British paintings at the Huntington

Abstract

Some of the most famous British paintings in the world are to be found at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. The Huntington Collection, begun by railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington in 1908, today holds over 170 portraits and landscapes that include such icons of British art as Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, Joshua Reynolds's Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse, and John Constable's View on the Stour near Dedham. This lavishly illustrated catalogue of the Huntington paintings is the first full-length catalogue of the collection in 65 years, as well as the first to examine the circumstances of Henry Huntington's art acquisitions and his fascinating dealings with art dealer Joseph Duveen. This book abounds with new interpretations and information about the paintings in the Huntington Collection. In addition to standard catalogue information, the volume includes substantive biographies of the portrait sitters, full interpretive discussions of the 120 most important paintings in the collection, and detailed assessments of the paintings' physical condition and development. A revealing introductory essay draws on unpublished correspondence and internal records to show how value, both aesthetic and monetary, was established for eighteenth-century British art in the early twentieth century. This extensively researched catalogue provides an introduction to the methods, meanings, and reception of British art.