HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is arguably the greatest private collection of Western art, especially Italian, ever assembled, and probably the most famous, helped by the fact that most of the collection has been accessible to the public since it was formed, whether in Paris, or subsequently in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere. The core of the collection was formed by 123 paintings from the collection of Queen
Christina of Sweden Christina (; 18 December ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. Her conversion to Catholicism and ...
, which itself had a core assembled from the war booty of the sacks by Swedish troops of Munich in 1632 and Prague in 1648 during the Thirty Years War. During the French Revolution the collection was sold by Louis Philippe d'Orléans, ''Philippe Égalité'', and most of it acquired by an aristocratic English consortium led by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater. Much of the collection has been dispersed, but significant groups remain intact, having passed by inheritance. One such group is the Sutherland Loan or Bridgewater Loan, including sixteen works from the Orleans Collection,Penny, 466 in the National Gallery of Scotland, and another is at
Castle Howard Castle Howard is an English country house in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, north of York. A private residence, it has been the home of the Earl of Carlisle, Carlisle branch of the House of Howard, Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle ...
, Yorkshire. There are twenty-five paintings formerly in the collection now in the National Gallery, London, which have arrived there by a number of different routes. The collection is of central interest for the history of collecting, and of public access to art. It figured in two of the periods when art collections were most subject to disruption and dispersal: the mid-17th century and the period after the French Revolution.


Rudolf and Christina

The paintings looted from Prague Castle had mostly been amassed by the obsessive collector Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552–1612), whose own bulk purchases had included the famous collection of Emperor Charles V's leading minister Cardinal Granvelle (1517–86), which he had forced Granvelle's nephew and heir to sell to him. Granvelle had been the "greatest private collector of his time, the friend and patron of
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
and Leoni and many other artists", including his protégé
Antonis Mor Anthonis Mor, also known as Anthonis Mor van Dashorst and Antonio Moro (c. 1517 – 1577), was a Netherlandish Portrait painting, portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has also been referred to as Antoon, Anthonius, Anthoni ...
. The Swedes only skimmed the cream of the Habsburg collection, as the works now in Vienna, Madrid and Prague show. Most of the booty remained in Sweden after Christina's departure for exile: she only took about 70 to 80 paintings with her, including about 25 portraits of her friends and family, and some 50 paintings, mostly Italian, from the Prague loot, as well as statues, jewels, 72 tapestries, and various other works of art. She was concerned that the royal collections would be claimed by her successor, and prudently sent them ahead to
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
in a ship before she abdicated. Christina greatly expanded her collection during her exile in Rome, for example adding the five small
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
predella panels from the Colonna Altarpiece, including the '' Agony in the Garden'' now reunited with the main panel in New York, which were bought from a convent near Rome. She was apparently given Titian's '' Death of Actaeon'' by the greatest collector of the age, Archduke Leopold William of Austria, Viceroy in Brussels - she received many such gifts from Catholic royalty after her conversion, and gave some generous gifts herself, notably
Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
's panels of ''Adam'' and ''Eve'' to
Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (, ; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the ...
(now in the Prado). On her death she left her collection to Cardinal Decio Azzolino, who himself died within a year, leaving the collection to his nephew, who sold it to Don Livio Odescalchi, commander of the Papal army, at which point it contained 275 paintings, 140 of them Italian. The year after Odescalchi's death in 1713, his heirs began protracted negotiations with the great French connoisseur and collector Pierre Crozat, acting as intermediary for Philippe, duc d'Orléans. The sale was finally concluded and the paintings delivered in 1721. The French experts complained that Christina had cut down several paintings to fit her ceilings,Penny, 462 and had over-restored some of the best works, especially the
Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...
s, implicating Carlo Maratta.


Royal owners

File:Joseph_Heintz_d._Ä._002.jpg, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1552–1612, deposed by his family after he turned into a recluse File:Swedish queen Drottning Kristina portrait by Sébastien Bourdon stor.jpg,
Christina of Sweden Christina (; 18 December ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. Her conversion to Catholicism and ...
, 1626–1689, went into exile when she wanted to convert to Catholicism File:Philippe d'Orleans, regent, et Marie Madeleine de la Vieuville, Comtesse de Parabere (Jean-Baptiste Santerre).jpg, Philippe d'Orléans, 1674–1723, Regent of France, who assembled the Orleans Collection File:Rochard after Coypel - Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans in Armour.jpg, Louis, Duke of Orléans (1703–1752) File:Louis Philippe d'Orléans (1725-1785) as Duke of Orléans by Alexander Roslin, Stockholm.png, Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans File:Philippe d'Orléans en grand-maitre du GOF.jpg, "Philippe Égalité", Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, 1747–1793, guillotined in the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...


Collection in Paris

The Orleans collection was housed in the magnificent setting of the Palais-Royal, the Paris seat of the dukes of Orléans. Only 15 paintings in the printed catalogue of 1727 had been inherited by Philippe II from his father, Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans, ''Monsieur'' (1640–1701); the "collection" as catalogued was by no means all the art owned by the dukes, but recorded only that part kept together in the Palais-Royal for public viewing. He also inherited small but high quality collections from Henrietta Anne Stuart, his father's first wife, in 1701 and his father's lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine in 1702. According to Reitlinger, his most active phase of collecting began in about 1715, the year he became
Regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
on the death of his uncle
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
, after which he no doubt acquired an extra edge in negotiations. He also began to be presented with many paintings, most notably the three of Titian's ''poesies'', now in Boston and shared by Edinburgh and London, which were given by Philip V of Spain to the French ambassador, the Duc de Gramont, who in turn presented them to the Regent. Christina's collection only joined Philippe's shortly before the end of his life and most of the other works were bought in France, like the Sebastiano del Piombo '' Raising of Lazarus'', with some from the Netherlands or Italy, like the Nicolas Poussin set of the '' Seven Sacraments'', bought from a Dutch collection by Cardinal Guillaume Dubois in 1716. Other sources included the heirs of Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, and Cardinal Dubois, with an especially important group from Jean-Baptiste Colbert's heir the Marquis de Seignelay, and others from the dukes of Noailles, Gramont, Vendôme and other French collectors. The paintings were housed in two suites of large rooms running side by side down the west or library wing of the palace, with the smaller Dutch and Flemish works in smaller rooms.Penny, 464 The gallery suites of rooms still retained much of their original furniture, porcelain and wall-decorations from their use by Phillippe's father as grand reception rooms and according to a visitor in 1765 it was "impossible to imagine anything more richly furnished or decorated with more art and taste". Rearrangements had been made to accommodate the paintings; connoisseurs particularly praised the ''Galerie à la Lanterne'', with its even, sunless top light diffused from the cupola overhead. For most of the 18th century it was easy to visit the collection, and very many people did so, helped by the printed catalogue of 1727, republished in 1737, ''Description des Tableaux du Palais Royal''. This contained 495 paintings, though some continued to be added, and a few disposed of. Paintings were hung, not by 'schools' or by subject but in order to maximise their effects in juxtaposition, in the 'mixed school' manner espoused by Pierre Crozat for his grand private collection in his Parisian ''hôtel''. The mixture on a wall of erotic and religious subjects was disapproved of by some visitors. The collection was most notable for Italian paintings of the High and Late Renaissance, especially Venetian works. The collection included no fewer than five of the ''poesies'' painted for
Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
, of which two are now shared between Edinburgh and London, two always in London ( Wallace Collection and National Gallery), and one in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. A series of four mythological allegories by Veronese are now divided between the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and the
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
(with two, one illustrated above) and Metropolitan Museum in New York. Another Veronese series, the four '' Allegories of Love'' now in the National Gallery, hung as overdoors in the central salon, which also held the larger Veronese series, three of the Titian ''poesies'' and Correggios. The collection included (on the contemporary attributions) 28 Titians, most now regarded as workshop pieces but including several of his finest works, 12
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
s, 16 Guido Renis, 16 Veroneses, 12 Tintorettos, 25 paintings by Annibale Carracci and 7 by Lodovico Caracci, 3 major
Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...
s plus ten no longer accepted as by him, and 3
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...
s. Attributions no longer accepted, and probably regarded as dubious even then were 2
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
s, and 3 Leonardos. There were few works from the 15th century, except for a Giovanni Bellini. The collection reflected the general contemporary confusion outside Spain as to what the works of the great Velázquez actually looked like; the works attributed to him were of high quality but by other artists such as Orazio Gentileschi. French works, of which the catalogued collection included relatively few, included a set of the ''Seven Sacraments'' and 5 other works by Poussin. There were paintings by Philippe de Champaigne now in the Wallace Collection and
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, and a Eustache Le Sueur which turned up in 1997 over a door in the Naval & Military Club and is now in the National Gallery. The Flemish works were dominated by Rubens with 19 paintings, including a group of 12 studies now widely dispersed, van Dyck with 10 works and David Teniers with 9. The Dutch paintings included 6
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
s, 7 works by Caspar Netscher (one now Wallace Collection) and 3 by Frans van Mieris (one now National Gallery) that were more highly regarded then than they are now. There were 3 Gerrit Dous and 4 Wouwermans. Philippe's son Louis d'Orléans, religious and somewhat neurotic, attacked with a knife one of the most famous works, Correggio's '' Leda and the Swan'', now in Berlin, and ordered the painter Charles-Antoine Coypel to cut up all three of the great Correggio mythological works in the presence of his chaplain, which Coypel did, but saving and repairing the pieces. The ''Leda'' went to Frederick the Great of
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
, the '' Danäe'' to Venice, where it was stolen and eventually sold to the English consul at
Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
, and '' Jupiter and Io'' went to the Imperial collection in Vienna. Some of the Flemish paintings were sold at auction in Paris, June 1727. Beginning in 1785, a series of 352 engravings of the paintings were published on a subscription basis, until the series was abandoned during the Terror, by which time the paintings themselves had been sold. It was finally published in book form in 1806.Penny, 467 These prints have greatly reduced the uncertainty that accompanies the identity of works in most dispersed former collections. There had already been many prints of the collection; the ''Seven Sacraments'' were especially popular among the middle classes of Paris in the 1720s.


Gonzagas and Charles I

Another famous collection whose history was entwined with the Orleans Collection was that assembled by the Gonzagas of
Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
, especially Francesco II (1466–1519) and his son Federico II (1500–1540). Their court artists included Mantegna and Giulio Romano, and they commissioned work directly from Titian, Raphael, Correggio and other artists, some of which were given as gifts to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, to whom Mantua was effectively a client state. The most important of these gifts were the mythological works by Correggio, later to be mutilated in Paris. By the early 17th century the dynasty was in terminal decline, and the bulk of their portable art collection was bought by the keen collector Charles I of England in 1625–27. Charles's other notable purchases included the Raphael Cartoons and volumes of drawings by
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
, and his own most notable commissions were from Rubens and van Dyck. By the time his collection of paintings was seized and sold after his execution in 1649 by the
English Commonwealth The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when Kingdom of England, England and Wales, later along with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, were governed as a republi ...
it was one of the finest outside Italy. Meanwhile, three years after the sale to Charles, Mantua was sacked by Imperial troops, who added much of what was left there to the Imperial collection in Prague, where they rejoined the diplomatic gifts of a century earlier. Some Mantuan paintings therefore passed from Prague via Christina to the Orleans Collection, while more were bought by French collectors in the London "Sale of the Late King's Goods" in 1650, and later found their way to the Palais-Royal. For example, an ''Infancy of Jupiter'' by Giulio Romano, bought from Mantua, left Charles' collection for France, passed to the Orleans Collection and the London sales, and after a spell back in France returned to England and was later bought by the National Gallery in 1859. Other paintings in the same series were recovered for the Royal Collection in 1660; Charles II was able to exert pressure on most English buyers of his father's collection, but those gone abroad were beyond his reach. One important Rubens of Charles', the ''Landscape with St George and the Dragon'' (of 1630 - St George has Charles's features, the rescued princess those of his Queen), which passed via the dukes of Richelieu to the Palais-Royal and London, had always been recognised for what it was, and was bought back for the Royal Collection by George IV in 1814. Another picture commissioned by Charles, ''The Finding of Moses'' by Gentileschi, painted for the Queen's House,
Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
, was returned to Charles' widow
Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France (French language, French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to K ...
in France in 1660. By the time it entered the Orleans Collection a half-century later, it was regarded as by Velázquez. It then was one of the Castle Howard paintings, and was only correctly identified after the existence of Gentileschi's second version in the Prado became known in England. After a sale in 1995 it was on loan for nearly 20 years to the National Gallery until they bought it for £22 million in December 2019. Phillippe's father's first wife, Henrietta Anne Stuart, was Charles I's daughter, and her small but select collection had been mostly given to her by her brother Charles II from the reclaimed royal collection on her marriage in 1661. On her death forty years later this was left to Phillippe.


Dispersal in London

In 1787 Louis Philippe d'Orléans, the Regent's great-grandson, whose huge income could not keep pace with his gambling habit, had sold his equally famous collection of engraved gems to Catherine the Great of Russia, and in 1788 he was in serious negotiations with a syndicate organized by James Christie, founder of Christie's, the London auctioneer, for the sale of the paintings. Christie got as far as arranging that the collection should be made over to him upon the deposit of 100,000 guineas in the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
, before the negotiations collapsed when the
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...
having subscribed his name in the book for 7,000 guineas, and his brothers the dukes of York and Clarence for 5,000 each, no further subscribers were to be found. It was Dawson Turner's opinion that the failure was owing to the general sense that at the division of the spoils the lion's share would go to the royals. In 1792 Philippe Égalité impulsively sold the collection ''en bloc'' to a banker of Brussels who immediately sold it at a huge profit to the enlightened connoisseur Jean-Joseph de Laborde de Méréville, who set about adding a gallery to house it attached to his ''hôtel'' in rue d'Artois. Ruined by events, he was forced to sell it once more. The 147 German, Dutch and Flemish paintings were sold by Orléans to Thomas Moore Slade, a British dealer, in a syndicate with two London bankers and George Kinnaird, 7th Lord Kinnaird, for 350,000 '' livres'' in 1792, and taken to London for sale. There were protests from the French artists and public, and from the Duke's creditors, and Slade found it prudent to tell the French the pictures were going overland to
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
. In fact he had them moved onto a barge by night, and shipped them down the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
to
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
. These paintings were exhibited for sale in the
West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...
in April 1793 at 125 Pall Mall, where admissions at 1 shilling each reached two thousand a day, and sold to various buyers. ''Philippe Égalité'', as he had renamed himself, was arrested in April 1793 and was guillotined 6 November, but in the meantime sale negotiations for the Italian and French paintings were renewed, and they were sold for 750,000 ''livres'' to Édouard Walkiers, a banker of
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, who soon after sold them on, unpacked, to his cousin, Count François-Louis-Joseph de Laborde-Méréville, who had hoped to use them to add to the French national collection. After the start of the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
, and the execution of his father as well as the Duke of Orléans, Laborde-Méréville saw he had to escape France, and brought the collection to London in early 1793. The French and Italian paintings then spent five years in London with Laborde-Méréville, the subject of some complicated financial manoeuvres, including the failure of an attempt supported by King
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
and the Prime Minister Pitt the Younger to buy them for the nation. They were finally bought in 1798 by a syndicate of the canal and coal-magnate Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, his nephew and heir, Earl Gower, later 1st Duke of Sutherland, and the Earl of Carlisle. Gower, who was perhaps the prime mover and must have known the collection well from his time as British ambassador in Paris, contributed 1/8 of the £43,500 price, Carlisle a quarter, and Bridgewater the remaining 5/8s. The pictures were put on exhibition for seven months in 1798, with a view to selling at a least a part of them, in Bryan's Gallery in Pall Mall, with the larger ones at the Lyceum in the Strand; admission was 2/6d rather than the 1s. usual for such events. On first seeing the collection there,
William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...
wrote "I was staggered when I saw the works ... A new sense came upon me, a new heaven and a new Earth stood before me." In 1798, 1800 and 1802 there were auctions of those paintings not sold via the galleries, generally achieving rather low prices, but 94 out of 305 of the paintings were retained by the syndicate, as seems always to have been intended, and these largely remain in their families today. However these paintings represented over half of the valuations placed on the whole portion bought by the syndicate. Even at the often low prices realized, the sales to others, and entry receipts to the exhibitions, realized a total of £42,500, so even allowing for the expenses of the exhibitions and auctions, the syndicate got their works very cheaply.
Castle Howard Castle Howard is an English country house in Henderskelfe, North Yorkshire, north of York. A private residence, it has been the home of the Earl of Carlisle, Carlisle branch of the House of Howard, Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle ...
, home of the Earls of Carlisle, originally had fifteen works, now much reduced by sales, donations, and a fire, but the Bridgewater/Sutherland group remain intact to a large degree. The London market in these years was flooded by both other collections from France itself, and those dislodged by the French invasions of the Low Countries and
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
—by 1802 including Rome itself. As is often the case with old collectors, their choices of what to keep and what to sell seem in many cases very strange today: the two "Michelangelos" were only sold in the auctions, and for only 90 and 52
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
. Many Titians were sold, but many Bolognese Baroque works, as well as most of the later (but not the earlier) Raphaels, were retained. The single Watteau went for only 11 gn, while one Carracci was valued at £4,000 for the galley sale, where all 33 Carraccis were sold, while works attributed to Giovanni Bellini and
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...
remained at the auction stage. The current location of many of the pictures can no longer be traced, and many are now attributed to lesser artists or copyists. Overall the prices realized for the better pictures were high, and in some cases their level would not be reached again for a century or longer. As an extreme case, a Ludovico Carracci valued at 60gn in 1798 was auctioned by the 5th Duke of Sutherland in 1913 raising 2gn. An example of a work now only known from a replica (in the Galleria Borghese in Rome) and studies is '' Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Troy'', the only secular history painting by Federico Barocci. The prime version was given in 1586 by Francesco Maria II, the last Duke of Urbino, to Rudolph II in Prague, and was later looted by the Swedes. It was taken to Rome by Queen Christina, passed to the Orleans collection, and finally sold at auction in London for 14 guineas in 1800 (the price probably reflecting the poor condition some sources mention), since when its whereabouts are unknown. The Rome version was painted in 1598, presumably for Cardinal Scipio Borghese. The paintings of both portions of the collection were bought by a wide range of wealthy collectors, the great majority English, as the wars with France made travelling to London difficult for others. Major buyers included Thomas Hope, a Dutch banker (distantly of Scottish extraction) sheltering in London from the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, who with his brother (of Hope Diamond fame) bought the two large Veronese allegories now in the
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
, and works by "Michelangelo", "Velásquez" and Titian, John Julius Angerstein, a Russian-German banker whose collection later became the foundation of the National Gallery and John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley. An analysis by Gerard Reitlinger of "most" of the buyers (of the Italian and French pictures) divides them as follows: *Nobility - 12, including the syndicate *Merchants - 10, including 4 Members of Parliament and 3 knights; mostly as speculators according to Reitlinger - their purchases were mostly resold within a few years *Dealers - 6, including Bryan, who handled matters for the syndicate *Bankers - Hope and Angerstein (both foreign) *Painters - 4: Walton, Udney, Cosway and Skipp *Gentleman Amateurs - 6, including William Beckford and the critic Samuel Rogers. - a breakdown he describes as "quite unlike anything in Europe and grotesquely unlike pre-revolutionary France", where the main collectors were the tax farmers. Many of the same figures appear in the similar list of buyers of the Northern paintings. Much of our information about the sales comes from the ''Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures of Great Masters into England by the Great Artists since the French Revolution'', by William Buchanan, published in 1824, of which the first 200 pages of Volume I are devoted to the Orleans sales, listing the works and most prices and buyers. Buchanan was himself involved in the import of art from 1802 onwards, and had his information from the dealers involved. He presents his own "exertions", and those of others, in the area in a thoroughly patriotic light, by implication as a part of the great national struggle with the French. Nicholas Penny notes the "somewhat comic" disparity between Buchanan's "sonorous words" on the subject and the "coarse and mercenary business letters" he reprints—many by himself.


Bridgewater collection

On Bridgewater's death five years after the purchase, he bequeathed his collection to Gower, who put it and his own paintings on at least semi-public display in Bridgewater House, Westminster; it has been on public display ever since. The collection contained over 300 paintings, including about 50 Orleans paintings, and was known as the "Stafford Gallery" in Cleveland House until the house was rebuilt and renamed as Bridgewater House in 1854, and then as the "Bridgewater Gallery". It was opened in 1803, and could be visited on Wednesday afternoons over four, later three, months in the summer by "acquaintances" of a member of the family (in practice tickets could mostly be obtained by writing and asking for them), or artists recommended by a member of the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
. Angerstein's paintings were on display on similar terms in his house in Pall Mall, which from 1824 became the first home of the National Gallery. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the collection was moved from London to Scotland. Since 1946 26 paintings, sixteen from the Orleans Collection, known collectively as "the Bridgewater loan" or "the Sutherland Loan" have been on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, though up to 2008 five from this group had been bought by the Gallery. The collection has passed by descent to Francis Egerton, 7th Duke of Sutherland, (most of whose wealth is contained in the paintings collection), but in late August 2008 the 7th Duke announced that he wished to sell some of the collection in order to diversify his assets. He at first offered ''Diana and Callisto'' and ''Diana and Acteon'', two works by
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
as a pair to the British national galleries at £100 m (a third of their overall estimated market price) over a period. The National Gallery of Scotland and the National Gallery in London announced they would combine forces to raise the sum, initially in the form of £50 m to purchase ''Diana and Actaeon'' paid over three years in instalments and then £50 m for ''Diana and Callisto'' paid for similarly from 2013. The campaign gained press support, though it received some criticism for the Duke's motives or (from John Tusa and Nigel Carrington of the University of the Arts) for distracting from funding art students In 2009 it was announced that the first £50M for ''Diana and Actaeon'' had been raised - the painting will rotate every five years between Edinburgh (first) and London. The sale of ''Diana and Callisto'' for £45M was announced in 2012.


Paintings with articles once in the collection


Titian


''Poesie'' for Philip II

*'' Venus and Adonis'', two versions, but not Philip's *'' Perseus and Andromeda'' * ''Diana and Callisto'' * ''Diana and Actaeon '' *'' The Rape of Europa'' *'' The Death of Actaeon''


Other

*'' The Three Ages of Man'' * ''Venus Anadyomene'' * ''Venus and Cupid with a Lute-player'' (now Fitzwilliam Museum)


Other artists

* '' Colonna Altarpiece'' by
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
* ''The Raising of Lazarus '', by Sebastiano del Piombo *'' Jupiter and Io'' and '' Danaë'' by
Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...
* ''Origin of the Milky Way '', by Tintoretto * ''The Mill'', by
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
* ''Allegory of Virtue and Vice'', '' Allegory of Wisdom and Strength'' and '' Venus and Mars'' by Paolo Veronese * Orléans Madonna by Raphael


Current locations

* National Gallery, London - at least 25 works, plus two currently on loan there. * National Gallery of Scotland - sixteen works, including those on loan. * Wallace Collection, London - 6 works *
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, New York - At least three works, the
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
'' Colonna Altarpiece'' and a predella panel, a Philippe de Champaigne, and a Veronese * National Gallery of Art, Washington - four works by: Rembrandt, Ludovico Carracci,
Sébastien Bourdon Sébastien Bourdon (; 2 February 16168 May 1671) was a French painter and engraver. His ''chef d'œuvre'' is ''The Crucifixion of St. Peter'' made for the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Biography Bourdon was born in Montpellie ...
and ?Jan Cossiers (as well as two important works from other sources once in the collection of Earl GowerNGA Provenance Index - Gower
). *
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
, New York - two Veroneses (see above), two portraits of Frans Snyders and his wife by van Dyck Other works are in: Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Malibu, Paris, Rome, Boston (Titian '' The Rape of Europa''), Tokyo, Kansas City, and many other cities.


Notes


References

*Brigstocke, Hugh; ''Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland'', 2nd Edn, 1993, National Galleries of Scotland, *Buchanan, William; ''Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures of Great Masters into England by the Great Artists since the French Revolution'', 1824, Ackermann, London, published in 1824 (of which the first 200 pages of Volume I are devoted to the Orleans sales, listing the works and most prices and buyers
''Memoirs of Painting'' online text
als
republished in 2008 by Read Books
* Gould, Cecil, ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools'', National Gallery Catalogues, London 1975, * Lloyd, Christopher, ''The Queen's Pictures, Royal Collectors through the centuries'', National Gallery Publications, 1991, * Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540-1600'', 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd, * Reitlinger, Gerald; ''The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760-1960'', Barrie and Rockliffe, London, 1961 * Trevor-Roper, Hugh; ''Princes and Artists, Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517-1633'', Thames & Hudson, London, 1976 * Turner, Nicholas, ''Federico Barocci'', 2000, Vilo * Watson, Peter; ''Wisdom and Strength, the Biography of a Renaissance Masterpiece'', Hutchinson, 1990,


Further reading

*Schmid, Vanessa I (ed), ''The Orleans Collection'', 2018, D Giles Ltd, *''Cristina di Svezia, Le Collezioni Reali'' (exhibition catalogue), Mondadori Electa, Milan, 2003, *Folliot, Franck, Forray, Anne, and Mardrus, Françoise; articles in ''Le Palais-Royal'' (exhibition catalogue), Musée Carnavalet, Paris 1988 *Macgregor, Arthur, ed.; ''The Late King's Goods. Collections, Possessions and Patronage of Charles I in the Light of the Commonwealth Sale Inventories'', Alistair McAlpine / Oxford University Press, 1989, * Brotton, Jerry. ''Sale of the Late King's Goods: Charles I & His Art Collection'', Macmillan, 2006, {{ISBN, 1405041528


External links


The Bridgewater Syndicate
Web feature from the National Gallery
''The Bridgewater Collection: Its Impact on Collecting and Display in Britain''
Lecture by Susanna Avery-Quash, Research Curator in the History of Collecting: delivered at the National Gallery 7 December 2009