Press Releases

Victorian Dreamers
Welsh collectors of 19th century art

22 October 2005–8 January 2006

Victorian Dreamers is a new exhibition of major Pre-Raphaelite, Victorian neo-Classical, landscape and genre works on show at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff.  

The exhibition focuses on the diversity and interests of Welsh collectors from the Victorian period through to the present day.  These collections are less-known than those of their northern English contemporaries, whose works formed major collections in Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and the Midlands.

On display will be works from the National Museum's collections, which were owned by various collectors such as William Menelaus (1818–1882), managing partner of the steel works at Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil; the Unitarian corn merchant James Pyke Thompson (1846–1897); the Welsh sculptor Sir Goscombe John (1860–1952) and Margaret Davies (1884–1963), one of the foremost female UK collectors during the early to mid-20th century, better known for her collecting of French Impressionist paintings with her sister Gwendoline.

These fine examples of Victorian art will be shown alongside major loans from contemporary Welsh private collections, many of which have not been seen in public before.  These include works by Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Holman Hunt, Millais, Rossetti and Burne Jones; neo-Classical paintings by Watts, Leighton, Moore and Alma Tadema and landscapes by Brett, Boyce and Inchbold. Many of the present day collectors were inspired by the collections at the National Museum & Gallery in Cardiff.

Dr Ann Sumner, Curator (Fine Art) said:

'The National Museum & Gallery is not yet renowned for its Victorian paintings but this exhibition draws attention to many of our superb works such as Rossetti's Fair Rosamund and Ford Maddox Brown's View from Shorn Ridgway, Kent . It also gives us the opportunity to show some exciting loans from private collections including John Brett's iconic The Hedger, Leighton's arresting Invocation with the striking model Dorothy Dene, a fine Watts landscape of Carrara and a beautiful still life by William Duffield.'

Other NMGW sites are the Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans; Big Pit: National Mining Museum, Blaenafon - winner of this year's prestigious Gulbenkian Prize; Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon; National Woollen Museum, Dre-fach Felindre and the Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis. Opening later this year is the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, telling the innovative story of the peoples and industry of Wales.

Entry to all NMGW sites is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.

For further information please contact:
Julie Richards, Press Officer
National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff
Mobile: 07876 476695
Email: julie.richards@museumwales.ac.uk