As a decorative art specialist, I have been taking my first tentative steps into fine art since being appointed as curator at Temple Newsam House two years ago. Earlier this year, I was very excited to acquire a John Russell (1745-1806) portrait of Savile Green, Senior (1743-1805; Fig. 1).¹ Green was a key figure in […]
The Baring Archive is one of the finest archives of a financial institution in the world and tells the story of Barings Bank, the merchant house established in 1762. Barings was acquired by ING in 1995 and in 2008 the collections were loaned to The Baring Archive Limited, a charitable trust that seeks to preserve […]
In 2000 Rugby Art Gallery and Museum acquired a collection from Reddings, a local photographer’s studio, containing around 25,000 glass plate and cellulose acetate negatives dating from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. Predominately studio portraits, the collection also contains negatives of local businesses, product shots, local events and weddings. Largely due to lack of resource […]
A new online resource to assist portrait and dress research has been created on the National Portrait Gallery website, utilizing the Gallery’s collection of engraved and hand-coloured fashion plates. One hundred years of mostly women’s fashions from 1770 to 1869 can now be explored by date, by garments, or by the magazine in which the […]
Sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits are a wonderful resource for lace historians. Two types of lace evolved during the sixteenth century: needle lace and bobbin lace. Needle lace, as the name suggests, is a form of free embroidery, worked with a needle and a single thread, while bobbin lace is a combination of plaiting and […]
In 2016 a portrait, identified as Elizabeth Fanshawe (1609-1668), née Cockayne, came up for sale at a well-known auction house (left). This portrait bore an uncanny resemblance to the female sitter in a small double portrait of Sir Thomas Fanshawe and his second wife Elizabeth, née Fanshawe at Valence House (below). A visit to Melbourne […]
21 September 2018 until 20 January 2019 The Foundling Museum presents a landmark exhibition highlighting the hidden stories of women in the Foundling Hospital’s history. Marking 100 years of female suffrage, Ladies of Quality & Distinction resets the focus of the Foundling Hospital’s story, revealing portraits and stories of the remarkable women who supported both […]
Deadline for abstracts: 17 September 2018 Conference: 28-29 March 2019, National Portrait Gallery, London An international conference sponsored jointly by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the National Portrait Gallery, London, the European Research Council and the University of Cambridge. This conference accompanies the National Portrait Gallery exhibition Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by […]
Barings Bank was at one time the oldest merchant bank in the City of London and has played an important role in the development of British and international finance from the late-eighteenth to the late-twentieth century. Barings played a significant role in major historic events, such as, financing the Louisiana Purchase. This exhibition explores the […]
When I saw the title of the SSN Joint Conference was to be Why Exhibitions? I was immediately intrigued and my first thought was ‘Why not exhibitions?’ I was keen to hear what other museum professionals were experiencing that made them consider not having a temporary exhibition programme. The Mining Art Gallery is the first […]
