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The Burlington Magazine , The Burlington Gazette, and The Connoisseur : The Art Periodical and the Market for Old Master Paintings in Edwardian London

2013; Routledge; Volume: 29; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01973762.2013.814203

1477-2809

Barbara Pezzini,

Decadence, Literature, and Society

Abstract In the early 1900s, London's art market and art press were parts of a complex system of interactions in a rapidly developing professional milieu where the boundaries between and among the roles of the art critic, artist, and dealer were still being defined. This article investigates the contributors—and their connections with the art market—to three newly founded specialist art periodicals: The Connoisseur (established 1901); The Burlington Magazine (begun 1903); and its little-known sales supplement, the short-lived Burlington Gazette (1903–1904). Whereas The Connoisseur had a close, uncomplicated relationship with the art market, with many dealers writing articles for it and advertising their wares on its pages, the Burlington and its Gazette had a more complex relationship with the trade: they took a moral, “purist” stance towards the commercial world while also participating in it. Keywords: Art PressArt MarketArt CriticismRoger Fry (1866–1934)Bernard Berenson (1865–1959)Charles Holmes (1868–1936)Robert Baldwin “Robbie” Ross (1869–1918)Max Rothschild (1877–ca. 1939) Acknowledgments I would like to thank Bart Cornelis for pointing The Burlington Gazette to my attention, Caroline Elam and Max Marmor for their invaluable suggestions, and all my colleagues at The Burlington Magazine for their continued support. Notes [Robert Dell] “The Burlington Magazine: Editorial Article,” Burlington Magazine 1 (March 1903): 3–5. [Dell] “Editorial”: 5. On The Burlington Magazine in the context of the art press at the time, see Andrew Burton, “Nineteenth Century Periodicals,” and Trevor Fawcett, “Scholarly Journals,” in The Art Press—Two Centuries of Art Magazines, ed. Trevor Fawcett and Clive Phillpot (London: The Art Book Company), 3–10 and 13–24. See also Anne Helmreich, “The Death of the Victorian Art Periodical,” Visual Resources 26 (September 2010): 242–53. On Elizabeth Pennell's criticism of The Burlington Magazine, see Meaghan Clarke, Critical Voices: Women and Art Criticism in Britain 1880–1905 (London: Ashgate, 2005), 151–52. On the early history of the Burlington, with extensive bibliography on the matter, see Caroline Elam, “A More and More Important Work: Roger Fry and The Burlington Magazine,” Burlington Magazine 145 (March 2003): 142–52, and Barbara Pezzini, “More Adey, the Carfax Gallery and The Burlington Magazine,” Burlington Magazine 153 (December 2011): 806–14. Helen Rees Leahy, “For Connoisseurs: The Burlington Magazine 1903–11,” in Art History and its Institutions: Foundations of a Discipline, ed. Elizabeth Mansfield (London: Routledge, 2002), 231–45. Charles John Holmes, Pictures and Picture Collecting (London: A. Treherne & Co., 1910), 42–51 (quote on the expert, 51). Harrison C. White and Cynthia A. White, Canvases and Career: Institutional Change in the French Painting World (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965). Jan Dirk Baetens, “Vanguard Economics, Rearguard Art: Gustave Coûteaux and the Modernist Myth of the Dealer-Critic System,” Oxford Art Journal 33 (2010): 25–41; Anne Helmreich and Pamela Fletcher, “The Periodical and the Art Market: Investigating the ‘Dealer-Critic System’ in Victorian England,” Victorian Periodicals Review 41 (Winter 2008): 323–51. On the art market at the time, see the survey by Thomas M. Bayer and John R. Page, The Development of the Art Market in England: Money as Muse (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2011), 99–142; Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich, eds., The Rise of the Modern Art Market in London 1850–1939 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012). A very useful digital resource for the listings of exhibitions in London at the time is the Exhibition Culture in London 1878–1908 database, http://www.exhibitionculture.arts.gla.ac.uk. On the Carfax Gallery, see the following articles in the British Art Journal (September 2012): Samuel Shaw, “The New Ideal Shop: Founding the Carfax Gallery, c. 1898–1902,” 35–43, and Barbara Pezzini, “New Documents Regarding the Carfax Gallery: ‘Fans and other paintings on silk by Charles Conder’ 1902,” 19–29. See also Pezzini, “More Adey,” 808–10. On art criticism at the times, see John Stokes, “It's the Treatment, Not the Subject: First Principles of the New Art Criticism,” chap. 2 in In the Nineties (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 33–52; Elizabeth Prettejohn, “Out of the Nineteenth Century: Roger Fry's Early Art Criticism 1900–1906,” in Art Made Modern: Roger Fry's Vision of Art, ed. Christopher Green (London: Merrel Holberton, 1999), 31–44. On The Burlington Magazine Index (http://www.index.burlington.org), see Barbara Pezzini, “An Open Resource for Scholars and a Primary Source for Research: The Burlington Magazine Online Index,” Art Libraries Journal 36 (Spring 2011): 46–51. Helmreich,“The Death,” 242–53. Bevis Hillier, “75 Years of The Connoisseur,” Connoisseur 191 (March 1976): 160–76. An American art journal with this name was also published in Philadelphia between 1886 and 1888. That the Burlington was a more upmarket version was also reflected in their price: one shilling for The Connoisseur but more than double that for the Burlington at one half-crown, worth two shillings and sixpence (2/6) or one-eighth of a pound. The Gazette was the least expensive at four pence, less than half a shilling. The high desirability of these illustrations is also attested by the fact that in the early volumes of the Burlington kept in libraries, the pages of illustrations were always stamped or embossed to prevent their theft. On the illustrators working for The Connoisseur: Peyton Skipwith, “Byam Shaw,” Connoisseur 191 (March 1976): 189–97; “Duncan, James Allan” (act. 1895–1910), Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Internationale Künstlerdatenbank (Munich: K. G. Saur Verlag, 1993–2006), http://www.degruyter.com/view/db/akl; A. E. Johnson, “Dudley Hardy, R. I., R. M. S.,” Burlington Magazine 16 (March 1910): 357; “Hardy, Dudley, 1867–1922,” Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Internationale Künstlerdatenbank. The American illustrator Will Jenkins, founding member of the Bostonian “Society of the Old Brushes” is less known.“Gleanings from American Art Centers,” Brush and Pencil 17 (February 1906): 44. Caroline Elam, “Herbert Horne: A Kind of Posteritorious Distinction,” in Sandro Botticelli and Herbert Horne: New Research, ed. Rab Hatfield (New York: Syracuse University Press 2009), 177. Frank T. Sabin “Colour Prints in Stipple and Mezzotint,” Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): 19; S. M. Spink, “Ancient Coins as Aids to History,” Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): 85. Algernon Graves, “A Note on Sir Joshua Reynolds,” Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): 103; and “Recently Discovered Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds,” Connoisseur 2 (January 1902): 37. Algernon Graves, a true scholar-dealer, was also the author of many reference works that began the modern discipline of provenance research. See, for instance, the monumental The Royal Academy Exhibitors 1769–1904 (London: H. Graves, 1905–1906). Biographical references in Susanna Avery-Quash, “Graves, Algernon,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004) at http://www.oxforddnb.com. It is difficult to find intact copies of The Connoisseur with their advertising supplements, but advertisements of Henry Graves & Co. and Frank T. Sabin are in the front pages of The Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): n.p. Also photographed in “75 years of Advertisements,” Connoisseur 191 (March 1976): 224–30. Edward F. Strange, “Landscape in Japanese Colour-Prints,” Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): 76; and “Hiroshige and his Followers,” Connoisseur 5 (February 1903): 92. Between May 1903 and August 1925, Strange wrote ten pieces for the Burlington on various themes such as Chippendale furniture, Alfred Stevens, and reviews on acquisitions of the Victoria and Albert Museum. See http://www.index.burlington.org.uk for a complete listing of Strange's contributions. Bernhard Berenson, “The Morelli Collection at Bergamo,” Connoisseur 5 (January 1903): 3 and Connoisseur 6 (October 1903): 145. Julia Frankau wrote regularly for The Connoisseur; see for instance: “Prints and their Prices,” Connoisseur 1 (November 1901): 181; “Lord Chesleymore's Collection of Mezzotints,” Connoisseur 2 (January 1902): 3; “Mr. Harland Peck's Collection,” Connoisseur 5 (February 1903): 84. Frankau wrote only one piece for the Burlington: “A Note on Five Portraits by John Downman, A. R. A,” Burlington Magazine 1 (March 1903): 122–23. See her biography in Elizabeth Eccleshare, “Frankau, Julia (1859–1916),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com. Like Julia Frankau, Emily Nevill Jackson wrote many pieces on the history and techniques of textiles and toys for The Connoisseur, for instance: “Evolution of Alençon Lace,” Connoisseur 1 (December 1901): 219, and “Lace of the Vandyck Period,” Connoisseur 2 (February 1902): 106, but only one for the Burlington: “Ecclesiastical Lace Ancient and Modern: A Comparison,” Burlington Magazine 4 (January 1904): 54–64. This article was quoted as being “Part I” but a continuation was never published. Beatrice Caroline Strong's brief biography in Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, ed. Charles Mosley (Wilmington, DE: Genealogical Books Ltd., 2003), vol. 1, 569. Mrs. Steuart Erskine, “The Duke of Westminster's Collection at Grosvenor House,” Connoisseur 1 (December 1901): 209; “Mr. Alfred de Rothschild's Collection,” Connoisseur 3 (May 1902): 71; “Bridgewater and Ellesmere Collection in Bridgewater House,” Connoisseur 6 (May 1903): 3; “Note on Lady Diana Beauclerk,” Connoisseur 6 (July 1902): 117; and many others. [James Thomas Herbert-Baily?], “The Connoisseur. An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors,” Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): 1. Kate Flint, “Moral Judgement and the Language of English Art Criticism 1870–1910,” Oxford Art Journal 6 (1983): 62–63. [Dell], “Editorial,” 5. [Dell], “Editorial,” 5. Emile Molinier, “French Furniture of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Article I: The Louis XIV Style—Introduction,” Burlington Magazine 1 (March 1903): 25–37; Miller Christy, “Concerning Tinder-Boxes. Article I: Domestic Tinder-Boxes,” Burlington Magazine 1 (March 1903): 55–62; Percy Macquoid, “The Evolution of Form and Decoration in English Silver Plate. Part I,” Burlington Magazine 1 (April 1903): 167–81. Roger Fry to R. C. Trevelyan, February 5, 1904, “Holmes at present feels that he must make it a commercial success, so that I can't say it is more artistic than it was before- if anything there is more bric-a-brac, but I feel that he must do what he can. It's better to have bric-a-brac with some good things in it than nothing at all and I suspect that's the alternative.” Letters of Roger Fry, ed. Denys Sutton (London: Chatto & Windus, 1972), 218. [Robert Dell?], “The Publication of Works of Art Belonging to Dealers,” Burlington Magazine 2 (June 1903): 5–7. Bayer and Page, The Development, 103. Still relevant is Gerard Reitlinger, The Economics of Taste: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760–1960 (London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1961), 108–31. On the influence of the expert and connoisseurship, see Kenneth McConkey, Memory and Desire: Painting in Britain and Ireland at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (London: Ashgate, 2002), 19–37. Regarding the American art market, but with many cross references to the British market as well, see Flaminia Gennari Santori, The Melancholy of Masterpieces: Old Master Paintings in America 1900–1914 (Milan: 5 Continents, 2003), 123–50. Alan Chong, “Isabella Gardner, Bernard Berenson and Otto Gutekunst,” in Colnaghi: The History, ed. Jeremy Howard (London: Colnaghi, 2010), 27. Jeremy Howard, “A Masterly Old Masters Dealer of the Gilded Age: Otto Gutekunst and Colnaghi,” in Howard, Colnaghi, The History, 15; and Meryle Secrest, Duveen: A Life in Art (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 91–98. “The impression you get when you have been to see half a dozen dealers is that the whole business is crooked and rotten and the information you get from [the dealers] is not of any great value.” Carl Snyder to August F. Jaccaci, January 1904, letters preserved in the Smithsonian Institution archives, D123 Snyder, Carl, 1903–1904. On Carl Snyder, see Santori, The Melancholy, 239–48. On the development of the idea of the dishonest dealer, see Pamela M. Fletcher, “Creating the French Gallery: Ernest Gambart and the Rise of the Commercial Art Gallery in Mid-Victorian London,” Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide 6 (Spring 2007), http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/index.php/spring07/143-creating-the-french-gallery-ernest-gambart-and-the-rise-of-the-commercial-art-gallery-in-mid-victorian-london. Roger Fry to Helen Fry, January 21, 1905. Sutton, Letters, 232–33. Roger Fry to Mary Berenson, January 30, 1903. Sutton, Letters, 203. Roger Fry to Lady Fry, September 20, 1903. Sutton, Letters, 212–13. On the Dell/Fry discord, see: Rees Leahy, “For Connoisseurs,” 240–45. Roger Fry to T. Sturge Moore, June 28, 1902. Sutton, Letters, 190. And again to Sturge Moore, January 21, 1903, “The Burlington is to be so far as possible and expression of authoritative opinion—or I ought to say qualified opinion.” Sutton, Letters, 202. Roger Fry to Mary Berenson, May 10, 1903, “Such differences should be tolerated and even welcomed, for it is what helps in so far as it is intelligent, to keep the subject alive” Sutton, Letters, 208. [Charles Holmes?], “Editorial Article: Criticism and Commonsense,” Burlington Magazine 4 (January 1904): 4. The incompatibility of dealing with public office is expressed by Charles Holmes in his autobiography, Self and Partners (Mostly Self) (New York: Macmillan, 1936), 385. Robert Dell opened a gallery in Paris after being the Burlington editor, but while he was still employed by the Burlington as a correspondent from Paris. On the formation of the National Art Collection Fund, see Mary Lago, Christiana Herringham and the Edwardian Art Scene (London: Lund Humphries, 1996), 57–122, and Rees Leahy, “For Connoisseurs,” 240–45. Rees Leahy, “For Connoisseurs,” 231–45. See for instance, P. A., “What Modern Pictures are Worth Collecting?” Burlington Magazine 6 (November 1904): 108–10; “The Auctioneer as Dealer,” Burlington Magazine 7 (August 1905): 371–72, and the editorial articles of July 1904: 353–55, February 1905: 341–44, and June 1905: 173–74. “Nor shall I forget my first interview with the friend who is now Lord Duveen, at which he calmly proposed to buy a whole number of the ‘Burlington.’ It was vain, at first, for me to urge that such Napoleonic measures were contrary to our basic principles; he would take no refusal. … When I finally said ‘No’ it was said with more qualification that our custom was.” Holmes, Self and Partners, 226. Robert Ross, “A Case at the Museum” and “The Hootawa Vandyck (a mystery),” in Masques & Phases (London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1909), 1–32 and 69–82. This poem was first published by Margery Ross, Robert Ross, Friend of Friends: Letters to Robert Ross, Art Critic and Writer, Together with Extracts from His Published Articles (London: Jonathan Cape, 1952), 193, and dated ca. 1910. However internal evidence of the poem dates it between November 1903 and early 1904, which is also confirmed by a letter from Roger Fry to Mary Berenson, February 27, 1904 “I send you a copy of Bobby Ross's Christmas Attribution, which may amuse you.” Sutton, Letters, 220. An original copy of the private publication is in the MacColl Papers, Glasgow University Library, MS MacColl T 398A. It is intriguing that these verses were dedicated to two modern painters, Henry Tonks (1862–1937) and Philip Wilson Steer (1860–1942), another testimony of the close relationship between modern art and Old Master markets in London at the time. Roger Fry to R. C. Trevelyan, February 5, 1904. Sutton, Letters, 218. On George Loraine Stampa, who sometimes published sketches under the name of Harris Brookes, a contributor to Punch for over fifty years, designer of London Underground posters and book illustrator, see Brigid Peppin and Lucy Micklethwait, Book Illustrators of the Twentieth Century (London: Arco Publishing, 1984), 284. The Burlington advertised in its July 1909 exhibition calendar a show of works by Stampa at Walker's Gallery in London, stating that it contained “much skillful, delicate and humorous work.” “Exhibitions Open During July,” Burlington Magazine 15 (July 1909): n.p. Copies of The Shilling Burlington, published between October 1906 and April 1907, are still preserved in the Burlington archives. Advertisements for Carfax, John and Edward Bumpus, Frank T. Sabin, and Duveen had the same ornate capitals designed by Horne as the main articles. Burlington Magazine 1 (March 1903): n.p. A printed copy of the advertisements is still preserved in the archives of the Burlington but, even there, is bound in a separate volume. There are copies of the first six issues of the Gazette in the British Library in London and the Robarts Library of the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and from the latter, a digital copy at http://archive.org/stream/burlingtonmsuppl01londuoft#page/n0/mode/1up. The whole run will soon be available digitally through JSTOR. The story of the tiara is recounted in Mark Jones, Fake? The Art of Deception (London: British Museum Publications, 1990), 33–34. Emma Goldman, Making Speech Free (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 235. L. [Frits Lugt], “Notes from Holland,” Burlington Gazette 1 (July 1903): 109. George Gronau, “Notes from Italy,” Burlington Gazette 1 (July 1903): 110. Robert Witt, “Dr. Georg Gronau Art Historian and Critic Our Florence Correspondent,” Times, December 30, 1937, 12; T. B. [Tancred Borenius], “Dr. Georg Gronau,” Burlington Magazine 72 (February 1938): 93; “Dr. Georg Gronau,” Pantheon 21 (February 1938): 68. Jaro Springer, “Notes from Berlin,” Burlington Gazette 1 (August 1903): 139. Jaro Springer's necrology in Anonymous, “Archaeological News,” American Journal of Archaeology 22 (January–March 1917): 74. Laurence Binyon, “Biographical Note,” in Raphael Petrucci, Chinese Painters: A Critical Study (Norwood, MA: Plimpton Press, 1920), n.p. See also Petrucci's necrology in “Archaeological News,” American Journal of Archaeology 22 (January-March 1917): 74. Georges Riat, “Foreign Sales,” Burlington Gazette 1 (September 1903): 153. Walter Johnson, Byways in British Archaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912), 84. A brief biography of William Carew Hazlitt is in Encyclopedia Britannica, ed. Hugh Chisholm (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911) 13:120. In The Connoisseur, Hazlitt also wrote specifically on collecting, “The Bourgeois Collector,” Connoisseur 1 (December 1901): 233. “Col A Mr. George Clinch, F.G.S., whose death is announced, was Librarian to the Society of Antiquaries of London. He was born at Borden, Kent, in 1860, and wrote many notes on the antiquities of his native county. His many publications in this kind are, however, concerned mainly with the history of districts of London. He wrote a number of the ‘Little Guides,’ including those of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Isle of Wight, and Kent. his ‘Old English Churches’ reached a second edition. He was a vice-president of the Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men.” “Mr. George Clinch [Obituary],” Times, February 7, 1921, 12. A short biography on Albert Van De Put at the National Art Library, London, Information File. Shelfmark: “Van De Put, Albert,” Special Collections. Max Roldit, “The Hogarth Family,” Connoisseur 1 (October 1901): 143; “Sir Charles Tennant's Picture Collection,” Connoisseur 1 (September 1901): 3; “The George Thomy-Thiéry Bequest to the Louvre,” Connoisseur 2 (April 1902): 229; “The Collection of Pictures of the Earl of Normanton, at Somerley, Hampshire. Article I.—Pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds,” Burlington Magazine 2 (July 1903): 116–225; “The Collection of Pictures of the Earl of Normanton, at Somerley, Hampshire. Article II.—Works by British Painters 0ther than Sir Joshua Reynolds,” Burlington Magazine 3 (December 1903): 218–235; “The Collection of Pictures of the Earl of Normanton at Somerley, Hampshire. Article III. (Conclusion)—Works by Painters of Foreign Schools,” Burlington Magazine 4 (January 1904): 2–25. Ernst Emmerling, Pompeo Batoni, sein Leben und Werk (Darmstadt: Hohmann, 1932), no. 57. Ellis Waterhouse, “Pompeo Batoni's Portrait of John Woodyeare,” Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 64 (1978–1980): 54–61. 1901 Census data for “Max Rothschild” is available online at http://www.1901censusonline.com/. Who's Who in Art 1927, ed. Bernard Dolman (London: The Art Trade Press, 1927), 200. Max Rothschild, Gainsborough (London: Jack, 1908). Anonymously reviewed in Burlington Magazine 14 (December 1908): 179. 1911 Census data for “Max Rothschild” is available online at http://www.1911census.co.uk/. On the involvement of the Sackville Gallery and the 1912 Futurist exhibition, see Barbara Pezzini, “The 1912 ‘Exhibition of Works by Italian Futurist Painters’ at the Sackville Gallery in London: An Avant-garde Show Within the Old-Masters Trade,” Burlington Magazine 155 (July 2013): 471–79. The first advertisement of the Sackville Gallery is in the back advertising pages of The Burlington Magazine 13 (April 1908): n.p. This is the full text of the announcement from American Art News: “The Sackville Gallery, 28 Sackville Street, W. is now under the sole management of Mr. Max Rothschild, who, as usual, has a choice and well selected collection of ‘Old Masters’ on his walls. Few ‘cognoscenti’ have a more unerring ‘flair’ in matters of art than Mr. Rothschild, and every good wish attends him in his new regime.” “London Correspondence,” American Art News 11 (February 1913): 5. Roger Fry, “Pyramus and Thisbe by Nicholas Poussin,” Burlington Magazine 43 (August 1923): 52–53; complete provenance of this work in Anthony Blunt, Nicolas Poussin: A Critical Catalogue (London: Phaidon, 1966), 126. Patrizia Zambrano, “A New Scene by Sodoma from the Ceiling of Palazzo Chigi at Casato di Sotto, Siena,” Burlington Magazine 136 (September 1994): 609–12. The last recorded reference to the Sackville Gallery is in the exhibition pages of The Burlington Magazine 73 (November 1938): n.p. The news of Max Rothschild's death in 1939 is contained in the obituary of his younger brother, L. G. Rothschild, in The Burlington Magazine 86 (February 1945): 52. It appears from the records at York City Art Gallery that Francis Lycett Green bought works from Max Rothschild Ltd. as late as 1946. I wish to thank Laura Turner and Emma Double of the York City Art Gallery for providing me with this information from their museum files. Compare the descriptions of Paulus Potter in “In the Sale Room,” Connoisseur 6 (May 1903): 121, and in M. R. [Max Roldit], “The Picture Sales,” Burlington Gazette 1 (May 1903): 46. “In the Sale Room,” 121. M. R., “The Picture Sales,”45–46. Roger Fry to William Rothenstein, May 29, 1900. Sutton, Letters, 178. There are recurrent references throughout the Gazette to the excessive prices paid for works by or prints after Romney: “The best prices were given for the prints after Romney and Hoppner; in a few cases they might even be termed extravagant.” “Print Sales,” Burlington Gazette 1 (August 1903): 146. Helmreich, “The Death,” 245–50. Richard Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery (London: Tate Gallery, 1959), 27–28. “In the Sale Room,” 120. M. R., “The Picture Sales,” 47. Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, Lord Darlington, act. III. “Opinions on Works of Art,” Burlington Gazette 1 (April 1903): 36. M. A [More Adey], “Mr. Edward Gorer,” Burlington Magazine 27 (June 1915): 128.