Journal of the History of Collections Advance Access originally published online on September 4, 2007
Journal of the History of Collections 2008 20(1):37-84; doi:10.1093/jhc/fhm018
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
The papers of Joseph Gillott (1799–1872)
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A Victorian entrepreneur, Joseph Gillott, is a key figure in the history of collecting and patronage from the mid-1840s. He assembled one of the largest and most important painting collections of the day and also collected musical instruments and precious stones. His huge fortune derived from the development of machinery to enable the mass production of steel pens with elongated points (nibs). The traffic of works of art was constant and large numbers of paintings were traded mostly through a network of dealers. To accommodate his vast collection, Gillott built three picture galleries at his house in Edgbaston, Birmingham, and another at his London house in Stanmore, Middlesex. His collection was dispersed after his death at a much publicized six-day sale at Christie's in 1872.
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