The gallery at Cleveland House: displaying art and society in late Georgian London

Abstract

"This book examines the art gallery at Cleveland House, known in the 19th century as the 'Louvre of London' due to its internationally-renowned collection of Old Master paintings. Through detailed analysis of a wide range of visual, material, textual and archival sources, the book presents the gallery as a methodological case study on the intersection of domesticity and the display of art, and the construction of the notion of 'public', 'private' and 'national' galleries in the period. The book is essential reading for researchers in Regency-era British art, museum studies, collecting studies, and the histories of interior decoration and design."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction: "The Finest in England" -- 1. "A very complete business": Designing and building the gallery -- 2. "The high attraction of the spectacle": Displaying sociability -- 3. "The superb furniture within": Materiality and the domestic interior -- 4. "We have lately been much attacked": Exhibiting morality -- 5. "To private collections alone": The apotheosis of the private gallery -- Conclusion: The "home" of art.