Rembrandt in the Country House: The Collecting and Display of Dutch Pictures in England c. 1700-1850

Abstract

The history of collecting paintings attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn in England is especially rich, and scholars have been examining the artist’s reception in that country for some time. These inquiries often take the form of broad surveys of the many collectors who sought out his work, including artists and theorists who wrote about and responded to Rembrandt in various ways. As insightful and critical as these studies are, they have overlooked or glossed over several notable collections of paintings thought to be by Rembrandt formed beginning in the eighteenth century. By detailing the history of two of those art collections, this thesis contributes to documenting the history of the English as art collectors and Rembrandt’s critical reception. The aristocratic Temple-Grenville family amassed a wide-ranging art collection at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire. The first painting attributed to Rembrandt was recorded at Stowe in 1724, but by 1838 there were a total of ten paintings attributed to the artist at the estate; it was one of the largest private collections of work believed to be by Rembrandt in England at that time. I trace the provenance of these paintings, analyze the manner they were displayed, and situate the early acquisitions within the larger context of eighteenth-century art and culture. In this case, special attention is given to George and Mary, 1st Marquess and Marchioness of Buckingham, and their relationship with Sir Joshua Reynolds, who served them as an art advisor. Charles Jennens is best remembered as the librettist to the composer, George Frideric Handel, but he was also an art collector. By the 1760s, six paintings attributed to Rembrandt and one copy were hanging at Gopsall Hall, formerly in Leicestershire. The copy was painted by Pieter Tillemans after Rembrandt’s celebrated picture of Belshazzar’s Feast, now in the National Gallery, London, but which was in the eighteenth century owned by the Earl of Derby at Knowsley Hall. While these ‘Rembrandt’ pictures have since lost their attribution to the master, I discuss the acquisition history of these paintings and propose reasons for why Jennens might have had a special interest in Rembrandt’s painted oeuvre.