Provincial Picture collecting – a neglected subject.   It is with a great sense of excitement that I welcome recent attention being paid to Art Dealers archives with the acceptance of two major collections – the first by the National Gallery in London of the Agnews archive and the second by the deposit of the […]

The last couple of months have been somewhat hectic with my Art Appreciation talks at the Ashmolean. I did a four afternoon session on Italian Renaissance paintings, followed immediately by four weeks on ‘The Great Outdoors’ – then a week later a Study Afternoon on the current Henry Moore & Francis Bacon exhibition (which I […]

The PENLEY artists. Attributing the work of minor artists, particularly British nineteenth century, can lead to erroneous assumptions which are thereafter not challenged. Such is the case with the Penley family. Years ago, when I was full-time at Cheltenham Art Gallery, I became intrigued by watercolours attributed to Aaron Edwin Penley. At that time I […]

And now for something different! ChristChurch Cathedral, Oxford. In case anyone should wonder why a Blog carrying at its head the picture of two churches  yet recently appears to be solely concerned with Art Appreciation at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford  then let me explain, if not apologise! Those two churches are the two parish […]