Between Art and Empire - Foundational Figures (Data)

Between Art and Empire examines the ways in which the British Empire shaped the establishment, collection, and display practices of the National Gallery from its founding in 1824 to 1874. As one of Britain’s foremost public art institutions, the National Gallery provides a key case study for understanding the entanglement of British imperialism and cultural institutions in the nineteenth century. The Gallery was established at a time when Britain had been positioning itself as a global economic and political power through the dominance of the empire in its colonies. Its foundation relied on donations, bequests, purchases and time invested in trusteeships from individuals who were actively profiting from the systems of Empire. The thesis takes a broad view of the British Empire by considering imperial trade, commerce and slavery in both the British East and West Indies. It also adopts an intergenerational and interfamilial study to examine the complex connections between imperial wealth and cultural patronage. Few previous histories of the National Gallery have contextualised the institution within the broader framework of the British Empire, thus overlooking some of the important connections discussed in this thesis. Between Art and Empire begins with an expansive approach to institutional history to clarify some of the links that the National Gallery has with the British Empire. The focus is not solely on the ownership history of objects in the collection, but also encompasses the economic, social and ethical implications of the sources of wealth used to purchase these objects. It then highlights individual histories of Gallery stakeholders, their families, and the colonised people exploited by them to reveal the ways in which the personal intersects with larger societal systems, and networks of power and exploitation. This results in a complex and entangled relationship between the National Gallery and Britain’s colonial past.