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Journal of the History of Collections Advance Access originally published online on December 24, 2008
Journal of the History of Collections 2009 21(1):95-110; doi:10.1093/jhc/fhn028
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

‘A thing to be seen’

Creating the Crampton collection of British watercolours in the 1850s

Philip McEvansoneya


  Abstract

A bundle of letters in the Print Room of the Ashmolean Museum details the assembly by the artist, George Sharp, on behalf of his friend and pupil, the diplomat John [later Sir John] Crampton, of a collection of watercolours by leading British artists, including David Cox and Copley Fielding. The letters, supplemented from other manuscript sources, document an unrecognized episode in the history of watercolour collecting. The initial destination of the collection was Washington where Crampton was well integrated, as a collector and able amateur artist, in the rapidly evolving art world. For Sharp, the collection served a number of purposes: it decorated Crampton's house; it demonstrated to Crampton's American friends the superiority of the British school of watercolour painting; it provided models for Crampton's own painting, and it was intended to hold its value as an investment.

Address for correspondence Dr Philip McEvansoneya, Arts Building, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. pmcevans{at}tcd.ie


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