An item from the Library's Special Collections

Special Collections, Archives, and the Closed Access Book Store (CABS)

Please note, collections previously stored at Somerset House — including Special Collections — are currently unavailable while their move to offsite storage is in the last stages of completion. Thank you for your patience during this transition. As soon as we have reinstated access to these materials via a new retrievals service we will publish details here. We estimate that this will be some time in September, in time for the new academic year.

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The largest of the Courtauld’s special collections are named bequests of printed material, bequeathed to the library by scholars and notable figures associated with 51ݶ. The personal papers of the individuals represented in special collections may also have named archive collections as well.

What has in recent years been described as The Closed Access Book Store (CABS) is a diverse collection of items purchased by or donated to the Library since the 1930s. This printed material relates to the history of art and dates from the early 16th century to the present day.

We also hold a collection of early and rare sales catalogues.

Our archives comprise of named bequest collections, and include papers, letters, diaries, photographs, typescript manuscripts, and sketches. Also included are the archives of the Courtauld Institute.

Special Collections (bequests)

Antal Collection

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Frederick Antal (1887-1954) studied under Max Dvorak in Vienna, and worked with Johannes Wilde in Budapest at the Museum of Fine Arts. He spent some time in Florence and Berlin before settling in England in 1933 where he occasionally lectured at the Courtauld. He was especially interested in the methods of art history and he developed a Marxist interpretation in the field. His international reputation was established with his book on Florentine painting of the 14th and early 15th century, published in 1948. Antal51ݶ collection of books includes a fine selection of works on Hogarth, an artist to whom he applied his Marxist approach toward the end of his life.

Bell Collection

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Anne Olivier Bell (1916-2018) gave this collection of 45 books on British and Italian art to 51ݶ. She was an alumna of The Courtauld, and one of the Monuments Men who sought to preserve cultural artifacts in Germany following World War 2 and restore works of art stolen by the Nazis. Anne was also known as a member of the Bloomsbury Group and editor of Virginia Woolf51ݶ dairies.

The collection consists mainly of works from the 16th to the 19th Century. Anne inherited the books from her father, the art historian Arthur Popham (1889-1970), who was Keeper of Prints & Drawings at the British Museum from 1945 to 1954. The books reflect his interests, focusing on both British and Italian art. The Courtauld holds a number of catalogues compiled by Popham.

Blunt Collection

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Anthony Blunt (1907-1983) was Director of the Courtauld Institute between 1947 and 1974. Throughout this timehe donated publications to ٳLibrary and after his death the Courtauld received most of the rest of his library. In the forty years between 1939-1979, Blunt produced a body of work which testifies to his importance in the field of art history. In 1940, his Cambridge fellowship dissertation was published as Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1644. There then followed a stream of scholarly works focusing particularly on Poussin, French 17th-century art and architecture, Italian Baroque architecture, and the Royal Collections. Blunt51ݶ scholarship was indebted to ٳprimarysource material in his collection. TheLibrary now holds his collection of early printed books, some 500 titles in total.

Boase Collection

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Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase (1898 -1974) was Director of the Courtauld between 1937 -1947. He had studied mediaeval history at Oxford and had a lifelong interest in the history of the Church. He turned his attention to the history of art during the 1930s and travelled widely throughout Europe and the Middle East. While based at Cairo during the war years, in charge of British Council activities in the Middle East, he developed an interest in the history of the Crusades and took the opportunity to study Islamic and Christian monuments in the area. He left the Library a collection of material about the history of the Crusades, architecture and travel in the Middle East.

Harris Collection of Textiles

Formed by Lionel Harris between 1876 and 1938, the collection contains fragments of Flemish and French tapestries, Spanish and Asian carpets, silks and embroideries and 15thand 16thcentury Spanish ecclesiastical pieces. It also includes woven fragments of Spanish, Italian and French silk velvets, damasks, brocatelles, brocades and trimmings dating from the 15thto the 19thcentury. Enriqueta Frankfort, Concita Wolff and Violeta Harris, Lionel Harris51ݶ daughters, gifted the collection to The Courtauld in 1972 in memory of their brother Tomas.

Here is an excel list of Harris textile samples from 2017.

Portfolio Collection

There is an extensive collection of portfolios that reflects the subjects contained in the book collections. They range from reproductions from museum collections to architectural series on chateaux in France; from Byzantine wall paintings to publications of the Dürer Society; from embroidery to the drawings of Hans Holbein.

This collection is not on the online catalogue and requests require advance notice. There is an excel list of portfolios available for reference.

Seilern Collection

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Count Antoine Seilern(1901-1978) bequeathed most of his collection of works of art, now known as the Princes Gate Collection, and his entire library to the Institute. After he arrived in England from Vienna in 1939, CountSeilernbecamea personal friendof Johannes Wilde by way of their shared interests. His art collection is the result of nearly fifty years of a scholarly approach to acquisition and ranges over some 600 years from an early Italian altarpiece through to works from the 20th-century. The book collection reflects𾱱51ݶartinterestsandparticular strengthsare Flemish and Italian art, especially Venetian artists of the 16th- and 18th-centuries. His collection about or illustrated by Rubens is probably one of the finest in existence.

Shearman Collection

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The Book Library received, through the Somerset House Art History Foundation, the library of Professor John Shearman, who was Charles Adams University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University when he died in 2003. He was a distinguished scholar of Italian Renaissance art and served as Deputy Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art from 1974 – 1979, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute in 2000/2001. His library contains substantial resources about Renaissance and Baroque art, including catalogues raisonné of Italian painters and approximately 200 monographs about Raphael, about whom he collected any substantive books and articles.

A project, generously funded by the Foyle Foundation has made it possible to catalogue his bequest (although not entirely completed). This project complements the bequests of Anthony Blunt, Johannes Wilde (Shearman51ݶ thesis supervisor) and Antoine Seilern, bringing the study resources for the Renaissance and Baroque periods up to the 21st century. His texts are often annotated and a large number have been inscribed to him by colleagues and peers, helping to build the picture of his network, his influence, and the regard his peers had for him.

Wilde Collection

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Johannes Wilde (1891-1970) bequeathed his collection of drawings, engravings, books, photographsand manuscripts to the Institute. The Book Library holds his books as well as hiscollectionof off-prints and archive material. Wilde51ݶ association with the Institute beganafterWWII when he was appointed Reader inHistoryof Art, becoming Deputy Director in 1948. Although his scholarly interests were wide ranging, his most significant contribution was the re-assessment of Michelangelo51ݶ drawings as exhibited at The British Museum in 1953 and the catalogue published in the same year. His collection of books also reflects another of his great passions, 16th century Venetian painting. His lectures, addressed to students at ٳCourtauld during the 1950s, about Venetian painting, were published posthumously in 1974 followed by his lectures on Michelangelo in 1978. TheLibraryalso holds in its archives unpublished lectures concerning painting in Parma andFerraraand Florentine art.

Archives

Anthony Blunt Papers (CI/AFB)

Blunt51ݶ files of research notes, particularly those on Poussin, together with scrapbooks of cuttings of his articles published between the 193051ݶ and 196051ݶ. There is a small quantity of miscellaneous personal material; the majority of the material is scholarly.

Archive code: (CI/AFB)

A.J. Finberg

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Press-cutting books containing articles by the art critic A.J. Finberg, or relating to the art world in general. The volumes cover the years 1902-1914.

Archives code: (CI/AJF)

Art Related Newspaper Cuttings

Scrapbooks containing cuttings, some of which date back to the last part of the Eighteenth century. These scrapbooks are in a very poor state of preservation.

Augustus Wall Callcott

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The collection consists mainly of travel journals kept by Callcott on his extended honeymoon in Europe in 1827-28.

Archive code: (CI/AWC)

Courtauld Institute Papers

Papers trace the Courtauld Institute’s history from foundation in the early 1930s to the present day.

There is a general finding aid for this collection but it has not yet been sorted or listed to any great degree.

The Devis Family

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A small collection, consisting mainly of material collected by Sydney ʲèfor his book “TheDevis Family of Painters” (1950).

Archive code: (CI/DEV)

George Field Notebooks

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Photographic prints of the pages of ten notebooks kept by the colour theorist and chemist, George Field, including ms drafts of his published works. There are also colour slides recording colour samples within the notebooks. The original books are held by Winsor & Newton.

There is no finding aid for this collection but it is available for use in consultation with the Librarian.

Hammelmann / Boase

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The material consists mainly of ᲹԲ51ݶoriginal files on Eighteenth century book illustrators, which were handed over to Boase onᲹԲ51ݶdeath in 1969. Boase attempted to pullᲹԲ51ݶnotes together for publication. He had almost finished it when he died in 1974. The book “English Eighteenth-century Book Illustrators” was subsequently completed and published under their joint authorship in 1975.

Archive code: (CI/HAH)

James Duffield Harding

A collection of journals, diaries and account books kept by Harding from the 182051ݶ until his death in 1861. The run is not complete, and many of the diaries deal more with Harding51ݶ work-related commitments than his personal life. There are also one or two manuscripts relating to his work.

Archive code: (CI/JDH)

J.J. Foster

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Manuscript material and cuttings regarding the study of miniatures and miniature artists. Foster published several volumes on various aspects of miniature painting, and a dictionary of miniature artists was produced posthumously, edited by his daughter, Ethel.

Archive code: (CI/JJF)

Johannes Wilde

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Wilde51ݶ lectures on Michelangelo and Venetian painting, given in England after the War. The texts of his two main lecture series have now been published in “Michelangelo” (1978) and “Venetian Painters: Bellini to Titian” (1974). Further material includes lectures given in Vienna in the 193051ݶ, and correspondence with various people including A.E. Popham, dating from 1941 (when Wilde was in a Canadian internment camp) until the mid-194051ݶ (after his return to England).

Archive code: (CI/JW)

Lee of Fareham

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Thepapers, which came to the Courtauld after the dispersal of the Beaverbrook Library, comprise mainly Lee51ݶ personal papers, some of which date back to his military career in the 189051ݶ. Material includes letters and documents related to hismarriage, political career, the handing over of the Lees’ home, “Chequers”, to the nation in 1919, Lee51ݶ art collection, and the founding and earlyadministrationof the Courtauld Institute. There iscorrespondence with the Roosevelt family, especially President Theodore Roosevelt, with whom Lee became friendly when he taught in Canada in the mid189051ݶ. There is also correspondence with many of the leading political figures of the early part of this century, including Lloyd George and Churchill, and with many members of the art establishment such as Duveen, Berenson and Kenneth Clark.

There is a general finding aid for this collection but it has not yet been sorted or listed to any great degree.

Paul Levi

A collection of letters from Johannes and Julia Wilde during the period they were interned and imprisoned by the British and Canadian authorities. The letters were gifted to The Courtauld by the son of the picture frame maker Paul Levi (whose family were also forced to leave Nazi-controlled Germany) and Paula Fuchs.

Percy Moore Turner

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Percy Moore Turner Turnerwas Samuel Courtauld51ݶ picture dealer. The collection includes files on various artists, and a large quantity of fragile newspaper cuttings relating to the art world, and/or Turner himself.

There is a general finding aid for this collection but it has not yet been sorted or listed to any great degree.

Philip Webb Correspondence

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A small collection comprised of correspondence with Giacomo Boni and George Wardle, although there are letters to and from one or two other people. There is also a small quantity of miscellaneous material.

There is a general finding aid for this collection but it has not yet been sorted or listed to any great degree.

Philip Wilson Steer

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The papers came to the Institute as the gift of Dorothea Hamilton, Steer51ݶ niece and executor. Some of the material dates from the years after Steer51ݶ death, but there are original letters, photographs and ephemera.

Archive code: (CI/PWS)

T.S.R. Boase

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Relates to Boase51ݶ interest in the Crusader Kingdoms, and should be viewed in relation to his bequest of books on this subject to the Library. The core of this collection is photographs of Crusader architecture in Greece, Turkey, Serbia and Croatia, taken by his friend David Wallace, in the years before the Second World War. The negatives of many of these photographs are now held in the Conway Library, and negative numbers for as many of the photographs as possible have been given.

Archive code: (CI/TSRB)

Citations