Paintings
The Harold Samuel Art Collection is a unique collection of 17th
century paintings from Holland’s Golden Age.
Bequeathed to the City of London in 1987 by Lord Harold Samuel
of Wych Cross, a wealthy property developer and entrepreneur, this
remarkable collection of 84 pieces - perhaps the best
collection of Dutch art in Britain - enriches the splendour of the
Mansion House’s interior.
The Merry Lute player, (above right)
is perhaps the best known picture in the collection. Painted
between 1624-8 by Frans Hals in oil on panel, this lively picture
is one of a group Hals painted in the mid-1620s of life-size,
half-length figures drinking or making music, and wearing fanciful
or theatrical costume. The instrument seems to be a tenor
seven-course lute with a body formed of alternating light and dark
wood. The Merry Lute Player made headline news when it was
bought for Lord Samuel at a New York auction in 1963, partly for
its record price but mostly because this was the first occasion on
which the bidding was conducted by telephone from London.
A Young Woman Sewing, oil on panel pictured
on the left was painted by Nicolaes Maes in 1655. Spinning, sewing
or making lace were activities traditionally associated with
domestic virtue, and Maes painted a number of pictures of women
silently concentrating on these chores. In this example, the young
woman has set her lacemaking aside to take up her sewing; she has
tucked a couple of packets of pins in the moulding behind her. She
sits on a low dais or 'soldertien' that raises her slightly nearer
the light shed by an unseen window above her right shoulder but
more importantly keeps her feet from chilling on the cold tiled
floor. A map and a painting hang on the wall behind her.
Maes had trained in Rembrandt’s studio in the late 1640s,
painted biblical settings in his early works and latterly
specialised in small highly refined portraits.
Sculpture
The idea of marble statues for the Mansion House was
first raised in 1850 at a banquet for Prince Albert attended by the
Royal Commissioners for The Great Exhibition. The Egyptian Hall was
noted as being “very deficient in embellishment” with temporary
exhibits being placed in the niches during important events. The
General Purposes Committee proposed commissioning statues
themed from the works of English poets which were recommended to
the Court of Common Council. After a comprehensive selection
process and visits to the artists workshops all the statues were
put in place in 1863. Each one weighs in the region of three
quarters of a ton and stand at seven feet tall. Pictured on the
right is The Faithful Shepherdess by
Susan Duran.
Tours
Click here for further information and details of joining a
tour of the Mansion House. A book about the
collection, Dutch and Flemish 17th Century Paintings: The
Harold Samuel Collection, and postcards, are available from
the Guildhall Art Gallery shop.
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