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Spielmann Collection

Date range: 1885–1914

Medium: Manuscript

Papers of Marion Harry Spielmann (1858–1948), the well-known critic and connoisseur of the fine arts.

Spielmann was a friend of many of the leading British artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and author of several works on artistic and literary subjects. His first substantial publication was The Works of Mr. George F. Watts (1886). In 1883 he joined the Pall Mall Gazette and from 1886 to 1904 was editor of the Magazine of Art. He played a prominent role in the organization of many art exhibitions in London and other European capitals, and was involved in the administration of several museums and galleries.

The papers date chiefly from this period and include correspondence with Edwin Austin Abbey, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Sir Frank Brangwyn, Ford Madox Brown, Walter Crane, William Powell Frith, Sir Hubert von Herkomer, William Holman Hunt, Frederic Lord Leighton, Sir Edward Poynter, Val Prinsep, Sir William Blake Richmond, William Michael Rossetti, Sir (William) Hamo Thornycroft and George Frederic Watts.

Miscellaneous papers include holograph articles from notable artists and critics submitted to Spielmann for publication in the Magazine of Art, many containing the author’s and editor’s emendations, as well as notes by Spielmann himself on his editorship.

The Spielmann Collection is an important source for studies of late Victorian and Edwardian fine art, connoisseurship and collecting.

See also:

Further information:

Catalogue available online via ELGAR.

Alternative formats:

Published microfilm: John Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and Arts and Crafts Movement: the Ruskin, Holman Hunt, Fairfax Murray, Spielmann and Related Collections from the John Rylands University Library, Manchester (Woodbridge: Research Publications, 1990).

Location:


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