Victorian municipal patronage: The foundation and management of Glasgow Corporation Galleries 1854-1888

Journal of the History of Collections

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 93-102

  Morrison, John ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 62649133900     PISSN: 09546650     EISSN: 14778564     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jhc/8.1.93     Document Type: Review

References (110)

1. In particular see Dianne Sachko Macleod, 'Art collecting and Victorian middle-class taste', Art History 10 no. 3 (1987), pp. 328-50;
2. Dianne Sachko Macleod, 'Private and public patronage in Victorian Newcastle', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 52 (1989), pp. 188-208;
3. Richard Ormond, 'Victorian paintings and patronage in Birmingham', Apollo 88 no. 74 (1968), pp. 240-51;
4. Stuart Macdonald, 'The Royal Manchester Institution', in Art and Architecture in Victorian Manchester, ed. John H. G. Archer (Manchester 1985), pp. 28-45;
5. C. P. Darcy, 'The encouragement of the fine arts in Lancashire 1760-1860', Remains of the Chetham Society 3rd ser. 24 (1976), pp. 42 ff. and 66 ff.
6. In 'Principles and priorities in British art', Apollo 122 no. 283 (1985), p. 196, Denys Sutton comments on the mid-nineteenth century as the 'great age' of museum and gallery construction and cites Glasgow along with Birmingham and Manchester as examples.
7. E. Rimbault Dibdin, 'The Liverpool corporation collection. The Walker Art Gallery', Magazine of Art 12 (1889), pp. 14-20, and 50-6;
8. Alfred St. Johnston, 'The Birmingham corporation museum and art gallery', Magazine of Art 10 (1886), pp. 361-6;
9. Walter Armstrong, 'The corporation gallery of Glasgow', Magazine of Art 13 (1890), pp. 91-8 and 138-44.
10. Dibdin, op. cit. (note 3), p. 56.
11. In Liverpool prior to 1877 the small collection of paintings acquired by ad hoc presentation and occasionally by purchase were housed in the library and museum buildings. The initial phase of the Walker Art Gallery opened that year. Thus at the time Dibdin was writing the gallery had been open only eleven years. Liverpool had had a definite municipal policy towards picture buying for only seventeen years, the series of 'Autumn Exhibitions' having begun in 1871. The collection, while very much better housed than Glasgow's, was mainly significant for its modern paintings. It consisted of under 250 works. Glasgow meanwhile contained approximately 350 works having already on professional advice twice weeded out and disposed of a total of 300 inferior items. McLellan's collection and that of John Graham-Gilbert (137 works donated in 1877) included: Jacob Ruisdael, A View of Egmond aan Zee and Landscape with a Cottage, Bridge and Sheep;
12. Rembrandt, A Man in Armour and The Carcass of an Ox;
13. Simon Vouet, The Four Seasons;
14. Master of Moulins, St. Victor with a Donor;
15. Gaspar Dughet, Ideal Landscape;
16. Aelbert Cuyp, Christ Riding into Jerusalem;
17. Jacob Jordaens, The Fruit Seller;
18. P. P. Rubens and Jan Bruegel, Nature Adorned by the Graces;
19. Saenredam; Interior of the Church of St. Bavo, Haarlem;
20. Circle of Giorgione, attrib. Titian, The Adultress Brought Before Christ;
21. Paris Bordone, two works including Virgin and Child attended by SS. John Baptist, Mary Magdalene & Liberale;
22. Palma Vecchio, Virgin and Child with Saints;
23. Francesco Zuccharelli, five works including Diana and Actaeon.
24. For a contemporary assessment of the Glasgow collection and its significance see J. C. Robinson, The Art Collections, Corporation Galleries, Glasgow (Glasgow, 1882). Robinson was H. M. Surveyor of Pictures and had been commissioned to report on the condition and merits of the collection and to make such recommendations as appropriate.
25. The collection consisted of 510 works.
26. On 4 October 1855 Lord Provost Andrew Orr proposed a motion that the Finance Committee consider the report on the propriety of the Town Council taking over McLellan's Sauchiehall Street Galleries with a view to the preservation of the paintings left by McLellan on behalf of the people. The purchase was agreed 15 May 1856.
27. For a full text of the letter see Glasgow Town Council Minutes, pp. 440-2: Strathclyde Regional Archive (cited in these notes as SRA) Cl.1.67.
28. A bill of sale was included with the letter demonstrating that for one picture McLellan had paid £1,000. Dreghorn also claimed that McLellan had been offered £1,150 for another. In addition Charles Heath Wilson (1809-82), the director of the National School of Design in Glasgow, was quoted as endorsing the value of the collection as a whole and Sir Charles Eastlake cited the merits of the 'Giorgione' in the collection, The Adultress Brought Before Christ (now attributed to Titian).
29. For a full background to the politics of the time and biographical information on the leading councillors see Irene E. Sweeney, The Municipal Administration of Glasgow 1833-1912. Public Service and Scottish Civic Identity, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Strathclyde, 1990. (T6853)
30. For a discussion of the introduction of Aesthetic Movement paintings into provincial exhibitions in Newcastle see Macleod, op. cit. ['Private and public patronage'] (note 1), pp. 204-7.
31. Critical comment from the Glasgow Herald and such periodicals as The Quiz and The Baillie frequently attacked the painters for simply displaying skill for its own sake. Works were dismissed as merely 'clever'.
32. On occasion an inappropriate moral or educative stance was discerned and condemned; see 'Fine Art Institute', Glasgow Herald, 18 February 1885, p. 9;
33. see also Roger Billcliffe, The Glasgow Boys (London, 1985), pp. 65, 72, 98, 105, 120, 127 et passim.
34. 'Art in the provinces', Art Union 7 (1845), p. 49.
35. See, for example, John Forbes White, How can Art be Best Introduced into the Houses of Persons of Limited Income? (Aberdeen, 1877). The text formed the basis of a paper read by White to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, which met in Aberdeen in September 1877.
36. The paper is basically a reworking of ideas promoted by Thomas Wyse MP in a speech delivered in December 1842: see John Pye, Patronage of British Art (London, 1845), pp. 176-85.
37. SRA F12/2 Box 1, 1856-95. Included in a file copy of all the minutes relating to the McLellan bequest and purchase. The statement is also quoted by D. Dreghorn in a letter to Glasgow Town Council, 28 August 1856. P&G (op. cit., note 11), vol. I, p. 479. McLellan's gift is one of the earlier donations of an entire collection. Robert Vernon donated his collection to the National Gallery in 1847 but the 155 paintings given were all modern works. The old masters in his collection were sold by his heirs in 1877.
38. See Macleod, op. cit. ['Art collecting'] (note 1), pp. 330, 332-4.
39. For McLellan's original Deed of Bequest see Glasgow Gallery of Art. Collection of Paintings (Glasgow, 1861); SRA, D-TC 14.2.4/8.
40. P&G, op. cit. (note 11), vol. I, p. 479.
41. First and eleventh articles, 'Rules for the Glasgow gallery of art', Prints - Corporation Galleries and Museums; SRA, D-TC 14.2.26.
42. A full account of these arrangements and their consequences is given below.
43. 'The corporation galleries', Glasgow Herald, 7 June 1861, p. 6. There are no surviving detailed minutes of the Galleries sub-committee for June 1861.
44. Glasgow Herald, op. cit. (note 20).
45. For a full text of the proposed arrangements as submitted to the Sub-Committee on the Galleries of Art and Pictures by John Graham-Gilbert RSA (1794-1866), Chairman of Executive Committee, Glasgow Institute of Fine Art see P&G, op. cit. (note 11), vol. II, 1859-69, pp. 83-6; SRA, F12.1.2.
46. For full text of letter and conditions of donation see P&G, op. cit. (note 11), vol. I, pp. 463-4.
47. Euing added an extra six works to his donation, making thirty-six in total. In 1874 he bequeathed the remainder of his collection, a further fifty-eight works. For more information on the Euing Bequest see Edward Pinnington, The Art Collection of the Corporation of Glasgow (Glasgow, 1898), pp. 14-16.
48. For a full text of the letter of donation see P&G, op. cit. (note 11), vol. I, pp. 478-80.
49. The five paintings were presented by Dreghorn as being the work of 'Tintoretto', 'Braemen', 'Vandermeer', 'Beza' and 'Metzu'.
50. Of the five works only three are still in the collection of Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum: No. 299, A Village and Marshland by Moonlight, by Aert van der Neer (1603/4-77);
51. No. 300, A Musical Party, attrib. Matthijs Naiveu (1647-1721?), originally catalogued as by 'Metzu';
52. No. 301, Fish Selling on the Dunes, after Maerten Fransz van der Hulst (act. 1630-45) originally catalogued as by Braemen. Two were disposed of after a review of the collection in 1877/8; see notes 60 and 61.
53. 'To the electors of the thirteenth ward', Glasgow Herald, 2 November 1857, p. 1.
54. Twelve regulations relating to the administration of the Glasgow Gallery of Art were adopted on 5 February 1857. P&G, op. cit. (note 11), vol. I, pp. 581-3. The eighth article states 'Pictures presented to the Gallery, shall be submitted to the Committee, who shall not finally receive them, till they have consulted at least two Professional Artists, Members or Associates of the Royal Academies of England or Scotland, and obtained their approval'. Houldsworth's donation took place two weeks earlier. His use of twelve academicians to endorse the gift rather than the two required suggests he knew of the substance but not the details of the forthcoming regulations.
55. Houldsworth donated The Death of John Brown of Priesthill by Thomas Duncan RSA, ARA (1807-45), catalogue no. 302. Assurances of its merit were obtained from John Watson Gordon PRSA and eleven members of the Royal Scottish Academy, see P&G, op. cit. (note 11), vol. I, pp. 562-3.
56. The circumstances and ramifications of these negotiations are examined in detail in Sweeney, op. cit. (note 10), pp. 256-93.
57. Rules for the Glasgow Gallery of Art, op. cit. (note 29), Article Fourth.
58. 22 Victoria, cap. 17 (1859), 'An Act to Enable the Magistrates and Council of the City of Glasgow to Lay Out, Maintain, and Improve the Kelvingrove and Queen's Parks and the Galleries of Art and Corporation Halls in the said City; and for Other Purposes'.
59. For political background see Sweeney, op. cit. (note 10), p. 293.
60. Rules for the Glasgow Gallery of Art, op. cit. (note 29), Article Fifth.
61. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, p. 2.
62. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 3-5.
63. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 8-9.
64. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, p. 16.
65. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, p. 18. £98.8s. was raised in rental. The balls were organized by the Glasgow Celtic Society and the Glasgow Assemblies. The two unspecified proposals came from Dr Craik and from Dr Runciman; the former for a morning and the latter for a single day.
66. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 53-4, 66, 90, 100.
67. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, p. 89.
68. Council Act Book July 1858-November 1864, p. 563. SRA, Cl.1.68.
69. The Royal Manchester Institution rented rooms to various societies: see Macdonald, op. cit. (note 1), p. 40. Again Manchester, like Glasgow, allowed contemporary exhibiting societies both to remove the permanent collection from the walls to storage and to construct temporary partitions covering the permanent collection to allow for the hanging of selling exhibitions: see J. Forbes Robertson, 'The city art gallery of Manchester', The Magazine of Art 11 (1888), pp. 162-7. In Glasgow in particular this caused a good deal of both municipal and public disquiet. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 88-9, 100-2.
70. Glasgow Herald, 7 June 1861, p. 6.
71. Wilson, the former Director of the National Schools of Design (Somerset House) and from November 1847 the Director of Provincial Schools became Master of the Glasgow School in peculiar circumstances in December 1848. See Quentin Bell, The Schools of Design (London, 1963), pp. 205-9
72. and Basil C. Skinner, 'Charles Heath Wilson', Farrago. The Magazine of the Glasgow School of Art Staff Association no. 3 (December 1953), pp. 24-5
73. and idem, 'John Murdoch and the art school', Farrago no. 4 (April 1954), pp. 23-6.
74. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 100-2.
75. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, p. 164. Full report pp. 162-7.
76. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 168-9.
77. The alterations adapted the eastern section over the shops for the use of Glasgow School of Art. The western section became galleries and exhibition halls. Accommodation was also provided for the Philosophical Society and the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders. Only the Minutes for 1866 and 1867 differentiated between the 'new galleries' and the 'old galleries'.
78. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 208-9.
79. 'For a long period the Galleries had suffered from neglect and it had become a prevalent habit among the public generally to speak depreciatingly of their contents. The halls had been almost systematically alienated from their legitimate and proper uses, and the public art collections - rarely seen, or seen only under the most unfavourable circumstances - were condemned in ignorance or at least on insufficient knowledge. The committee have for some years past set themselves to amend these unfavourable conditions, and, by devoting the galleries to strictly exhibitional purposes, they have sought in the first place to renew the public interest in the institution.' Report on the Kelvingrove Museum, and the Corporation Galleries of Art, Glasgow, for the year 1882, SRA, D-TC 14.2.26, pp. 161-74.
80. Wilson retired to Italy where in his youth he had travelled extensively with his father, the landscape painter Andrew Wilson (1780-1848). He settled in Florence and died there in 1882.
81. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. III, August 1869-May 1877; SRA, F12.1.3, pp.35, 93, 94.
82. John Graham married Anne Gilbert in 1834. In 1838 she succeeded as heir to the estate of her uncle Andrew Gilbert of Yorkhill. In conformity with the terms of the settlement Graham then took the surname of Gilbert. The collection of paintings was built up by John Graham-Gilbert largely using money from his wife's inheritance. As they had no children the artist left it up to his wife to arrange for the ultimate disposal of the collection. Thus it fell to her to make the bequest.
83. See note 5 (above). For a complete list of those selected, with their original attributions, see Report on the City Industrial Museum, Kelvingrove Park, and the Corporation Galleries of Art, Glasgow for the year 1877, pp. 21-2; SRA, D-TC 14.2.26, pp. 71-92.
84. P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. IV, May 1877-January 1881; SRA, F12.1.4, pp. 1-2, 6. The City Industrial Museum, known more commonly as the 'Kelvingrove Museum' after its home in the old mansion-house of Kelvingrove, was founded in 1807 and extended in 1874-6. Its collections were housed along with those of the Art Gallery in the new Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery opened in 1901.
85. P&G, op. cit. (note 58), pp. 29-30.
86. The Report on the City Industrial Museum, Kelvingrove Park, and the Corporation Galleries of Art, Glasgow, for the year 1878, also makes clear that the purpose of commissioning the report was to raise public opinion of the galleries. SRA, D-TC 14.2.16, pp. 93-111.
87. 'Report by Special Sub-Committee Appointed on 28 August 1877, "To Inspect The Paintings In the Galleries and to Report Whether, Keeping in View the Terms of the Several Bequests Thereof to the Corporation, any and if so, Which of Them, Should be Withdrawn from the Collection and Disposed of, so as to Make the Collection more Select, Better Authenticated, and More Valuable for Public Purposes.' SRA, D-TC 14.1.12.
88. Seventy-five were advised withdrawn from the McLellan collection and seventy-three from the Euing collection. The other fifty-five paintings came largely from the Graham Hutchison collection of old master copies. These works (forty-three) were not marked down for complete withdrawal but were recommended to be 'used decoratively' wherever deemed suitable. The remaining twelve withdrawals included two of the five works donated by Councillor David Dreghorn.
89. P&G, op. cit. (note 58), vol. IV, p. 189.
90. P&G, op. cit. (note 58), vol. IV, p. 205.
91. The report was published as Report on Visit to Museums & Art Galleries in Holland and Belgium 1879. By James Paton FLS, Curator of Kelvingrove Museum and Corporation Galleries Glasgow; SRA, D-TC 14/2/26/1144a.
92. P&G, op. cit. (note 58), vol. IV, pp. 306, 307-12, 316; January 1881-May 1885, p. 361. SRA, F12.1.5.
93. Between 1860 and 1862 Thomas Philip a property developer engaged in a dispute with the Council in respect of land ownership and access at the rear of the galleries. See P&G, op. cit. (note 22), vol. II, pp. 38-40, 41, 49-51, 53-4, 90, 124.
94. This may in part have been due to a residual shortage of money in the city following the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank in 1877. However, Lord Provost John Muir (1828-1903) suggested in 1891 that it was due to the subscription rate being set at too low a level; see Letter by Lord Provost Muir regarding subscriptions towards cost of proposed art gallery and museum, 6 January 1891; SRA, F12/2 Box 1 1856-95.
95. 1877: collection of paintings belonging to Captain J. W. Harrel displayed. The collection was on temporary show at Manley Hall Manchester prior to its exhibition in Glasgow. See P&G, op. cit. (note 58), vol. IV, p. 29; and op. cit. (note 57). p. 9.
96. 1878: see P&G, op. cit. (note 58), vol. IV, pp. 76-7, 97;
97. Fine Art Loan Exhibition in aid of The Funds of Royal Infirmary Held in the Corporation Galleries, Sauchiehall Street (Glasgow, 1878);
98. and op. cit. (note 59), pp. 7-8.
99. Exhibition of Indian Presents belonging to HRH the Prince of Wales, December 1879-July 1880;
100. see Report on the Kelvingrove Museum, and the Corporation Galleries of Art, Glasgow, for the year 1880; SRA, D-TC 14.2.26, pp. 129-43.
101. Oriental Art loan Exhibition, Comprising the Decorative Art of Japan and Persia, and the other allied Eastern Lands, December 1881-April 1882;
102. see Report on the Kelvingrove - for the year 1881; SRA, D-TC 14.2.26, pp. 145-60.
103. Italian Art loan Exhibition, December 1882-April 1883;
104. see Report on the Kelvingrove - for the year 1883; SRA, D-TC 14.2.26, pp. 175-85.
105. P&G, op. cit. (note 64), vol. V, p. 112. Sir John Charles Robinson was both a logical and an inspired choice. He was superintendent of Art Collections for the South Kensington Museum 1852-69 during which time he organized and carried out a system of loan and circulation of works of art from the museum to provincial institutions. He was appointed HM Surveyor of Pictures in 1881. He had carried out commissions for municipal authorities prior to the Glasgow commission, travelling to Italy on behalf of the Birmingham Museum to purchase decorative art and architectural fragments.
106. Report by Mr. J. C. Robinson, H.M. Surveyor of Pictures on The Art Collections, Corporation Galleries, Glasgow (Glasgow, 1882); SRA, MP 32.361; report read to Council on 17 February 1882; P&G, op. cit. (note 64), vol. V, pp. 139-49.
107. Op. cit. (note 53), p. 6.
108. The paper was submitted to the Committee and read on 15 January 1886; see P&G, vol. VI, June 1885-April 1890; SRA, F12.1.6. It was also read to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow on 3 February 1885. Later published as The Present Position of the Museum and Art Galleries of Glasgow (Glasgow, 1886); SRA, MP 14.688.
109. Op. cit. (note 71), p. 16.
110. Perilla Kinchin and Juliet Kinchin, Glasgow's Great Exhibitions (Oxford, 1988).