Chantrey Bequest (Chantrey Fund; Royal Academy of Arts), 1875-1948
Start Date: 1875
End Date: 1948
Type: Purchase fund
Description: The bequest became available in 1875 and the first purchases were made in 1877. Seven paintings were purchased and one sculpture, entitled 'An Athlete Struggling with a Python' by Frederick Leighton. No sculptures were purchased again until 1881 when the Fund bought 'The Prodigal Son', a marble group by W. Calder Marshall, and 'A Moment of Peril', a marble group by Thomas Brock ('Annual Report, 1881', 1882, p. 61).
Between 1877 and 1897 11 works were purchased by the Fund. A full list of prizes is given in the 'Annual Report, 1897', 1898, pp. 59-61.
Policy: At his death in 1841, Sir Francis Chantrey left a substantial bequest to the Royal Academy for 'the encouragement of British Fine Art in Painting and Sculpture only', to come into effect following the death or remarriage of his wife. It enabled the RA to purchase 'Works of Fine Art of the highest merit in painting and sculpture that can be obtained either already executed or which may hereafter be executed by Artists of any nation Provided such Artists shall have actually resided in Great Britain during the executing and completing [sic] of such Works, it being my express direction that no work of art whether executed by a deceased or living Artist shall be purchased unless the same shall have been entirely executed within the shores of Great Britain' (Will, 31 December 1840; RA 'Annual Report, 1950', 1951, pp. 76-77; Hutchison, 1968, p. 107).
In 1887 the Council made 'an application to the High Court of Justice, to decide whether the clause in the Will of Sir Francis Chantrey, prohibiting the giving of Commissions to Artists, is to be taken as applying to the case if Commissions given to Sculptors to reproduce plaster casts or wax models in bronze or marble' (Royal Academy 'Annual Report, 1887', 1888, p. 20).
The following year, it is recorded that it had been ruled that 'the Council are not under the terms of the Will justified in purchasing a work in plaster or wax subject to its being executed to their satisfaction in bronze or marble' ('Annual Report, 1888', 1889, p. 17).
Exhibits
Purchases included A Boy at Play
1896
Purchases included Griselda
1896
Purchases included An Athlete Struggling with a Python
1877
Purchases included The Prodigal Son
1881
Purchases included A Moment of Peril
1881
Purchases included Teucer
1882
Purchases included Folly
1886
Purchases included Ignis Fatuus
1889
Purchases included Pandora
1892
Purchases included Perseus and Andromeda
1894
Purchases included The Nymph of Loch Awe
1897
£150
Purchases included The Girdle
1899
Purchases included Remorse
1903
£900
Purchases included The Springtide of Life
1903
£1000
Purchases included Sibylla Fatidica
1904
Purchases included The Earth and the Elements
1907
Purchases included Girl and Lizard
1907
Purchases included Ariadne
1908
£1000
Purchases included Diana
1908
£1000
Purchases included A foul in the giant's race
1908
£52 10s.
Purchases included Sigurd
1910
£150
Purchases included Dolce Far Niente
1911
£52 10s.
Purchases included A Royal Game
1911
£1700
Purchases included The Shepherd Boy
1912
£400
Purchases included Dawn
1914
£1100
Purchases included Henry James
1914
£100
Purchases included The Bather
1915
£850
Purchases included The Sacristan
1917
£90
Purchases included The Critle
1917
£100
Purchases included Psyche
1919
£2000
Purchases included Androdus
1919
Purchases included Pysche
1922
£1000
Purchases included Nan
1922
£200
Purchases included Cardinal Manning
1922
£105
Purchases included The Infant Christ
1924
£150
Purchases included Ju Jitsu
A work by Kellock Brown listed as a bronze group with the same title, was purchased by the Royal Academy through the Chantrey Fund in 1924. See Royal Academy, \'Annual Report, 1924\', (1925), p. 65
Purchases included Drake
1925
£50
Purchases included Christ at the Whipping Post
1925
£300
Purchases included Eros
1925
£500
Purchases included Mamua
1926
£95
Purchases included Boss Norriss
1926
£105
Bought after Wood's death.
Purchases included The Little Apple
1929
Purchased from the artist's widow through the Leicester Galleries for the Tate Gallery collection.
Purchases included Spring
1930
£1050
Purchases included Autumn
1930
£367
Purchases included The Birth of Venus
1931
£1000
Purchases included Thought
1933
£500
Purchases included Ignace Jean Paderewski
1934
£500
Purchases included The Hand
1936
£850
Purchases included Monolith
1936
£750
Purchases included Head of a Woman
1937
Purchases included Isaac Blessing Jacob
1940
£50
Purchases included The Irishman
1940
£50
Purchases included Aphrodite
1944
£1050
Purchases included Spring
1947
£1000
Purchases included Youth
1948
£1000
Organizing Institution or Venue
Organized by Royal Academy of Arts
Participants included Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
1885 - 1886 (Presumed)
Temporary loans of works purchased by the Royal Academy through the Chantrey Fund, were made to the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1885', 1886, p. 20).
Participants
Selection committee members included William Hamo Thornycroft
1905 - 1922
Served on the selection committee for sculpture from 1905 to 1909, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1918, 1919, 1921 and 1922 (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Reports').
Selection committee members included George James Frampton
1905 - 1917
Served on the selection committee for sculpture in 1905, 1910, 1913 and 1917 (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1905', 1906, p. 21).
Selection committee members included Thomas Brock
1906 - 1919
Served on the selection committee from 1906 to 1909, 1914, 1915, 1916 and 1919 (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Reports').
Selection committee members included (Edward) Alfred Briscoe Drury
1906 - 1930
Served on the selection committee in 1906, 1909, 1910, 1913, 1916, 1924 and 1926 (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1906', 1907, p. 21). In 1927 Drury is listed as a member of the 'Recommending Committee for Sculpture' ('Annual Report, 1927', 1928, p. 77). He served on the 'Recommending Committee' again in 1929 and 1930.
Selection committee members included Frederick William Pomeroy
1907 - 1920
Served on the Selection Committee for sculpture in 1907, 1915, and 1920 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1907', 1908, p. 17).
Selection committee members included Henry Alfred Pegram
1908 - 1930
Served on the selection committee for sculpture in 1908, 1916, 1924, and 1926 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1908', 1909, p. 22). In 1927, Pegram is listed as a member of the 'Recommending Committee for Sculpture' ('Annual Report, 1927', 1928, p. 77). He served on the 'Recommending Committee' again in 1929 and 1930.
Selection committee members included William Goscombe John
1910 - 1930
Served on the selection committee for sculpture from 1910 to 1912, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1924 and 1926 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1909', 1910, p. 24). In 1927, John is listed as a member of the 'Recommending Committee for Sculpture' ('Annual Report, 1927', 1928, p. 77). He served on the Recommending Committee again in 1929 and 1930.
Selection committee members included (Edgar) Bertram Mackennal
1911 - 1922
Served on the selection committee for sculpture in 1911, 1914, 1921 and 1922 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1911', 1912, p. 26).
Selection committee members included Charles Leonard Hartwell
1917 - 1919
Served on the selection committee for sculpture in 1917, and in 1919 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1917', 1918, p. 19).
Selection committee members included Francis Derwent Wood
1918 - 1921
Served on the selection committee for sculpture in 1918, 1920 and 1921 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1918', 1919, p. 21).
Selection committee members included William Reid Dick
1931 - 1950
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1931, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1949 and 1950 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1931', 1932, p. 22).
Selection committee members included William McMillan
1931 - 1950
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1931, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1945, 1946, 1949 and 1950 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1931', 1932, p. 22).
Selection committee members included Charles Sargeant Jagger
1931
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1931 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1931', 1932, p. 22).
Selection committee members included Alfred Turner
1932 - 1936
Served on the Fund's Selection Committee in 1932, 1935, and 1936 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1932', 1933, p. 23).
Selection committee members included Richard Louis Garbe
1932
Served on the Fund's Selection Committee (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1932', 1933, p. 23).
Selection committee members included Gilbert Ledward
1932 - 1950
Served on the Fund's Selection Committee in 1932, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1949 and 1950 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1932', 1933, p. 23).
Selection committee members included Charles Thomas Wheeler
1935 - 1948
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1935 and 1936, and in 1947 and 1948 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1935', 1936, p. 29).
Selection committee members included Ernest George Gillick
1937
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1937 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1937', 1938, p. 23).
Selection committee members included Alfred Frank Hardiman
1937 - 1948
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1947 and 1948 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1937', 1938, p. 23).
Selection committee members included James Arthur Woodford
1939 (Presumed) - 1952 (Presumed)
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1939, 1940, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1951 and 1952 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1939', 1940, p. 21).
Selection committee members included Frank Owen Dobson
1943 - 1944
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1943 and 1944 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1943', 1944, p. 16).
Selection committee members included Maurice Lambert
1945 - 1952
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1945, 1946, 1951 and 1952 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1945', 1946, p. 17).
Selection committee members included Siegfried Joseph Charoux
1951 - 1952
Served on the Recommending Committee in 1951 and 1952 (Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1951', 1952, p. 18).
Sources
Annual Report from the Council of The Royal Academy to the General Assembly of Academicians for the Year 1897, 1898 Royal Academy Annual Reports
1898
pp. 55, 59-61
Annual Report from the Council of The Royal Academy to the General Assembly of Academicians for the Year 1924, 1925 Royal Academy Annual Reports
20 February 1925
pp. 19, 65
Annual Report from the Council of The Royal Academy to the General Assembly of Academicians for the Year 1937, 1938 Royal Academy Annual Reports
1938
pp. 22-23, 82
Citing this record
'Chantrey Bequest (Chantrey Fund; Royal Academy of Arts), 1875-1948', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/event.php?id=msib4_1256317569, accessed 29 May 2023]
