Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the fifth (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1875
End Date: 1875
Type: Annual exhibition
Description: 1,136 works exhibited (exact breakdown or genre not supplied from this date).
£12,300 12s. 4d. receipts from sales.
41,584 visitors.
Policy: The exhibition was started in 1871 because 'The Library, Museum and Education Committee consider[ed] it desirable in the interests of Art [...]' (Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1871, p. 2). Its success was immediate. The receipts not only defrayed all costs but also '[...] supplied a handsome surplus to be devoted to the purposes of Art' (19th Annual Report, 1871, p. 5). As a result the autumn exhibition became an annual event.
The instructions issued to exhibitors were as follows:
'All works of Art intended for Exhibition (which must not have been previously exhibited in Liverpool) must be sent addressed to the Curator, Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool[...] Arrangements have been made to meet the convenience of Metropolitan Artists for the transmission of their Works, at their own cost and risk, through Mr. James Bourlet, 17 Nassau Street, Middlesex Hospital, London.
A note [...] must be sent by post, and addressed to the Curator at Liverpool, giving the prices [...] and describing the works ads they are meant to be inserted in the Catalogue (quotations and narratives will be subject to the approval of the Acting Committee). At the back of each [work] must be written in full the name and Address of the Artist, the Title of the Picture and Number (if there are more than one)[...] The strict attention of Artists to these regulations is earnestly requested, so as to ensure accuracy in the catalogue. The absence of the Price List frequently interferes with the sale of [works of art].
[...] A Commission of Five per Cent (upon the catalogue prices) will be charged upon all works sold whilst in the possession of the Committee, whether by the Artist or the Committee.
The Committee are not responsible for, nor do they encourage any offers for Works not made through the Local Secretary; and they will be happy to receive any intimations from contributing Artists that none but Catalogue Prices would be acceptable.
All Works contributed by Members or Associates of the Royal Academy that may be sold at this Exhibition, are purchased subject to the condition that the Artist be allowed to exhibit such Work at the ensuing Exhibition of the Academy, the purchase money to be paid at the close of the Local Exhibition.
The utmost care will be taken of all Works of Art sent for the Exhibition; but the Committee will not be responsible for any damage or injury, whether in transit or whilst under their control, caused by fire or otherwise' (Instructions from 'Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures', 1871, pp. 3-4).
Participants
Exhibitors included Albert Bruce Joy
1875
The Fairy Tale (cat. no. 1076, terracotta, £189); Mrs Laurence R. Baily (cat. no. 1080, marble bust, not for sale); Medallion of a Young Lady (cat. no. 1086, plaster bronzed, not for sale); Forsaken (cat. no. 1092, terracotta, £1260 in marble); William Bryant, Esq., late of Surbiton (cat. no. 1099, plaster, not for sale); The Little Visitor (cat. no. 1109, £26 5s.); The late Emperor Napoleon III (cat. no. 1111, bust, not for sale).
Exhibitors included George Slater Barkentin
1875
His Excellency R. C. Schenck, American Ambassador at St James' (cat. no. 1077, to be executed in marble, not for sale).
Exhibitors included Giovanni Fontana
1875
Innocence (cat. no. 1079, marble, £25); Hope (cat. no. 1090, terracotta, £20); Madonna (cat. no. 1093, marble, £40); The Young Architect (cat. no. 1095, marble statuette, £55); Charles Dickens, Esq. (cat. no. 1106, plaster bust, not for sale).
Exhibitors included Signor Nicoli
1875
Spring (cat. no. 1081, marble, £25); Summer (cat. no. 1083, marble, £25); Autumn (cat. no. 1097, marble, £25); Winter (cat. no. 1101, marble, £25).
Exhibitors included George Frederick Halse
1875
The May Queen (cat. no. 1084, marble, £31 10s.); Parted Friends (cat. no. 1096, plaster model, £5 5s.); The Weary Gleaner (cat. no. 1103, not for sale).
Exhibitors included Richard Norbury
1875
A Competition Prize Model for the Laird Memorial (cat. no. 1085, not for sale).
Exhibitors included Catherine Allison Fellows
1875
H.R.H. the late Prince Consort when a Child (cat. no. 1087, £52 10s.).
Exhibitors included George Tinworth
1875
Terra Cotta Plaque (cat. no. 1088, £6 6s.); Stoneware Plaque - The Raising of Lazarus (cat. no. 1104, £6 6s.).
Exhibitors included Edward Davis
1875
The Swing (cat. no. 1078, not for sale) and William Makin Esq. (cat. no. 1089, plaster bust, not for sale)
Exhibitors included David Watson Stevenson
1875
The Blue Bell (cat. no. 1091, marble, £45).
Exhibitors included William Grant Stevenson
1875
The Pet Lamb (cat. no. 1094, terracotta group, £30).
Exhibitors included John Warrington Wood
1875
Mrs Hamilton, Sen., of Craighlaw, Kirkcowan, NB (cat. no. 1098, marble bust, not for sale).
Exhibitors included John Alexander Paterson MacBride
1875
Marble Bust of a Youth (cat. no. 1100, not for sale); After the Bath (cat. no. 1105, marble group, not for sale); A Study - Heroic Size Model Bust of the late Michael James Whitty, Esq. (cat. no. 1110, £52 10s.).
Exhibitors included L. Watt
1875
A Plate, 'Yes, Sir!' (cat. no. 1102, £2 12s. 6d.).
Exhibitors included John Birnie Philip
1875
Homeward Bound (cat. no. 1107, £130 - exhibited posthumously).
Exhibitors included Alfred Norbury
1875
The late John Hulley, Esq. (cat. no. 1108, marble bust, not for sale).
Sources
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1871 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1871
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1875 Walker Art Gallery
1875
pp. 41-42
Citing this record
'Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the fifth (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1875', 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_1278356546, accessed 25 Mar 2023]
