Title:
Dulwich
Picture Gallery Collections
Author: John Ingamells
List price:
£40.00
ISBN:
978 1 906509
019
Description: This is the first of three volumes
comprehensively cataloguing the contents of the oldest
public gallery in England. Dulwich Picture Gallery was
founded in 1811, but its origins date back a further two
hundred years to the foundation of Dulwich College by
Edward Alleyn, the celebrated Elizabethan actor and
theatrical entrepreneur. Alleyn’s own somewhat primitive
collection was housed in the college, along with a
rather more discerning assortment of paintings
bequeathed by William Cartwright (also an actor)
including a remarkable group of theatrical portraits.
Francis Bourgeois’s bequest in 1811 of a treasure trove
of paintings by, among others, Poussin, Rembrandt and
Rubens, transformed the gallery into a major public
collection, which now found a fitting home in an
influential new building designed by Sir John Soane. The
Linley bequest of 1835 contributed several major
canvases by Gainsborough, shifting the focus of the
collection towards the previously neglected area of
British art; a process further consolidated by many
other gifts and bequests, most notably that of Charles
Fairfax Murray in 1911. Benefiting from the meticulous
scholarship of John Ingamells, this long-awaited volume
offers a host of fascinating insights into the formation
of a great collection.
Author: John Ingamells was formerly director of York
art Gallery and the Wallace Collection. He has also
written catalogues on eighteenth century artists
including Mercier, Soldi and Ramsay.
