May 18th, 2015
Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal in North Yorkshire is not known for its large collection of art or furniture; it’s a World Heritage Site famous for its landscaped water garden and 12th century monastic ruins. The devastating fire at Studley Royal House in 1946 had destroyed much of the contents and when the Vyner family […]
April 30th, 2015
As a portraitist, Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945) is probably best-known for his chalk drawings and lithographs of famous figures, over two hundred of which are held at the National Portrait Gallery. Rothenstein launched himself on the British art scene as a portraitist in the early 1890s, and continued the practice until his death (one of […]
April 16th, 2015
When I saw the Audiences, Authority and Collaboration in Museum Research seminar (12 – 13 March 2015) advertised through the Subject Specialist Network: European Paintings Pre-1900 network it was extremely timely. I am currently undertaking a significant research project into the Civil Defence Camouflage Unit, based in Leamington Spa during WWII. This research has been […]
April 8th, 2015
The two day seminar, Audiences, Authority and Collaboration in Museum Research, began at Tate on a Thursday lunchtime and I went directly from a workshop at the Tower of London on ‘Inclusivity’ that morning. It was great to find the very issues that we had been addressing at Historic Royal Palaces taking centre stage in […]
March 30th, 2015
In 1825, ‘Mrs Baillie’ bequeathed a remarkable conversation piece by Johan Zoffany to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). This painting represents the Scottish-born anatomist, surgeon and midwife Dr William Hunter giving an anatomy lecture to a group of individuals. Mrs Baillie was the wife of Dr Matthew Baillie, Hunter’s nephew and heir. While living […]
March 18th, 2015
It is over forty-five years on since the last major museum retrospective of the work of Leon Underwood in 1969. Although Underwood (1890-1975) has been described as ‘the precursor of modern sculpture in Britain’ he is an overlooked figure in the history of Modern Art. Between the 1920s and 1950s he created an innovative body […]
March 17th, 2015
On Thursday 22nd January, I travelled to the Heinz Archive along with a colleague, Euan, as part of our Understanding British Portraits project. The portrait in question is of Richard Francis Burton, the famous Victorian explorer, in disguise as Haji Abdullah on his expedition to Mecca in 1853. Our aim was to use the archives […]
March 11th, 2015
In February 2014, Sir Thomas Lawrence’s double portrait of Frances Anne, Marchioness of Londonderry and her son, Lord Seaham, was temporarily allocated through Acceptance In Lieu to Mount Stewart in Northern Ireland, by Arts Council England (left). It arrived along with a significant loan of other items from the Estate of the Marquess of Londonderry […]
March 3rd, 2015
Since receiving an Understanding British Portraits bursary, I have been undertaking research trips relating to my work on the eighteenth-century wax modeller, Samuel Percy. Born in Ireland in c.1750, Percy received his early artistic training at the Dublin Society school of art. As with many artists seeking a profitable career, he moved to London in […]
February 16th, 2015
It’s time to confess: I know very little about portraits. I don’t have a degree in Art or History. My degree is in English, and my background is conservation, so I will apologise in advance if I appear easily pleased by the things I learnt when I attended my first Understanding British Portraits workshop! My […]
