Adolph Paul Oppé, (22 September 1878 – 29 March 1957) was a British

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

, critic,

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

and museum official. Born in London, the son of a silk merchant, he was educated at Charterhouse, the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. From 1902 to 1905 he taught Greek and ancient history at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, and from 1905 to 1938 worked as a civil servant in the Board of Education. He also served (1906–07 and 1910–1913) as Deputy Director of the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

. Oppé was elected as a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

. Oppé was a distinguished collector of drawings, and monographs on

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 ...

and

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

, but subsequently concentrated on British art, particularly works on paper including those by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

Alexander Cozens Alexander Cozens (1717–23 April 1786) was a British landscape painter in watercolours, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He taught drawing and wrote treatises on the subject, evolving a method in which imaginative drawings of landscapes could ...

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 ...

, and

Thomas Rowlandson Thomas Rowlandson (; 13 July 1757 – 21 April 1827) was an English artist and caricaturist of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. A prolific artist and printmaker, Rowlandson produced both individual soc ...

, and wrote important catalogues on the English drawings in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

at Windsor including those by

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

and

Thomas Sandby Thomas Sandby (1721 – 25 June 1798) was an English draughtsman, watercolour artist, architect and teacher. In 1743 he was appointed private secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, who later appointed him Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park, wh ...

. He was a pioneer instigator of English watercolour and drawing studies, along with

Laurence Binyon Robert Laurence Binyon, Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (10 August 1869 – 10 March 1943) was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. Born in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, England, his parents were Frederick Binyon, ...

, Charles F. Bell and other enthusiasts, and built up what

Sir Charles Wheeler Sir Selwyn Charles Cornelius-Wheeler (26 March 1923 – 4 July 2008) was a British journalist and broadcaster. Having joined the BBC in 1947, he became the corporation's longest-serving foreign correspondent, remaining in the role until his deat ...

called "the most important ollectionown its representation of English artists to have been formed in this century". His collection of over 3,000 works of art on paper, including figurative drawings, portraits, and landscapes produced predominately between 1750 and 1850 was regarded as being of national importance and was acquired by

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in 1996. The acquisition consisted of over 3,000 works of art on paper, including portraits, figurative drawings, and most notably landscapes from the ‘golden age’ of British watercolour painting (1750–1850). It includes watercolours by

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

and

John Downman John Downman (1749 – 24 December 1824) was an English portrait and subject painter. Life and work Downman was the son of Francis Downman, attorney, of St Neots, and Charlotte Goodsens, daughter of Francisco Goodsens, a musician of the Chapel ...

and

Francis Towne Francis Towne (1739 – 7 July 1816) was a British watercolour painter of landscapes that range from the English Lake District to Naples and Rome. After a long period of obscurity, his work has been increasingly recognised from the early 20th ...

and oils by Thomas Jones. From the nineteenth century there are works by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

John Sell Cotman John Sell Cotman (16 May 1782 – 24 July 1842) was an English Marine art, marine and Landscape painting, landscape painter, Etching, etcher, illustrator, and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters. Born in Norwich, the son of a si ...

, George Richmond,

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 ...

and John William Inchbold. In 1915, he catalogued a previously undocumented collection of watercolours by the artist

that were inherited by Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), which has formed the basis of a subsequent

catalogue raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...

on the artist.

Archive and library

In 2018, Oppé's library and archive collection was accepted in lieu of tax and allocated to the

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art is a scholarly centre in London devoted to supporting original research into the history of British Art. It was founded in 1970 and endowed by a gift from Paul Mellon. Since 1996, it has been ...

under the UK Government's Acceptance in Lieu Scheme. The archive comprises research notes, correspondence, annotated

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

and

auction catalog An auction catalog (US spelling) or auction catalogue (British spelling) is inventory of listing of items to be sold at an auction. It is made available some time before the auction date. Auction catalogs for rare and expensive items, such as art, ...

ues, and other associated material compiled by Oppé throughout his career largely concerning eighteenth century

British artists This is a partial list of artists active in Britain, arranged chronologically (artists born in the same year should be arranged alphabetically within that year). Born before 1700 * Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543) – German artist and ...

as well as an extensive set of diaries and notebooks that he maintained throughout his adult life. The material is now fully catalogued and available for consultation in the public study room at the centre.

Selected publications

* *Oppé, Paul (1919). ''Francis Towne, landscape painter''. The Walpole Society, 8.

The Walpole Society The Walpole Society, named after Horace Walpole, was founded in 1911 to promote the study of the history of British art and artists. From 1762 on, Walpole had published the first history of art in Britain, based on the manuscript notebooks of Ge ...

: Oxford, pp. 95–126. *Oppé, Paul (1923). ''The water-colour drawings of John Sell Cotman''. London: The Studio. *Oppé, Paul (1923). ''Thomas Rowlandson: his drawings and water-colours''. London: The Studio. * *Oppé, Paul (1947). ''The drawings of Paul and Thomas Sandby in the collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle''. Oxford; London: Phaidon Press. * *Oppé, Paul (1950). ''English drawings, Stuart and Georgian periods, in the collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle''. London: Phaidon Press. *Oppé, Paul (1952). ''Alexander & John Robert Cozens''. London: Adam and Charles Black.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppé, Paul 1878 births 1957 deaths English art collectors English art historians Directors of museums in the United Kingdom Fellows of the British Academy Alumni of New College, Oxford Alumni of the University of St Andrews English art critics People educated at Charterhouse School Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of St Andrews