Martin Henry Colnaghi (16 November 1821 – 27 June 1908) was a British art dealer for the London-based Colnaghi. Horsley - Portrait of Martin Colnaghi 01

Horsley - Portrait of Martin Colnaghi 01

Grave of Martin Henry Colnaghi in Highgate Cemetery

Personal life

He was born on 16 November 1821 at 23 Cockspur Street, London, and baptised Martino Enrico Luigi Gaetano. He was the eldest son of Martin Colnaghi and his wife, Fanny Boyce Clarke, and a grandson of Paul Colnaghi of Pall Mall. Colnaghi had three marriages, but no children. #Sarah Nash #Elizabeth Maxwell Howard (died 1888) #On 17 October 1889, he married Amy Mary Smith, daughter of the artist George Smith Colnaghi died on 27 June 1908, aged 86, at the Marlborough Gallery, and was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

Antique Dealer

Martin Colnaghi was a picture dealer and art collector with a keen interest in old master paintings, especially Dutch and Flemish pictures. A more detailed biography can be seen here

Legacy

Colnaghi bequeathed four paintings to London's

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 ...

: Lorenzo Lotto'
Madonna and Child and Saints
Philips Wouwerman'
Two Horseman at a Gypsy Encampment
(previously titled "The Bohemians"), Aert van der Neer'
Landscape with a River at Evening
previously titled "Dawn", and

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...

'
"The Bridge"
now held by the Tate (previously exhibited and titled "Landscape" at th
Royal Academy 1892 Exhibition
by Mrs Martin Colnaghi, page 6). He stipulated that after his wife's death, £80,000 should go to the National Gallery, to buy art, to form the Martin Colnaghi bequest. In addition, in 1908, his late wife Amy, bequeathed the portrait of her husband, painted by

John Callcott Horsley John Callcott Horsley (29 January 1817 – 18 October 1903) was a British academic Painting, painter of genre painting, genre and historical scenes, illustrator, and designer of the first Christmas card. He was a member of the artist's colony ...

to the

. After Amy's death in 1940 the remains of his collection were sold by auction at the Willis's Rooms (earlier known as Almack's) by Robinson and Foster Ltd on 22 and 23 January 1941.Auction Catalogue The Colnaghi Collection held by the University of California accessed 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colnaghi, Martin Henry 1821 births 1908 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Art dealers from London People from Westminster English people of Italian descent 19th-century English businesspeople