Jewish collectors, donors, and fundraisers at the National Gallery, 1824–1945

Abstract

This thesis examines the interactions of Jews with the National Gallery, from 1824 to 1945, as
donors of works of art, benefactors, and fundraisers for the cause of art ‘for the nation’. Five
case studies highlight their diverse activities in London and across the British Empire from
1900 onward, a period when the visibility of Jews was under intense discussion in Parliament
and within Jewish communities in Britain. The first case study examines Jewish exhibition
organisers in London at the turn of the century, focussing on those who were members of the
National Art Collections Fund (established in 1904). The second locates a single family, the
Duveens, and their benefactions to the National Gallery, while the third relates an Anglo-Dutch
Jewish couple’s attempts to introduce ‘Modern Foreign’ painting to its walls. The fourth
chapter investigates Jewish fine art collectors who were born throughout the former British
Empire, and their gifts to other national art museums. The fifth case study surveys the diverse
activities of Jewish women in relation to art dealing, museum work and fundraising.
This thesis explores what light the development of the National Gallery casts on the role of
Jewish collectors in Britain, and how Jewish historical actors might have seen the Gallery as a
space in which to invest in public life and commemorate their own lives. The project provided
an opportunity for the Gallery to rediscover these ‘overlooked’ cultural actors in its bicentenary
year, I hope that they may speak of the diversity of perspectives found within its historic
galleries.