John Henderson (1797–1878) was an English collector of works of art. He bequeathed his important collection to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

and the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Life

Born in

Adelphi Terrace Adelphi (; from the Ancient Greek, Greek ἀδελφοί ''adelphoi'', meaning "brothers") is a district of the City of Westminster in Greater London.Mills, A., ''Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) The small district includes th ...

, London, he was son of John Henderson and Georgiana Jane, only child of George Keate, F.R.S. His father, an amateur artist, was an early patron of

Thomas Girtin Thomas Girtin (18 February 17759 November 1802) was an England, English watercolour, watercolourist and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form. Life Thomas G ...

and

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

, who frequently worked together in his house. His father's income was from rents on 250 poor houses in

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

. In 1805 Henderson's mother and father were receiving £700 in income per annum. Charles Cooper Henderson was his brother. John Henderson the younger went at the age of sixteen as a fellow-commoner to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

(B.A. 1817 and M.A. 1820). He read for the bar, but devoted his life to the study of archæology and the collection of works of art. His collections were kept at his house, 3 Montague Street,

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and other societies, and a contributor to their proceedings. He died unmarried in 1878.

Legacy

Iznik water bottle golden horn ca 1530-1535

By the codicil to his will, dated 1 November 1877, Henderson bequeathed to the

his Greek and Roman vases and Egyptian antiquities. To the trustees of the

went: * his collection of water-colour drawings by

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...

, Turner, Girtin,

John Robert Cozens John Robert Cozens (1752 – 14 December 1797) was a British draftsman and painter of romantic watercolour landscapes. Cozens executed watercolors in curious atmospheric effects and illusions which had an influence on Thomas Girtin and J ...

, David Cox, and William James Müller (now in the print room) * his collection of Russian silver and enamels * his Damascus, Persian, Rhodian, and majolica porcelain and pottery * oriental and Venetian metal-work, and oriental arms * Roman, Greek, and Venetian glass * and the correspondence of his grandfather, George Keate, with

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

and Dr.

Edward Young Edward Young ( – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for ''Night-Thoughts'', a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the most popular poem ...

(now

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Add MSS 30991–30992). To the trustees of the

he bequeathed his water-colour drawings by

George Cattermole George Cattermole (10 August 180024 July 1868) was a British painter and illustrator, chiefly in Watercolor painting, watercolours. He was a friend of Charles Dickens and many other literary and artistic figures. Life and work He was born a ...

and Peter De Wint, two pictures by A. Canaletto, and any others of his old masters which they might select.

References

;Attribution *

Life

Legacy

References

Further reading