Item ID: 6045 Catalogue of Pictures in Petworth House, Sussex. George Wyndham LECONFIELD, 1st Baron.

Catalogue of Pictures in Petworth House, Sussex.

xxiv, [1], 94 pp. Small 4to, orig. blue limp cloth boards (spine defective), upper cover stamped in gilt. London: Woodfall & Kinder, 1856.

A rare privately printed catalogue of this important collection featuring works by Titian, Turner, Elsheimer, and Palma Vecchio. The collection began with Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland (1602-68), who was one of the greatest collectors during the Civil War and Restoration periods and a significant patron of Van Dyck. “By the late 1650s, Northumberland’s collection was perhaps the finest in England. His genuine aesthetic appreciation of Venetian pictures, especially by Titian, and portraits by Van Dyck, made it similar in character to those of Charles I and his courtiers…”–Stourton and Sebag-Montefiore, The British as Art Collectors, p. 69-71.

His descendant, George Wyndham, 3rd Earl Egremont (1751-1837), continued this legacy of collecting at Petworth House, which he opened to artists and sculptors as a residence. He is best known for his patronage of Joseph Mallord William Turner. Egremont gave him the freedom and conditions to pursue his own desires, forming one of “the most attractive stories of patronage in the 19th century.”–op. cit., pp. 178-9. Turner’s studio and much of the collection still remains at Petworth House in Sussex.

The catalogue enumerates 626 paintings and an unknown contemporary hand has added corrections to the historical introduction of Petworth and a number of descriptions. It is also divided by room and provides indices of portraits and painters at the end.

Very good copy, internally fine. Contemporary corrections in pen.

Price: $1,950.00

Item ID: 6045

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