British artists' suppliers, 1650-1950 - A

*Rudolph Ackermann 1794-1832, R. Ackermann & Co 1829-1855. At 7 Little Russell St, Covent Garden, London 1794, 96 Strand 1795-1797, 101 Strand 1797-1827, 96 Strand 1827-1857. Publishers, printsellers, stationers, manufacturers of watercolour paints.

Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), born in Saxony and trained as a carriage designer, moved to London in 1783, opening his premises at 101 Strand in 1797 (Morning Chronicle 27 November 1797). He was naturalized as British by Act of Parliament, 1809 (Parliamentary Archives, House of Lords, HL/PO/PB/1/1809/49G3n45). By 1800 or soon after, he had become the leading publisher of colour-plate books, decorative prints and fashionable periodicals. His Repository of Arts, as his premises at 101 Strand were known, became a feature of fashionable London life; the interior, 65 by 30 feet, height 24 feet, was depicted in a print after Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson, published in the first issue of Ackermann's monthly magazine, The Repository of the Arts, January 1809 (repr. Ford 1983 p.46, Krill 2001 p.162; examples in Johnson Collection). These premises had formerly been occupied by Shipley's drawing academy. In 1827 Ackermann returned to premises the business had formerly occupied at 96 Strand, publishing a view of the exterior in The Repository of the Arts, June 1827.

Ackermann began manufacturing and selling his own paints in 1799 (Ford 1983 p.25), and some of his early trade cards described him as a colour manufacturer (e.g. Heal coll. 100.2). He bought colours and canvases from John Middleton (qv) but his principal colourmen were Ramsden's, Yallop and Grace (qv) and Berger & Sons (qv) (Ford 1983 p.46). Some colours marketed by him were associated with his own name, such as Ackermann's green and Ackermann's yellow. He supplied pigment samples to George Field (qv) (Harley 1979 p.81), and subscribed to Field's Chromatography, 1835 (Carlyle 2001 p.18 n.25). His honey watercolours and those of some other contemporary colourmen have recently been subject to technical analysis (Townsend 2003 pp.141-3, fig.115, Ormsby 2005). Ackermann's watercolours were stocked in Edinburgh by Robert Hamilton (The Scotsman 29 December 1824) and in Manchester by Vittore Zanetti & Co, c.1804-11, and by Zanetti & Agnew, 1822 (Vittore Zanetti & Co's trade card, Repository of Arts. Looking-Glass & Mirror Manufacturers, Picture-Frame Makers & Gilders; Pigot & Co's Lancashire directory, 1822).

Shortly before Ackermann's illness in 1830, his partnership with Thomas Butler was dissolved (London Gazette 19 March 1830). The business became Ackermann & Co and was run by a partnership of his younger sons, George (1803-91) and Ferdinand (1813-1860) with Henry Walton, and from 1832 with another brother, Adolphus (1810-58). Ackermann's eldest son, Rudolph Ackermann junior (qv), set up in a similar line of business in 1825, concentrating on publishing sporting and military prints, at 191 Regent St. Ackermann & Co in the Strand faced financial difficulties in 1843. Ferdinand Ackermann left the partnership in 1853 and Henry Walton in 1855 (London Gazette 2 January 1855, 11 April 1856). The business closed in 1855. Its stock was sold in a series of sales from December 1855 until March 1857. George Ackermann then set up at 106 Strand in 1858 but emigrated to Chicago in 1859. Adolphus Ackermann also set up business close by at 15 Beaufort Buildings but committed suicide in 1858 when faced with bankruptcy proceedings (London Gazette 23 February 1858). Rudolph Ackermann junior continued in business in Regent St. The Ackermanns had accounts with Roberson, 1820-1904 (Woodcock 1997).

Ackermann's product range: Rudolph Ackermann's magazine, The Repository of Arts, 1809-28, helped promote his business. He marketed his products actively, as his numerous trade cards confirm (Banks coll., Heal coll.), as do three early pieces of trade literature: his trade catalogue, 1801 (List of Ackermann's Superfine Water Colours, appended to A Treatise on Ackermann's Superfine Water Colours; with directions how to prepare and use them, etc, 24pp, University of London Library), and two handsome illustrated trade cards or sheets, one dated 1799 (Victoria and Albert Museum, repr. Krill 2002 p.156), the other a broadsheet with prices, with engraving by Maria Cosway, 1 May 1802 (Superfine Water Colours, repr. Fox 1992 p.329; Johnson coll). This broadsheet advertised watercolours in boxes and single cakes, vellum paper, crayon and chalk papers, crayons, chalk, camel hair and sable brushes, ivory for miniatures, stumps, porte-crayons, various coloured and fancy papers, varnish etc.

No canvas is recorded with an Ackermann stamp (Proudlove 1996). It has been suggested that he did not deal in colours for oil painting, directing customers to Middleton (Whitley 1928(1) p.155), but the label of Ackermann & Co, 96 Strand, promoting 'Prepared Millboards, Panels, Canvass, and Bladder Colours' (repr. Katlan 1992 p.455), would indicate otherwise, at least from about 1830. An example of this label on green paper can be found on Nicholas Condy's A Fish Stall in Plymouth Market (Christie's 22 November 2006 lot 64). In 1827, Thomas Uwins requested pencils from Ackermann's to be sent out to him at Naples, explaining, 'I brought out a large stock of pencils, but I gave them away so freely, both in France and Italy, with the laudable intention of circulating Ackermann's reputation, that they are now come to an end.' (Uwins 1858 p.392).

In a later trade catalogue, c.1840, the product range extended to some materials for oil painting but not to canvas. It included Ackermann's superfine watercolours, Macpherson's colours for miniature painting, prepared drawing pencils, vellum drawing paper, coloured crayon papers, London drawing boards, superfine Bristol boards, Bristol mounting boards, superfine crayon boards, improved solid sketch books, sketching portfolios, camel hair pencils and other brushes, bladder colours for oil painting, prepared millboards for oil painting, prepared paper for sketching in oils, hog hair brushes for oil painting, chalks for drawings, crayons, porte-crayons and stumps for chalk, and sundry articles, together with various publications, drawing books, lithographic stones and zinc plates (List of the most essential Requisites for Artists and Amateurs, 11pp, appended to George Barret, The Theory and Practice of Water Colour Painting, 1840, copy in British Library, 1044.k.11).

Ackermann & Co's advertisements in The Art-Union featured the 'Photogenic Drawing Box, for copying objects by means of the sun' (April 1839 p.53, May 1839 p.77), 'moist colours for out-door sketching', 'block sketch books', Macpherson's colours (June 1839 p.94), 'vitrified silica medium' (September 1841 p.145, with letter referring to this advertisement October 1841 p.164; for this medium, see Carlyle 2001 pp.120-1).

Portrait: For Ackermann's portrait, attributed to François Nicholas Mouchet, c.1811-14 (National Portrait Gallery), see www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ss&sText=ackermann&LinkID=mp06540&rNo=0&role=sit

Sources: Maxted 1977 (for the firm's addresses); Ford 1983; Fox 1992; Proudlove 1996; Krill 2002 pp.156, 162-6.

Rudolph Ackermann junior , 191 Regent St, London from 1825, named the Eclipse Sporting Gallery from 1829, trading as Rudolph Ackermann after his father's death in 1834. Publisher, printseller, manufacturer of watercolour paints.

Rudolph Ackermann senior (qv) began business in the Strand in the 1790s as a publisher, printseller, stationer and manufacturer of watercolours. He gave his eldest son, Rudolph Ackermann junior (1793-1868), responsibility for manufacturing the business's watercolour paints by 1817. In 1825 Ackermann senior helped his son set up in business at 191 Regent St. Rudolph junior came to concentrate on publishing sporting and military prints. His business was continued by his son, Arthur Ackermann (1830-1914), becoming Arthur Ackermann & Son Ltd in 1906, moving to Bond St in 1912. It was acquired by Peter Johnson in 1991 to become Ackermann and Johnson Ltd (Proudlove 1996).

Rudolph Ackermann junior sold his own watercolour paints (a paintbox is repr. Ford 1983 p.101). He described himself as 'Manufacturer of Superfine Water-Colours, to Her Majesty and the Royal Family' in an 1840 catalogue which included watercolours, drawing papers and block sketch books (appended to John Cawse, The Art of Painting Portraits... in Oil Colours, 1840, copy in British Library, 786.i.29). Ackermann watercolours feature in the 1896 catalogue of a leading Dusseldorf firm (Preis-Liste von Stephan Schoenfeld, 1896, 288pp). The Ackermanns had accounts with Roberson, 1820-1904 (Woodcock 1997).

Sources: Ford 1983 especially pp.99-101; Proudlove 1996; Krill 2002 pp.156, 162-6.

Edward Allen, see Edward Powell

*William Allen 1778-1817 or later, William Allen & Sons 1819-1822 or later, M.H. & J.W. Allen by 1827-1828 or later, Mark Allen by 1832-1862, Mark Allen & Co 1863-1879 or later. At 88 Dame St, Dublin 1778-1786, 32 Dame St 1786-1835, 62 William St 1836-1837, 84 Grafton St 1838, 12 Lower Ormond Quay 1840, 12 Westland Row by 1845-1879 or later. Map and printseller, print publisher, later also looking glass warehouse, photographer by 1879.

William Allen was a leading Dublin map and printseller, who followed another printseller, Richard Bushell, at 88 Dame St. He was also an occasional publisher of caricatures and mezzotints from 88 Dame St, Dublin (see, for example, M.D. George, Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires... in the British Museum, vol.5, 1935, nos 5542-3, J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, vol.3, 1880, p.1045, vol.4, 1882, pp.1470, 1478).

Allen stocked some drawing and artists' materials, advertising in 1789 'imported good black lead pencils, also fine wire wove drawing papers'. Also in 1789, he advertised artists' materials in an illustrated drawing book which he published (The Student's Treasure: A New Drawing Book, Dublin, 1789). He was later listed in the catalogue of Smith, Warner & Co (qv), London, as stocking their artists' materials, c.1811-12. The subsequent business of Mark Allen, later Mark Allen & Co had an account with Roberson, 1832-69 (Woodcock 1997).

Sources: M. Pollard, A Dictionary of Members of the Dublin Book Trade 1550-1800, 2000, pp.6-7, to which this account is indebted; Wilson's Dublin directories, 1802, 1820, and other directories.

*John Allnutt, Clapham. Wine merchant and art collector.

John Allnutt (1773-1863) made a present to John Constable of three sorts of Ultramarine brought from France, 1825 (Cove 1991 p.507; Beckett 1966 pp.84-5).

*Albert Alston, 9 Grimshaw St, Burnley, Lancashire by 1892-1896 or later, 52 New Bond St, London W 1906-1908, 36 Albemarle St 1907-1908, The Alston Gallery, 310 Regent St 1908-1919. Artists' materials dealer. From 1920 photographic materials dealer, 50 South Moulton St W1.

The Alstona painting technique ('Alston's Method of Crystoleum') was aimed at the recreational market ('women of cultivated tastes' are specifically identified in their advertising). As early as 1892 Albert Alston published a catalogue from Burnley, Lancashire, describing his method (Alston's New Process of Crystoleum Painting, see Carlyle 2001 p.29 n.8); this method presumably related to one promoted by A. Caspar's Original Crystoleum Company in about 1882 (Carlyle 2001 p.27; 2nd ed. of Alberta Caspar's publication, c.1883, copy in British Library, YA.1996.a.9755). Albert Alston was listed in the 1881 census as a schoolmaster's assistant, age 21, born and living in Ribchester, Lancashire (IGI). He left Ribchester for Burnley in 1884 (Preston Guardian 13 September 1884). He was described in 1896 as a teacher of bookkeeping, shorthand, typewriting, painting in oil and water, crystoleum painting etc (P. Barrett & Co's General & Commercial Directory of Burnley).

Materials for the technique were advertised in The Year's Art (1908-12). Alston's catalogue and instruction book (Guide to Alston Painting, January 1910, 3rd ed., 68pp) described the technique as a method of transferring a photographic print onto a convex glass, and then rendering it transparent, thus forming a basis for the painting, the object being to so execute the painting, that, when finished, no trace of the photograph may be discerned.

H. Reeve Angel & Co 1912-1921, H. Reeve Angel & Co Ltd 1922-1971. At 110 Fenchurch St, London EC 1912, 15 New Bridge St EC 1913-1918, 9 Bridewell Place EC4 1918-1964, 14 New Bridge St 1965-1971. Papermakers' agents.

H. Reeve Angel initially shared premises with Frederick George Angel & Co, starches and chemicals, at 110 Fenchurch St. He advertised as sole United Kingdom representative for 'Desvernay & Cie. Grandsons and Successors to Conte & Cie., Paris', featuring their crayons, pencils, etc; also Canson papers (The Year's Art 1914), later advertising as sole mill representative for J. Whatman papers, 'As used by the foremost artists for more than a century and a half' (The Studio 13 April 1923).

Henry Reeve Angel was born in Richmond, Surrey, in 1873 (BMD). Harry Reeve Angel, as he was known, was listed at 5 Victoria Villas, Robinson Road, Mitcham in the 1901 census as a Commercial Traveller Paper trade. He is said to have established his own business in 1908, initially as UK agents for a Finnish newsprint company. In 1974, Reeve Angel International merged with W. & R. Balston and the brand name Whatman was incorporated to form Whatman Reeve Angel Ltd (source: 'About Whatman' at www.whatman.com/History.aspx).

The Anglo-American Art Colour Co Ltd by 1892-1894, The Art Colour Co 1895-1901. At St Stephen's Avenue, Uxbridge Rd, Shepherd's Bush, London W by 1892-1896, Anchor Works, 5-7 Johnson St, Notting Hill Gate 1897-1901. Artists' materials manufacturers.

*The Anglo-American Art Color Co Ltd was registered in 1890 (The Chemical Trade Journal, vol.7, 1890, p.119, accessed through Google book search). It advertised in 1893 as manufacturers of the finest artists' materials, London, Paris, New York and Melbourne, referring to their depot at 26 Alfred Place West, adjoining South Kensington Station (The Year's Art 1893, where Kingham & Co (qv) were also advertising from the same address in Alfred Place). However, the business does not feature in Katlan's directory of New York artists' colourmen and supply firms (Katlan 1987).

The Anglo-American Art Color Co Ltd was wound up voluntarily, as a result of a resolution passed in June 1893, with Henry Conrad Sanders (qv) as liquidator (London Gazette 20 June 1893, 22 May 1894). A successor business advertised from 1895 as the Art Colour Co (The Year's Art 1895-7), featuring Kensington Art Oil Colours in 1896 and 1897. Arthur Harrison was recorded as manager in 1892 and 1896. The business was listed as 'The Art Color Co. (late Anglo-American)' from 1895. Its canvas mark took the form of a double oval, lettered in the outer ring 'ART COLOR Co LONDON W', and in the centre 'Anchor Works Johnson St' (Proudlove 1996).

Joseph Arnold, 1880s, 1890s, Arnold & Foster Ltd, 1890s-1930s, Eynsford Paper Mills, Kent. Papermakers. A candidate for the next edition of this Directory. Contact Jacob Simon at jsimon@npg.org.uk.

Artists' Color Manufacturing Co, see C.F. Maret & Co Ltd

Atherstone, Nottingham, 1813. Supplier of Brown Lake.

Benjamin West told Joseph Farington of the excellence of the Brown Lake made by Atherstone of Nottingham, 1813 (Farington vol.12, p.4389). Atherstone may be connected with Thomas Atherstone, silk-dyer and trimmer, or Hugh Atherstone and Son, silk-dyers, who are listed in the 1815 Nottingham Directory.