Description: | The largest group of work in the fine art collection is the print collection, comprising 1950 items generally split between pre-20th century and modern works. (The Sydney Jones Library holds a complimentary collection of rare and printed books). The collection features works by artist printmakers such as Piranesi, James McNeil Whistler, Alphonese Legros and Rembrandt.
The core of the watercolour collection comprises a group of 80 works donated by Sir Sydney Jones and providing examples of all the major English watercolourists including Paul Sandby, JR Cozens, John 'Warwick' Smith, Thomas Varley, Thomas Girtin, JMW Turner, Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding, Peter de Wint, David Cox and John Sell Cotman. Late 19th century works include four cartoons for stained glass windows in St Giles cathedral, Edinburgh by Edward Coley Burne-Jones. The 20th century collection, although not comprehensive, contains significant works by artists such as John Nash, Graham Sutherland, Arthur Rackham, Herbert MacNair, Michael Ayrton, Anthony Goss, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Deanna Petherbridge, Graham Arnold and Ian McKeever.
The collection of oil paintings is mainly of British works dating from the 17th century to the present and includes many works by important artists. The earlier works include portraits in oil in the School of Van Dyke and 18th to early 19th century works by artists such as Joseph Wright, JMW Turner, George Morland, Nathan Theodore Fielding, Matthew Condy and Samuel Walters. Artists from the later 19th century include Richard Ansdell, Robert Anning Bell, Atkinson Grimshaw, Edward Atkinson Hornel, Mary Adshead, John Nash, Robert Colquhoun, Elisabeth Vellacott, Craigie Aitchison, Euan Uglow, Adrian Berg and Lucian Freud. The Liverpool artists are very well represented in the collection and include works by Gerard Chowne, Nicholas Horsfield, Will Penn, Dorothy Adamson, George Mayer-Marton, Millicent Ayrton, Clement McAleer, Roderick Bisson, Arthur Ballard, Stanley Reed, George Jardine, J Coburn Witherop, Sam Walsh and Adrian Henri.
The pre-1900 prints are wide-ranging and include etchings by W Hollar and James Hamilton Hay, engravings by G Vertue, R Morghen, J Houbraken, F Bartolozzi and J Boydell, rare early woodcuts by John Baptist Jackson and mezzotints by David Lucas, W Dickson and T Watson. There are also high quality chromolithographs after Italian old master frescoes, published by the Arundel Society. The 20th century prints are mainly from the post-war period and include a large range of artists such as Peter Blake, Elizabeth Frink, David Hockney, Graham Sutherland, Richard Smith and Ben Nicholson.
Eminent figures in the history of the University feature in the portrait collection, particularly a group by Augustus John, who taught at the University between 1901-2. There are also works by William Strang, Henry Carr, FT Copnall, Edward Halliday and Will Penn.
The small group of foreign works includes three early oils by John James Audubon, painted during a visit to Liverpool in 1826 and other drawings and watercolours (the largest collection of original works by this artist in the country). Other non-British works are mainly part of a collection developed by Matthew Gregson and gifted in 1906 and are predominantly 17th century landscapes by Dutch or Italian artists. There is also a small bequest made by Professor Roaf in 1986 and comprising 17th to 19th century Greek, Cypriot and Russian icons.
The collection of drawings is small but includes an interesting group of architectural studies by Alfred Waterhouse, HC Bradshaw, Stanley Adshead, Prof. CH Reilly, Gordon Stephenson and GA Holmes.
The Gallery also holds a small collection of sculpture. Notable freestanding works include those by Lord Leighton, JH Foley, GF Watts, CJ Allen, Jacob Epstein and Elizabeth Frink. |