burnished gold and silver outlined in red against grounds of green and blue. Peter of Poitiers’s Allegoriae super tabernaculum Moysi is contained on leaves 1–48 and Allegoriae super Leviticum on leaves 49–123v. 3. Peter of Poitiers manuscript: the original Peter is thought to have been born near 12th century blind-stamped binding Poitiers c.1130 and was educated at the University of Paris where he was presented with the chair in scholastic theology in 1169. He continued, though with less brilliance, the theological speculations of Peter Abelard and Peter Lombard which were to reach their climax in the subsequent generation with the writings of Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–74). Peter was made Chancellor of the University in 1193. He showed special concern for those impoverished students who could not afford books and developed a form of teaching that used a formulated text, hung and displayed on the wall of the lecture rooms. Allegoriae super tabernaculum Moysi, which provides a typically elaborate interpretation of verses from the Book of Exodus (Chapters 25.1 to 31.6), deals with the building of the Ark of the Covenant and the associated tent and altar. It has survived in nine manuscripts, of which this is one of the earliest. The text was published in a modern edition in 1936 but without reference to this manuscript. Allegoriae super Leviticum, which is also an elaborate commentary on verses from a book of the Bible, 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 25

in this case Leviticus, is one of only two known 25 versions of the work. This copy pre-dates the other extant versions by at least a century. Two brief prologues of Michael of Meaux, Archbishop of Siena (d. 1199), have been added by a different scribe on the blank page between the two texts of Peter of Poitiers. The original Romanesque blind-stamped binding of panelled red-brown leather has an outer border formed by repeated use of two tools with a design of birds and an inner border with two foliate patterns. The central compartment has four registers: the top and bottom with a double impression of a stag and the two middle registers with images of St Peter and a diaper pattern. The back cover of the binding is stamped by a tool of the winged ox of St Luke. This binding was ﬁrst recorded in 1935 and no other use of these particular patterns has survived. Several related designs, however, are known and presumably 3. Peter of Poitiers: part of text of Allegoriae super these came from other binderies operating in tabernaculum Moysi Paris in the late 12th century. The expert advisers considered this volume to be of outstanding importance as a very rare The Panel considered that the manuscript example of this type of decorated binding. and its binding met the third criterion, that it They noted that Romanesque blind-stamped was in acceptable condition and, following bindings of the 12th century represent a negotiation, that it was fairly valued. The Panel remarkable episode in the history of book- had reached this position by March 2003 but binding and that these bindings do not recur for various technical reasons the exact amount again until the 15th century. They are of tax payable by the offering estate was only signiﬁcant not only for their beauty and intrinsic established in June 2005. At that point, the artistic and craft importance, but also for their Panel recommended that the offer of the connection with the Parisian schools at a time manuscript should be approved. MLA, on when Paris was becoming the European behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this centre of Biblical and theological studies. recommendation in the same month. The offer The experts noted that the book was recorded was completed in December 2005. The item in the Benedictine Abbey of Admont, in has been temporarily allocated to the British modern Germany, in an inventory of 1370 Library, pending a decision on permanent and may have been commissioned by a monk of allocation. The acceptance of this offer settled the abbey studying in Paris in the time of Peter £280,000 of tax. of Poitiers. It is known that the Abbot of Admont in the mid-12th century had considerable contact with the University of Paris and it seems reasonable to assume that he would have encouraged his young monks to study there. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 26

4 Archive of the Earls of Guilford

26 In June 2003, MLA was informed of the offer when Frederick North’s grandfather married of the Greek papers of Frederick North, 5th Earl Katherine Furnese, the widow of the 2nd Earl of Guilford, and the family and estate papers of of Rockingham. The Waldershare estate papers the North family. The offer was made with a not only cover the period of North ownership wish that the Greek papers should be allocated but also include earlier records from the to the British Library and the estate and family period of ownership by Sir Henry Furnese papers to the East Kent Archive Centre, Dover. (1658–1712). The estate records of Lewis Frederick North (1766–1827) was the Watson, Lord Rockingham (cf. case 35, pages youngest son of Lord North, Prime Minister 98–99), are also within the archive. Earlier from 1770 to 1782. Ill health meant that he North family records include the trading spent much of his childhood in southern Europe accounts of Sir Dudley North (1641–1691), where he developed a passion for languages. a leading merchant and financier in the City of A tour of the eastern Mediterranean in 1791 London who had considerable trade links with inspired his love for Greece and this led to his the Eastern Mediterranean. His papers as reception the next year into the Orthodox Sheriff of London cover the execution of Church. On returning to England he became William, Lord Russell, for his part in the Rye MP for Banbury, which had been his father’s House Plot of July 1683. Sir Dudley’s heir, also pocket borough. He resigned, however, within Dudley, acquired Glemham Hall in Suffolk and two years. In 1798 he was appointed the first the archive contains drawings and plans of the Govenor of Ceylon and the archive contains Hall as well as estate papers. papers relating to his seven-year tenure in There is also an important group of papers that office. from the Prime Minister, Lord North, to his Following his period in Asia, North never fully father, the Earl of Guilford, reporting on political returned to England, but settled in Italy and affairs in the 1780s, along with his father’s travelled in Greece where he met Byron in responses. Additional papers deal with Lord 1810. In 1814 he was elected President of an North’s time as Home Secretary in the Fox- Athenian society to promote education among North coalition under the nominal Premiership the Greeks. The following year Britain gained of the Duke of Portland. the protectorate of the Ionian Islands and The expert advisers considered that the North became involved with the formation of archive was important for its close association the Ionian University where the teaching was in with our national life and history, noting that it modern Greek. As mainland Greece was still contained material of major importance for the under Turkish control, the university was to economic and social history of Britain. The become the educational centre for all Greece. sequence of mercantile accounts for trade with In 1817 North succeeded his brother as 5th the Levant was exceptional and the political Earl of Guilford. In 1820 his cousin Lord correspondence was of considerable interest Bathurst, Secretary for the Colonies, made him for any study of the 1780s. Also of particular Director of Education in the Ionian Islands. He importance were the household and estate worked towards the formation of an Hellenic records for Waldershare and the North family’s University and in 1823 the Greeks appointed London residences. Their coherence and detail him its first Chancellor. His interest extended to show how, in the context of the family estates all aspects of university life, even to the designs and their setting, a family of the first rank in for the gowns of professors and students which British national life engaged in a wide range were based on ancient Athenian statutes. of business matters as well as official and The North family acquired the Waldershare private affairs. estates, near Dover, in the mid-18th century 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 27

4. Guilford Archive: a group of letters from Spyridon Trikoupis to Frederick North, Lord Guilford, concerning the Greek War of Independence. On top a letter, dated 20 April 1824, giving an account of the death of Lord Byron on the previous evening. © British Library

The papers of the 5th Earl of Guilford were development of collecting and connoisseurship noted by the experts as being fragmentary, in the 19th century. parts of his archive, regrettably, already having The Panel considered that the material been disposed of at auction in the 1980s. met the ﬁrst and third criteria, and that it He was a considerable bibliophile and he left was in acceptable condition and, following his library to the Ionian University in his will. negotiation, that it was fairly valued. The His family, however, contested whether the Panel recommended that the offer should provisions of the will had been adhered to by be approved. The Secretary of State accepted the University and many elements of the library this recommendation in February 2005. The were subsequently acquired by the British offer was completed in April 2005. The Greek Library. The papers on offer have many papers have been temporarily allocated to references to manuscripts, books, booksellers the British Library and the estate and family and private owners and collections. They were papers to the East Kent Archive Centre, considered to have a close association with Dover, pending a decision on permanent Guilford’s collection in the British Library and allocation. The acceptance of this offer settled were therefore important for the study of the £126,000 of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 28

5 Archive of the Earls of Coventry

28 In June 2003, MLA was informed of the offer fashioned house. Within a year, he had of the papers of the Coventry family whose commissioned the landscape gardener, members include Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Capability Brown, then at the very beginning Coventry (1578–1640), and George William, of his career, to remodel the property. The outer 6th Earl of Coventry (1722–1809) who was walls of the existing mid 17th century house responsible for the building of Croome Court, were demolished. These were replaced with Worcestershire, with its great landscape park classical Palladian facades, closely based on and garden. The offer was made with a wish designs by Sanderson Miller, who had been that the papers from Croome Court should responsible for nearby Hagley Hall. Brown remain there and that various other sections of continued to work on the estate, building a the archive should be allocated to the record church, a mile-long serpentine river and a one- offices where they had long been on loan: acre lake, as well as remodelling the Croome Birmingham City Archives, Somerset Record Park landscape. During this time, a firm Office, Warwickshire County Record Office friendship was established between designer and Worcestershire Record Office. and patron, and Capability Brown continued to Thomas Coventry was the eldest son of influence the evolution of Croome until his Sir Thomas Coventry of Croome D’Abitot, death in 1783. Worcestershire. A lawyer of exceptional ability, With the completion of the exterior in 1758, he rapidly progressed to the highest legal the 6th Earl needed an architect to re-fashion offices of the land. He was appointed Recorder the interior and turned to another young man of London in 1616, Solicitor-General in 1617, on the threshold of an illustrious career. Robert Attorney-General in 1621, and Lord Keeper of Adam (1728–1792), who was to become the the Great Seal in 1625, retaining this last post outstanding designer and architect of his time, until his death. His archive includes over 18,000 was engaged in about 1760 to design garden original dockets of Letters Patent under the buildings, furniture, tapestries and fireplaces. Great Seal and runs to 40 folio boxes. Among He began with designs for the interior of the grants of knighthood is that to Sir Peter Capability Brown’s church, including Paul Rubens conferred in 1630 by Charles I in plasterwork, the pulpit, the font and the window recognition of the artist’s role in establishing glass, and having pleased his patron in this, peace between England and Spain. As well as he went on to update the interior of the house the papers relating to the office of Lord Keeper, to ensure that its style was in keeping with the there are other items relating to Coventry’s fashion of the day. Coventry remained a faithful office as Treasurer of the Inner Temple, patron of Adam to the end of his life. including accounts from 1617 to 1622. There The most significant section of the archive are also family papers relating to property and relates to the building, decoration and estates at Croome and in London as well as furnishing of Croome Court and of its church of household accounts. St Mary Magdalene at Croome D’ Abitot. In By the end of the 17th century the Coventry 1764 Lord Coventry acquired the lease of a family had considerably extended its estates new London house, No 29 (now 106) Piccadilly, by acquisitions in Worcestershire and and commissioned Adam to decorate the first- Gloucestershire. The principal lands of the floor suite of rooms which were to have new family, however, were always centred on ceilings and chimneypieces. Those of the Croome. Croome Court was the creation of drawing room are still intact with their inserted George William, 6th Earl of Coventry paintings by Zucchi. The archive contains (1722–1809) who in 1751, at the age of 29, 14 letters and accounts from Adam covering inherited an unkempt parkland and an old- the period 1760 to 1788. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 29

5. Coventry Archive: pre-1740 map of Clifton, two miles north of Croome, Worcestershire

The Croome estate archive contains deeds The Panel considered that the archive met and muniments of title and manorial papers the third criterion, that it was in acceptable dating from the early 13th to 20th centuries condition and, following negotiation, that it was and there is a signiﬁcant run of estate accounts fairly valued. The Panel recommended that and rentals from the 18th to the 20th century. the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf These relate principally to the Coventry estates of the Secretary of State, accepted this in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire but recommendation in April 2005. The offer was include some property in Oxfordshire, completed in August 2005. The majority of Middlesex and Surrey. the papers have been temporarily allocated to The expert advisers considered that the the Worcestershire Record Ofﬁce, pending a estate papers were of particular importance for decision on permanent allocation. The the study of the history of Worcestershire and acceptance of this offer settled £436,854 were undoubtedly of great value for local social of tax. and economic history. The important set of papers relating to the rebuilding and redesign of the house and the refashioning of the parkland were virtually unique in the degree of detail that they provide for the development of a major country house in the 18th century. The papers of the Lord Keeper Coventry were regarded as important for the study of early 17th century government and Royal patronage. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 30

6 My Ladye Nevells Booke

30 In July 2003, MLA was informed of the offer occasional manuscript alterations in a different of a late Elizabethan musical manuscript known hand which may be that of Byrd himself. The as My Ladye Nevells Booke. The offer was made frontispiece is a separate sheet consisting of with a condition that the book should be 18 quarterings of the Nevill coat of arms. allocated to the British Library. The manuscript Although on different paper, it is likely to be contains 42 works by the English composer contemporary with the musical manuscript. William Byrd (1539/40–1623). There are 192 The volume retains its original brown calf folios, 19.5 x 27.6 cm, and the music is of four presentation binding. six-line staves to the page. Each of the 42 items William Byrd was the leading English has a title in a ﬁne calligraphic hand by Johne composer of the late Elizabethan era. He had Baldwine of Windsore whose signature appears been a chorister either at St Paul’s or at the at the end of the index or “table for this booke”. Chapel Royal at Whitehall Palace and began It is dated 1591. One of the endpapers bears a to compose music in his late teens. His ﬁrst tipped in letter, datable to 1669 which begins, known post, c.1562, was as organist and “This book was presented to Queene Elizabeth / choirmaster at Lincoln Cathedral where he by my Lord Edward Abergavennye.” There are remained for almost a decade. By 1572 he

6. The coat of arms of Sir Henry Nevill of Bilingbear, husband of ‘My Ladye Nevelle’ 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 31

and fellow composer Thomas Tallis were age has, if anything, increased in recent years 31 sharing duties at the Chapel Royal and three after the publication of modern critical editions years later the two had been granted a patent of his music. His achievements in secular music for the printing of music in England. His position were as great as those in liturgical music and at Court protected him when his name became he is recognised as the leading ﬁgure in the associated with recusancy. Byrd’s son married development of English keyboard music during Katherine Moore, a descendant of Sir Thomas the 16th century. Moore who had been executed for his refusal The expert advisers noted that Byrd was to support Henry VIII’s religious reforms. Byrd the leading English composer of the late retired to Essex in 1594 and for almost the next Renaissance and although best known for his 30 years his name regularly appears among the choral music he had also been described as the lists of those suspected of continued support “father of all keyboard music” in whose hands it for the old Catholic religion. became “something entirely new, the outcome His religious music remains a staple of of his amazing originality, imagination and fertility Anglican cathedral liturgy into the 21st century of invention”. The manuscript although not in and his stature as the greatest composer of his Byrd’s hand was one of two contemporary and

6. The tenth of the 42 musical pieces in the book: “the firste pavian” 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 32

32 exceptionally trustworthy manuscripts Fund generously provided £322,487 towards preserving the composer’s keyboard the acquisition costs and the National Arts compositions. The advisers stated that the Collections Fund made a grant of £24,000. fine presentation binding and the meticulously Further help came from the Friends of the prepared Elizabethan musical manuscript British Library (£10,000), the Friends of the were also of considerable importance. It was National Libraries (£5,000), the Golsoncott noted that the manuscript was the only known Foundation (£37,316) and many public source for six of the 42 works it contained and donations (£31,938). The offer was completed provided the most authoritative text for all but in March 2006. The funds raised have also four of them. Although the corrections to been sufficient to allow the manuscript to be Baldwine’s text were assumed to be by Byrd fully digitialised and placed on the British the absence of any known music autograph by Library’s website. The acceptance of this offer Byrd precluded a conclusive identification. settled £575,931 of tax. It was consistent with the composer’s known practice at the time of gathering his finest works into collected editions. They accepted the thesis put forward by the Offeror that the manuscript was compiled for Elizabeth Nevill, widow of Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear and that it might have been prepared with the explicit intention of presentation to Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth Nevill’s principal home was Greenland, at Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, and Byrd and his brothers had homes nearby. The possibility of a local connection between Byrd and Lady Nevill was strengthened by the fact that his daughter-in-law’s mother came from a Hambleden family. After Sir Henry’s death Lady Nevill remarried, and as Lady Peryam received the dedication of The First Booke of Canzonets to Two Voyces by Byrd’s colleague and probable pupil Thomas Morley, who had married one of Lady Peryam’s servants. The Panel considered that the manuscript met the first and third criteria, that it was in acceptable condition and, following negotiation, that it was fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved. The Secretary of State accepted this recommendation in February 2005. The amount of tax that was payable by the Offerors was considerably less than the amount that could be satisfied by the acceptance of this offer and the British Library had to raise £404,069. The National Heritage Memorial 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 33

7 Three Bronzes by Gertrude Spencer Stanhope

In May 2004, MLA was informed of the offer 33 of three bronze sculptures by Mary ‘Gertrude’ Elizabeth Spencer Stanhope. The offer was made with a condition that the items should be allocated to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council for display at Cannon Hall. The details of the sculptures are:

1. A bronze ﬁgure of Pan, seated and playing pipes. Cast with the artist’s initials GSS, 73 cm high

2. A bronze ﬁgure of the seated Orpheus. Unsigned, 73 cm high

3. A bronze ﬁgure of a naked young woman. Unsigned, 78 cm high

Gertrude Spencer Stanhope was born in 7. Three Bronzes by Gertrude Spencer Stanhope 1870 at Cannon Hall, Barnsley which had on display at Cannon Hall been the home of the Spencer Stanhope family since the middle of the 18th century. Her father Sir Walter Spencer Stanhope (1829–1911) acceptable condition and that they were fairly had 11 children, all of whom were born at valued. The Panel recommended that the Cannon Hall. The family moved in artistic offer should be approved. The Secretary of circles; her uncle was John Roddam Spencer State accepted this recommendation in Stanhope, and her niece was the painter February 2005. The offer was completed in Evelyn de Morgan, wife of William de Morgan. July 2005. The sculptures have been Gertrude’s paintings were exhibited in London permanently allocated to Barnsley Metropolitan but these three sculptures are the only known Borough Council for display at Cannon Hall. examples of her work in bronze. The acceptance of this offer settled £7,700 Cannon Hall passed out of family ownership of tax. in 1951 when it was purchased by the local council and it was opened as a museum in 1957. The collection is displayed partly as an art gallery and partly as a historic house. The expert advisers considered the items to be of especial signiﬁcance because of the artist’s association with Cannon Hall. They were deemed to be signiﬁcant examples of small scale domestic bronzes that were a special feature of late 19th century British sculpture. They were also rare examples of the work of a 19th century British female sculptor. The Panel considered that the sculptures met the fourth criterion, that they were in 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 34

8 The Hengrave Hall Archive

34 In September 2003, MLA was informed of Individual items of importance within the the offer of the Hengrave Hall archive, which archive include letters from Edward VI and from had been on deposit at Cambridge University Queen Mary Tudor and her Privy Council to Library since 1952. The offer was made with Lord Bath. There is also a rare letter from a condition that the papers should be allocated Sir Philip Sidney which was sent to Lady Kytson to the University of Cambridge for retention in 1581. A letter of January 1554 to Lord Bath at the University Library. gives a highly vivid account, six months into Hengrave (Hemegreth) is mentioned in the the reign of Mary Tudor, of the ceremonies at Domesday Book where it is recorded that it St Paul’s Cathedral following the Queen’s belonged to the monastery of Bury St Edmunds. reintroduction of Catholicism to the capital. During the Middle Ages it was the property of The expert advisers considered that the various noble families and was acquired by the archive contained an outstanding range of Kytson family in 1520. Thomas Kytson was a important material. They described it as being Merchant Adventurer from Lancashire who one of the last major Tudor archives remaining had been Sheriff of London. He was knighted in private hands and noted that the meticulous in 1522 and set about building the present record keeping of the Kytson and Gage Hall between 1525 and 1538. His son, also families allowed an important insight into both Thomas, received Queen Elizabeth at Hengrave, the finances of a great household and the despite his adherence to the Catholic faith. social life that went on within the walls. Thomas’s daughter married Sir John Gage in The Hengrave household expenditure books whose family Hengrave remained until the late from the 16th century gave a detailed account 19th century. The Hall was until recently the of the expenses associated with running a home of a religious community. great house and itemised costs for musicians The archive contains the Tudor building and theatre companies. The shopping list for accounts of Hengrave Hall, a fine run of 23 to 25 December 1542 gave a unique insight inventories for the house from both the 16th into the festivities and food associated with and 17th centuries, and the trading records a Tudor Christmas, including larks, coriander of the first Thomas Kytson with the Low comfits, and horsemeat. The records showed Countries, along with the antiquarian volumes that important Elizabethan musicians such as of Peter Le Neve (1661–1729). Le Neve was John Wilbye and Edward Johnson were one of the founding members of the Society employed by the Kytsons and the papers of Antiquaries and amassed a considerable record the many visits of theatre companies collection on the history of Suffolk. The Le to Hengrave Hall. The archive was, therefore, Neve papers were acquired by John Gage of major importance for the study of Rokewode (1789–1841) whose own literary pre-Shakespearean theatre in England. correspondence is also included in the archive. The post-Tudor papers were also of particular In addition to his pursuit of antiquarian interests, importance. The expert advisers drew attention Rokewode corresponded with several of the to the 26 volumes of material relating to the leading scientists of the day and was involved history of Suffolk acquired in the 19th century with many of the leading Catholics of his time. by John Gage Rokewode. Although originally As a result the archive contains significant collected by Peter Le Neve in the early documents from antiquaries, men of letters and 18th century, these contained many original of science and important papers concerning medieval deeds. The experts also singled out the struggle for Catholic emancipation in the the papers of Thomas Kytson which provided first half of the 19th century. important details of trade with the Continent in 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 35

the middle of the 16th century, as well as expected. It became necessary, therefore, 35 the very detailed records of the building of the for Cambridge University Library to embark existing Tudor house. upon a major fundraising campaign. The The Panel considered that the archive met National Heritage Memorial Fund generously the first, third and fourth criteria, that it was in provided £283,853 towards the acquisition acceptable condition and that it was fairly costs. A further £173,000 was raised from the valued. The Panel recommended that the offer Friends of Cambridge University Library, the should be approved. The Secretary of State Friends of the National Libraries, charitable accepted this recommendation in February trusts, individual benefactors and from the 2004. Before the offer could be completed, Library itself. The offer was completed in March however, it became apparent that the amount 2006. The acceptance of this offer settled of tax that was payable by the Offerors was £131,146 of tax. considerably less than had been originally

8. Hengrave Hall Archive: autograph letter of September 1628 from the composer and musician John Wilbye to Mrs Camocke which discusses among other matters a singing boy, “Little Henry” 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 36

9 The ‘Viotti’ Violin by Antonio Stradivari

36 In June 2003, MLA was asked by HM Revenue London where he was very successful and in & Customs if it would consider, in principle, a the 1790s he was the city’s foremost violinist. proposed offer of an important violin, and advise In 1798 he had to leave London on account whether such an instrument was an appropriate of his supposed Jacobin sympathies but was object for an offer in lieu. It was also asked to able to return in 1801. He was a founder advise how, if the offer was successful, the member of the London Philharmonic Society violin could be allocated in a way that respected in 1813, and the first violin professor at the both the purpose of the instrument – to make Royal Academy of Music was one of his pupils. music – and the normal process of allocating He died in London in March 1824, leaving items to a museum for display. The AIL Panel behind the Stradivari violin which he had used advised the Revenue that, in its view, such an until his death and a sizable body of offer could be accommodated within the AIL compositions, mostly for the violin. Scheme. As a result, the formal offer was made Despite Viotti’s regular use of his Stradivari, in November 2003 with a condition that, if the instrument is in a remarkable state of accepted, the violin should be allocated to the preservation. On Viotti’s death it passed into Royal Academy of Music. French ownership and in the 1850s was The violin was made in 1709 by Antonio considered to be the third most important of Stradivari (1644–1737) of Cremona, Italy, all Stradivari’s violins. Alfred Hill (1862–1940) widely regarded as the finest of all violin of the celebrated Bond Street dealers W E Hill makers. Although about 600 of his instruments & Sons acquired the Viotti violin through a survive, of which about 540 are violins, very colleague in Paris in 1897. He considered it, few are in anything like their original condition. “one of the handsomest I have ever seen and the Andrea Amati (c.1505–1577) created the figure of the wood and the colour of the varnish classical design of the violin, setting the are both of the most magnificent description”. standard of tone and appearance that remained When he later sold it to Baron Knoop, he wrote, unequalled until the genius of Stradivari “We have come to the conclusion that the Viotti gradually took it to new heights. He steadily Strad is the finest type of the great maker’s work perfected his designs and the instruments that we have ever seen”. In 1928 the violin came which he made in the first two decades of the into the ownership of the Bruce family. 18th century have always been considered The expert advisers noted that the to be the finest of those produced in his long importance of the violin lay in its manufacture, years of craftsmanship. condition and history of ownership. Its near The violin is known as the ‘Viotti’ after the pristine condition was due to the fact that it Italian composer-virtuoso Giovanni Battista had not been owned or used intensively by a Viotti (1755–1824), who was its most famous professional player since Viotti’s death. It had owner. After early training in his native Italy, not suffered any of the major changes or Viotti joined the orchestra of the royal chapel in rebuilding that might have compromised Turin. In 1780 he began the life of a travelling significantly its original condition. Most of the virtuoso and published his first concerto in Stradivari instruments used by professional 1781. In the following year he performed to musicians today have had so much work carried great success in Paris and soon entered the out on them to keep them up to current employment of Queen Marie Antoinette. performance standards that there was little left He also gave private concerts at the home of that the maker himself would have recognised. the composer Cherubini which regularly Rare uncompromised instruments such as the featured his latest compositions. As a result of Viotti had enormous importance as they the Revolution he left France and moved to provided the purest models of Stradivari’s 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 37

9. The Viotti Stradivari Violin: front, side and back views © The Royal Academy of Music

workmanship which can be studied by today’s tax, the intended allocatee, the Royal Academy luthiers (violin makers). It was only by seeing of Music, had to raise the difference. This instruments such as the Viotti that musicians, required an enormous effort on the part of the students and luthiers could appreciate Academy which launched a public appeal on Stradivari’s remarkable skills. The Viotti BBC2’s The Culture Show. The National was described as a striking example, boldly Heritage Memorial Fund, in its Silver Jubilee executed, following a fine design and using year, gave £250,000, and a further £1.45m the finest materials. was raised from private donors and the public. The Panel considered that the instrument The National Art Collections Fund provided a met the third criterion, that it was in acceptable, grant of £151,000. This still left a significant indeed outstanding, condition and that it gap and the Offerors generously agreed to was fairly valued. The Panel recommended waive the remaining amount to ensure that the that the offer should be approved. MLA, on violin would stay in the UK. The violin will now behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this be known as the Viotti Ex-Bruce. The recommendation in May 2005. The offer was instrument has been allocated to the Royal completed in July 2005. The acceptance of Academy of Music for display in the York Gate this offer settled £395,453 of tax. Since the Collection Museum. instrument could have settled £2,450,000 of 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 38

10 Meindert Hobbema: Wooded Landscape

10. Hobbema: Wooded Landscape

In January 2004, MLA was informed of the Lubbertsz. had “served and learned with me offer of a painting by the Dutch artist Meindert for a few years”. Hobbema, Wooded Landscape with a The two artists must have remained close Cottage and Peasants on a Road, oil on panel, during the following decade and many of 52.1 x 67.3 cm, signed lower left ‘M Hobbema’. Hobbema’s compositions produced during this The offer was made with a wish that, if period evolve from those of Ruisdael. In 1668, accepted, the painting should be allocated Ruisdael was a witness at Hobbema’s marriage to the York Art Gallery where it had been on to Eeltein Vinck, who was a kitchen maid for loan for a number of years. the Amsterdam burgomaster, Lambert Reynst. Meindert Hobbema (1638–1709) was It may have been Reynst who helped Hobbema baptised as Meiyndert Lubbertsz. in Amsterdam secure the lucrative post as one of the wine- on 31 October 1638. Why he used the name gaugers of the Amsterdam toll house. From Hobbema, and signed his paintings with this this period his output declined considerably. name is not known. He was a pupil of the He outlived his wife and five children but by the greatest of Dutch 17th century landscape time he died in 1709 at the age of 71 he was in painters, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/9–1682), financial difficulty and was buried in a pauper’s who had settled in Amsterdam in the mid- grave in Amsterdam’s Westerkerk cemetery. 1650s and was granted citizenship in 1659. Despite having lived most of his life in the In the following year he testified that Meindert city of Amsterdam, Hobbema was not 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 39

concerned with cityscapes or domestic scenes. 17th century landscape painting by a major 39 He was almost exclusively a painter of rural Dutch artist landscapes which typically include forest As there were initial concerns about the scenes with tracks, cottages and ponds. His condition of the painting, the Panel asked approach to nature is on a smaller scale than the Offerors for a condition report from an the sublime grandeur of Ruisdael, and his independent conservator. This was provided, palette predominately favours greens, browns along with an additional report from another and ochres. respected conservator, and both indicated that The scenes Hobbema painted are not the basic condition of the painting was sound. literal representations of nature but often Although there was a layer of discoloured blend elements from his drawings and from varnish and some relatively minor areas of poor other compositions including those of Ruisdael. retouching, the conservators’ view was that He repeatedly used characteristic vistas, the painting would respond well to cleaning houses, groups of trees and figures who and restoration. wander along meandering paths through The Panel considered that the painting wooded landscapes. He built his compositions met the third criterion within a regional context using standard techniques which lead the and that it was in acceptable condition and, viewer gently into the distance, either along following negotiation, fairly valued. The paths or by means of alternating zones of Panel recommended that the offer should be light and dark. The artist’s delicate touch and approved. The Secretary of State accepted ability to suggest the varied light conditions this recommendation in January 2005. The of a partly cloudy day invariably give a feeling offer was completed in April 2005. The painting of a scene directly painted from life. was permanently allocated to York City Council The expert advisers considered this for display at York Art Gallery in November painting to be a fine example by an artist who 2005 in accordance with the wishes of the had exercised a major influence on the Offeror. The acceptance of this offer settled development of British landscape painting. £560,000 of tax. From an early date Hobbema’s works were collected in England and his influence on English art in general, and the early landscapes of Gainsborough and John Crome in particular, was well documented. It was noted that this painting had been in England since the early 19th century, having been acquired in Amsterdam. In assessing whether the item met the criteria of pre-eminence, the experts were specifically asked to take into consideration the guidance that “pre-eminent items include not only objects deserving of entering a national museum or gallery but also other objects which will be pre-eminent in a local authority or university museum or gallery which does not already possess items of a similar genre or a similar quality”. It was noted that this painting plays an important part in the collection of York Art Gallery, where there is no other 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 40

11 The Harpur-Crewe Archive

40 In April 2004, MLA was informed of the offer estates and details of servants in the house of the archive of the Harpur-Crewe family of and their activities. There are long runs of Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. The archive which diaries for members of the family and many had been on deposit at the Derbyshire Record records and sketches from family holidays. Office, Matlock, for several decades, was There are extensive details of the economics offered with a wish that it should be allocated of the house, with records of the stocks of wine, to the National Trust. ale and beer and what was supplied from this Calke Abbey, as its name suggests, is of stock to the parlour, steward’s room, medieval monastic origin. The house of housekeeper and cook as well as what was Augustinian canons regular was founded in consumed above stairs. The estate accounts the early 12th century at Calke but the main with the local butcher, baker, fishmonger and monastery moved to Repton in 1172. Calke greengrocer for much of the 19th century continued to function, however, as a cell of survive. On a wider economic field there is Repton until its suppression by Henry VIII in interesting material relating to lead-mining and 1538. The property passed through various other industries of the region. hands until it was acquired in 1622 by The expert advisers considered that the Henry Harpur. archive was an extremely important resource The family founded by Richard Harpur, a for the social, economic and industrial history successful Tudor lawyer, had been established of Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire in Derbyshire in the mid-16th century and from the 14th to the 20th centuries and for the owned lands in other counties, especially general history of those areas of the counties Staffordshire. During the next two centuries, that were previously owned by the Harpur- the family increased in importance both through Crewe family. It was noted that the papers were politics and by marriage, including alignments also an important source for the study of local with the Manners of Belvoir Castle and the natural history. The family was much interested Earls of Warwick. In the late 18th century the in all aspects of natural history and none succession of the 7th Baronet initiated a period more so than Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe of 200 years during which the family withdrew (1846–1924). The house was full of cases of from the typical patterns of social life expected stuffed birds and Sir Vauncey established an of a leading land-owning family. Living in self- insect collection consisting of around 10,000 imposed seclusion, the family was essentially specimens. The archive was likely to yield much inward-looking in its concerns. The result information about the assembling of the natural was that the house and its estates remained history collection. largely unknown and much of the contents The Panel considered that the archive met and ephemera were preserved which in other the third and fourth criteria, that it was in houses would have been cleared out as acceptable condition and that it was fairly generation succeeded generation. valued. The Panel recommended that the offer The archive contains the normal runs of should be approved. The Secretary of State estate records, deeds, plans, rentals, accounts, accepted this recommendation in February rent receipt books and much correspondence 2005. The offer was completed in July 2005. relating to the family’s extensive land holdings. The archive has been permanently allocated In addition, however, from the eighteenth to Derbyshire Record Office . The acceptance century onwards, there is much which is of of this offer settled £48,000 of tax. interest because in most other archives it has not been retained. There are particularly full records of who was living on the Harpur-Crewe 12693Route 6/19/06 7:51 PM Page 41

11. Harpur-Crewe Archive, Grant of Arms to Richard Harper of 1566 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 42

12 Collection of Chinese Bronzes, Ceramics and Paintings

42 In May 2004 MLA was asked if it would consider, in principle, a proposed offer of a large collection of items of Chinese origin consisting mainly of ceramics. The AIL Panel took informal advice and responded positively to this enquiry, advising that, should a formal offer be made, the collection might well be recommended as pre-eminent. The Panel also encouraged the proposal that the offer would be made with a condition that it should be allocated to Birmingham Museums and Art Galleries. In July 2004, MLA was advised of the full details of the formal offer of the collection. As suggested, the offer was made with the condition that, if accepted, it should be allocated 12. A Chinese sang de boeuf balaster to Birmingham. vase, 19th century The collection comprises a total of just under 300 pieces. There is a group of six Neolithic pottery vessels and small groups of material from the Han (206 BC–220 AD), Tang (618–907), Song (960–1279) and Ming (1368–1644) Dynasties. The majority of the collection, however, is from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). The collection includes a group of jade carvings from the Song Dynasty and later, including bowls, censers, vases and a group of soapstone carvings. There is also a significant 12. A Chinese turquoise glazed pear group of bronzes, including a Han Dynasty shaped vase, 19th century two handled rain drum. Chinese graphic art is represented by a group of almost thirty paintings and scrolls including a hand scroll painted on silk, with a preface by Cao Xiuxiang (1708–1784) dated 1768 which depicts the Governor’s official procession visting Suzhou in Jiangsu province. There is also an English school view of the English Ambassador’s house in Peking, probably depicting the Palace into which Lord Macartney moved in 1793 while on his diplomatic visit to the Qianlong Emperor. The ceramics that form the bulk of the collection demonstrate the wide range of forms, 12. A large Chinese blue and white moon glazes and functions of Chinese ceramics over flask, painted with panels containing the a period of about 1000 years. The individually Eight Buddist Emblems, 18th century most significant items include a blue and white 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 43

ewer painted with birds among peonies and 43 bamboo with metal mounts and a domed cover which are dated 1650. Another outstanding piece of blue and white porcelain is the 18th century large moon flask which is painted with the Eight Buddhist Emblems. A large Qianlong blue and white charger has a scene in the central roundel depicting the baptism of Christ, below which is a reference to the Gospel of St Matthew. One of the most significant periods of engagement between Chinese and European cultures occured in the early 17th century when a group of Jesuit missionaries, headed by Matteo Ricci, settled 12. A Chinese verte-iamri charger painted with a coat in Peking. A number of pieces in the collection, of arms inscribed ‘Zeelandt’, 18th century such as this charger, show the influence of Christian motifs and indicate how Chinese ceramics were decorated with European the influence of fine Chinese pottery on local designs in order to appeal to European tastes. makers and its influence on English design There is also a small group of items from the and taste. Hatcher Cargo of c.1643. The 25,000 recorded The Panel considered that the collection as pieces that have been recovered from the a whole met the third criterion, that it was in shipwreck of this cargo boat show a mixture of acceptable condition and that, following items both for the local market and for export negotiation, it was fairly valued. The allocation to Europe including pieces specifically designed condition was considered to be singularly for the Dutch East India Company. appropriate and it was noted that Birmingham The experts considered the collection to be Museums and Art Gallery would use the of especial importance on several counts: it was collection, if accepted and allocated, as a of particular breadth, ranging from items of the means of developing displays and programmes Neolithic period to the 20th century, it traced which would involve the sizeable Chinese the interaction and trade between Europe and communities in the city and the West Midlands China and demonstrated the way in which region as a whole. The Panel recommended Chinese artists had used European design and that the offer should be approved. MLA, on it was an important reflection of the taste of behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this a cultured collector and was fully backed by recommendation in August 2005. The offer documentation and provenance. While only was completed in December 2005. The about a dozen items could be deemed collection has been permanently allocated to individually pre-eminent, as a collection it was Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, in pre-eminent in the context of Birmingham accordance with the condition of the Offeror. which has very little in the way of Chinese The acceptance of this offer settled £216,818 culture on display. The experts advised that the of tax. acceptance of the offer and the allocation of the collection to Birmingham would immediately give the region a new resource which would have considerable appeal to the sizeable ethnic Chinese community. It would also demonstrate 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 44

13 The Newton Hall Athena

44 In July 2004, MLA was informed of the offer dating to c.330–320 B.C. This relief is now in of the Newton Hall Athena, a Roman marble the National Museum, Athens. The sculptor of statue of the mid-2nd century A.D., 161 cm the Newton Hall figure has combined the body high. It is a Roman copy after a Greek original of one type with the head of another. It is not of the late 4th century B.C. The offer was made known how the Greek original would have been with a wish that, if accepted, the sculpture displayed but this Roman version is most likely should be allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum, to have stood in the courtyard of a country villa Cambridge. or town-house belonging to a cultured Roman. This statue represents Athena as goddess After Rome’s conquest of Greece in the 2nd of War. According to Greek mythology she century, Romans acquired a taste for Greek art, emerged fully armed from the head of Zeus the collecting of which reached its peak in the and she is often depicted as a warrior, wearing last years of the Roman Republic. As the supply a helmet and her aegis or breastplate made of Greek originals dried up, copies, often by from goat-hide fringed with live snakes and Greek artists, had to satisfy the demand. bearing the head of Medusa in its centre. Cicero’s letters, which include instructions to his Athena was also the goddess of wisdom and agent in Athens on what he sought to acquire, learning and her other symbols were the olive give first-hand evidence of the demand for tree and the owl. Greek statuary. The stylistic reasons for dating this to the Sir Charles Walston (1856–1927), who had Roman, as opposed to the Greek, period include been Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum from the carving of the eyes. In Greek sculpture the 1883 to 1889, acquired this sculpture in France eyes were normally left blank with the details in the 1920s. He traced its provenance back to provided by inlays or painting. The flatness of the collection of the Count de Castellane at the the back of the statue is also characteristic of Château des Aygalades, near Marseilles, in the Roman statuary. 19th century. It was sold by the descendants of Twenty-six versions of this statue have the Count in the early 20th century. Walston survived from antiquity and they have been discovered it at the back of an antique shop in given the name ‘Vescovali’ type from an the south of France and had it brought to example originally in the Vescovali collection England and restored by the British Museum. and now in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. It was then installed in his home, Newton Hall, It was discovered in 1825 on the Palatine, in Cambridgeshire. Rome. Only the Hermitage statue, another in The expert advisers considered this to be a the Archaeological Museum of Nicopolis, in rare work of high quality and although Epirus, Greece and the Newton Hall example comparable items existed in collections in preserve the original head. The head of the Greece and Russia, if accepted, this would Newton Hall Athena, with its upward tilt, deep- become the only example in a public collection set eyes and slightly parted lips, is more in the UK. The rarity of antique statues of characteristic of the ‘Rospiglioli’ Athena which Athena, complete with the original head, was also originates in the 4th century B.C. The most also noted. The experts drew attention to the characteristic feature of the ‘Vescovali’ type is distinguished provenance and noted that the heavy drapery around the body, like an Walston had a notable place in the study of apron, with a particularly heavy swathe archaeology in Great Britain. He was one of the gathered under her breasts. The statue from principal founders and promoters of the study which the versions derive has been attributed to of classical archaeology at the University of Praxiteles on the basis of a relief depicting the Cambridge, beginning his career in the classics Muses from Mantineia in the Peloponnese and faculty in 1880, and was the first Reader in 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 45

classical archaeology from 1883 until 1907. 45 The Panel considered that the sculpture met the second and third criteria, that it was in acceptable condition and that it was fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved and the Secretary of State accepted this recommendation in December 2004. The offer was completed in June 2005. The statue was permanently allocated to the University of Cambridge for display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in December 2005, in accordance with the wishes of the Offeror. The acceptance of this offer settled £245,000 of tax.

13. The Newton Hall Athena © Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 46

14 The Archive of Sir Richard and Lady Burton

46 In July 2004 MLA was advised on an offer of but, particularly in the latter, he took frequent papers relating to the eminent Victorian leaves of absence to explore such places as explorer and writer Sir Richard Burton and his Iceland and India and to write accounts both of wife Lady Burton. The papers were offered with these and of earlier expeditions. His literary a wish that they should be allocated to the output also included several translations, British Library. including that of the 16th century Portuguese Richard Burton (1821–1890) was born in poet Camõens and, most famously, the Arabian England but spent much of his childhood in Nights which embroiled Burton in further France and Italy. His father attempted to turn controversy because of its retention of the him into a clergyman but he soon determined sexually explicit elements of the original. The on a military career in India, where his success of the subscription edition of 1000 phenomenal aptitude as a linguist became copies of the Arabian Nights brought the apparent. During his life he became fluent in Burtons financial stability for the first time. over 40 languages. His enigmatic and At about the same time he also translated the adventurous nature was unsuited to anything Kama Sutra, the Kama Shastra and The suggestive of routine or convention and his Perfumed Garden. He had almost finished his ability to integrate into non-European cultures translation of another classic work of erotica, soon led to his explorations of parts of the world the Scented Garden, when he died in Trieste in largely unknown to Europeans. His first great 1890. The latter translation, however, even adventure was to take on the persona of a Sufi though Burton called it the crown of his life, was sheikh and in 1853 to make the journey to the destroyed by his widow shortly after his death. holy sites of Islam for the Hajj. He was one of The experts considered the material to be of the first Europeans to do so and the account he importance for the study of the history of wrote of his journey set the pattern for dozens Victorian exploration. They noted, however, that of succeeding books on little known parts of the original archive of Sir Richard Burton had the word. been subjected to periodic episodes of culling, His most famous journey of exploration was firstly, when on Burton’s death his widow with John Hanning Speke into the interior of consigned to the bonfire many of his papers, Africa to explore the area of the Great Lakes especially anything which did not conform to and to try to find the source of the White Nile, her deeply held religious beliefs, and secondly one of the greatest geographical mysteries of when Lady Burton’s sister performed a further the time. Illness dogged the explorers but they ‘purification’ when she inherited the Burton both discovered Lake Tanganyika and Speke, papers following Isabel’s death in 1896. The venturing north on his own, found Lake Victoria. original archive had also suffered dispersal Relations between the two then deteriorated when what remained was put up for auction in and Speke, who returned to London ahead of the 1960s. Despite these reservations the Burton, claimed the greater share of the credit assemblage of papers was considered to be and a bitter public quarrel ensued. one of the most important groups of surviving In 1861 Burton married Isabel Arundel and material relating to a figure of national from then on was employed in the Diplomatic importance and of especial significance for the Service in various relatively minor postings study of 19th century travel and exploration. which allowed him sufficient time to pursue his The material relating to the journey by Burton literary and anthropological interests as well as and Speke to discover the source of the Nile in his thirst for exploration. These did not always the late 1850s was singled out as being of meet with the approval of his superiors. He held particular importance. This included Burton’s the Consulship at Damascus and later at Trieste letterbook, comprising autograph copies of 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 47

38 letters and memoranda, along with condition and that, following negotiation, they 47 autograph letters by Speke. There were also were fairly valued. The Panel recommended autograph pages from the autobiography that that the offer should be approved. MLA, on Burton dictated to his wife, with his own behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this corrections and amendments. Although never recommendation in December 2005. The offer published by Burton, Isabel Burton used was completed in February 2006. The papers these writings in her 1893 biography of her have been temporarily allocated to the British husband. Library pending a decision on permanent The Panel considered that the papers met allocation. The acceptance of this offer settled the third criterion, that they were in acceptable £490,000 of tax.

14. Burton. Left: copy of letter of 1856 from the Royal Geographical Society authorising payment of £750 to finance the East Africa expedition. Right: copy from Burton’s letter book of account written from Aden in 1855 of the incident at Berbera (Somalia) when Burton, Speke, Stroyan, and Herne encamped a short distance from the town and were attacked and overwhelmed by a large party of Africans early on 19 April 1855. Herne was badly beaten, Speke was severely wounded, and Stroyan was killed. Burton was hit in the face with a javelin acquiring the distinctive scar that remained with him for the rest of his life. © British Library 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 48

15 Collection of Chinese Carvings and Ceramics

48 In September 2004 MLA was advised of an offer of a group of mainly Chinese carvings and ceramics made with a condition that they should be allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum to which they had been on loan for some years. The details of the items are as follows:

1. A Chinese 17th century (possibly Song Dynasty) rhino horn cup with original padouk wood stand,10 cm diameter

2. A Chinese 18th/19th century rhino horn cup in the shape of a magnolia, with laburnum wood stand made by the Offeror, 10 cm diameter

3. A pair of Chinese yellow saucers, Yongzheng mark, 1723–1735, with padouk wooden stands purchased separately, 14.5 cm diameter 15. Chinese opal dragons, 19th century 4. A pair of Chinese yellow bowls, Jiaqing mark, 1796–1820, with padouk wooden stands purchased separately, 12.5 cm diameter

5. Chinese jade bears, with sprig of millet, 17th/18th century, with original wooden stand, 7.5 cm long

6. A Chinese amber vase, 18th century, with original wooden stand, 6.5 cm high

7. A Chinese peachbloom waterpot, Kangxi mark, but 18th/19th century, with wooden stand purchased separately, 10 cm high

8. A Chinese white saucer, Qianlong mark, 1736–1795, with original wooden tripod, 16 cm diameter

9. A Chinese Dehua tripod incense burner, 16th/17th century, rim ground down, with original wooden stand, 11.5 cm diameter

10. A Chinese Dehua bowl, incised poem, 17th century, with original wooden stand, 15 cm diameter

11. A Chinese jade lion, crouching, 14th–16th 15. Chinese peachbloom waterpot, Kangxi century (possibly Song dynasty), with original mark, but 18th/19th century wooden stand, 12 cm long 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 49

12. A Korean celadon bowl, 12th century, 49 with wooden stand, 19.5 cm diameter

13. A pair of Chinese jade bowls, Jiaqing mark, 1796–1820, with wooden stands purchased separately, 15 cm diameter

14. Chinese opal dragons, 19th century, with original wooden stand, 8.5 cm high

15. Chinese jade ducks, 17th century, with original wooden stand, 8 cm long

16. Chinese jade waterpot in the form of a fabulous beast, 15th/16th century, with original wooden stand, 11 cm long

17. A lapis lazuli ﬁgure, Guanyin, 20th century, with original wooden stand, 9 cm high

The expert advisers considered that the collection was of importance for the study of Oriental art. Most of the items had no direct 15. Chinese white saucer, Qianlong mark, 1736–1795 parallel in the collection of the V&A and many enhanced the display of the types of glazes or materials used in Chinese decorative arts. In addition, some of the individual items, such as the 19th century opal carving (Item 14) and an early 20th century lapis lazuli image of the mother goddess, Guanyin (Item 17) were said to be of especial importance in their own right, given their rarity. The Panel considered that the collection as a whole met the third criterion, that it was in acceptable condition and that it was fairly valued. The allocation condition was considered to be acceptable. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved and MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this recommendation in April 2005. The offer was completed in July 2005. The collection has been permanently allocated to the V&A, in accordance with the condition of the Offeror. The acceptance of this offer settled £69,650 of tax.

15. Chinese jade bears, with sprig of millet, 17th/18th century 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 50

16 Duncan Grant: The Ass

50 In December 2004, MLA was informed of the considerable interest to him. The Ass has been offer of Duncan Grant’s The Ass, oil on paper, dated to early 1913, in the months following lined onto canvas, 116.5 x 149.5 cm. The the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition at painting was offered with a wish that it should the Grafton Galleries which had created such be allocated to Tate where it had been on loan a sensation in English art circles. It was shown since 1991. in early 1914 at the Second Grafton Group Duncan Grant (1885–1978) was one of the Exhibition where it was purchased by the three artists who, along with Roger Fry and scholar, painter, collector and art critic, Vanessa Bell, created the visual aspect of the Roger Fry. Bloomsbury movement in parallel with the Grant himself reported that the painting literary achievements of Virginia Woolf, Lytton was inspired by a Persian miniature. This is Strachey and the other members of the group. believed to be the 16th century miniature of a Grant was born in the family home, The horse seen in profile which was reproduced in Doune, near Inverness. His father was a Major The Burlington Magazine of November 1912. in the 8th Hussars and Duncan’s early years At that time the magazine was edited by were spent in India and Burma with biannual Roger Fry and many issues from this period summer holidays back in Inverness. He are still in Grant’s Sussex home, Charleston. attended school in Kensington, staying with the Animals appear frequently in Grant’s work, Strachey family, to whom the Grants were especially horses, donkeys and dogs, and there related. From the age of 16 he attended the are several related drawings of horses and a Westminster School of Art. In 1903, his cousin zebra from 1913, although none are direct Dorothy Strachey married the French painter studies for this work. In this period Grant was Simon Bussy, who encouraged and influenced regularly working on a large scale. Earlier he the artistic development of the 18 year old had produced mural paintings and in 1913 he Grant. In later life Grant was to say, “His lessons received a commission from the Contemporary remain with me as the best I have ever received. Art Society for the large Adam & Eve He was the most just of masters but at the same (213 x 222 cm), which is comparable in spirit. time the most severe”. It was from Bussy that This work was severely damaged in the flooding Grant developed what he termed an ‘artistic at the Tate in 1928 and was subsequently conscience’. After visits to Italy in 1904 and destroyed. The Tate, however, has a study for France in 1905, he enrolled in the académie of this painting, Head of Eve, which has marked the French painter, Jacques-Emile Blanche similarities of colour and drawing to The Ass, where he stayed for two years, broken by a term such as the contoured hatching in black. at the Slade in the autumn of 1906. He first Grant painted a second version of The Ass exhibited his paintings at the Grafton Galleries which is now in the collection of the Ferens Art in late 1907. Next year he returned to the Slade Gallery, Hull. for the summer term. The expert advisers considered this to be an Grant’s earliest period of artistic maturity outstanding item from Grant’s most important from 1910 to 1915 is among his most highly period. They described it as a highly personal appreciated and valued. At this time he was work in subject, composition and handling of influenced by recent French painting, paint and colour, and a representative work of particularly the Fauvist works of Henri Matisse the modernist spirit which was then enlivening and by the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and the painting of many of Grant’s contemporaries. Georges Braque. It was not only contemporary The painting was considered to be of work, however, that fascinated Grant. Byzantine importance not only within Grant’s output but mosaics and Persian miniatures were also of also within the broader development and 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 51

16. Duncan Grant: The Ass

achievement of modern painting in early 20th recommendation in April 2005. The offer was century Britain. The tonality and brushwork completed in the following month. The painting were indebted to recent advanced French art of was permanently allocated to Tate, in the period. Such inﬂuence was notable for its accordance with the wishes of the Offeror appearance in English art from before the First in March 2006. The acceptance of this offer World War. The ﬂattening of the picture space settled £70,000 of tax. was another characteristic derived from French examples. Although the deliberate ‘archaism’ of the image was criticised by English critics of the period, especially those from the Vorticist circle, it was a feature of several strands of European avant-garde art at the time. The Panel considered that the painting met the second and third criteria, that it was in acceptable condition and that it was fairly valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved and MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 52

17 Archive of Roger Fry and Helen Anrep

52 In September 2004, MLA was informed of the offer of an archive of papers relating to the art historian, critic and painter, Roger Fry (1866–1934) and the companion of his ﬁnal years, Helen Anrep (1885–1965). The archive was offered with a wish that it should be allocated to the Tate Archive. The archive contains over 1,200 letters and postcards between Roger Fry and Helen Anrep covering the period 1924–34; 200 letters to Roger Fry including 16 from the sculptor Eric Gill dating to 1909–1918, and groups from Vanessa Bell (4), Gerald Brenan (14), Mark Gertler and Augustus John. The general correspondence of Helen Anrep, which totals over 850 items, includes letters and postcards from Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Vanessa Bell (75), Dora Carrington (31) and large groups from Boris Anrep for the period 1907 until 1948 and from Gerald Brenan (1924–1964) 17. Photograph of Helen Anrep (left), Roger Fry and the intellectual and writer Gerald Heard. (middle) and Marie Mauron in Provence (early 1930s) Smaller groups in this section include letters from EM Forster, Kenneth Clark, William Coldstream, Augustus John, Henry Lamb, Stanley Spencer, Osbert Sitwell, Lytton Strachey, Bernard Russell, John Maynard Keynes and Aldous Huxley. A group of 15 of Roger Fry’s notebooks, along with a parcel of Fry’s lecture notes and manuscripts, forms another element in the archive. There is also a group of drawings, sketches and plans with an accompanying portfolio of drawings and two sketchbooks by the Russian émigré mosaicist, Boris Anrep (cf. Case 33, pages 94–95 for details of Anrep’s life and career). There are also several Hogarth Press publications from the 1920s. Helen Maitland was born in California, where her Scottish father was attempting to start a wine-making business. This, however, was not a success and, when he disappeared, Helen and her mother returned to Europe, leading a Bohemian existence in various countries. After an affair with Henry Lamb, Helen married Boris Anrep in 1918, having just given birth to their son Igor. Anrep had an unconventional 12693Route 6/22/06 12:50 PM Page 53

view of marriage and husband and wife shared inﬂuence on artistic taste in Britain since 53 their London home with Boris’s distant cousin Ruskin. The letters not only covered the and mistress, Maria Volkova. Helen Anrep met domestic life of Fry and Anrep but dealt with Roger Fry in Vanessa Bell’s studio in 1924 Fry’s intellectual life and aesthetics. The fact and she soon separated from her husband and that most of the letters were unpublished or had moved into Fry’s house at 48 Bernard Street, been quoted only in part added to their interest. near Russell Square, living there until Fry’s The Panel considered that the archive met death. They were at the centre of Bloomsbury the third criterion and that it was in acceptable circles and particularly close to Vanessa Bell, condition. The Panel was advised that the Gerald Brenan and Dora Carrington. archive was being offered at a value which The expert advisers noted that many strands underestimated the market appeal of the of interest in the Bloomsbury Group met in material and proposed to the Offerors that the this archive containing material from all original price should be increased by £20,000. Bloomsbury’s major ﬁgures and many of the This was agreed by the executors of the other personalities who at one time or another offering estate. The Panel recommended that came within its orbit. This material was the offer should be approved. The Secretary of described as being relatively untapped by State accepted this recommendation in March scholars of the period and the last major source 2005. The offer was completed in May 2005. of information on the Group that was likely to The material has been temporarily allocated to come to light. Nothing of such importance had Tate, pending the advice of the Historical appeared in the last 25 years. They singled out Manuscripts Commissioner on the permanent in particular the material relating to Roger Fry allocation of the archive. The acceptance of who had been the single most important this offer settled £105,000 of tax.

17. Leaf from an undated sketchbook of Roger Fry 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 54

18 Paintings from Penrhyn Castle

54 In September 2004 MLA was advised of The Acropolis, watercolours, 64 x 178 cm, the offer of a further group of paintings from 61 x122 cm and 61 x 122 cm Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd, North Wales. The tax liability arose following the sale of Jacomo Palma Negreti, known as Palma The Burgher of Delft and his Daughters by Vecchio, was born near Bergamo but spent his Jan Steen in 2003. This important painting entire artistic career in Venice. He is called was sold to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, after Palma Vecchio (Old Palma) to distinguish him interest had been sought from British public from Palma Giovane (Young Palma), his great- collections over a prolonged period. (For details nephew. Little is known about him and the of previous offers in lieu for Penrhyn, see reference to him in the 1550 edition of Vasari’s AIL Report 2002/03 Case 3, pages 13–17 and Lives is disappointingly brief in biographical AIL Report 2003/04, Case 20, pages 50–53.) detail, noting only that he was a friend of The paintings were offered with a condition Lorenzo Lotto. In the 17th century his works that they should be allocated to the National are known to have been in the collections of Trust for display at Penrhyn Castle. Charles I, the Dukes of Buckingham and of The paintings offered included: Hamilton and Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel. However from the late 17th to the end of the 1. Palma Vecchio (c.1480–1528), The Holy 19th century the artist was poorly understood Family with St Jerome, St Justina, St Ursula and and often confused with his great-nephew. St Bernardino of Siena, oil on canvas, The Penrhyn painting was acquired by Edward, 109 x 157 cm 1st Lord Penrhyn, sometime before 1882 as a work of Palma Vecchio, but when exhibited at 2. English School c.1619–20, Portrait of a Lady, Burlington House in that year, it was deemed to oil on canvas, 211 x 122 cm be by Garofalo and it was only in 1986 that the painting was correctly reattributed to Palma 3. English School c.1619–20, Portrait of a Lady Vecchio. The painting is dated on stylistic with a Child, oil on canvas, evidence to 1522–24 and is typical of the 211 x 122 cm sacra conversazione that the artist produced in this period. 4. Willem van de Velde (1633–1707), Shipping The Willem van de Velde Shipping in a Calm, in a Calm, oil on panel, 34 x 40 cm like the Palma Vecchio, was acquired by Edward, 1st Lord Penrhyn having been sold in 5. Allan Ramsay (1713–1784), Portrait of Brussels in 1861. The painting is signed and Viscount Milsington (1747–1823), oil on dated 166(?)3. Given that much of the canvas, 124 x 99 cm prosperity of the Netherlands was based on overseas trade, it is not surprising that marine 6. George Romney (1734–1802), Richard painting was such a popular genre in Dutch art. Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn of Penrhyn Willem van de Velde was the son of a marine (1739–1808), oil on canvas, 152 x 119 cm artist of the same name and was born in Leiden in 1633. His younger brother, Adriaen, was also 7. John Rogers Herbert (1810–1890), a ﬁne landscape painter. John the Baptist Preaching to Herod, oil on Ramsay’s striking Portrait of Viscount canvas, 119 x 171 cm Milsington was painted in the mid 1760s and repeats the composition the artist had used a 8. Carl Haag (1820–1915), Three Views in few months earlier in his portrait of the 6th Earl the Middle East: Palmyra; Baalbeck and of Coventry (cf. Case 5, pages 28–29) and both 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 55

18. Palma Vecchio: The Holy Family with St Jerome, St Justina, St Ursula and St Bernardino of Sienna 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 56

56 18. Willem van de Velde: Shipping in a Calm

sitters wear the same clothes. The antique urn Douglas-Pennant’s first foray into picture appears to be one of the pair which now stand buying was the acquisition of John Roger on the East Terrace at Windsor Castle and Herbert’s, John the Baptist Preaching to Herod. was presumably first used by Ramsay for his Herbert had trained at the Royal Academy Portrait of Augusta, Princess of Wales of 1764. Schools in the 1820s and following his The portrait came to Penrhyn through the conversion to Roman Catholicism in the 1830s marriage of Lord Milsington’s sister, Lady Julia he worked with A W Pugin and concentrated Colyear, to Henry Dawkins II, whose son on religious painting. His reputation steadily George Hay Dawkins inherited Penrhyn in increased and his election in 1841 as an 1816 and who was responsible for the building associate member of the Royal Academy of the vast neo-Norman castle that exists today. was followed in 1846 by full membership. The wealth that George Hay Dawkins He was also a considerable portraitist and inherited was based on the improvements made provided two vast frescoes for the new Palace to the Penrhyn lands by Richard Pennant, of Westminster. 1st Baron Penrhyn of Penrhyn, whose portrait Edward Douglas-Pennant also patronised by George Romney is also included in the offer the German-born watercolourist Carl Haag in lieu. It is recorded that Pennant sat on ten (1820–1915). Haag was born in Bavaria, and occasions for Romney in 1789 but the work trained in Nuremberg in both porcelain painting was not delivered and paid for until 1793. and miniature painting. A visit to England in When George Dawkins succeeded to the 1847 led to his admiration for English Penrhyn estate he adopted the name Pennant, watercolours and he developed his own becoming George Hay Dawkins-Pennant. innovative watercolour technique and fixative His son-in-law, Edward Gordon Douglas (later process. He studied at the Royal Academy 1st Lord Penrhyn of the second creation) Schools in 1848 and in due course was inherited in 1840 and he, in similar fashion, introduced to Douglas-Pennant who was to added Pennant to his name. His father-in-law become his first English patron. The three had expressed the wish that the castle should examples of Haag’s work included in the offer have a fine collection of paintings and Edward are of particularly large scale for watercolours 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 57

and each depicts distant views of three of the Penrhyn as Haag’s first major client in the UK 57 most famous ancient ruins of the Middle East. was Lord Penrhyn who had commissioned They were painted c.1860 and retain their them. The Romney Portrait of Richard Pennant, original frames. 1st Baron Penrhyn was deemed to be of The two full-length early 17th century significance because the sitter had played a English portraits have been at Penrhyn since major role in the establishment of the family the present castle was built. The family tradition fortune. is that they were acquired at the sale of the The Panel considered that the collection collection of Lord Charles Townshend in 1819 met the second and fourth criteria, that the and, if this is correct, they would have been paintings were in acceptable condition and bought by George Hay Dawkins-Pennant. that the overall valuation was deemed to be fair. The identity of the sitters, while clearly of The Panel recommended that the offer should high status, remains unidentified and if the be approved. The Welsh Minister for Culture, items came from the Townshend collection Welsh Language and Sport accepted this there is little reason to believe that they are recommendation in July 2005. The offer was of Welsh sitters. completed in September 2005. The collection The expert advisers considered the Palma has been allocated to the National Trust for Vecchio to be a painting of international retention at Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd, in significance. It was noted as being an accordance with the condition of the Offeror. outstanding work in exceptional condition of The acceptance of this offer settled a major Renaissance Venetian painter and, £3,083,349 of tax. arguably, the finest work by the artist in Great Britain. The seascape by Van de Velde was described by the advisers as a fine example of the work of this important 17th century Dutch painter and the only example of his work in Wales. The Portrait of Viscount Milsington by Allan Ramsay was considered to be a major painting by one of the finest British painters of the 18th century, and was linked to Penrhyn as it depicted the uncle of George Hay Dawkins who in 1808 succeeded Richard, Lord Penrhyn and at that time took over the Penrhyn estates. The portrait was also deemed to be of especial artistic interest. The two anonymous English paintings c.1620 were considered to be very fine portraits of the period and although they could not be said to depict family members, they had been at Penrhyn since it was built. They were linked closely to the building and should therefore remain in that setting. The three Carl Haag watercolours were, in the view of the experts, exceptional works by a painter who was held in very high regard in the 19th century and received royal patronage. In addition they had a close connection with 18. Allan Ramsay: Portrait of Viscount Milsington 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 58

19 Pablo Picasso: La Femme qui Pleure

58 In September 2004, MLA was informed of the offer of Pablo Picasso’s La Femme qui Pleure, etching with drypoint and aquatint, 69.2 x 45.5 cm (dimensions of etching plate). The print was offered with a condition that it should be allocated to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) is the towering artistic personality of the 20th century and an artist of such complexity and inventiveness that his genius could not be limited purely to painting but found expression in sculpture, drawing and print making as well. He made his first etching even before he left Barcelona for Paris in 1904. In that year he produced his first print masterpiece Le Repas Frugal. His systematic exploration of printmaking was most active from the mid 1920s through the 1930s, which was also the period of his outstanding achievements in the medium. Influenced and challenged by the works of such great print- makers as Durer and Goya, he assimilated their achievements and reinvented the print as a medium of unsurpassed expressive power. La Femme qui Pleure was produced in 1937 and is closely related to his great anti-war painting, Guernica, now in the collection of the Reine Sophia Museum, Madrid. This was the artist’s response to the Luftwaffe’s bombing of the town of Guernica in Northern Spain in April 1937 at the request of General Franco. The huge mural which focuses on the horrors of the atrocity includes a weeping woman. Picasso made a number of drawings and paintings of this figure. The earliest study dates from 24 May and this etching, the culmination of that series of images, was completed on 1 July 1937. In the etching a woman is shown in profile but both her eyes are visible and her face is dramatically contorted with pain and suffering. The handkerchief held up to her face doubles as a flood of tears; these tears are shaped like knitting needles which cut across her cheek. The print went through seven separate stages and the seventh and final state was produced 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 59

19. Picasso: La Femme qui Pleure (Weeping Woman) 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 60

60 in an edition of 15, of which Picasso retained The Panel recommended that the offer should ten for himself. be approved and the Scottish Minister for The figure is based upon the artist’s mistress Tourism, Culture and Sport accepted this Dora Maar, whom he had met the previous year. recommendation in February 2005. The offer She was an accomplished photographer and was completed in May 2005. The painting was moved in Surrealist circles which included the permanently allocated to the Scottish National photographer Man Ray, the poet Paul Eluard Gallery of Modern Art, in accordance with the and the critic Roland Penrose. This version of condition of the Offeror in July. The acceptance the print was acquired by Penrose soon after of the print settled £336,993 of tax. However, its creation and Picasso inscribed it “pour the print could have settled up to £577,500. Penrose”. Penrose later gave it as a gift to his Normally in such a situation the allocatee, in this friend Joanna Drew (1929–2003) who had a case the National Galleries of Scotland, would long and distinguished career as director of have been required to make good to the exhibitions and art at the Arts Council before offering estate the difference of £240,507. becoming director of the Hayward Gallery. In order to ensure, however, that the print was She also worked on the landmark 1960 allocated to Edinburgh, which contains many Picasso exhibition at the Tate and, seven years other items formerly owned by Roland Penrose, later, the ground-breaking show of Picasso’s the executors of Joanna Drew’s estate waived sculpture at the same gallery. During the course this very large amount. The generosity of the of the preparation for these shows she became executors of the estate of Joanna Drew in a friend of Picasso. making possible this allocation to the Scottish The expert advisers considered La Femme National Gallery of Modern Art is gratefully qui Pleure to be one of Picasso’s two most acknowledged. important exercises in print-making, the other being La Minotauromachie, but noted that the latter was produced in a much larger edition. They described the print as a work of extraordinary power and presence by the greatest printmaker of the 20th century. The print was also closely related to the oil painting, The Weeping Woman, which was accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax in 1988 and was now one of the masterpieces of the Tate’s collection. The distinguished provenance was also noted as well as the fact that no other version of the work was in a UK collection. This would possibly be the last opportunity for a UK collection to acquire an impression of the final and definitive state of this landmark in 20th century printmaking. The Panel considered that the etching met the second criterion and that it was in acceptable condition. The original offer price was thought to be an under-valuation and the Panel agreed that it would recommend a price substantially higher than had been proposed. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 61

20 Three Watercolours by JMW Turner

In October 2004, MLA was informed of 61 the offer of three watercolours by JMW Turner (1775–1851). The details of the items are as follows:

1. The Roman Forum from the Tower of the Capitol, 1818, pencil and watercolour, 139 x 216 mm

2. Orfordness, c.1827–30, watercolour and bodycolour on blue paper, 165 x 254 mm 20. Turner: The Roman Forum © The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester 3. Lake Lucerne, Sunset, 1845, watercolour, 292 x 477 mm produced. These watercolours are all on blue paper, in contrast to the Southern Coast series The three items were offered with a condition which were all on white paper. They are drawn that they should be allocated to the University in a spontaneously and expressively used of Manchester for the Whitworth Art Gallery, bodycolour. where they had all been on loan for over a Recent research, however, has questioned decade. whether the watercolour Orfordness relates to The watercolour, The Roman Forum, predates the east coast views or whether it is part of a by a year Turner’s first trip to Italy and is one of putative edition of the works of the Suffolk the series that was commissioned from the poet George Crabbe (1754–1832). His most artist by James Hakewill to illustrate famous work The Borough tells the tale of Picturesque Tour of Italy (1818–1820). the fisherman Peter Grimes (later to be the The series is considered in greater detail in inspiration for Benjamin Britten’s opera on the relation to Case 25, pages 76–77. same subject). Orfordness was engraved by The watercolour, Orfordness, is part of a J C Allen, who died in 1831, which provides a series of ten subjects which has yet to be fully terminus ante quem for the watercolour. explained. Throughout the 1820s Turner had The largest of the three watercolours, Lake been producing watercolours for various series Lucerne, Sunset, dates to mid 1845. It is the of engravings published by William Cooke. last of three finished watercolours that Turner Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of produced of the view over Lake Lucerne from England (1814–26) was followed by Rivers of above Brunnen looking south towards Fluelen England (1823–7) and Marine Views (1824–5). over the Bay of Uri. The landscape is sublime He also planned his own ventures, including but the view also had historical and political Ports of England which was never completed. significance, as it was here, according to This was to have been a successor to Views of tradition, that William Tell leapt from a boat to the Southern Coast depicting the east coast of escape imprisonment by Geissler. The event England. In 1826, however, Turner and Cooke is commemorated in the famous chapel which quarrelled over the terms of the agreement is below the cliffs seen on the left of the between artist and publisher and Turner watercolour. decided to go ahead with the project on his Turner had visited Switzerland in 1802 own. In practice Turner was too involved with and went again in 1836 but the visits that he artistic matters to act as his own publisher and made in the early 1840s produced his finest only four vignettes and six drawings were responses to the splendours of Alpine scenery. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 62

62 In August and September 1840 he passed depicted the High Light and Low Light at the through Switzerland on the way to and from tip of Orford Ness and placed them either side Venice and visited the country again in 1841. of a wrecked and dismasted brig. The In 1842 he produced a series of ten drawings lighthouses, symbols of man’s efforts to (watercolours) the first four of which were overcome the forces of nature, were mocked trial pieces or ‘specimens’ designed to act as by the waves crushing the broken ship and an encouragement for further commissions. threatening to engulf the skiffs that were These were worked up from his sketches attempting a rescue. The watercolour was produced on the spot in the previous year. considered a quintessential example from the Two of these ten were acquired by John Ruskin beginning of the last phase of his career and a and five by H A J Munro of Novar, who was vivid example of his ability to give dynamic another of Turner’s loyal collectors and who form to the forces of wind and wave. It was had been Turner’s travelling companion included in the Royal Academy’s 2000 during the 1836 Swiss tour. One of the Munro exhibition Turner: The Great Watercolours. acquisitions, now in New York, depicts a very The advisers singled out Lake Lucerne, similar view of Lake Lucerne but with a more Sunset, as a work of the very highest quality. tempestuous sky. Six more finished They noted that Turner’s late Swiss watercolours of Swiss subjects appeared in watercolours were generally considered not 1843 and in 1845 a further ten were only to constitute the peak of his achievement commissioned including this Lake Lucerne, in the medium, but also to be the greatest of all Sunset. Ruskin was again the patron of this watercolours and among the outstanding item, and of two others. He described it as, “a masterpieces of landscape in Western art. faint Lucerne with floating vapours, they and the The tonal ideas that Turner was pursuing in the mountains passing away”. Swiss watercolours were considered daring The expert advisers noted the significance and eccentric in their own day but anticipated of Turner as one of the greatest of British by many years the concerns of later artists. artists and his particular importance in the The Panel considered that the watercolours landscape tradition of English art. These three met the second and third criteria and that they watercolours illustrated different aspects of were in acceptable condition and, following his treatment of landscape, light and water. negotiation, that they were fairly valued. The Roman Forum demonstrated his ability to The Panel recommended that the offer should turn Hakewill’s amateur sketch, made with the be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary help of a camera obscura, and imaginatively of State, accepted this recommendation in rework it to project what Turner expected to June 2005. The offer was completed in find when he himself arrived in Italy. Since he November 2005. The acceptance of the three had no direct knowledge of the scene, the items could have settled tax of c.£650,000. handling of space is awkward but it was exactly The actual liability of the estate was this quality that made the work so fascinating. c.£420,000. Normally the gallery to which The invention of a wholly real and convincing the items are to be allocated is expected to Italy, from the hints provided by Hakewill, was make good the difference. Through the an impressive prelude to Turner’s artistic output goodwill of the executors of the estate this after he had reached Rome. requirement was waived. The generosity of the Orfordness was described by the expert estate in making possible the allocation of all advisers as a significant watercolour from a three Turner watercolours to the Whitworth Art project which was poorly represented in UK Gallery, Manchester is gratefully acknowledged. collections. It was noted how the artist had 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 63

20. Turner: Lake Lucerne, Sunset © The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester

20. Turner: Orfordness © The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 64

21 Collection of Early 19th Century Welsh and English Porcelain

64 In October 2004, MLA was advised of the offer of a group of early 19th century Welsh and English porcelain. The offer was made with a wish that the porcelain should be allocated to the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea. The collection included the following items.

1. Swansea

a. Circular plate in soft-paste (‘duck-egg’) porcelain, enamelled in the centre with a thistle, with a gilded border, decorated in London, c.1816–1825; 3.2 cm high x 23.3 cm diameter 21. Swansea cruciform-moulded dessert dish from the Burdett-Coutts service, decorated in London, b. Cabinet cup and saucer of French shape, c.1816–1825. Item 1c soft-paste porcelain, enamelled with bands of ﬂowers, and gilded, decoration attributed to David Evans, c.1816–1825; cup 10.5 cm high x 9.9 cm wide x 8.4 cm diameter; saucer 2.2 cm high x 14.4 cm diameter

c. Cruciform-moulded dessert dish from the Burdett-Coutts service, soft-paste (‘duck-egg’) porcelain, enamelled with a basket of ﬂowers, decorated in London, c.1816–1825; 3.8 cm high x 23.7 cm diameter

d. Tureen, cover and stand, soft-paste (‘duck-egg’) porcelain, enamelled with baskets of ﬂowers and sprays of pink roses, with gilded borders, cover with pine cone ﬁnial; decorated in London, c.1816–1825; tureen with cover 13.2 cm high x 18.8 cm wide x 16.5 cm diameter; stand 2.8 cm high x 19.9 cm diameter

21. Swansea cruciform dessert plate, decorated e. Tureen, cover and stand, soft-paste by Thomas Baxter, c.1816–1818. Item 1f (‘duck-egg’) porcelain, enamelled with wild ﬂowers in style of William Pollard, tureen with pedestal base and upturned square handles, with gilded borders, cover with pine cone ﬁnial; tureen with cover 13.5 cm high x 20 cm wide x 16.4 cm diameter; stand 2.8 cm high x 19.5 cm diameter 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 65

f. Cruciform dessert plate, soft-paste porcelain, Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816; 13.7 cm high x 65 enamelled with a group of shells, and gilded, 13.5 cm wide x 10.7 cm diameter decorated by Thomas Baxter, c.1816–1818; 3.1 cm high x 21.5 cm diameter c. Spill vase, soft-paste porcelain, enamelled with a dead canary, gilded; 16.5 cm high x g. Breakfast cup and saucer, soft-paste (‘duck- 13.4 cm wide x 10.6 cm diameter egg’) porcelain, enamelled with a blue hawk and chatterer on the cup and a heron on the saucer, d. Spill vase, soft-paste porcelain, enamelled gilded borders, decorated by Thomas Baxter, with a dead goldﬁnch, gilded, decorated by c.1816–1818; cup 7.1 cm high x 12.7 cm wide Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816; 16.4 cm high x x 11 cm diameter; saucer 2.7 cm high x 16.1cm 13 cm wide x 10.2 cm diameter diameter e. Plate, soft-paste porcelain, enamelled with h. Two circular plates in soft-paste (‘duck-egg’) a dead robin and a dead goldﬁnch, gilded, porcelain, from the Gosford Castle service, decorated by Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816; enamelled in the centre with thistles and 2.7 cm high x 22.1 cm diameter honeysuckle, with a gilded border, decorated in London c.1816–1825; 3 cm high x 23 cm f. Campana-shaped vase, soft-paste diameter porcelain, enamelled with a scene depicting ‘The Woodman’ from William Cowper’s poem The Task, and gilded, possibly decorated by 2. Barr Flight & Barr, Worcester Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816; 13.8 cm high x 13.9 cm wide x 10.8 cm diameter a. Campana-shaped vase, soft-paste porcelain, enamelled and gilded, possibly decorated by g. Campana-shaped vase, soft-paste porcelain, Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816; 13.6 cm high x enamelled with a scene depicting ‘Kate’ 13 cm wide x 10.5 cm diameter from William Cowper’s poem The Task, and gilded, possibly decorated by Thomas Baxter, b. Campana-shaped vase, soft-paste porcelain, c.1810–1816; 14 cm high x 13.6 cm wide x enamelled and gilded, possibly decorated by 10.7 cm diameter

21. Pair of Barr Flight & Barr, Worcester, Campana-shaped vases, possibly decorated by Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816. Items 2f and 2g 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 66

66 h. Cabinet cup and saucer, soft-paste porcelain, gilded, probably decorated by Humphrey enamelled with three classical ﬁgures, Chamberlain, c 1807–1811; cup 1 6.8 cm gilded, possibly decorated by Thomas Baxter, high x 10.1 cm wide x 8.3 cm diameter; cup 2 c.1810–1816; cup 7.9 cm high x 10 cm wide, 6.6 cm high x 10 cm wide x 8.2 cm diameter; 7.9 cm diameter; saucer 3.1 cm high x 13.1 cm saucer 2.2 cm high x 12.8 cm diameter diameter

i. Soft-paste porcelain plate, enamelled 5. Coalport with two drunken harvesters, gilded, probably decorated by Thomas Baxter, c.1810–1816; a. Pair of jardinières with flared sides and 2.6 cm high x 22.7 cm diameter moulded ring handles, with stands, hybrid hard-paste porcelain, enamelled with frieze of classical figures and gilded, decorated by 3. Grainger, Lee & Co., Worcester Thomas Baxter, 1801; jardinières 12.1 cm high x 17.5 cm wide x 16.2 cm diameter; stands a. Bone china vase of ovoid shape, enamelled 3.9 cm high x 15.2 cm diameter; inscription with a band of flowers, gilded borders, T. Baxter / 1801 decorated by David Evans, c.1825–1830; 20.8 cm high b. Plate, hybrid hard-paste porcelain, enamelled with a pear and cherries, and gilded, decorated by Thomas Baxter, 1809; 2.8 cm high x 4. Chamberlain’s, Worcester 23.8 cm diameter; unmarked; inscription TBaxter 1809 a. Pair of cabinet cups and one saucer, hybrid hard-paste porcelain, enamelled with scenes c. Tea cup, coffee can & saucer, hybrid hard- from Shakespeare’s Richard II and Othello, paste porcelain, enamelled with landscapes,

21. Pair of Coalport jardinières decorated by Thomas Baxter, 1801. Item 5a 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 67

shells, flowers and a bird, and gilded, decorated Coalport jardinières (Item 5a) and the Swansea 67 by Thomas Pardoe, Bristol, 1812; cup 5.9 cm dessert plate (Item 1f) which was considered high x 10.1 cm wide x 8.1 cm diameter; can to be one of finest of Baxter’s works on 6.2 cm high x 9 cm wide x 6.9 cm diameter; Swansea. It was noted also that the collection saucer: 2.8 cm high x 13 cm diameter; was widely illustrated in the standard unmarked; inscription (saucer) T. Pardoe Bath monograph on Baxter’s Swansea period. St. Bristol, 1812 The Panel considered that the collection met the third criterion, that the items were in acceptable condition and that they were fairly 6. English valued. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved and the Welsh Minister a. Porcelain plaque, enamelled with a portrait accepted this recommendation in July 2005. of Charles Francis Bone, decorated by The offer was completed in November 2005. Thomas Baxter, 1802, unmarked, inscription The items have been allocated to the National Charles Francis Bone / Born March 11th. 1787 Museums and Galleries of Wales, and the Glynn / Died July 2d. 1802 / Painted by Thos. Baxter Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, in accordance with Oct. 1802 / from a picture by H. P Bone the wishes of the Offeror. The acceptance of this offer satisfied £38,500 of tax. The collection contains 15 items decorated by or attributed to Thomas Baxter (1782–1821). Although he was born in Worcester, he received his first training in London where his father had workshops for painting and gilding china. He attended the Royal Academy Schools from the age of 19 and exhibited at the Academy from 1802 to 1821. His painting on porcelain included figures from the works of Reynolds, Benjamin West and other well-known artists. In 1814 he established a school of porcelain painting in London but on account of his poor health left for Swansea in 1816. In 1819 he returned to Worcester and was employed by Flight and Barr and later at the Chamberlain factory. He also established a china painting school in the town where many of the leading painters of the next generation were trained and which set the pattern for much of the later porcelain painting at Worcester. Other Swansea items, while not decorated by Baxter, are from important commissions such as the Burdett-Coutts and Gosford Castle services. The expert advisers noted the outstanding quality of the collection, singling out the plate from the Gosford Castle service (Item 1h) and the items by Thomas Baxter, particularly the 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 68

22. Kandinsky: Wanderschleier, signed and dated ‘VK 30’ (lower left), numbered, titled and dated on the reverse ‘No 396, Wanderschlier/voiles errantes, 1930’ watercolour, Indian ink and Spritztechnik on paper 52.7 x 69.2 cm 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 69

22 Collection of 19th and 20th century Paintings Drawings and Prints

In November 2004, MLA was advised of the Four), which included Paul Klee and Feininger. 69 offer of a group of paintings, watercolours and Kandinsky’s Wanderschleier (Moving Veils), prints by British and Continental artists of the watercolour and Indian ink, dates from 1930 late 19th and 20th centuries. The offer was when he was still teaching at the Bauhaus. made with a condition that the collection should It was formerly in the collection of the Solomon be allocated to the Ashmolean Museum, R Guggenheim Museum, New York. Paul Klee’s Oxford. The collection included works by: Sybillen, dated and numbered ‘1908 43’, watercolour and pencil on paper, is a relatively Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) early work from his period in Munich to which Tim Golding (b.1945) he had moved in 1906 from his native Atkinson Grimshaw (1836–1893) Switzerland. László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian Constantine Guys (1805–1892) by birth, took over the running of the preliminary Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988) course at the Bauhaus when he joined in 1923. Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) Jonny spielt auf, watercolour, pen, ink and pencil Paul Klee (1879–1940) heightened with white, was produced by Albert Marquet (1875–1947) Moholy-Nagy in 1928, the year that he left the André Mason (1896–1987) Bauhaus. It takes its title, ’Jonny strikes up’, Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) from the jazz inspired opera of Ernst Krenek,˘ László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) which had been premiered the year before in Emile Nolde (1867–1956) Leipzig. The opera tells the story of a jazz-band Paul Sérusier (1864–1927) leader who steals a violin and inspires the world Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957) to dance the Charleston. Although Emile Nolde was never part of the Bauhaus movement, The collection was formed by a notable his watercolour of the 1920s, Segelboot, India philanthropist, Sir James Colyer-Ferguson, ink and watercolour on paper, provides another who had studied at Oxford and established a example of German art in the inter-war period. charitable trust for preserving country churches This important Expressionist artist, who worked and promoting musical and academic in watercolours throughout his career, is excellence. unrepresented in this medium in any UK A particular feature of the collection on offer public gallery. is its emphasis on internationally important The group of works by French artists includes artists who were working in Germany during a fine oil by Paul Sérusier who had worked the first part of the 20th century and who were with Gaugin at Pont Aven in the late 1880s. connected with the Bauhaus. Feininger, whose His Bretonne au champ de blé, oil on canvas, in 1922 pen, ink and watercolour work, the simplified style of the School of Pont Aven, Mönchroda, is included in the group, had been dates from 1900 and depicts a Breton girl in one of the first artists invited by Walter Gropius traditional costume in her native landscape. in 1919 to join the Bauhaus in Weimar. There The oil by Albert Marquet, dating from 1921, he taught drawing and painting. Kandinsky had demonstrates the more subdued tonality of his been born in Moscow but moved to Germany work following his period as a Fauve artist in the in 1896. Although he returned to Russia during first decade of the 20th century . World War I, he moved back to Germany in The most significant of the non-Continental 1921 and in the following year took up a works is the late oil by Jack Yeats, the younger professorship at the Bauhaus. In Weimar he brother of the poet, W B Yeats. Grafter’s Glory, founded the group, Die Blauen Vier (The Blue dating from 1954 is a fine example of the thick impasto and rich brushwork that marks the 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 70

70 mature work of one of the ﬁnest Irish painters British collector covering a variety of styles of the 20th century. and national schools. The expert advisers considered the collection The Panel considered that the collection to be of signiﬁcance because it contained a met the third criterion, that the items were in number of works by artists who were, in acceptable condition and that they were fairly general, poorly represented in UK collections valued. The Panel recommended that the and who were otherwise unrepresented in the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of collection of the Ashmolean. The museum had the Secretary of State, accepted this no other works by Klee, Feininger, Moholy- recommendation in July 2005. The offer was Nagy, Sérusier, Mason and Grimshaw. They also completed in September 2005. The items noted that Bauhaus artists are very poorly have been permanently allocated to the represented in the UK. The offer included the Ashmolean Museum in accordance with the only early Klee drawing in the UK and the only condition of the Offerors. The acceptance of Feininger work from his Bauhaus period. They this offer settled £356,300 of tax. also noted that the collection was important as representing the advanced taste of a major

22. Feininger: Mönchroda, signed ‘Feininger’, lower left, dated ‘6 Dec 1922’, lower left, pen, ink and watercolour on paper, 26 x 32.0. cm 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 71

23 John Everett Millais: Twins

In April 2005, MLA was informed of the offer 71 of a double portrait, Twins, by Sir John Everett Millais, oil on canvas, 153.5 x 113.7 cm, signed with monogram and dated 1876, lower left. The painting was offered with a condition that it should be allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. John Everett Millais (1829–1896) was the youngest student ever admitted to the Royal Academy Schools, enrolling when he was 11. In 1848, along with Holman Hunt and Rossetti, he founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His adherence to the method of meticulous and brilliantly coloured painting and often recondite subject matter that were characteristic of the Brotherhood in the early 1850s was tempered by the need to support a family and in the 1860s he took up a more fluid and broader manner of painting. Millais became the foremost British portraitist in the 1870s and 1880s and was not only accomplished in his likenesses of the great and the good, such as Disraeli, Gladstone and John Henry Newman (all in the National Portrait Gallery) but also skilled in depicting the charm of childhood. As the leading society painter of the day he was frequently asked to paint the daughters of the patrons who could afford his very considerable fees. In 1868 he had produced a triple portrait of three of his own young daughters and in 1872, another triple portrait of the three daughters of Walter Armstrong (Hearts are Trumps, Tate). Twins depicts Kate Edith Hoare (1856–1948) and Grace Maud Hoare (1856–1946), two of the fourteen children of Thomas Rolls Hoare, who was a partner in the firm of Noble and Hoare, manufactures of paint and varnish. Over a decade earlier in 1864, Lily Noble, the daughter of Hoare’s business partner, John Noble, had been the subject of one of Millais’s finest child portraits and this may have been the reason why Thomas Hoare commissioned Millais to paint his twin daughters for their twentieth birthday in 1876. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:52 PM Page 72

72 The commission cost the enormous sum of featuring on the exhibition poster and as the 1,500 guineas (£1,575) a figure which in cover image for the catalogue. today’s prices is in the region of £125,000. The Panel considered that the portrait met The painting was exhibited in 1878 at the the second and third criteria, that it was in Grosvenor Gallery where it was much admired. acceptable condition and that it was fairly The Daily Telegraph of 1 May 1878 wrote valued. The Panel recommended that the “In ‘Twins: The Daughters of T.R. Hoare, Esq.,’ offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf Mr. Millais has produced a pair of really superb of the Secretary of State, accepted this portraits. The two young girls in their identical recommendation in August 2005. The offer costumes of black and gold; the hats, the was completed in the following month. The flowers, the gloves, the dog-whip held in one of painting has been permanently allocated to the the sisters’ hands, are all rendered with that Fitzwilliam Museum in accordance with the consummate truthfulness in which Mr. Millais wishes of the Offeror. has scarcely any compeer. The dog is especially The offer came from the estate of Mrs Jean good –as, indeed, Mr. Millais’s dogs usually are. Wynne, the granddaughter of Grace Hoare, But the triumph of the painter is the attitude of the figure on the right of the painting. The the young ladies’ heads. They are facially, of acceptance of the painting could have settled course, wonderfully alike; yet the rare skill of the considerably more that the actual tax liability painter has succeeded in giving to each twin a of £595,568. Normally the gallery to which marked and distinctive individuality….” the painting is to be allocated is expected to In 1885, Millais approached the Hoare make good the difference. The executors most family to borrow the painting for a major generously waived this requirement in order to exhibition of his work, again at the Grosvenor ensure that the painting entered the collection Gallery, to be held in the following year. Millais of the Fitzwilliam Museum, which was the wrote “I hope you will oblige me by allowing specific intention of Mrs Wynne. The generosity your daughters portraits to be exhibited at the of the executors is gratefully acknowledged. Grosvenor. You have had an application and it is very necessary to see all my best & the one you have I consider is in that category – you should insure it for 2,000 £ at least & it will be taken the greatest care of. I have 125 promised & I count on that one.” The expert advisers described this painting as one of the finest of Millais’s portraits and certainly the finest from the 1870s. It was among the truly outstanding portraits by one of the most significant artists of the Victorian period. They noted that Millais was usually at his best when he responded visually to vivacious pretty girls and in Twins he had excelled himself “in stereo”. The portrait was much admired when it was first exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878 and was equally popular when it was exhibited in 1999 as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Millais Portraits exhibition, 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 73

23. Millais: Twins © The Fitzwilliam Museum 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 74

24 Two pieces of English silver

74 In November 2004, MLA was informed of the offer of two pieces of English silver. They were offered with a condition that they should be allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

1. A Charles II silver chinoiserie mug, maker’s mark of George Garthorne, London, 1683. The mug is modelled on a German stoneware form with a bombé body and reeded cylindrical neck on a moulded rim foot and fluted scroll handle. The body is flat-chased with a mandarin and two warriors standing within exotic flowering plants. The underside is engraved “A:H”, scratch weight 7:1:0, height 8.7cm

2. A pair of George III silver-gilt salt cellars, maker’s mark of Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith, London 1805/06, circular on three paw feet surmounted by sphinxes, raised on tri-form bases with Greek key pattern borders and supported on ball feet, the everted rims applied with a band of anthemion, the bases engraved with a crest and a cipher. Marked under bases and bowls. Diameter 9.5 cm, weight 1,017 gr. (32 ozs.)

24. A Charles II silver chinoiserie mug, maker’s The taste for oriental motifs and forms became mark of George Garthorne, London, 1683. brieﬂy popular in English silver in the 1680s © Victoria and Albert Museum as a result of the increase in European trade with China. Although examples of chinoiserie silver are dated from 1679 to 1697, the majority fall into the years 1680–85 and are of London origin. A series of engravings of the Dutch embassy to Peking, published in 1669, popularised Chinese themes and motifs were also taken from Chinese porcelain, Indian cottons and Oriental lacquer work. Examples of Chinese silver were also known at this time but they are generally cast work and bear little relation to the chasing that is characteristic of English chinoiserie silver. While the motifs on this silver item are clearly of Chinese inspiration, they are applied to a mug, the form of which owes its origin to a common pottery type – the gorge, a squat globular mug with a cylindrical neck. Normally, a silver item was adapted by a 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 75

potter and not, as in this case, the other way Germany in the 16th century to high style silver 75 round. The form of the gorge mug was of late 17th century England. developed in the German Rhineland c.1500 They noted the outstanding quality of the and it was widely exported and copied in salt-cellars and their close similarity to the England in earthenware, glass and later in surviving designs of Boileau who was credited porcelain as well as local stoneware. with introducing the Egyptian style to Britain. The silver-gilt salt cellars are closely related They noted that between 1802 and 1807 in design to the silver-gilt tea-urn which was Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith ran the accepted in lieu in 2003 (cf. Report 2003/04, Greenwich workshop of Rundells and that Case 12, p 34–35). Both the tea-urn and this these salts must have been made for and pair of salts are now recognised as being based retailed by the latter. The advisers pointed out on the designs of Jean-Jacques Boileau. that the Regency style in silver was not well Although no documentation has come to light represented in the national collections. it seems most likely that Boileau was working The Panel considered that the two items both in the ﬁrst decade of the 19th century for the met the third criterion, that they were in leading London silver retailer Rundell, Bridge acceptable condition and, following negotiation, and Rundell. Throughout this period, this ﬁrm agreed that they were fairly valued. The Panel was providing silver for George, Prince of recommended that the offer should be Wales, including the Grand Service. This approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of included a number of pieces in the Egyptian State, accepted this recommendation in June style which had become fashionable as a result 2005. The offer was completed in August of such publications as Percier and Fontaine’s 2005. The items have been allocated to the Recueil de décorations intérieures of 1801 and Victoria and Albert Museum in accordance with Vivant Denon’s Voyage dans la Basse et la the condition of the Offerors. The acceptance Haute Egypte of 1802. The Grand Service of this offer settled £22,127 of tax. includes 36 salts which are also on claw feet below Egyptian sphinx heads. The expert advisers considered that the silver chinoiserie mug was of importance for study, demonstrating the unusual transmission of a peasant design in pottery which originated in

24. A pair of George III silver-gilt salt cellars, maker’s mark of Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith, London 1805/6. © Victoria and Albert Museum 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 76

25 JMW Turner: Naples from the Mole

76 In November 2004, MLA was informed In early 1818 Turner produced two of the offer of a watercolour by JMW Turner watercolours of the Roman Forum. One, now (1775–1851), Naples from the Mole, signed in the National Gallery of Canada, shows the ‘JMW Turner RA’, lower left, pencil and three columns of the Temple of Castor and watercolour and scratching out, 140 x 213 mm. Pollux in the left foreground and looks towards This watercolour is part of the same series as the Tabularium and tower of the Palazzo dei The Roman Forum, which was also accepted in Senatori. The other, the AIL item, looks down lieu this year (cf. Case 20, page 61–63). Naples from the tower towards the Colosseum in the from the Mole was offered with a wish that it left middle-distance. should be allocated to the National Museums, Although Turner had set out for Italy during Liverpool to which the watercolour was already the Peace of Amiens in 1802, he had on loan at the Walker Art Gallery. proceeded no further than the Alpine towns The watercolour is based on a pencil drawing of Aosta and Courmayeur. It was in large part by James Hakewill (1778–1843). He was due to these watercolours of Italian scenes an architect by training and entered the Royal based on Hakewill’s drawings that he became Academy Schools in 1807 where he was a convinced that he must return. In 1819, aged regular exhibitor. In 1816–17 he travelled to 44 and by then a well established artist, he Italy producing over 300 pencil sketches of made his first extensive visit to Italy consciously topographical views and buildings. Most of visiting the sites he had depicted on the basis these original drawings are now in the Library of Hakewill’s drawings and making his own of the British School at Rome. sketches of the views. Hakewill’s Italian drawings were to prove During the same 1819 Italian tour, he the impetus for his publication Picturesque ventured south of Rome to Naples and visited Tour of Italy. This was to be published by John and sketched the city and the surrounding area Murray in 1820, two years after Turner had using three small sketchbooks and a large produced the watercolours. Murray’s London sketchbook which included watercolour studies. publishing house had already been involved The Naples watercolour was one of several with Turner in publishing the first eleven parts of works by Turner which were acquired by Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of Robert Durning Holt in 1866. He was to England. become Lord Mayor of Liverpool in 1892–03. The Tour of Italy volumes contained 63 plates, George Holt, his brother, founded the Liverpool of which 36 were topographical views. Hakewill shipping line Lamport & Holt, which pioneered commissioned seven other artists as well as the city’s trade with Brazil. He also assembled Turner to provide the watercolours on which a notable art collection in his home, Sudley the engravings were to be based. John Murray, House, which, together with the collection, was however, would not agree to Hakewill’s bequeathed by his daughter Emma to the City grandiose plan and only agreed to a project half of Liverpool in 1944. Sudley House is today the size of that he had envisaged. In addition, part of the National Museums, Liverpool and Murray would accept only Turner as illustrator, displays the Holt family collection alongside paying the exceptional price of 20 guineas other works from the Walker Art Gallery. (£21) for each watercolour. Turner used The expert advisers considered Naples from Hakewill’s pencil sketches to provide views the Mole to be one of the finer examples from of scenes he had never as yet visited. The the Hakewill series and a prime example of the engravings for the publication were made from practice followed by professional British artists Turner’s watercolours by George Cooke, John of the period of making finished works based Pye and his father-in-law, Samuel Middiman. on drawings by amateur draughtsmen. As part 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 77

25. JMW Turner: Naples from the Mole

of the series that represents Turner’s ﬁrst recommendation in May 2005. The offer foray into Italian topography it was considered was completed in September 2005. The to be crucial to an understanding of the artist. watercolour was permanently allocated to the It was noted that although Turner had not as National Museum, Liverpool, in accordance yet visited Italy he was familiar with it through with the wishes of the Offeror in March 2006. his admiration of Claude’s landscapes, his The acceptance of this offer settled £105,000 study of prints and from copying the works of of tax. John Robert Cozens in the 1790s. The majority of Turner’s Hakewill watercolours remained untraced or in private hands. Only four were in public collections and two of these were in North America. The watercolour was in ﬁne condition with little or no fading. The Panel considered that the watercolour met the third criterion and that it was in acceptable condition. The original offer price was thought to be an under-valuation and the Panel agreed that it would recommend a price £20,000 higher than that which had been proposed. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted this 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 78

26 A William and Mary Silver Toilet Set

78 A pair of two-handled bowls and covers, fully marked,12.7 cm diameter, 18.4 cm wide over the handles; A rectangular pin cushion, on cast dolphin feet, fully marked, 15.9 cm wide; An oblong brush engraved with a coat of arms; A large rectangular casket, on cast dolphin feet, fully marked, 24.8 cm wide.

The taste for elaborate silver is linked to the patronage and court of Louis XIV and the grand architectural programmes with which he is associated. The French taste became popular in England with the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II and continental inﬂuence increased with the inﬂux of continental craftsmen to London as a result of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The ascent of William III to the throne in 1688 gave additional impetus to the spread of European taste in England. Silver furniture, such as the Charles II mirror, table and candlesticks which survive in the King’s Bedroom at Knole, Kent and the silver table and mirror of 1699 26. Mirror from William and Mary Toilet Set by Andrew Moore in the Royal Collection, marks the apogee of the use of silver as a public symbol of power and wealth in the late In December 2004, MLA was informed of the 17th century. The toilet service is, however, a offer of a William and Mary fourteen-piece silver more intimate manifestation of the same theme. toilet service, with the maker’s mark of Isaac The morning toilette for a woman of wealth Dighton, 1699, on four of the pieces, with was not so much a private matter but rather a gadrooned and wriggle-pattern borders, each semi-ritualised act, setting the tenor for the day engraved with the arms of Sir Edward Acton Bt and beginning the process of ordering the and Mary Walter in an oval cartouche. The household over which the chatelaine held service was offered with a wish that it should be sway. It was the court leveé writ small within allocated to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. the bounds of the aristocratic house. As such The set comprises: it required its proper ornaments and the silver toilet service, a collection of matching A rectangular toilet mirror, 71.1 x 43.2 cm; implements for display and use during dressing, A pair of cylindrical scent bottles, 15.2 cm high; reinforced the social standing of those who A pair of small baluster-shaped cosmetics pots, used them. maker’s mark only, 10.2 cm high; It was fashionable from the second half of A pair of circular cylindrical boxes and covers, the 17th century to the late 18th century for the fully marked, 12.1 cm diameter; groom to give a toilet service to his bride as a Another pair similar, smaller, fully marked, wedding present. The service under 7.6 cm diameter; consideration bears the arms of Sir Edward 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 79

26. Bottles, 79 boxes, brush casket, pin cushion and pots from William and Mary Toilet Set

Acton, 3rd Baronet, and his wife Mary. It was 17th and early 18th centuries. Most such sets made in 1699 by the native English silversmith had either been melted down or split up and Isaac Dighton (active 1673–1707) and no more than 25 complete or substantially represents the strength and restraint of English complete services were thought to survive. The design and craftsmanship in comparison with Acton service was regarded as a remarkably the High Baroque extravagance of the French complete and rare survival of a service by an and Dutch which was increasingly fashionable English goldsmith of the 1690s. The unifying in England at this time. Dighton was one of motif of the spiral gadrooning of the borders the signatories of the petition submitted to the was typical of this period but later came to be Goldsmiths’ Company which protested against regarded as old-fashioned when the more the acceptance of foreigners’ work at the Hall sophisticated French styles of the Huguenot and tried to resist the introduction of “several goldsmiths gained acceptance. The silversmith Frenchmen” into the Company. Isaac Dighton was a well-known craftsman of Whereas most silver in any household was the period but was better known for his the property of the man and passed down the monteiths and this was the only complete toilet line from father to son, a toilet service was the service by him known to have survived. property of the wife and was bequeathed to The Panel considered that the toilet service the daughters of the family. This often led to met the second and third criteria, that it was in the breaking up of such sets, which were split acceptable condition and, following negotiation, between the female siblings and seldom that it was fairly valued. The Panel remained intact. By the early 20th century recommended that the offer should be this service had entered the collection of the approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of Guinness family who loaned it to the great State, accepted this recommendation in April 1929 exhibition of English silver held at 29 2005. The offer was completed in July 2005. Park Lane, the home of Sir Philip Sassoon. The toilet service was permanently allocated The expert advisers noted that the service to the Ashmolean Museum in December 2005 was in very ﬁne condition and was a rare in accordance with the wishes of the Offeror. intact example of one of the grandest types of The acceptance of this offer settled £148,013 plate made for aristocratic patrons in the late of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 80

27 The Scottish National Covenant of 1638

80 In December 2004, MLA was advised of the to introduce a measure of Anglicanism into offer of two versions of the Scottish National Scottish religious life, his son, Charles I, was Covent of 1638. The items were offered with determined that the single monarchy that ruled a wish that they should be allocated to the England and Scotland should set the pattern National Library of Scotland where they had for a uniﬁed church on both sides of the border. been on loan for many years. The details of The Kirk would have to be brought into line. the two items are as follows: This would require a new prayer book, which was introduced at the principal church in 1. The National Covenant of 1638. Scotland, St Giles, Edinburgh, on 23 July 1637. The Confession of Faith, subscribed at first by The Scots, however, viewed the new liturgy the Kings majestie and his household. being imposed upon them as little less than an [Edinburgh: 1638]. Printed on vellum in two attempt to reintroduce popery and the outcome columns, with a decorated border, on two was the interruption of the service and an membranes, approximately 37 x 49 cm and ensuing riot. What started as spontaneous 37 x 53 cm, a third membrane, 37 x 14 cm, objection soon developed into organised originally attached, for signatures (membranes opposition and in 1638 this was uniﬁed around now detached), signature of ‘J Coupar’ across the text of the National Covenant. joins of sheets; subscribed with 102 signatures, The Covenant incorporated the Scottish including 13 nobles (Rothess, Montrose, Confession of Faith of 1581 and detailed the Eglintoun, Cassellis, Lennox, Wemyss, Lothian, Acts of the Scottish Parliament that had Lindesay, Dalhousie, Yester, Elcho, Johnstoun established the Calvinist religion and the liberty and Kircudbright). of the Kirk. It pledged all who signed it to “labour by all means lawful to recover the purity and 2. The National Covenant of 1638. liberty of the Gospel as it was established and Manuscript transcription “Wryttin be Patrick professed”. It also stated that Charles’s reforms Garroch wrytter in Wigtoune”, n.d. [1638], “do sensibly tend to the re-establishment of the subscribed with 355 signatures, none noble, of Popish religion and tyranny, and to the which all but 50 notarial, the majority signed in subversion and ruin of the true reformed religion, the parish of Minnigaff, Glasgow Determination and of our liberties, laws and estates”. on verso, subscribed with 12 signatures, on Effectively, the Scots were rebelling against vellum, one membrane, approximately their king and over the next three years, 71 x 69 cm. Charles’s attempts to quell his subjects by force were unsuccessful. In the end, the The Scottish National Covenant of 1638 was King had to recall the English Parliament, the result of the misguided attempts of the setting in motion the chain of events that led to Stuart monarchy to bring about uniformity of the English Civil War. religious worship in both England and Scotland. The expert advisers noted the fundamental The Scottish Reformation of the mid 16th importance of the Covenant in the context of century had been quite different from the 17th century Scottish history and politics. The English pattern established by Henry VIII and version on vellum was considered to have been Elizabeth I. In Scotland a Calvinist church had printed, probably in Glasgow, by George been established which did away both with Anderson, who was heavily involved in the bishops and with the monarch as head of the Covenanting movement. The manuscript copy, church and its Supreme Governor. Whereas although one of many known versions, was James VI & I had proceeded cautiously in trying of fundamental importance to the history of Kircudbrightshire. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 81

The Panel considered that the documents recommendation in September 2005. The offer 81 met the ﬁrst and third criterion, that they were in was completed in December 2005. The items acceptable condition and that they were fairly have been temporarily allocated to the National valued. The Panel recommended that the offer Library of Scotland pending a decision on should be approved. The Scottish Minister for permanent allocation. The acceptance of this Tourism, Culture and Sport accepted this offer settled £91,000 of tax.

27. The National Covenant of 1638: the first of the three pages of this very rare printed version of the Covenant 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 82

28 Ten Sculptures by Barbara Hepworth

82 In December 2004, MLA was informed of the offer of ten sculptures by the late Dame Barbara Hepworth. The items were offered with a condition that they should be allocated to Tate for display at the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Museum, St Ives, and at Tate St Ives where eight of the items had been on long-term loan since 1980. The ten items, in chronological order, are as follows:

1. Landscape Sculpture, 1944, broadleaf elm and strings, 27 x 65.4 x 27 cm, on veneered base

2. Apollo, 1951, painted steel rod, 154 x 105 x 86 cm, set in concrete base

3. Image, 1951–2, Hoptonwood stone, 150 x 28. Barbara Hepworth: Stone Sculpture 33.5 x 34 cm, on a concrete base (Fugue II), 1956 © Hepworth Trustees/Tate 4. & 5. Maquette for the ‘Unknown Political Prisoner’, 1953, two of three pieces, wood, 50.8 cm high (each)

6. Stone Sculpture (Fugue II), 1956, Limestone, 123 x 46 x 38 cm, on granite base

7. Corymb, 1959 (Cast 1/9), Bronze, 26.5 x 34.2 x 24.2 cm, on bronze base

8. River Form, 1965, cast 1973 (Cast 0/3), Bronze, 79 x 193 x 85 cm, on bronze base

9. Spring, 1965, cast 1966 (Cast 0/6), Bronze with strings, 75.5 x 57 x 52 cm, on bronze base

10. Shaft and Circle, 1972, cast 1973, (Cast 0/9), bronze, 114.3 x 29 x 15 cm, on bronze base.

Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), was born in Wakeﬁeld, only a few miles from the other great British 20th century sculptor, Henry Moore. They both trained at the Leeds School of Art 28. Barbara Hepworth: Shaft and Circle, 1972 and then the Royal College of Art, London. © Hepworth Trustees/Tate Her artistic genius was soon recognised and 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 83

she built up an influential circle of admirers. Landscape Sculpture is carved from Cornish 83 In the 1930s she simplified her sculptural forms elm. The main form is pierced by holes at each and introduced the void into the language of end and between and across these voids are sculptural abstraction. The commitment to nine strings which almost give the appearance abstraction brought Hepworth to the forefront of pulling the elm into a curved form. Hepworth of modern art and she and her partner, Ben said of her stringed works, “The strings were Nicholson, were part of the international avant- the tension I felt between myself and the sea, garde. She married Nicholson in late 1938 and the wind on the hills.” In 1961 Hepworth cast within a year they and their family moved out of the sculpture in bronze in an edition of seven. London to St Ives where she remained for the She sold the original work after completion rest of her life. All the sculptures being offered but bought it back towards the end of her life. date from the artist’s time in Cornwall. The local Apollo was created in 1951 for a production landscape was to have a profound influence on of Sophocles’ Electra which was staged at the Hepworth’s work which began to turn away Old Vic and starred Peggy Ashcroft. from austere abstraction and make reference The sculpture was produced by Denis Mitchell to the landscape forms. Her recurrent themes from Hepworth’s bent wire maquette. Although were the exploration of the patterns of nature Apollo is not a character in the play, his and man’s relations both with his environment presence is a recurrent theme and he is and his fellows. specifically invoked by Electra in the This group of items covers almost the penultimate scene prior to the murder of complete period of Hepworth’s time in St Ives. Clytemnestra by Orestes. This was the first use

84 of steel rods in Hepworth’s sculpture and she River Form was originally carved in American returned to the medium only once more, a few walnut in 1965 and demonstrates Hepworth’s months later. abiding concern with relating the exterior and Image represents one of the most interior of forms. The original wood sculpture characteristic shapes of the artist’s sculpture began to split soon after completion and and one that appeared in her works from the this may have been part of the impetus to have 1930s until near the end of her life. She related the work cast in bronze in an edition of 3+0, the image to the single figure standing in the i.e. three cast for sale and a further unnumbered landscape and explained it as a synthesis of a version retained by the artist. The bronze has a particular quality of landscape. When the work very smooth exterior to reflect the polished was exhibited in Holland Park, London, in 1954, surface of the original wood. Hepworth wrote in the catalogue, “The forms Spring is also a bronze cast from an elm and piercings, the weight and poise of the carving of 1965, Oval Form with Strings and sculpture…become evocative – a fusion of Colour, and the cast retains the tapering form human form and myth.” of the original bowl of wood. The interior of the In late 1952 the Institute of Contemporary wood original was painted blue which in the Arts launched a competition to create a cast becomes a blue-green patination. The sculpture to commemorate the Unknown stringing repeats that of the 1965 carving. Political Prisoner. The competition created Shaft and Circle, which was made in 1972, enormous interest and there were entries from demonstrates Hepworth’s interest late in her all over the Western world, 500 coming from career in reflective surfaces. The whole Britain alone. Hepworth won the second prize, sculpture is highly polished. Again the work is a the first going to Reg Butler. The maquette cast from an original, this time in Irish marble. for her competition entry was divided up by the The expert advisers noted that Hepworth was artist who gave one of the three elements to undoubtedly one of the greatest British artists a friend. of the 20th century. Her reputation had, if The rhythmical qualities of Stone Sculpture anything, increased in the years since her death (Fugue II) are suggested in its subtitle. and had been affirmed by the various centenary The repeated oval forms and voids suggest exhibitions in 2003/04. The sculptures both the musical structure of the repeated and jointly and severally were felt to be of especial harmonised form of a fugue. Hepworth was importance and had added significance from photographed by Bill Brandt carving the their long association with the artist’s home and work in 1956 and the photographs show the sculpture garden in St Ives. sculptor’s method of using a point chisel to The Panel considered that the sculptures bite into the stone along parallel lines. Hodin’s met all four of the criteria, that they were in 1961 catalogue raisonné used one of these acceptable condition and overall were fairly photographs as the frontispiece. valued. The Panel recommended that the In the mid-1950s Hepworth began using offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf plaster as the basis for casts in bronze. of the Secretary of State, accepted this An expanded aluminium sheet was cut and recommendation in May 2005. The offer was bent to shape and then plaster was applied completed in October 2005. The sculptures which was subsequently carved and cut. were permanently allocated to Tate for display Corymb was created in this way. The title of at the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Museum, the sculpture is taken from a botanical term for St Ives, in accordance with the condition of the a type of flower cluster. Offeror. The acceptance of this offer settled £1,611,888 of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 85

29 Chattels from Chirk Castle

86 In February 2005 MLA was informed of the offer of a group of mixed chattels from Chirk Castle, near Wrexham. The chattels consisted of a group of six portraits, three Venetian 19th century pier-mirrors, a group of French furniture, including a Régence Boulle bracket clock and Régence firescreen, a 19th century bureau –plat, an Aubusson carpet and an ormolu jardinière. The English furniture included an 18th century oak chest and a mahogany sideboard. Two sets of ceramics comprised a pair of large Chinese cloisonné vases and an early 19th century Spode pearlware dessert service. Chirk is one of the string of castles built during the reign of Edward I in the late 13th century to secure English control of the Welsh Marches. It is the only one that is still inhabited. In 1282 the lordship of Chirk had 29. English School, late 17th century Portrait of been granted to Roger Mortimer Edward Liddell. His granddaughter, Mary, married (c.1256–1326) a captain of the king’s army in John Myddleton in 1724 the Welsh war of 1282. The castle, which was begun c.1295, was built on a rectangular plan with projecting drum towers at each corner and a middle tower on the north side. Mortimer, who was appointed Justice for Wales by Edward II in 1308, enjoyed considerable power until 1322 when he fell out with the King and was sent to the Tower of London where he died in 1326. Today the castle retains its fierce defensive exterior, only slightly modified by the insertion of mullioned windows into the exterior wall. The ownership passed through various hands in the centuries following its construction until Thomas Myddelton (1550–1631), an Elizabethan Merchant Adventurer and founder of the East India Company, bought Chirk in 1595. Its interior was extensively modified in the 18th and 19th centuries to convert it into a comfortable country residence. In 1978 when the property was threatened with sale, the castle and 468 acres of gardens and parkland were acquired through the National Land Fund by the Secretary of State for Wales. These, but not the contents of the castle, came into the ownership of the National Trust in 1981. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 87

A major group of chattels was accepted in association with a particular historic setting, 87 lieu and allocated to Chirk in 1997. i.e. Chirk Castle, that they were in acceptable The portraits include images of two of condition and were fairly valued. The Panel Charles II’s mistresses, Barbara Villiers, recommended that the offer should be Duchess of Cleveland, and Louise de approved. The Minister for Culture, Welsh Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Myddelton’s Language and Sport accepted this son, another Sir Thomas Myddelton recommendation in September 2005. (1586–1666), although at one time a general The offer was completed in February 2006. on the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, The items have been permanently allocated had by the 1650s developed Royalist to the National Trust for display at Chirk. sympathies. As a result, Chirk was severely The acceptance of this offer settled £117,314 damaged by parliamentary troops in 1659, of tax. following the Cheshire Rising which proclaimed Charles II King in Wrexham market place. At the Restoration, Sir Thomas was offered a 29. A Régence peerage by the King but declined the honour. Boulle clock and It is not surprising therefore that the family’s bracket allegiance to the new monarch should be reﬂected in the royal portraits that decorate the house. Another of the portraits may depict Charlotte Bridgeman, who was the second wife of Sir Thomas Myddelton, 2nd Baronet (1651–1684). Two other portraits depict ancestors of Mary Liddle who married John Myddelton in 1724. The Boulle clock and bracket is signed Charles Balthazar A Paris and dates to the beginning of the 18th century. It is located in the State Dining Room. Other items of French furniture are in the Saloon (a 19th century hexagonal ormolu plant stand) and in the Drawing Room (an Aubusson carpet c.1840 and a 19th century ormolu-mounted table in the Louis XV style). The expert adviser considered that all of the material was closely connected with Chirk and played an important role in the furnishing of the castle and in understanding the people who had lived there. The early inventories of the contents of the castle were examined as were the earliest photographs of Chirk’s interiors in order to trace, where possible, the history of each piece and the varying locations of the items during the last 200 years. The Panel considered that the chattels were pre-eminent under the fourth criterion, close 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 88

30 CR Ashbee: Two Peacock Pendant Brooches

88 In February 2005 MLA was informed of the Guild moved to Chipping Campden where offer of two peacock pendant brooches by work continued until its closure in 1908. Charles Robert Ashbee (1863–1942). Courted by Josef Hoffmann of the Wiener The details of the items are as follows: Werkstätte who arranged for him to show at the Vienna Secession and admired by the 1. Large peacock pendant brooch: silver and American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Ashbee gold, set with pearls and diamonds; a garnet was to have an influence that was truly in the peacock’s eye, the body a baroque pearl, international. He was recognised by Nikolaus the spreading tail mounted with blister pearls Pevsner in 1935 as an important transitional and diamond sparks. The bird perches on a figure in the development of Modernism. spherical pearl above a brilliant-cut diamond Ashbee was the first of the Arts and Crafts and blister pearl drop. London 1900, 13.5 x designers to apply his principles to jewellery 6.7cm design. His interest in jewellery was underpinned by his translation from the Italian 2. A smaller peacock pendant brooch; silver of Benvenuto Cellini’s Treatise on Goldsmithing and gold, set with pearls, diamonds, opals and and Sculpture. This, the first English translation panels of abalone; a garnet in the peacock’s of the work, was printed in 1898 on presses eye, the body a dark blister pearl. The bird formerly at Morris’s Kelmscott Press and was perches on a sphere of green jade, above a used as the basis for Ashbee’s teaching of diamond and blister pearl drop. London jewellery skills to his trainee craftsmen. He 1900–07, marked “G of H Ltd”, 12.5 x 6.0 cm dedicated it to the metalworkers of the Guild of Handicraft and in the introduction described The offer of the larger pendant brooch was its purpose as recreating an ideal through made with a condition that it should be jewellery, “where workshops are conducted allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum with the enthusiasm of the artist rather than with where it had been on loan for over 30 years the itching fingers of the tradesman”. and the smaller item with a wish that it should The peacock was a frequent motif of be allocated to the Guild of Handicraft Trust for Ashbee’s jewellery and about a dozen examples the proposed new museum at Court Barn, are known from the turn of the 20th century. Chipping Campden. It had the double meaning of pride – a pride in C R Ashbee, who was born in West London, colour, ornament and, most significantly, beauty was one of the most important figures of the and, according to ancient Christian iconography, Arts and Crafts Movement. He was educated Resurrection – new life and the recreation of a at Wellington and King’s College, Cambridge. better and harmonious life, that was an integral While at university he became interested in the part of the Arts and Crafts ideal. ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris and Both these pendant brooches were designed their Romantic anti-industrialism. In 1888, by Ashbee for his wife, Janet, the larger to a reacting against the prevailing late Victorian commission from Ashbee’s father-in-law. commercial ethos, he founded the Guild of In March 1900 Ashbee wrote to his wife, Handicraft, a small craft workshop in the East “Your peacock is finished. He is at present End of London. The intention was to revive moment pinned on my coat and is preening his traditional craft skills and to provide satisfying tail and looking at himself with his ruby eye.” employment in a very deprived area of the city. Ashbee’s designs for the items are in Ashbee is now recognised for his innovative Chelsea Public Library. designs for furniture, metalwork and silver and The expert advisers noted the leading and for his highly inventive jewellery. In 1902 the innovative role played by Ashbee in the 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 89

production of artistic jewellery at the turn of 89 the 20th century and his pioneering role in returning the production of jewellery to its Renaissance ideal. His pieces were in marked contrast to the banality of design of the majority of late 19th and early 20th century jewellery. Ashbee’s jewellery concentrated not on a display of costly jewels but on the expressive power and natural beauty of the material in order to create a true work of art. The Panel considered that the brooches met the second and third criteria, that they were in acceptable condition and 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 May 2005. The offer was completed in September 2005. The larger item has been allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in accordance with the condition and a decision will be made on the allocation of the smaller item once the Court Barn project has been completed. This is scheduled for the early summer of 2007. The acceptance of this offer settled £66,500 of tax.

30. CR Ashbee, Large Peacock Brooch (almost one and a half times actual size) © Victoria and Albert Museum 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 90

31 Morris & Co. Inlaid Mahogany Secretaire

90 In February 2005 MLA was informed of the was four years old, his mother returned to offer of a mahogany and inlaid Secretaire Glasgow. In 1870 he was articled to a local Cabinet, designed by George Washington Jack architect. By 1875 he had moved to London and made c.1900 by Morris & Co., 134 cm high, and became involved in the Arts and Crafts 141 cm wide, 66 cm deep. The mahogany community and ﬁve years later he entered the carcass is inlaid with foliate and geometric ofﬁce of the architect, Philip Webb, who had marquetry of sycamore, rosewood, tulip, ebony designed and built Red House, Bexleyheath, and various other woods. The offer was made for William Morris in the late 1850s. Webb had initially with a wish, which was subsequently also designed some of the furniture for Red changed to a condition, that the secretaire House and he was to have an increasing role should be allocated to the National Trust for in the design of furniture for the original display at Ickworth, Suffolk. partnership of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and George Jack was born to British parents in Co. This company was dissolved in 1875 and Long Island but on his father’s death, when he reformed as Morris & Co with William Morris as

31. Morris & Co Inlaid Mahogany Secretaire 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 91

sole director. Morris, however, was to reduce sophisticated processes the furniture trade 91 his involvement in the furniture side on Jack’s could offer. The elaborate inlaid scrolls of appointment. By 1890 Jack had become the thistle, oak and ash foliage are repeated chief furniture designer for Morris & Co and mirror-fashion in the manner of one of Morris’s continued his work after Morris’ death in 1896. own textile and carpet patterns. The cross- He specialised in pieces that relied for their banding and the stretcher, as well as the overall effect on intricate carving and inlay. shape, however, owe their conception to a An example of a cabinet of this design was stately Georgian cabinet-on-stand and would first exhibited at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition have been wholly appropriate for the celebrated Society in 1889 and the design was published Neoclassical Ickworth with its central rotunda in The Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher for built in the 1790s for the Earl-Bishop, November of the same year. It was published Frederick Augustus Hervey. again in the Magazine for Art in 1896 when The expert advisers considered that this the architect Reginald Blomfield described it secretaire was an important example, in as, “a very beautiful instance of modern outstanding condition, of late 19th century marquetry, and indeed one of the finest pieces of British design combining decorative motifs furniture executed in England since the last typical of the Arts and Crafts movement while century”. Its lasting popularity is attested by the looking back to the forms and types of English fact that it was still being advertised in the cabinet-making of an earlier century. Its Morris & Co catalogue of 1912. In 1903 Jack importance was indicated by the fact that other wrote a handbook on woodcarving in which he examples of the design had been acquired by displayed an intimate knowledge of many major museums or had been displayed in pieces of furniture from the Victoria and Albert major international exhibitions. It was noted Museum; this secretaire shows his familiarity that this example had been exhibited in the with 18th century furniture. Louvre in 1914 and indeed had spent five years Six examples of this design are known to in that museum, its return to its owner in the have survived. The earliest, which is dated late summer of 1914 having been delayed by c.1893, is now in the Victoria and Albert the opening hostilities of World War I. Museum. This was made for Thomas The Panel considered that the item met Middlemore, who in 1898 commissioned the second criterion, that it was in acceptable W R Lethaby to design his home on Orkney, condition and that it was fairly valued. The Melsetter House. Another, acquired by the Panel recommended that the offer should be Yorkshire textile heir Ralph Radcliffe- approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary Whitehead, an early supporter of the Arts and of State accepted this recommendation in Crafts Movement, is now in the Philadelphia May 2005. The offer was completed in August Museum of Art. The example on offer was 2005. The secretaire has been allocated to purchased by Alice Frances Theodora Wythes, the National Trust for display at Ickworth in later Marchioness of Bristol. It was acquired accordance with the condition of the Offeror. directly from Morris & Co in 1906 for 98 The acceptance of this offer settled £56,000 guineas. It has been on loan to Ickworth House of tax. since the 1960s and was exhibited in the landmark exhibition Treasure Houses of Britain at the National Gallery of Art, Washington in 1985–86. The highly decorative secretaire required complex cabinet-making skills and the most 12693Route 6/22/06 12:51 PM Page 92

32 Group of Scottish Portraits

92 The future duke’s first wife was Lady Anne Home (d. 1671). Elizabeth Murray, his second wife, was the eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Dysart and was brought up at the Dysart home of Ham House, Richmond. Her first husband, whom she married in 1648, was the wealthy Sir Lionel Tollemache. She was a woman of shrewd intelligence who played an active part in the politics of the day and, despite a friendship with Cromwell, actively supported the exiled Charles II and received from him an annual pension of £800 on his restoration. Her relationship with Lauderdale began well before the death of his first wife and even the relaxed court of Charles II was scandalised when they married within days of Anne Home’s death. The new Duchess of Lauderdale applied all her considerable intelligence and political acumen to ensure that her husband’s political ambitions were fulfilled. Gennari was born in Italy but after a period 32. Gennari: Portrait of Elizabeth Murray, in Paris came to London in 1674 where he Duchess of Lauderdale enjoyed the patronage of James, Duke of York, his wife Mary of Modena and their pro-Catholic circle. He remained in England In April 2005 MLA was informed of the offer until 1688. Although he never held a formal of a group of Scottish portraits. Those portrayed court position he enjoyed commissions from were all, with one exception, either members of both Charles II and James II and was or related to the Home family of Paxton House, subsequently employed at the exiled Stuart near Berwick-upon-Tweed. The exception court at St Germain-en-Laye. was a portrait of the Duchess of Lauderdale The 16 portraits offered for Paxton are in by Benedetto Gennari (1633–1713), oil on three groups: one relates to Admiral Sir David canvas, 123 x 100 cm. This portrait was offered Milne (1763–1845) and his family and includes with a condition that it should be allocated to three portraits by Henry Raeburn; the second the National Galleries of Scotland for display comprises portraits of members of the Home at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, while and Baird families, ancestors or relations of the Home family portraits were offered with a the Home family who owned Paxton; the third wish that the whole group should be allocated group is of further members of the Milne family. to the Trustees of Paxton House. Admiral Milne’s elder son, another David, Elizabeth Murray, Duchess of Lauderdale married in 1832 Jean Forman Home, who was (1616–1698), although not herself Scottish, heiress of Paxton. was married to John Maitland, Duke of The experts considered that the Gennari Lauderdale (1616–1682), who was the portrait was of especial importance on account pre-eminent figure in Scottish politics during of its artistic quality. In addition, the relevance the middle years of the 17th century when he of the subject matter made it of national was effectively Charles II’s regent in Scotland. importance to Scotland. It was noted that the 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 93

Scottish National Portrait Gallery owned neither 93 a portrait of the sitter nor a work by Gennari. The 16 Paxton portraits were considered by the experts to form a single significant group, even if none of the items could be considered outstanding on its own. All the sitters were members of the families that had lived in and owned Paxton. As a group, the portraits were said to make a significant contribution to understanding the history of Paxton and making the house a living entity. A pair of portraits by Henry Raeburn of Admiral Sir David Milne and his wife Grace Purves were noted as being particularly fine examples of this important artist’s work. Sir David’s son, a geologist of some distinction, moved to Paxton in 1852 when his wife inherited her father’s estates and her husband became known as David Milne Home. The experts also noted that historic houses like Paxton had a key role to 32. Raeburn: Portrait of Grace Milne play in preserving the integrity of local private collections and safeguarding the unique cultural material of a particular locality and community. The Panel considered that the Gennari portrait was pre-eminent under the first and third criteria, while the other 16 items formed a single pre-eminent group under the fourth criterion. The portraits were in acceptable condition and the valuation of the group was considered to be fair. However the Gennari was considered to be offered at a serious undervaluation and following negotiations a price 60% higher than that originally proposed was agreed. The Panel recommended that the offer should be approved and the Scottish Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport accepted this recommendation in November 2005. The offer was completed in February 2006. The Portrait of the Duchess of Lauderdale has been allocated to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the group of 16 Home family portraits has been allocated to the Paxton House Trust for display at Paxton House. The acceptance of the offer settled 32. Raeburn: Portrait of Admiral Sir David Milne £128,100 of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 94

33 Bloomsbury Furnishings and Ceramics

94 In May 2005, MLA was informed of the offer of a mosaic ﬁreplace, a hand-painted dining table and a group of ceramics. The ceramics were offered with a wish that they should be allocated to Charleston, Sussex. No wish or condition was expressed in relation to the ﬁreplace or table. The details of the items are as follows:

1. A mosaic chimneypiece designed by Boris Anrep: the mantle decorated with a stylised female torso, ﬂanked by two side panels depicting stylised urns and ﬂowering foliage; 125.5 high x 166.4 cm wide x 12.7 cm deep

2. A painted dining table, the articulated octagonal top painted with rectangles and circles in shades of green and red, on a Victorian four-legged pillar mount

3. Eight Omega Workshop ceramics, including three white glazed plates (29 cm diameter), two similar larger plates (38 cm diameter), a pair of black glazed plates (25.4 cm diameter) and a black glazed pot lid (7.6 cm high x 9 cm diameter)

33. Painted dining table by Roger Fry Boris Anrep (1883–1969) was born in St Petersburg and trained in the city’s Legal Academy. He travelled widely before settling in Paris in 1908 where he studied at the Académie Julian. From 1910–12 he was at the College of Art, Edinburgh, under F Morley Fletcher. He had met Roger Fry on trips to London and in 1912 selected the Russian pictures for Fry’s second Post-Impressionist Exhibition and wrote part of the catalogue. He served with the Russian Army in Gallicia but came to London in 1916 and was soon associated with the Bloomsbury Group. During his youthful travels in the Middle East he had developed a love of Byzantine art and, in particular, mosaics and after the war he began to earn his living as a mosaicist. His ﬁrst major public success was the mosaic ﬂoor he produced for the Tate in 1923. This drew praise 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 95

from Roger Fry, one of the leading critics colouring. Anrep is neither known to have 95 of his day, who noted that Anrep had created produced painted furniture nor worked for “a mosaic pavement with the same ease and the Omega Workshops. Fry might well have mastery, the same power of working freely within acquired the item to furnish his house in the limits of the medium, as the artist craftsmen Dalmeny Avenue, North London into which of Byzantine times”. Further commissions, both he moved in 1919. public and private, followed. The advisers noted that the pottery had The fireplace under consideration was been produced by the Omega Workshop to produced c.1924–25 for Lytton Strachey’s the designs of Roger Fry and was part of a house, Ham Spray, Berkshire, where he lived full dinner service. The unstamped plates at the time with Dora Carrington. The female were almost certainly part of a prototype or torso on the mantle may be based on trial group. The pot lid was also by Fry and Carrington. By the time of Strachey’s death in related to one of his woodcuts of a crouching 1932 the fireplace seems to have been female figure. consigned to the cellar. From there it was said The Panel considered that the items met to have been rescued and installed in Rodwell the third criterion, that they were in acceptable House, which was the summer retreat of condition and that they were fairly valued. Boris Anrep’s estranged wife, Helen Maitland The Panel recommended that the offer should (cf. Case 17, pages 52-53). Helen Anrep be approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary had separated from her husband in the mid of State, accepted this recommendation in 1920s and then lived with Roger Fry. They took September 2005. The offer was completed in a house together in 1926 and she lived with November 2005. In March 2006 the mosaic and supported Fry until his death in 1934. chimneypiece was allocated to Brighton The expert advisers considered the Museum and Art Gallery and the ceramics to chimneypiece to be a rare example in Britain of the Charleston Trust for display at Charleston, a modern mosaic on a domestic scale by the in accordance with the wish of the Offeror. 20th century’s most eminent practitioner in the The dining table awaits permanent allocation. medium. The provenance of the item and its The acceptance of the offer settled £21,560 association with leading figures of the of tax. Bloomsbury movement gave it special historic interest. The advisers believed that the item had not necessarily been transferred to Rodwell House but had remained with Dora Carrington at Ham Spray, later belonging to Frances, Ralph Partridge’s second wife, who returned it to the Anrep family in the early 1960s. These two aspects combined to give the chimneypiece an especial importance within the context of 20th century decorative arts. Although the dining table was offered as having being designed by Boris Anrep, the experts considered that it was more likely to be the work of Roger Fry from c.1917–19. It exhibited all the characteristics of Fry’s style of furniture decoration of the period, particularly in 33. Mosaic chimneypiece designed by Boris Anrep its careful geometrical lay-out and sober 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 96

34 Edward Lear: Jerusalem

96 In May 2005, MLA was informed of the offer who had commissioned an oil of the view of the of a painting by Edward Lear, Jerusalem, oil on city from the Mount of Olives, “Every path leads canvas, 81 x 161.6 cm, in its original frame, you to fresh thought…And thus, even from one signed in monogram and dated, “EL. 1865”. spot of ground, you are full of thought on endless The painting was offered with a wish that it histories & poetries – I cannot conceive any should be allocated to the Ashmolean spot on Earth like Jerusalem for astonishing yet Museum, Oxford. unfailing mines of interest.” Edward Lear (1812–1888) was the Lear’s method was to study the landscape penultimate of 21 children of the stockbroker by producing many watercolours of the scene Jeremiah Lear and his wife Ann. From an early and to use these to work up his oil paintings age he was brought up by his eldest sister, in the studio. Ironically, these watercolours Ann, 21 years his senior. She was responsible which Lear produced on the spot and which he for his education at home which included neither exhibited nor considered to have an drawing and painting and from the age of importance beyond their role in the preparation 15 this was to be the source of his income. of his works in oil, began the rehabilitation of From the decoration of screens and fans, he his artistic reputation when they were seen for progressed to anatomical drawings and by the first time in 1930. 1829 he was an ornithological draughtsman. Lear produced a second painting of The study of living birds at the recently opened Jerusalem almost immediately for Sir James gardens of the Zoological Society of London Reid, who had been Supreme Judge in the led to the publication of Illustrations of the Ionian Islands. In 1865 he received a third Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots which appeared commission to depict the city. This third oil, in parts between 1830 and 1832. Over the the largest of the three, was painted for next decade he established himself as the Samuel Price Edwards. He was a Liverpool finest ornithological draughtsman in the customs officer whom Lear had probably first country. His weak eyesight and his poor health met in the 1840s when staying at Knowsley, generally suffered as a result of this detailed the home of the Earl of Derby. He already work and his attention turned to landscape. owned four of Lear’s oils and a number of his His principal patron, Lord Stanley (from 1834, finished watercolours. Edwards’ son, James, 13th Earl of Derby), offered to send him to accompanied Lear on a trip to Epirus in 1857. Rome in 1837 to improve his health and he was Lear later became godfather to James’ to spend almost the whole of the next 11 years daughter, Isabel, who eventually inherited this there, travelling extensively throughout Italy. version of Jerusalem. The commission was Towards the end of this period he also given to mark Edwards’ retirement from the published his first Book of Nonsense which customs service. Lear charged 200 guineas contains the limericks and drawings by which for the painting and £17 for the frame which he is most widely known. remains with the painting. He had begun painting in oils in the Lear depicts Jerusalem in this painting not 1840s and in 1852, aware of his technical from the Mount of Olives, as in the previous limitations in the medium, he studied with the depictions of the city, but from further to the Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt, north, with the Mount seen on the left. The who was to influence his use of colour for the focus of the composition is the Temple Mount rest of his career. He first visited Palestine in with the golden Dome of the Rock. 1858 and the sight of Jerusalem, which he had The expert advisers considered this to be one long tried to visit, made a profound effect on of Lear’s finest oil paintings in terms of subject him. As he wrote to Frances, Lady Waldegrave, matter, composition and technique and to be 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 97

the summation of his earlier efforts to depict Jerusalem. They noted that none of the earlier versions of the subject were in public collections and that this painting was particularly well preserved. The Panel considered that the painting met the second criterion, that it was in acceptable condition and 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 July 2005. The offer was completed in November 2005. The painting was allocated to the Ashmolean (where it complements the outstanding Pre-Raphaelite collection) in accordance with the wishes of the Offeror in March 2006. The acceptance of the offer settled £490,000 of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 98

35 Rosalba Carriera: Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham

98 In June 2005, MLA was informed of the offer introduced a new element of intimacy and of a painting by Rosalba Carriera Portrait of charm that was a world away from the remote Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham, bust portraits of the Venetian nobility and ofﬁcials length in a blue coat, pastel, 55.9 x 45.7cm, in a that had dominated the city’s portraiture for contemporary frame. The painting was initially the previous 50 or so years. Of humble origins, offered with a wish that it should be allocated she began her career designing patterns for to the Victoria and Albert Museum which was lace, went on to decorate ivory tops for snuff subsequently changed to a condition that it boxes and then took up painting in pastels. should be allocated to Northampton Museum By 1705 she had been elected a member of and Art Gallery. the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome. She was Rosalba Carriera (1675–1757) was the sole patronised by Consul Joseph Smith and was heir in the 18th century to the great tradition of the sister in law of the artist Pellegrini who, Venetian portraiture which had been founded on his arrival in England, acted as her agent in by and reached its zenith in Titian two centuries this country. The illustrious French collector earlier. For much of the 17th century Venetian Pierre Crozat met her in Venice in 1715 and portraiture had been formal and stiff. Rosalba introduced her to Paris in 1720 where she

was an instant success, producing portraits of its original frame and that there was a related 99 the young Louis XV, meeting Watteau and drawing already in the British Museum added being admitted to the Académie Royale. to its significance, as did the unbroken Her art showed little development over the provenance, it having remained in the family span of her career. She was content to produce of the sitter since it was commissioned. a good likeness of her sitters, taking the The Panel, however, expressed reservations appearance at face value, not attempting to about the proposed allocation and advised comment on the personality that lay beneath that it considered a regional allocation for the the skin. Her output concentrated almost painting to be more appropriate. Given that exclusively on bust-length portraits against a the family seat, Rockingham Castle, was in plain background and, while she seldom Northamptonshire and that Northampton Art flattered her sitters, the soft, delicate medium Gallery had an interesting collection of 17th of pastel gave its own allure to those portrayed. and 18th century Venetian paintings, it advised English Grand Tourists who visited Venice that a regional allocation should be made. frequently commissioned their portrait from In the light of this advice, the Offerors made Rosalba as one of the souvenirs of their journey. the offer conditional upon allocation to French, Austrian, Dutch, German and Swedish Northampton. visitors also sat to her and it was only the native The Panel considered that the portrait met Venetians who failed to appreciate her skills. the third criterion, that it was in acceptable Lewis Watson (c.1709–1745), succeeded condition and that it was fairly valued. The his grandfather as 2nd Earl of Rockingham in Panel recommended that the offer should be 1724, his father, Edward Watson, Viscount approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary Sondes, having died of consumption two years of State, accepted this recommendation in previously. In 1736 he married his cousin, the December 2005. The offer was completed in rich heiress Katherine Furness, who March 2006. The item was allocated to the subsequently married the 1st Earl of Guilford. Northampton Museum and Art Gallery in Lord Rockingham was in Italy by 1733 and is accordance with the condition of the Offeror. known to have been in Padua later the same This is the first allocation of an AIL item to year. He moved on during the following year, Northampton. The acceptance of the pastel first to Verona, arriving in Venice in April 1734. settled £87,500 of tax. The verso of the pastel bears an inscription stating that it was painted in Venice in 1734. Very few of Rosalba’s preparatory drawings have survived and only about a dozen are known. A small, closely related pen and ink drawing of Rockingham, inscribed Cavaliere Inglese, appeared at auction in New York in 1999 and was acquired by the British Museum. The expert advisers noted that this was a good example of the Grand Tour portrait commissioned by an English sitter from the leading Venetian portraitist of her day. While examples of Rosalba’s work were still to be found in private collections within the UK, her work was very poorly represented in public collections. The fact that the portrait retained 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 100

36 Samuel Palmer: Yellow Twilight

100 In July 2005, MLA was informed of the offer valley and North Wales. In 1837 he married of a watercolour by Samuel Palmer, Yellow John Linnell’s eldest daughter Hannah and the Twilight, watercolour and pen and ink, 16 x two soon visited Italy. The Italian landscape was 27 cm. The item was offered with a condition to initiate a new phase in his work and he that it should be allocated to the Ashmolean began to paint on a much larger scale than Museum, Oxford. previously. Palmer spent nearly two years in Samuel Palmer (1805–1881) was the eldest Italy before returning to set up home in London of three children who, on account both of his in 1839. Over the next two decades he delicate health and of his father’s eccentricities, continued to paint landscapes, many of them received little formal education. After his influenced by his Italian studies and he travelled mother’s death in 1818 his father eventually widely across England in search of subjects. placed him with a teacher of painting and a He also taught painting to supplement his family friend encouraged him to attend lectures income. In the latter part of his life he by John Flaxman at the Royal Academy. Palmer concentrated much of his effort on producing had three works hung at the Academy in 1819 etchings which are of very high technical as well and at this time he was influenced by the works as aesthetic accomplishment. He died in 1881, of JMW Turner. George Cooke, engraver of little known outside a small circle of artists and many plates after Turner, was a family friend. critics. The efforts of his son, Alfred Herbert, (cf. Case 25: Turner Naples from the Mole.) In who produced a posthumous memoir of his 1822 he was introduced to John Linnell who father in 1882 and went on to write The Life encouraged the young man to take a more and Letters of Samuel Palmer in 1892 (but who systematic approach to the study of art. also destroyed many of his father’s papers), Palmer’s sketchbooks, which are now in the led to the study and growing appreciation British Museum, show the deep impact that of Palmer’s work. His influence on English Linnell had on his student. painters of the 20th century can be seen in the In the mid 1820s Palmer first produced the paintings of Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland and characteristic depictions of the English David Jones. countryside for which he is now famous. The The expert advisers considered Samuel landscape becomes transformed by a spiritual Palmer to be one of the outstanding figures in mysticism: rounded hills, peopled by gleaners, British and European Romanticism, best known shepherds and their flocks, are illuminated by for his visionary landscapes belonging to his vast suns or suffused in the silver light of the early Shoreham period. The experts accepted crescent moon. At this time he was introduced that this work came from the artist’s time at by Linnell to William Blake who was to have a Shoreham and that it demonstrated how, at the profound effect upon Palmer and his art. Palmer end of his time at Shoreham and in the years soon became the leading member of the group immediately following, Palmer moved away known as the Ancients that surrounded Blake. from the intensity and fantasy of his early style Ill health caused Palmer to move out of London to a more naturalistic approach. They noted in 1826 and settle in Shoreham, Kent, which that in this work the artist had portrayed the became for him a place where the divide brilliant autumnal lighting and the unified between heaven and earth was narrow, and effects of a sunset and a crescent moon which where he produced what are arguably his give the work mood and atmosphere. Yellow most remarkable and idiosyncratic works, a Twilight was described as being full of the significant group of which are in the Ashmolean mysterious richness and subtlety that belonged Museum. In the 1830s Palmer was also to the best of Palmer’s works. The colouring of inspired by the landscapes of Devon, the Wye the watercolour had been brilliantly preserved 12693Route 6/22/06 12:51 PM Page 101

101

and the artist’s use of broad washes, stippled effects in watercolour and gouache could be studied clearly. They noted that in addition to the intrinsic merits of the item, it had an added importance from its provenance. It had been given by Palmer’s son, A. H. Palmer, to Sir Eric Maclagan (1879–1951) who joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1905 and became its Director in 1924, remaining in that ofﬁce for 21 years. The Panel considered that the watercolour met the second 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 October 2005. The offer was completed in January 2006. The item was allocated to the Ashmolean in accordance with the condition of the Offeror. The acceptance of the offer settled £455,000 of tax. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 102

37 Collection of Meissen Stoneware and Porcelain

102 In July 2005, MLA was given preliminary By this time Böttger had been able to make details of the offer of a collection of 79 pieces true hard-paste porcelain like the Chinese and of early stoneware and porcelain from the the formal announcement of this breakthrough Meissen factory in Saxony. Full details were was made in March 1709. The following year received in October 2005. The collection was the creation of a royal porcelain factory was offered with a condition that it should be proclaimed in an edict written in German, Latin, allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum. French and Dutch. Until the 18th century the hard translucent The period of output of the Meissen factory material known as porcelain had been up to the Seven Years War (1756–63) is exclusively manufactured in China and Japan. generally recognised as the most interesting The efforts to discover the secret of its and desirable. The earliest Meissen pieces are manufacture were to preoccupy scientists in the normally undecorated and the collection 16th and 17th century in much the same way contains an exceptionally fine example of the that the attempts to discover how to turn base plain white porcelain of the initial years of metal into gold had haunted the imagination production. This porcelain bottle and cover, of alchemists in previous generations. Although based on a Japanese original (a Kendi), has a forms of soft-paste porcelain had been made globular body with an animal spout and a tall in the16th and 17th centuries in Italy and cylindrical neck. It was formerly in the Saxon France it was to be in Saxony that the first true Royal Collection from which it was sold in hard-paste porcelain was manufactured in 1919. Examples of the same form are known Europe. Augustus II of Saxony (1670–1733), in stoneware. The decoration and gilding of who also became King of Poland, was an avid Meissen pieces developed relatively slowly collector of Chinese and Japanese porcelain and initially much was sent out of the factory and encouraged native craftsmen to to be decorated and fired. The greatest experiment in making porcelain. developments came with the employment of Johann Friedrich Böttger (1682–1719) was Johann Gregor Höroldt (1696–1775) in 1720. an alchemist who had fled the custody of the He organised the decorators and by 1731 was King of Prussia where he had disappointed employing 40 in this capacity. The collection his royal master by failing to keep his promise includes an extensive range of the colours and to produce gold. On his flight from Berlin he styles produced at the Meissen factory under was incarcerated by Augustus at Meissen, his control. just outside Dresden, and told that his future The collection was formed by Dr Arthur freedom would depend upon his ability to Weiner (1877–1933), a leading Jewish lawyer, provide true porcelain for the King. His first who was born in Saxony. He served on the success came in 1707 when he succeeded in Belgian front in the First World War and was producing the hard red stoneware known as awarded an Iron Cross. He took a keen interest jasper ware. This could be cut and polished on in the arts and in addition to acquiring porcelain a wheel like glass. The collection on offer of the very finest quality, he formed a fine includes several examples of this rare Böttger collection of Expressionist lithographs and stoneware, including a large tankard which etchings. His distinguished military record retains its domed cover and silver-gilt hinge. counted for little when the Nazis came to power The success with stoneware led in 1708 to and he was kidnapped and shot in April 1933. the establishment of the Meissen factory, which When Dr Weiner’s widow, Hildegard, came produced pieces both for tea and coffee to England in the 1930s she managed to drinking as well as items modelled on the bring the porcelain collection out of Germany. extensive oriental collection of Augustus. Mrs Weiner indicated in the 1960s that she 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 103

103

37. Meissen Böttger porcelain bottle 37. Meissen silver-gilt mounted Böttger and cover (Kendi) c.1715 stoneware tankard and cover c.1710–13

37. Meissen Böttger stoneware baboon 37. Meissen teabowl and saucer with fitted mask c.1925 leather case c.1735

wished the collection to ﬁnd a permanent which was described as being of particular home in a UK museum, “as a token of her importance and of great rarity. gratitude to England for giving her refuge”. The Panel considered that the collection The expert advisers noted that the collection met the second and third criteria, that it was represented a remarkably comprehensive in acceptable condition and agreed that it was survey of the production of Meissen wares fairly valued. The Panel recommended that during the ﬁrst half of the 18th century when the offer should be approved. MLA, on behalf the factory dominated the European taste for of the Secretary of State accepted this porcelain and was unsurpassed in quality and recommendation in December 2005. The offer originality. The pieces had been carefully was completed in February 2006. The items selected to provide examples of the early have been allocated to the Victoria and Albert marks, styles of painting and designs. The Museum in accordance with the condition of experts also noted that the collection contained the Offeror. The acceptance of the offer settled a single item of Meissen production from the £298,305 of tax. 20th century, a large Böttger stoneware baboon mask designed c.1925 by Max Esser 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 104

38 Stanley Spencer: Eric Williams

104 In November 2004, MLA was approached seconded to the United States Air Force where with details of a potential offer of a portrait by he led a team in the Philippines to recover and Sir Stanley Spencer, Portrait of Eric Williams rehabilitate those allied prisoners who had been MC, oil on canvas, 45.7 x 35.7 cm, and was captured by the Japanese. asked if the AIL Panel could advise whether Before being demobilised in 1946, he had the formal offer of this painting would be written a lightly fictionalised version of his worthwhile. In the following month the Panel wartime escape. He developed this further advised the agent that it would welcome such in the novel The Wooden Horse which, although an offer. In October 2005, full details of a formal initially rejected by several publishers, was offer in lieu were received. The portrait was taken up by Collins in 1949. It was an offered with a wish that it should be allocated immediate bestseller, 100,000 copies being to the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon. sold in ten weeks. The film rights were soon Eric (Bill) Williams (1911–1983) who was sold and Williams left his job (back with Lewis’s born in Golders Green, London, joined his department stores) to work on the film. The film father’s decorating business after leaving was also highly successful and both book school and was then employed by Lewis’s chain and film set a pattern for wartime adventures. of stores, first in London and then in Liverpool. By 1988, the book had sold over 4 million With the outbreak of World War II he joined the copies and been translated into many Royal Air Force. He trained in Ontario, Canada, languages. qualified as an ‘observer’ (a navigator and The portrait of Williams was painted by bomb-aimer) and was posted to No 75 bomber Stanley Spencer (1891–1959) in 1954. By this squadron near Cambridge. stage, late in his career, Spencer was much in In December 1942 the Stirling that Williams demand for his portraits. Whereas earlier in his was crewing was shot down on a bombing raid. life, he had restricted his work in portraiture to He bailed out near the Dutch-German border those whom he knew personally, he was by and was captured and imprisoned in Stalag this stage accepting commissions from people Luft 3 in Silesia in what is now Poland. There previously unknown to him. Eric Williams’s wife, along with Michael Codner he planned one of Sibyl, first approached Spencer to provide a the best remembered escapes of the Second pencil portrait. Spencer, however, was unhappy World War. They began to tunnel out of the with the drawing (now in the National Portrait Prisoner of War camp, digging not from under Gallery) and offered to produce a portrait in oils. their quarters but as close to the perimeter Eric Williams was sufficiently pleased with the fence as possible. To distract the guards, a result to approach Spencer in the following year wooden vaulting horse was used as exercise by and ask him to provide a portrait of his wife. the prisoners. With the help of a third digger, The expert advisers noted the importance Oliver Philpot, the three took four and a half of Spencer as one of the finest British artists months to complete their tunnel and to make of the 20th century and considered this portrait their escape. Disguised as French workmen, to be a good example of his late style in Codner and Williams made their way to Sweden portraiture. The sitter and his wartime exploits and from there back to England where they gave it special interest. were both awarded the Military Cross in 1944. The Panel considered that the painting Although he flew no more bombing raids during met the first criterion, that it was in acceptable the war Williams had an active role in lecturing condition and fairly valued. The Panel airmen on what they could expect to face recommended that the offer should be if they were shot down over enemy territory. approved. MLA, on behalf of the Secretary of Following the defeat of Germany he was State, accepted this recommendation in 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 105

105

38. Stanley Spencer: Eric Williams

November 2005. The offer was completed painting entered a UK public collection. in the following month. The item was allocated The generosity of the executors is gratefully temporarily to the Imperial War Museum to acknowledged. The acceptance of the allow it to be displayed in the museum’s offer settled £32,565 of tax. Great Escapes exhibition and a decision will be made after the closing of the exhibition as to the permanent allocation. The acceptance of this portrait could have settled £70,000 of tax. Normally the gallery to which the painting is to be allocated is expected to make good the difference. The executors most generously waived this requirement to ensure that the 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 106

Appendices Appendix 1

106 List of objects accepted, allocations and tax values for 2005/06 12693Route 6/22/06 12:52 PM Page 107

Description Tax Settled Allocation

Nicholas Hilliard Two Portrait Miniatures £490,000 National Portrait Gallery 107 & Scottish National Portrait Gallery Jean-Étienne Liotard: Portrait Miniature of Laura Tarsi £350,000 Fitzwilliam Museum 12th Century Manuscript of Peter of Poitiers £280,000 yet to be decided Archive of the Earls of Guilford £126,000 yet to be decided Archive of the Earls of Coventry £436,854 yet to be decided My Ladye Nevells Booke £575,931 British Library Three Bronzes by Gertrude Spencer Stanhope £7,700 Cannon Hall, Barnsley The Hengrave Hall Archive £131,146 Cambridge University Library The ‘Viotti’ Violin by Antonio Stradivari £395,453 Royal Academy of Music Meindert Hobbema: Wooded Landscape £560,000 York Art Gallery The Harpur-Crewe Archive £48,000 Derbyshire Record Ofﬁce Collection of Chinese Bronzes, Ceramics and Paintings £216,818 Birmingham Museums & Art Galleries The Newton Hall Athena £245,000 Fitzwilliam Museum The Archive of Sir Richard and Lady Burton £490,000 yet to be decided Collection of Chinese Carvings and Ceramics £69,650 Victoria and Albert Museum Duncan Grant: The Ass £70,000 Tate Archive of Roger Fry and Helen Anrep £105,000 yet to be decided Paintings from Penrhyn Castle £3,083,349 National Trust for display at Penrhyn Pablo Picasso: La Femme qui Pleure £336,993 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Three Watercolours by JMW Turner £420,000 Whitworth Art Gallery Collection of Early 19th century Welsh English Porcelain £38,500 Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales and Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea Collection of 19th & 20th century Paintings, Prints and Drawings £356,300 Ashmolean Museum John Everett Millais: Twins £595,568 Fitzwilliam Museum Two pieces of English silver £22,127 Victoria and Albert Museum JMW Turner: Naples from the Mole £105,000 National Museums Liverpool A William and Mary Silver Toilet Set £148,013 Ashmolean Museum The Scottish National Covenant of 1638 £91,000 National Library of Scotland Ten Sculptures by Barbara Hepworth £1,611,888 Tate Chattels from Chirk Castle £117,314 National Trust for Chirk Castle CR Ashbee: Two Peacock Pendant Brooches £66,500 Victoria and Albert Museum (1st item) and yet to be decided (2nd item) Morris & Co. Inlaid Mahogany Secrétaire £56,000 National Trust for display at Ickworth Group of Scottish Portraits £128,100 Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Paxton House Bloomsbury Furnishings and Ceramics £21,560 Brighton Museums and Art Galleries and Charleston Trust Edward Lear: Jerusalem £490,000 Ashmolean Museum Rosalba Carriera: Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham £87,500 Northampton Art Gallery Samuel Palmer: Yellow Twilight £455,000 Ashmolean Museum Collection of Meissen Stoneware and Porcelain £298,305 Victoria and Albert Museum Stanley Spencer: Eric Williams £32,565 yet to be decided

Total £13,159,134 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 108

Appendix 2

108 Panel Members Jonathan Scott – Chairman David Barrie Patrick Elliott from October 2005 Ms Katherine Eustace from October 2005 Mark Fisher MP Alastair Laing until September 2005 Andrew McIntosh Patrick David Scrase from October 2005 Dr Lindsay Stainton Hon. Georgina Stonor until September 2005 The Countess of Verulam Ms Angela Weight until September 2005 Ms Lucy Wood Christopher Wright from October 2005 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 109

Appendix 3

Expert Advisers David Adshead National Trust 109 2005/06 Charles Beddington Charles Beddington Ltd Katrin Bellinger Independent Dealer Kevin Bolton Manchester Archives and Local Studies Peter Boughton Grosvenor Museum, Chester Patrick Bourne Fine Art Society plc George Breeze formerly Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum Christopher Brown Ashmolean Museum David Blayney Brown Tate John Byrne Independent consultant Miles Wynn Cato Independent consultant Mary Clapinson formerly Bodleian Library Hugh Cobbe Independent consultant Katherine Coombs Victoria and Albert Museum Alexander Corcoran Lefevre Fine Arts Ltd Aileen Dawson British Museum James Ede Charles Ede Ltd Sam Fogg Sam Fogg Rare Books Peter Funnell National Portrait Gallery Anton Gabszewicz British Ceramics Ltd Anthony Grifﬁths British Museum Robert Harding Maggs Bros. Ltd Jessica Harrison-Hall British Museum Peter Humfrey University of St Andrews James Hyman James Hyman Fine Art Martin Kauffmann Bodleian Library Roger Keverne Roger Keverne Ltd Hélène La Rue University of Oxford David Lavender D.S. Lavender Ltd Martin Levy H Blairman and Sons Ltd Briony Llewellyn Independent Art Historian Timothy Llewellyn Henry Moore Foundation Stephen Lloyd Scottish National Portrait Gallery James Lomax Temple Newsam House Rupert Maas The Maas Gallery Donald MacCormick Antiquarian Bookseller Edward Maggs Maggs Bros. Ltd Patrick Matthiesen Matthiesen Fine Art Timothy McCann West Sussex Record Ofﬁce Robert McPherson R & G McPherson Antiques Paul Moorhouse National Portrait Gallery Richard Morphet Independent consultant Anthony Mould Anthony Mould Ltd Frederick Mulder Private Art Dealer David Murdoch Independent consultant Charles Nugent Whitworth Art Gallery 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 110

110 Richard Olney formerly Historical Manuscripts Commission Richard Ovenden Bodleian Library Sean Rainbird Tate Benedict Read University of Leeds Graham Reynolds formerly Victoria and Albert Museum Anthony Rota Bertram Rota Ltd Judy Rudoe British Museum Axel Rüger formerly National Gallery Diana Scarisbrick Independent Art Historian Timothy Schroder Independent consultant Richard Shone Burlington Magazine Peyton Skipwith formerly Fine Arts Society Judith Smeaton formerly North Yorkshire Record Ofﬁce Ann Sumner Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales Katrina Thomson The National Trust for Scotland Charles Truman C & L Burman Ltd Johnny Van Haeften Johnny Van Haeften Ltd Susan Walker Ashmolean Museum Ian Warrell Tate Gareth Williams Victoria and Albert Museum John Wilson John Wilson Manuscripts Ltd Andrew Wilton Tate – Visiting Research Fellow Joan Winterkorn Bernard Quaritch Ltd Christopher Woolgar University of Southampton Christopher J Wright formerly British Library Andrew Wyld W/S Fine Art 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 111

Appendix 4

Allocation of items • The St Albans Abbey Psalter which was case 13 , pages 36–37, in the 111 reported in the 2003/04 Report has been allocated to the British Library. The offer was AIL Reports 2003/04 made without either wish or condition. and 2004/05 but only decided in 2005/06 • John Piper’s Composition, 1937 which was case 2, pages 12–13, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Ashmolean Museum. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• The Claydon Costumes which were case 4, pages 17–18, in the 2004/05 Report have been allocated to the National Trust for display at Claydon for an initial ﬁve year allocation. The offer was made without either wish or condition.

• The Archive of Professor J P Hodin which was case 7, pages 24–25, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Tate Archive. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• George Romney’s Portrait of Edward Wortley Montagu which was case 8, pages 26–27, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Shefﬁeld Museums and Galleries Trust. The offer was made with a wish that the portrait should be allocated to the National Portrait Gallery which did not seek permanent allocation.

• Edward Poynter’s Portrait of the 1st Earl of Wharncliffe which was case 9, page 28, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Shefﬁeld Museums and Galleries Trust. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• The Wharncliffe Archive which was case 10, page 29, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated for three years to Shefﬁeld City Archives. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• The English 18th century Japanned Cabinet which was case 11, pages 30–31, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to Holbourne Museum, Bath. The offer was made without either wish or condition.

• The Cape of Good Hope Sword which was case 12, pages 32–33, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the National War Museum of Scotland. This was in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• Ben Nicholson’s Study of a Head which was case 16, pages 38–39, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Falmouth Art Gallery. The offer was made without either wish or condition.

• The Collection of 20th century British Studio Pottery which was case 21, pages 48–49 in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to Tate for display at Tate St Ives. This is in accordance with the wish of the Offeror. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 112

112 • The three works by William Blake which were case 22, pages 50–52 in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum. This is in accordance with the wish of the Offeror.

• The George II Cabinet which was case 23, page 53, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Ulster Museum. The offer was made without either wish or condition.

• The Carlton House Bookcase which was case 24, pages 54–55, in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to Temple Newsam House, Leeds. The offer was made with a wish that the bookcase should be allocated to Manchester City Council which did not seek permanent allocation.

• The archive of Reginald and Pamela McKenna which was case 25, pages 56–57 in the 2004/05 Report has been allocated to the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge. This is in accordance with the wish of the Offeror. 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 113 12693Route 6/19/06 7:53 PM Page 2

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) is the lead strategic agency for museums, libraries and archives. We are part of the wider MLA Partnership, working with the nine regional agencies to improve people’s lives by building knowledge, supporting learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. The partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the sector and the public, leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future.

Current news, developments and information are available to view or download from: www.mla.gov.uk Copies of this publication can be provided in alternative formats. Please contact MLA publications on 020 7273 1458.

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Victoria House Southhampton Row London WC1B 4EA Tel: 020 7273 1444 Fax: 020 7273 1404 Email: [email protected]

The Partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the sector and the public, leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future.