Royal Collection

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Anthony van Dyck: Charles I with M. de St Antoine (1633)
Vermeer Lady at the Virginal with a Gentleman, 'The Music Lesson'
Michelangelo – The Resurrection, 1532)
Raphael Cartoons, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, c. 1515, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum since the 19th century
Titian – Portrait of Jacopo Sannazaro (1514–18)

The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family and one of the world's largest and most important collections.

Spread among 13 royal residences and historic royal palaces in the United Kingdom, the collection is held in trust by the monarch for her successors and the nation. It is made up of over one million objects,[1] including 7,000 paintings, 30,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 500,000 prints,[1][2] as well as photographs, tapestries, furniture, ceramics, books, sculptures, and the Crown Jewels.

Some of the buildings which house the collection, like Hampton Court Palace, are open to the public and not lived in by the Royal Family, whilst others, like Windsor Castle, are both residences and open to the public. The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was built specially to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is a similar art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and a Drawings Gallery at Windsor Castle. The Crown Jewels are on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. About 3,000 objects are on long-term loan to museums throughout the world, and many others loaned on a temporary basis for exhibitions.[1]

History

Rubens: Pythagoras Advocating Vegetarianism, c. 1618–30 in the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

Few items from before King Henry VIII survive. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a passionate collector of Italian paintings, and a major patron of Van Dyck and other artists. His collection was sold after his execution in 1649, but large numbers of works were recovered for the collection after the Restoration of 1660, when the Dutch Republic also presented Charles II with the Dutch Gift, and Charles later bought many paintings and other works.

George III, with the assistance of Frederick Augusta Barnard, added very large numbers, including tens of thousands of books and manuscripts,[3] and Queen Victoria and her husband Albert were keen collectors of contemporary and old master paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria and Albert. In particular, most of the then royal library was given by George III to the British Museum, now the British Library, where many books are still catalogued as "Royal". The core of this collection was the purchase by James I of the related collections of Humphrey Llwyd, Lord Lumley, and the Earl of Arundel.[4]

Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II (1952–present), there have been significant additions to the collection through judicious purchases, bequests and through gifts from nation states and other official bodies.[5] The Commonwealth is strongly represented in this manner: an example is the 75 contemporary Canadian watercolours that entered the collection between 1985 and 2001, a gift from the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour.

Collection

A full inventory of the Royal Collection has never been made available to the public, though there are published catalogues of parts of the collection, especially paintings, and the database on the Royal Collection website is increasingly comprehensive. Some highlights are given below.

Paintings, prints and drawings

The collection's holdings of Western fine art are amongst the largest, and most important assemblages in existence, with works of the highest quality, and in many cases artists whose works can not be fully understood without a study of the holdings contained within the Royal Collection. Numbering over 7,000 works, spread across the Royal Residences, the collection is also arguably amongst the world's oldest in terms of provenance. The collection does not claim to provide a comprehensive, chronological survey of Western fine art but has been shaped by the individual tastes of kings, queens and their families over the last 500 years.

Anglo-American
Dutch (200+ works)[6]
English
Flemish
French
German
Italian

Furniture

Numbering over 300 items, the Royal Collection holds one of the greatest and most important collections of French furniture ever assembled. The collection is noted for its encyclopedic range as well as counting the greatest cabinet-makers of the Ancien Régime.

French furniture
  • Joseph Baumhauer – Bas d'armoire, c. 1765–70
  • Pierre-Antoine Bellangé – at least 13 items, including:

    Deux paire de Pedestals, inset with porcelain plaques, c. 1820
    Paire de pier table, c. 1823–4 (The Blue Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Paire de petit pier table, c. 1823–4 (The Blue Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Side table, c. 1820
    Paire de secretaire, c. 1827-8
    Paire de cabinets, (see pietra dura section), c. 1820

  • André-Charles Boulle – at least 13 items, including:

    Armoire, c. 1700 (The Grand Corridor, Windsor Castle)
    Armoire, c. 1700 (The Grand Corridor, Windsor Castle)
    Cabinet (en première-partie), c. 1700 (The Grand Corridor, Windsor Castle)
    Cabinet (en contre-partie), c. 1700 (The Grand Corridor, Windsor Castle)
    Cabinet, (without stand, similar to ones in the State Hermitage Museum and the collections of the Duke of Buccleuch)
    Paire de bas d'armoire, (The Grand Corridor, Windsor Castle)
    Writing table, possibly delivered to Louis, the Grand Dauphin (1661–1711), c. 1680
    Paire de torchère, c. 1700
    Bureau Plat, c. 1710 (The Rubens Room, Windsor Castle)
    Petit gaines, attributed to., early 18th century

  • Martin Carlin – at least 2 items:

    Cabinet (commode à vantaux), (see pietra dura section), c. 1778
    Cabinet, mounted with Sèvres plaques, c. 1783

  • Jacob-Desmalter & Cie – at least 1 item:

    Bureau à cylindre, c. 1825

  • Jacob Frères – at least 1 item:

    Writing-table, c. 1805

  • Gérard-Jean Galle – at least 1 item:

    Candelabra x2, early 19th century

  • Pierre Garnier – at least 2 items:

    Paire de cabinets, c. 1770

  • Georges Jacob – at least 30 items, including:

    Petit sofa, c. 1790
    Tête-à-tête, c. 1790
    Fauteuil, c. 1790
    Lit à la Polonaise, c. 1790
    Small armchairs and settees, suite of 20, c. 1786
    Armchairs x4, c. 1786

  • Gilles Joubert – at least 2 items:

    Pair of Pedestals, delivered for the bedroom of Louis XV at Versailles, c. 1762

  • Pierre Langlois – at least 5 items, including:

    Commode, c. 1765 Deux paire de commode, c. 1763

  • Étienne Levasseur – at least 7 items:

    Side-table, attributed to, c. 1770 Deux paire de gaines, attributed to, c. 1770 Deux secretaire, adapted from an Andre-Charles Boulle table en bureau, c. 1770

  • Martin-Eloy Lignereux – at least 2 items:

    Paire de cabinets, (see pietra dura section), c. 1803

  • Bernard Molitor – at least 3 items:

    Commode, c. 1780
    Paire de secretaires, c. 1815

  • Bernard II van Risamburgh – at least 2 items:

    Centre-table, c. 1775
    Commode, c. 1745

  • Jean Henri Riesener – at least 6 items:

    Commode, delivered to Louis XVI's "Chambre du Roi" at Versailles, c. 1774;
    Paire de encoignure, delivered to Louis XVI's "Chambre du Roi" at Versailles, c. 1774;
    Jewel-cabinet, delivered to the Comtesse de Provence, c. 1787
    Writing-table, c. 1785
    Bureau à cylindre, c. 1775

  • Sèvres – at least 1 item:

    Centre-table, 'The Table of the Grand Commanders', c. 1806–12 (The Blue Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)

  • Pierre-Philippe Thomire – at least 15 items, including:

    Pedestal, c. 1813
    Pedestal for the equestrian statue of Louis XIV, c. 1826
    Paire de candelabra, 8 light, c. 1828
    Torchères x11, c. 1814
    Clock, mounts attributed to., 1803
    Candelabra x2, early 19th century

  • Benjamin Vulliamy & Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy – at least 4 items:

    Torchere x4, 1814

  • Benjamin Vulliamy – at least 3 items:

    Candelabra x2, 1811
    Mantel clock, c. 1780

  • Adam Weisweiler – at least 13 items:

    Cabinet, inset with a Sevres plaque, late 18th century
    Cabinet, (see pietra dura section), 1780
    Side Table, (see pietra dura section), c. 1780
    Side Table, (see pietra dura section), c. 1785 (The Green Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Paire de pier-table, in chinoiserie style, c. 1787–90
    Commode, c. 1785
    Console-table x4, c.1785
    Paire de petit bas d'armoire, manner of. boulle, late 18th century

Other European furniture
  • Robert Hume (English) – at least 1 item:
    Pair of cabinets, (see pietra dura section), c. 1820
  • Unknown (Flemish) – at least 2 items:

    Cabinet-on-stand, c. 1660
    Cabinet-on-stand, 17th century

  • Johann Daniel Sommer (German) – at least 2 items:

    Pair of cabinets-on-stand, attributed to. (stands English), late 17th century

  • Melchior Baumgartner (German) – at least 2 items:

    Organ Clock, 1664
    Cabinet, (see Pietra Dura section), c. 1660

  • Unknown (Dutch) – at least 1 item:

    Secretaire-cabinet, in boulle marquetry, c. 1700

  • Pietra Dura – at least 11 items:

    Cabinet, Augsburg, attributed to Melchior Baumgartner, c. 1660
    Cabinet, Italian, c. 1680
    Cabinet, Adam Weisweiler – at least inset with pietra dura panels, 1780 (The Green Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Side Table, Adam Weisweiler – at least inset with pietra dura panels, c. 1780 (The Silk Tapestry Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Cabinet (commode à vantaux), Martin Carlin – at least inset with pietra dura panels re-used from Louis XIVs great Florentine cabinets, c. 1778 (The Silk Tapestry Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Casket, Italian: Florentine, c. 1720
    Paire de cabinets, Martin-Eloy Lignereux – at least inset with Florentine plaques, c. 1803

    • Paire de cabinets, Pierre-Antoine Bellangé – at least inset with precious stones based on a Florentine design by Baccio del Bianco, c. 1820

    Pair of cabinets, Robert Hume, c. 1820 (The Crimson Drawing Room, Windsor Castle)
    Four Florentine pietra dura panels on 18th century cabinets, re-adapted, c. 1820s (The White Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)

  • Miscellaneous:

    Cabinet-on-stand, magnificent example composed of ebony, mid-17th century
    Bureau, magnificent example similar to a version in both the V&A and the Getty Museum, 1690–95
    Bureaux Mazarin x2, in Boulle style, late 17th century
    Bureaux Mazarin x2, in Boulle style, c. 1700 (The Ballroom, Windsor Castle)
    Bureaux Mazarin, late 17th century (The West Gallery, Buckingham Palace)
    Deux paire de boulle bas d'cabinets

Ornaments and décor

Clocks
  • André-Charles Boulle – at least 4 items:
    Mantle clock, c. 1710 (The Green Drawing Room, Windsor Castle)
    Pedestal clock, (Similar to ones in Blenheim Palace, Chateau de Versailles, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Frick Collection and the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    Pedestal clock, late 17th century;
    Pedestal clock, c. 1720
  • Abraham-Louis Breguet – at least 1 item:

    Empire regulator clock, 1825

  • De La Croix – at least 1 item:

    Large clock, raised on a bronze plaque plinth, c. 1775 (The East Gallery, Buckingham Palace)

  • Gérard-Jean Galle – at least 1 item:

    Clock, figures and frieze representing the Oath of the Horaatii, early 19th century

  • Jean-Pierre Latz – at least 2 items:

    Pedestal Clock, (reputed from the Chateau de Versailles), c. 1735–40
    Barometer and Pedestal, c. 1735

  • Jean Antoine Lépine – at least 1 item:

    Clock, in the form of an African Diana, the goddess of the Hunt, 1790 (The Blue Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Astronomical Clock, c. 1790 (The Blue Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)

  • Martin-Eloy Lignereux – at least 1 item:

    Clock, 1803

  • Pierre-Philippe Thomire – at least 1 item:

    Clock, in the form of Apollo's chariot, c. 1805 (The State Dining Room, Buckingham Palace)

  • Benjamin Vulliamy – at least 1 item:

    Clock, in the form of a bull, c. 1755–60

  • Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy – at least 1 item:

    Clock, fitted with three porcelain figures, c. 1788 (The State Dining Room, Buckingham Palace)

Decorative arts
  • Matthew Boulton – at least 4 items:
    Two pairs of vases, c. late 18th century (The Marble Hall, Buckingham Palace)
  • Fabergé – at least 3 Imperial Eggs and 1 Easter Egg
  • Gérard-Jean Galle – at least 2 items:

    Candelabra x2, in the form of cornucopias, c. early 19th century

  • François Rémond – at least 12 items:

    Candelabra x8, 4 pairs, c. 1787 (The Blue Drawing Room & The Music Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Candelabra x4, delivered to the comte d'Artois for the cabinet turc at Versailles, 1783 (The State Dining Room, Buckingham Palace)

  • Pierre-Philippe Thomire – at least 3 items:

    Vase, c. early 19th century (The Music Room, Windsor Castle)
    Candelabra x2, malachite and bronze, early 19th century (The White Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Candelabra x2, malachite and bronze, c. 1828 (The State Dining Room, Buckingham Palace)
    Candelabra x4, figures of patinated bronze, c. 1810 (The East Gallery, Buckingham Palace)

Porcelain
Sculpture
  • Antonio Canova – at least 3 items:
    Mars and Venus, c. 1815–17 (The Ministers' Staircase, Buckingham Palace)
    Fountain nymph, 1819 (The Marble Hall, Buckingham Palace)
    Dirce, 1824 (The Marble Hall, Buckingham Palace)
  • François Girardon – at least 1 item:

    Bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV, after Girardon, c. 1700

  • Louis-Claude Vassé – at least 1 item:

    Equestrian statue of Louis XV, a small reduction copy after the original by Edmé Bouchardon, c. 1764

  • Ancient World – at least 1 item:

    Ancient Roman – Crouching Earth

Tapestries and carpets
  • Gobelins – at least 36 items:
    Tapestry, four (from a series of twenty-eight designs) from the 'History of Don Quixote' given by Louis XVI to Richard Cosway, by whom presented to George IV, c. 1788
    Tapestry, eight from the series 'Les Portières des Dieux', c. 18th century
    Tapestry, four from the series 'Les Amours des Dieux', c. late 18th century
    Tapestry, eight from the series 'Jason and the Golden Fleece', 1776-9
    Tapestry, seven from the series 'History of Esther', 1783
    Tapestry, three from the series 'Story of Daphnis and Chloë', 1754
    Tapestry, two from the series 'Story of Meleager and Atalanta', 1844

Management

The Royal Collection Trust, employing around 500 staff, is one of the five departments of the Royal Household, and is responsible for the cataloguing, conservation, cleaning, restoration and display of the collection.[8] Buildings do not come under its remit. The team of curatorial staff numbers 29, and there are 32 conservationists.[9]

Royal Collection Enterprises, set up in 1993 after the Windsor Castle fire, had a turnover of £40.7 million and profit of £7 million for the year to 31 March 2015. Income is raised by charging entrance fees to see the collection and selling books and merchandise to the public. Retail sales were down by 19% compared with the previous year, and visitor numbers to the official residences in which items from the collection are displayed fell by 3.2% to 2.47 million.[10]

The conservation studio at Marlborough House is responsible for the in-house conservation of furniture and decorative objects located at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Frogmore House, Palace of Holyroodhouse, St James's Palace, Sandringham House, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Osborne House.[11]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ R. Brinley Jones, ‘Llwyd, Humphrey (1527–1568)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004
  5. ↑ Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration. Edited by Jane Roberts. Publisher: Royal Collection Enterprises, St. James' Palace, London, 2002. Page 25 (by Sir Hugh Roberts) and Page 391 (chapter 14). ISBN 1-902163-49-4 (h-b uk) and ISBN 1-902163-52-4 (pb uk)
  6. ↑ The Social Affairs Unit – at least Web Review: Dutch Paintings at the Royal Collection
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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