PEEL AND SOLLY: Two nineteenth-century art collectors and their sources of supply

Abstract

Sir Robert Peel was one of the best-known collectors in England; Edward Solly was one of the least-known. Both made seminal contributions to the patterns and understanding of collecting in the countries where they amassed their wealth and their pictures—Sir Robert Peel in England, where his paintings eventually laid the foundations of the Dutch collection of the National Gallery; Edward Solly in Germany, where his collection eventually formed a mighty nucleus of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum and many other German museums. Behind every collector there must be an army of advisers, dealers and auctioneers and in this paper the author gives portraits of many of them and their relationships with his chosen collectors.