Mexborough, a small mining village to the western edge of the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough area, is a one time mining community which has been home to a surprising number of well-known individuals. Perhaps the most famous of those was the Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, who lived there between 1937 and 1948, when his father ran […]
In 1856 the German art historian and Director of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, Gustav Friedrich Waagen, arrived at Osterley Park House bearing a letter of introduction to the housekeeper. Waagen was granted access and inspected Osterley’s collection of art with the ‘utmost ease and liberty’, commenting upon works by Van Dyck, Rubens and Reynolds, and noting […]
The Understanding British Portraits study day at Knole offered an enriching variety of informed presentations by scholars engaged in the study and preservation of the house and its collection. The day’s talks were divided into two sections, each concluding with a tour and time for discussion. As a first-time visitor, I felt privileged to absorb […]
The latest British Portraits Subject Specialist Network seminar was held at Knole, generously hosted by Lord Sackville and the National Trust and expertly co-ordinated by Caroline Pegum. On a crisp March morning over thirty delegates from a range of institutions and fields assembled in the Great Hall. This being my first visit to Knole I […]
With so little known about many of the nineteenth and early twentieth century portraits in the Russell-Cotes collection, the Understanding British Portraits Bursary presented the perfect opportunity to discover more, with the aim of creating a primary school offer focused on portraits as a result of this research. We were aware, for example, of two […]
This bursary has been used to collect information that will enhance an existing project to improve provenance records for works in the Government Art Collection (GAC). George Mogg (who helped research the provenance of GAC works at Christie’s archives) joined me on the following archive visits. We first visited Kent History and Library Centre in […]
From 2010, The Courtauld Gallery took part in the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme Stories of the World. This was the biggest youth engagement project ever undertaken by UK museums across the nation and during that time, the Courtauld worked closely with a group of 20 young people aged between 16 and 19, from Widening […]
Saraid Jones received a Bursary from Understanding British Portraits in October 2013. Here she reflects on the aims of her chosen project. My fascination with the portrait of Thomas, 2nd Lord Berwick painted by Angelica Kauffman (left) began when I read the story of his Grand Tour. The Volunteers’ Library at Attingham Park is […]
I started the day with high hopes. I had recently put together an exhibition of some of the best of the portraits in oil in the Reading Museum collection and felt sure that there would be much of relevance amongst the papers. In addition there would be people to meet and a chance to pop […]
Over the past few years I have become increasingly interested in the history of medicine, in particular, the point at which it intersects with the art world. I was therefore delighted to be offered a place on the recent study day organised by Understanding British Portraiture focusing on Healthcare and Medical Portraits across London’s greatest […]
