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Letters to Richard Redgrave

 Collection
Call Number: MSS 22

Scope and Contents

The archive comprises approximately 400 autograph letters, from upwards of 120 correspondents, addressed to Richard Redgrave (1804-1888). The letter writers include: George Henry Boughton; Charles Robert Cockerell; Edward William Cooke (16 letters); Charles West Cope, a close friend, including a vivid description of a cricket match (18 letters); Charles Lock Eastlake, including the question of admitting engravers as Academicians (10 letters); Thomas Faed; William Powell Frith (6 letters); John Gilbert; Edward A. Goodall; Francis Seymour Haden (6 letters); Philip George Hamerton, regarding a proposed book on etching; Francis Holl (3 letters); William Holman Hunt, on Etching Club matters (5 letters); John Callcott Horsley (45 letters); John William Inchbold, on which pictures he might send to the Paris Exhibition; John Prescott Knight (10 letters); Frederic Leighton (12 letters); Charles George Lewis; William Linnell, seeking Redgrave's verdict on several new pictures; Daniel Maclise on the choice of pictures for the Paris Exhibition; John Everett Millais, on arrangements regarding etchings (8 letters); Henry O'Neill (12 letters); Edward John Poynter; George Richmond (5 letters); David Roberts, about women painters; William Bell Scott (3 letters); Sydney Smirke on the lighting of the Royal Academy rooms (14 letters); George Clarkson Stanfield on the purchase by the nation of the collection of A.E. Chalon; George Edmund Street (4 letters); Frederick Tayler; Alfred Waterhouse; Richard Westmacott; and numerous others.

The active phases of his correspondents span the entire nineteenth century, although the letters fall within the reign of Queen Victoria. Many relate to the affairs of the Royal Academy, exhibitions, etc., as well as matters on painting and etching. Although some exhibit the formality of the period, the correspondence indicates the intimate friendships enjoyed with the major artists of the period.

Dates

  • circa 1840-circa 1880

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/ycba.mss.0022

Abstract

The archive comprises approximately 400 autograph letters, from upwards of 120 correspondents, addressed to Richard Redgrave (1804-1888).

Biographical / Historical

Richard Redgrave (1840-1888) submitted a picture to the Royal Academy in 1825, and had paintings exhibited there and elsewhere for almost fifty years after 1830. His reputation as a landscape painter, coupled with his success in running the Government School of Design, led to his being appointed Keeper of the Crown Pictures, a post he held from 1857 to 1880, and for which service he was created CB on his retirement.

Title
Guide to Letters to Richard Redgrave
Status
Completed
Author
edited by Francis Lapka
Date
2022
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Yale Center for British Art, Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository

Contact:
Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts
1080 Chapel Street
P. O. Box 208280
New Haven CT 06520-8280 US
203-432-2814

Location

1080 Chapel Street
New Haven , CT 06510

Opening Hours