European Tours.
A previous blog referenced the ‘Grand Tour’ to Italy in the eighteenth century which led me to reflect that the Cheltenham collection holds quite a variety of paintings of depictions of European countries visited by British artists. The subject matter quickly turned from portraiture and places like Venice or Rome to a wider view of the delights offered by European countries. So let’s explore! What is clear is that relevant works in the Cheltenham collection span the generations from the Grand Tour places of the eighteenth century right through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – but to put them in context I draft in significant examples from other public galleries. In terms of the ‘Grand Tour’ subjects there are the following examples at Cheltenham :-
Guardi, Francesco; The Island of San Giorgio in Alga, Venice, Italy; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
Guardi, Francesco; The Grand Canal, Venice, Italy, Looking towards Santa Maria degli Scalzi and Santa Lucia; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
Tironi, Francesco; Venice, Italy (The Grand Canal from the Campo San Vio towards the Bacino); Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum. In terms of the most well-known Grand Tour Venetian artist, Canaletto, I choose some typical examples from other galleries :-
Canaletto; The Piazza di San Marco, Venice; Sir John Soane’s Museum.
These Venetian based artists were operating mainly in the mid to later eighteenth century – but whilst British tourists went mainly to places like Venice there were British artists who explored other areas of Italy and ventured to, or rested in, other European countries.
Wilson, Richard; Italian Lake Scene; Bradford Museums and Galleries
Jones, Thomas; Rooftops in Naples; The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
By the nineteenth century the scene began to change. The founder, in 1899, of Cheltenham Art Gallery, Baron de Ferrieres with his important bequest of nearly fifty paintings, including important examples of seventeenth century Dutch work, also reflected a change of direction in collecting to embrace contemporary paintings of the Low Countries. Unfamiliar names and places appear – examples being :-
Koster, Everhardus; Ruins over the River Birchel at Zutphen, The Netherlands; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum.
Springer, Cornelis; Fortified Buildings on the Banks of a Canal; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum;
Bodemann, Willem; Wooded Landscape; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum.
Yet Italy retained its charm for artists well into the twentieth century – and the Cheltenham collections reflect this interest.
Fisher, Janet C.; Rainbow over Assisi, Italy; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum.
Bell, Arthur; Portico dei Comuni, Siena, Italy; Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
You might enjoy browsing Italian landscape and townscape on the ArtUK website – not just the Wilson (Cheltenham’s Art Gallery) but other galleries in this country.
2 Comments
Dear Mr Addison,
We are a firm of book dealers in Norfolk.
We have recently acquired a book given by residents of Cheltenham to Lord Northwick in 1855 in thanks for creating and opening the gallery at Thirlestaine House. It is essentially a list of names but with a beautifully illuminated and handwritten page of thanks. The binding is silver, wood and velvet and is an extraordinary example of High Victorian extravagance.
I have discovered that you are an expert on Northwick and I wondered if you could contact me so that I can discuss this with you and find out if you are aware of this book and have any further information on it. In particular, I am trying to identify the binder.
Any help you may be able to provide would be gratefully received.
yours sincerely
Andrew Taylor
I just picked up your missive concerning the Loyal Address from the citizens of Cheltenham to Lord Northwick. (I have been out of action following a major shoulder operation.). A fantastic find!!!!!
I would hope the Art Gallery & Museum at Cheltenham (the Wilson) might be interested (the only portrait of Northwick, by Angelika Kauffmann, was recently purchased for the gallery with major grants) but I do not hold out much hope. You might consult Charles Sebag-Montefiore, an expert on British Collectors, who was instrumental on getting grants for the portrait. Another person you might contact is Dr Susanna Avery-Quash, Senior Research Curator at the National Gallery – who was instrumental in accepting my research papers into the Nat Gal Archives.
Personally – I would love to see the Address!!!!!
Hope this reaches you,
David Addison.