Significant donors, collectors and dealers associated with the Museum and the history of its collections since its establishment in 1852, with sources of information available for their study including details of the resources in the V&A Archive.
Stefano Bardini
Stefano Bardini was born on 13 May 1836 in Pieve Santo Stefano in the Province of Arezzo, Italy. He trained as a painter at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, and worke…
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Ralph Bernal
Ralph Bernal was a British politician and collector; following his death in 1854, many objects from his collection were purchased by the Museum at auction.
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Siegfried 'Samuel' Bing
Siegfried Bing was an art dealer who was very influential in introducing Japanese art and artworks to the West and in developing the Art Nouveau style in the late 19th cent…
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Dr Franz Johann Joseph Bock
Dr Franz Johann Joseph Bock was a German ecclesiologist and collector who sold an important collection of textiles to the South Kensington Museum in 1862. His attempt to se…
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Giampietro Campana
Giampietro Campana was the owner of a large collection of maiolica wares and sculpture, much of which was purchased by the South Kensington Museum, in somewhat unusual circ…
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Alessandro Castellani
Alessandro Castellani was an Italian jeweller and collector with an international reputation. The Museum’s attempt to rent his collection of classical antiquaries, jeweller…
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Isabel Constable
Isabel Constable was the daughter of the famous artist John Constable. In 1888 she left to the Museum the contents of her father’s studio, establishing the V&A as the leadi…
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David Martin Currie
David Martin Currie was a wealthy shipowner who loaned numerous objects (including ceramics, manuscripts, metalwork and woodwork) to the Museum between 1887 and 1920. On hi…
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Joshua Dixon
Joshua Dixon was a merchant and art collector who bequeathed his collection of pictures to the Bethnal Green Museum in 1886 for the benefit of East Londoners.
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Sir George Donaldson
Sir George Donaldson was an art dealer and collector who sold or donated many items to the South Kensington Museum. In 1900 he presented it with 30 items of Art Nouveau fur…
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Alexander Dyce
Alexander Dyce was a literary scholar and textual editor who bequeathed his substantial library and art collection to the Museum in 1869.
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Durlacher Brothers
Durlacher Brothers was a successful art dealership which acted as agent and advisor to the V&A for several decades and sold it a wide variety of art works.
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George Eumorfopoulos
George Eumorfopoulos was a distinguished collector of European and Oriental porcelain. A member of the V&A’s Advisory Council, he sold part of his collection to the Museum …
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Dame Joan Evans
Dame Joan Evans was a scholar of Medieval art and a member of the V&A’s Advisory Council. She donated her extensive collection of jewels to the Museum in 1975.
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Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks
Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks was a Keeper at the British Museum and President of the Society of Antiquaries. His collection of Continental porcelain was on loan to the Bet…
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Fulgence et Fils
Fulgence was a Parisian art dealership that sold many objects to the South Kensington Museum and acted as its agent at several auctions in Paris.
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Joseph Henry Fitzhenry
Joseph Henry Fitzhenry loaned and gave many objects to the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1870 and 1913. In 1910, to mark the opening of the new buildings designed by A…
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Dr Robert Forrer
Robert Forrer corresponded frequently with the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1893 and 1920, offering for sale a wide variety of medieval and Renaissance artefacts.
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Charles Drury Edward Fortnum
Charles Drury Edward Fortnum became involved with the South Kensington Museum when he loaned objects to its ‘Special exhibition of works of art’ in 1862. He was also commis…
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Signor Gherardini
The Gherardini collection of terracottas and wax sculptural sketches was acquired by Her Majesty’s Government for display in the Museum in 1854.
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William Giuseppi Gulland
William Giuseppe Gulland’s abundant collection of Chinese porcelain was left to the Museum, by his will, following the death of his wife in 1932.
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Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh
Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh (1876 - 1955), nicknamed ‘The Egg’, was an American art collector who gave or bequeathed over 5,000 gifts to the V&A.
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Talbot Hughes
was an artist who formed a large collection of English historical costumes and accessories, dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, which he sold to Harrods, the London…
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John George Joicey
John George Joicey loaned many ceramic objects, inlaid guns and furniture to the V&A which were later bequeathed by him to the Museum.
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John Jones
John Jones was a business man and art collector who bequeathed his large collection of objects, including paintings and furniture, to the Museum in 1882.
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Lt-Col George Babington Croft Lyons
George Babington Croft Lyons was an antiquary and collector who loaned, and later bequeathed, 978 objects (ceramics, sculpture, metalwork (particularly silver and pewter), …
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Murray Marks
Murray Marks (1840-1918) was a Dutch art dealer and collector who presented many gifts to the Museum as well as selling and loaning objects.
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John Pierpont Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was a banker, financier and art collector who loaned a portion of his collection to the Museum. His collection of stained glass was given to the Museum…
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Mary (May) Morris
May Morris, daughter of William Morris, bequeathed ceramics, table glass, embroideries, textiles, designs and jewellery to the Museum on her death in 1938.
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William Morris and the history of the V&A collections
William Morris was an influential supporter of the South Kensington Museum. His firm contributed to the decoration of the Museum, and in his capacity as Art Referee he supp…
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Captain Henry Boyles Murray
Henry Boyles Murray bequeathed his collection including porcelain and metalwork to the Museum together with £50,000 for future acquisitions.
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Charles Fairfax Murray
Charles Fairfax Murray was an artist, art connoisseur, collector and dealer who made important contributions to the South Kensington Museum’s collections: in particular its…
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John Meeson Parsons
The South Kensington Museum selected oil paintings and watercolours from John Meeson Parsons’ collection on his death in 1870.
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Emile Peyre
Emile Peyre was a notable Parisian collector of medieval and renaissance artefacts. In 1895 the South Kensington Museum bought over 300 pieces of furniture and woodwork fro…
Read articleThe Anne and Fernand Renier collection of children’s books
The Renier collection of children’s books ranges from works by Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway and Hans Christian Andersen, to diaries and school records, doll dressing books …
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Auguste Rodin
A group of 18 bronze, marble and terracotta sculptures by Auguste Rodin were lent to the V&A when the outbreak of the First World War prevented them from being returned to …
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George Salting
George Salting’s vast collection of ceramics was lent to the Museum and displayed together as the Salting Collection; the collection was bequeathed to the Museum in 1909.
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Charlotte Schreiber
Charlotte Schreiber spent 15 years travelling across Europe collecting ceramics and she gave a significant collection of English wares to the Museum in 1894.
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Major-General Sir Robert J. Murdoch Smith
Major-General Sir Robert J. Murdoch Smith acted as agent for the Department of Science and Art in Iran where he reported on and acquired collections of Iranian objects for …
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The Sheepshanks collection
In 1857 Sheepshanks founded the paintings collection of the V&A with a gift of 233 paintings and a similar number of drawings to found a 'National Gallery of British Art'.
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Prince Peter Soltykoff
Prince Peter Soltykoff’s vast collection of medieval objects was disposed of in a sale in Paris in 1861, from which the Museum acquired some its most important medieval obj…
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Jules Soulages
Jules Soulages was a collector of French and Italian Renaissance art; after his death his collection was acquired by the Museum.
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Chauncy Hare Townshend
Chauncy Hare Townshend was a friend of Charles Dickens and later his literary executor. He bequeathed to the Museum a large collection of objects including oil paintings, …
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Oppi Untracht bequest
The American jewellery historian, teacher, and trained metalworker and jeweller, who died in 2008, bequeathed to the V&A his collection of 19th and 20th century Indian silv…
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John Webb
John Webb acted as an auction sales agent for the Museum, initially lending and later selling his diverse collection to the Museum.
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Reading list - important donors, collectors and dealers associated with the Victoria and Albert Museum
Since its establishment in 1852, the Victoria and Albert Museum (or South Kensington Museum as it was named between 1857 and 1899) has been the fortunate beneficiary of man…
Read articleA gift in your will
You may not have thought of including a gift to a museum in your will, but the V&A is a charity and legacies form an important source of funding for our work. It is not just the great collectors and the wealthy who leave legacies to the V&A. Legacies of all sizes, large and small, make a real difference to what we can do and your support can help ensure that future generations enjoy the V&A as much as you have.
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