British artists' suppliers, 1650-1950
A selective directory, to be revised and expanded regulary, 1st edition June 2006, 2nd edition May 2008 (*entry revised, **new entry).
Contributions are welcome, to Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.
Resources and bibliography Individual artists
This is a directory of British and foreign firms of artists' suppliers and colourmen operating in Britain and British firms operating overseas. It focuses on the supply of painting materials to British artists, especially portrait painters, up until 1950. Some drawing materials are treated but the supply of paper and printmaking materials is not covered in any detail. The businesses covered include manufacturing and wholesale suppliers and those retailers mentioned by practising artists or who can readily be identified through advertising in nationally available newspapers and magazines or through the survival of marked products such as canvases. For the earlier period before about 1810, artists, booksellers and stationers dealing in artists' materials are listed on a selective basis.
Format of individual entries
* entry revised for 2nd edition (2008)
** new entry in 2nd edition (2008)
Names, addresses, life dates or business dates, nature of business (note 1)
Business history and personal information, product details, marked and documented products used by individual artists and patrons (notes 2 and 3)
Portraits
Sources, including references to company and other records; for abbreviations see Resources and bibliography
Notes
1. Addresses are taken from annual publications such as trade directories or periodicals except where daily or monthly publications or census records are available. Note that in London the use of postal districts of the type, 'London W' was introduced from 1857, and then subdivided, e.g., 'London WC2', introduced from 1917, and amended again as postal codes, e.g., 'London WC2H 0HE', were introduced from 1966. Note also that many directories, such as Post Office London directories, were prepared towards the end of the year preceding publication so that a supplier may have begun and ended business a year earlier than indicated here. Overlaps and gaps in the date sequence for addresses reflect the availability of evidence.
2. Terminology used for marked products: The terms 'stencilled', 'stamped' and 'marked' are used. Many canvases were stencilled, as is clear from the breaks in letters such as 'O'; some early and late canvases appear to have been stamped. The term 'marked' embraces stencilled, stamped and labeled products.
3. Cross references to other artists' suppliers are indicated by adding '(qv)' after the relevant name, except in the case of the six most common businesses: Ackermann, Newman, Reeves, Roberson, Rowney and Winsor & Newton.
Changes in the 2nd edition, 2008
In this 2nd revised and expanded edition, information has been incorporated from online sources, including the London Gazette, the Edinburgh Gazette and from early newspapers, together with details relating to individual suppliers and on some apprenticeships. The two Gazettes provide an insight into partnership arrangements and individual bankruptcies.
From the 18th century, information has been added on three printsellers, Edward Cooper at the beginning of the century, Dorothy Mercier in the 1760s and Gerard Vandergucht junr, the short lived son of the more famous engraver. Details have been provided on the development of James Regnier's business, in which he was followed by his niece, Celeste Regnier, and on William De La Cour, his addresses in London in the 1740s and 1750s and his range of artists' materials. The changing trading arrangements of the colourman, Alexander Emerton, and the rival business set up by his brother, Joseph, have been clarified. New entries include the little-known colourman, Matthew Bateman, active in the 1730s, and the painter and colourman, William Marcellus, in the 1770s. Further details have been provided concerning Nathan Drake, John Ford, Francis Stacy, William Ward and other mid and later 18th-century businesses.
It has been possible to clarify details relating to the production and sale of crayons by Pache & Davis, John David Galliard, John James Bonhote and then Charles Pache. On pencil makers, there is new information on Nathaniel Middleton and the unrelated John Middleton, both active in the late 18th century, and on 19th-century makers, Elias Wolff & Son and Henry Morrell, with a new entry on another pencil maker, Pether & Co, active in the late 1810s. Details have been added relating to lay figure makers, Simon Hennekin and his son George, John Wragg in the 18th century and Robert Briggs & Son in the mid-19th century.
From the late 18th century the business arrangements for James Newman and his precursor, Lawrence Smith, Thomas and William Reeves, Reeeves & Inwood and Rowney have been clarified, as have the trading addresses of George Blackman and the short lived business of Edward Kebby. The colour and varnish maker, Joseph Cole, has been added.
From the 19th century, background information has been found on William Legg, who preceded Thomas Brown in High Holborn. Additional details have been provided on the partnership arrangements of Smith, Warner & Co and of Thomas Miller. The relationship between Jabez Barnard's and William Barnard's businesses has been clarified, and further details provided on George Bowden. Clarification is also provided on the successive changes in partnership from Cowen & Waring to Waring & Dimes, Dimes & Elam and Frederick Dimes in the mid-19th century, and on trading arrangements at Lechertier Barbe in the later 19th century. A new entry is included for the mid-19th century artists' stationer, Alexander Shapcott. Additional information has emerged concerning the long-lived business of John Sherborn, later James Tillyer & Company, including its precursors in Oxford St.
Outside London, the entries on the Freeman business in Norwich and on Aitken Dott in Edinburgh have been relocated, with expanded information, to the accompanying directory, British picture framemakers. New information has been provided on the Liverpool suppliers, William Strachan, J. Hampson and George James Keet. New information is also provided for several Birmingham businesses: the board and paper makers, J. & W. Mitchell, taken from a newly published history, the colourman, Thomas J. Morris, later Morris & Gore, and the later supplier, Elizabeth Norton. Additional details on Edinburgh businesses can be found for Robert Norrie & Son, John Taylor, Hugh Paton and the Nelson family.
From the 20th century there is information on two businesses, those of Madderton & Co, and of Arthur Crossland, the picture restorer associated with the Collector's Picture Restoring Co. Ltd in the 1930s.
Acknowledgements
The first edition of this directory has been developed by Jacob Simon, in partnership with Cathy Proudlove, whose pioneering work began the process of identifying business addresses. References to marked canvases and panels are due to her with the exception of most examples from particular collections and salerooms. Those in the National Portrait Gallery collection have been recorded by Dr Tim Moreton over many years. In the 1960s the Gallery corresponded with some of the main firms of artists' colourmen who supplied portrait painters and other artists with their materials. This directory would not have been possible without the published work of numerous dedicated conservators and curators. Help in its compilation has been received from Gallery interns including Eleanor Beyer and Chloe Evans. Information from other sources is acknowledged in individual entries.
Locations
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Bodleian Library, Oxford; British Library, London; Christies (London unless specified); Kenwood, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Geffrye Museum, London; Huntington Art Collection, San Marino, California; Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ontario; National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; National Museum of American Art, Washington DC; National Portrait Gallery, London; Royal Society of Arts, London; Sotheby's (London unless specified); Sudley, Liverpool; Tate, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Wallace Collection, London; Yale Center for British, New Haven; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.
