Erratum: ‘The lover of the fine arts is well amused with the choice pictures that adorn the house’

Abstract

Abstract The nucleus of the National Gallery’s collection was formed by a group of thirty-eight paintings, mostly Continental Old Masters, amassed by John Julius Angerstein (1735–1823). Following Angerstein’s death, Lord Liverpool’s government purchased these pictures and the lease on Angerstein’s London town house on Pall Mall, which became the first home of the National Gallery in 1824. What has been overlooked is the ‘other’ Angerstein collection, which was housed in his suburban villa, Woodlands, at Blackheath. This second collection is examined here, in terms of its location, contents, display and access, and its inter-relationship with the primary collection. It thereby suggests what ‘the’ Angerstein collection – as opposed to ‘an’ Angerstein collection – would have looked like in its entirety. Consideration is given to the typicality or otherwise of Angerstein’s collection at Woodlands, especially in relation to its holdings of British art.