BIB_ID
120545
Accession number
MA 1581.15
Creator
Long, Charles, 1760-1838.
Display Date
London, 1822 November 8.
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 23.3 x 18.2 cm
Notes
Long gives the place of writing as Bromley Hill, then located in the county of Kent. It is now considered part of Greater London.
The left edge of the second sheet has been torn and some text is missing.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family.
This item was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Beaumont gifts to the British Museum, no. 3).
The left edge of the second sheet has been torn and some text is missing.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family.
This item was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Beaumont gifts to the British Museum, no. 3).
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Summary
Advising him on the disposition of his collection of paintings; saying "the British Museum is the place where any Collection given to the public will be best taken care of, and most safely deposited -- but I can hardly recommend that you should present your Pictures to the public under the care of the Trustees during your Life, and certainly not at present, for we have no place where they could be deposited to any advantage"; telling Beaumont that he intends to propose "a gallery for pictures" and that he is sure it will be built, but not for few years yet; suggesting that, if Beaumont gives his paintings to the institution, he should also insist on being a trustee; advising him to wait and bequeath the paintings, "for you would have very little relish for any Copies after knowing so well, and enjoying so much, the originals"; saying that he is likely to do something similiar with the artwork he owns; discussing conflicts in the past between buying for himself and buying on behalf of the king; sending Beaumont news about the theatrical world ("by the bye Drury Lane seems determined to come into fashion once more); writing in a postcript: "Get [David] Wilkie to shew you his Sketch of 'John Knox' -- it will if I mistake not be his chef D'œuvre."
Catalog link
Department