Manchester's Art Treasures of the United Kingdom's Exhibition held between 5 May and 19 October 1857 was one of the defining moments of art history in England.

The proposal for the Exhibition recognised that in the UK there were ‘objects of Art which exceed in interest and value those of any other country in the world’, many in private hands. [quoted in Pergam, 2011: 241] The organizers defined the art they wanted to display as:

… though Painting and Sculpture must necessarily form a large portion of the collection, yet the scheme contemplates a still wider scope of attraction. Fine Arts, in all branches, judiciously selected, would be here displayed, subject to careful classification and arrangement. [Pergam, 2011: 242]

Later, in the “Circular No. 1: Exhibition of Art Treasures of the United Kingdom’, this was elaborated:

'By the term "Art Treasures" it is meant to include not only Oil Paintings, Water-colour Drawings, Engravings, and Photographs, but the thousand other objects of which Sculpture, in stone, marble, alabaster, plaster, wood, ivory, terra cotta, and bronze - Decorative Furniture, - Works in gold and other precious metals, - Armour, - Implements of Chase, - Musical Instruments, - Glass, Venetian, German, French, and English, - China, Delft, - Tapestry, - Antiquities, Costume, may be given as leading examples. Those who have had an opportunity of walking through the Hotel de Cluny, in Paris, and examining the Treasures of Art which it contains, chiefly those of the Middle Ages, can easily understand that a collection of a somewhat similar kind, which it is quite possible to make in this country, would be extremely interesting.

In the proposed Exhibition it is intended to illustrate in as effective and instructive a manner as possible, English life in bygone times ...' [Pergam, 2011: 245-6]

As a journalist wrote shortly before the opening:

The first thing that strikes the visitor on entering the Exhibition is the harmony of the building, and the general excellence of the objects brought together. The collection is singularly free from trivial works. A moment’s inspection must satisfy the mind that the scene is one which the fancy could not have easily realised. In fact, it is difficult to describe the sensation one experiences on being ushered, for the first time, into a place which contains within the area of an acre or two a vast number of the imperishable monuments of human genius.[Morning Post, issue 25997 page 2]

In a letter from Edmund Potter, there is a contemporary account of these displays which bring to life the range of objects displayed at the Exhibition:

We will suppose you have gone through the list of portraits, and have passed before those known historically, but I do not doubt, to some of you ... that the collection is not more extensive in modern worthies - the heroes, statesmen, philosophers, philanthropists, and scientific men of our own day.

You are in the Centre Hall, rich in modern statuary ... I must do little more than refer you to a very choice selection of watercolour drawings, essentially an English art, and one in which we are making rapid progress. You will also trace the progress of Engraving in our collection from the more early etchings to later exquisitely finished plates of the day.

Photography is also beautifully illustrated, and will probably receive no slight practical impetus by the ample use to which it is being applied - in securing photographs of numerous selected paintings, and works in metal and china in the building itself.

We come next to the works in metal. Inspect, first, a fine collection of Armour, from the earliest to the latest-made suit. [Contrasting the medieval warrior with 'modern soldiers'] ... - and our soldiers of the present day... armed with the modern rifle, relying on ... the most scientific weapon the greatest mechanical skill can furnish - another half-century of discovery may see the rifle as obsolete as the coat of mail. One curious specimen of a revolving rifle, made a hundred years ago, will be found in the collection, presenting in the main the powers of Colt's modern revolvers.

You will come next to the Museum of Ornamental Art, contained chiefly in the glass cases ranged on both sides of the Central Hall. Here you will find rare specimens of early art ... I can hardly venture to enumerate them in detail, - glass, china, enamels, and metal work; rich plate ... carved ivory, each in its class beautiful as elaborate works of art, more curious, ... as showing how almost a life of labour may have been spent in finishing by hand with a few simple tools, an article, an ornament, or a piece of furniture ... May 18th 1857 [quoted in Pergam, 2011: 256-7]

The Times published a series of linked articles in May and June 1857 about the Exhibition. The article makes it clear that ‘with the exception of some examples of the ceramic art from the British Museum and the Department of Science and Art, and of some arms and armour from the Tower, everything here exhibited comes from the galleries of the Sovereign, or from collections in private houses.’[‘Exhibition of Art Treasures at Manchester’, The Times, Monday, May 11, 1857; pg. 9; Issue 22677; col B] In the next article the method of display was discussed:

It is an obvious advantage of the chronological arrangement which has been adopted in the Manchester galleries that it enables the eye to take in at a glance the broad distinguishing characteristics of successive periods and schools of art. From perception of these distinctive characters to appreciation of the influences of schools upon each other is a step which cannot be taken by help of the eye alone. But even for this such a chronological arrangement is most helpful. [‘Exhibition of Art Treasures at Manchester’, The Times, Monday, May 15, 1857; pg. 9; Issue 22681; col E]

The press continued to report on the exhibition after the opening by Prince Albert. The Morning Post on 14 May 1857 published an article which attempted to ‘refer more in detail to such portions of the contents as appear to us best calculated to awaken the interests and stimulate the curiosity of the visitor.’ The article pointed that the Exhibition did not contain ‘all the best works of all the best masters’, but ‘taken as a whole, the Exhibition contains not only an immense number of fine works, but the most interesting and complete collection ever brought together in any country or in any age.’ The journalist comments that the pictures are not all numbered or in the correct numerical order and do not match the provisional catalogue that had been published because of late entries. The article then describes many of the portraits hung in the show in some detail. [Morning Post, issue 26012 page 5]

In the Morning Chronicle of Thursday May 21 1857 the labelling of items in the Museum of Ornamental Art is criticised:

What strange notions of the “fitness of things” must possess the ruling powers of the department of art. This department has provided small pink-coloured labels, each with one or two printed lines of description of the articles to which they are affixed. [illegible] so minute is the type employed—very considerably less than that which is before the reader—that a strong magnifying glass is required to read those nearest to the visitor, while some at a distance of several feet from the spectator are perfectly illegible. The smallness of the type one would have thought sufficient evil, but the colour of the card makes the task of reading still more difficult. Everything else in the collection has a description in clear, bold type, printed on a white surface, and may be read with tolerable ease. [Morning Chronicle, issue 28209 page 1]

An article in the Morning Post of 30 November 1857 (after the Exhibition had been closed) summarised the experience:

The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition has now passed into history. Through many dangers and difficulties the project has been skilfully conducted to a triumphant issue, and it is entitled to a prominent position amid the incidents of that great educational movement which reflects so much credit on our age. Alike illustrious in arts and arms, the reign of Queen Victoria will be celebrated by future writers, not only for its sieges, campaigns, and battle-fields, but still more honourably for its zealous and rapid progression in those graceful studies and elegant pursuits which elevate and refine the human mind. Cognitione naturae et scientiae beati sumus. Whatever increases the intelligence also promotes the happiness, consolidates the power, and aggrandises the fame of a nation. … The most pleasing fact connected with the Manchester Exhibition was the testimony it afforded, that in a great commercial community, when all other pursuits might be supposed subordinate to that of gain, there was yet a vivid appreciation of all that is most sublime and beautiful, of all that is most tender and touching, in ideal art. It was beyond expression gratifying to find that in this busy age, amid the ignoble toil and weary turmoil of everyday life, men are sensible that there are joys above all wealth, and pure sources of delight which dwell not in pomp or luxury, but in the sympathetic contemplation of the beautiful.

The Manchester Exhibition contributed more powerfully to the development of this feeling than any other event in modern times. … Inaugurated under royal auspices, and eagerly patronised by the public, the Exhibition remained open during a summer of almost unprecedented brilliancy, and its treasures, estimated at the money value of six millions sterling, after affording delight and instruction to upwards of two millions of visitors, were dispersed … [Morning Post, issue 26183 page 4]

Although the Old Master and English paintings grabbed most of the journalists’ attention, they all drew some attention to the other kinds of objects displayed at the Exhibition, for example,

All visitors who are desirous of profiting by the Exhibition should, of course, begin with the old masters, and study their works as much as possible in the chronological order. The works of the early Italian and German schools are hung in Saloon A, and should be examined before passing to the later productions of the two countries in the vestibules, Saloons B and C, and Saloon H, to the left, looking towards the orchestra, which contain the Flemish and Dutch masters of the 17th century and a selection of the choicest ornaments of the Hertford gallery. When this review of art to the close of the 18th century is concluded the visitor may pass with better chance of profit to the works of modern English painters, from the predecessors of Reynolds down to the contributors of last year’s exhibition at the Royal Academy.

The collection of historical portraits, the watercolour gallery, and the unrivalled series illustrative of the history of engraving in all its branches, will each form a separate subject of study.

… It is not till the pictures have been carefully examined that the illustrations of design in the various branches of glass, porcelain, and pottery, in the ivories, the enamels, the bronzes, the furniture, and the arms and armour here collected can be examined with something like appreciation, for these will be found to reflect in their respective developments, in their beauties to be turned to account, and in their faults and deformities to be avoided, the mutual relation, progress, and decadence of the various schools of painting and architecture. [‘Exhibition of Art Treasures at Manchester’, The Times, Monday, May 11, 1857; pg. 9; Issue 22677; col B]

Unfortunately whilst there were official catalogues for the fine art collections, and for the Museum of Ornamental Art there does not appear to have been a catalogue for the Oriental Court. It is known however that there were some ethnographic (and social history) objects displayed at the Exhibition. This is because the museum who lent the objects recorded it upon labels which were attached to the object.

Looking through nineteenth century newspaper accounts of the exhibition it is clear that there were many ‘ethnographic’ objects, for example the Morning Post of Friday 16 January 1857 records that Queen Victoria was intending to lend:

… From the royal armoury, a large assemblage of weapons and arms … The Oriental arms are particularly choice, many of them being richly jewelled, and inlaid with every variety of material, and graceful ornaments of Indian, Japanese, Persian and Morsque fancy. Most interesting to many will be the arms worn by Tippoo Saib—his sword, with its gilt and jewelled handle and blade … Turkish scymetars, some with singular wavy blades; and Mahratta swords … splendid yataghans worked with filigree; Persian swords … The old firelocks, matchlocks, and wheellocks … are objects of great antiquarian interest … The various European guns, stamped with the makers’ names, will form a series interesting to all, and more especially important to the history and progress of the gunsmith’s art. [Morning Post issue 25911, page 3]

The same article reports that the Queen was loaning many Oriental ceramic objects, in total she lent over 500 objects to the Exhibition (the Morning Post article was obviously part of the propaganda exercise to attract others to loan to the Exhibition).

The Morning Post on April 18, 1857, written just over two weeks before the exhibition opened, included a long article giving details of the exhibition’s installation. For those areas of the exhibition which were not fully documented this is one of the more complete glimpses we have as to the contents:

The Arms, Armour, &c.

Passing from the north picture galleries to the great hall, we observe near its north wall a number of elaborately-carved oak armoires, dressoirs, &c. Of the great collections which are to find their locale in the central hall and its end galleries, we learn that the Bernal collection has been received; only a portion of the Soulages collection has yet arrived; while the whole of the splendid collection of arms, armour, the Douce ivories and museum, &c. from Goodrich Court, are not only received, but the arms and armour, the pedestrian and equestrian figures, have for the most part undergone a through cleansing, polishing, and renovation, in a temporary armoury and workshop, on the north side of the palace, under the superintendence of Mr. Owen, from Goodrich Court. Here Mr. Pratt’s workmen have been engaged for several weeks in the furnishing of this far-famed collection. A peep into the storerooms in connection with this department revealed a number of warlike figures, whom we would rather see in repose than meet on the tented field. Amongst them, an English infantry officer of 1610, an English pikeman of 1635, a Rajah Polygar of 1750, an officer of demi-lances of 1540, a soldier of that corps of 1590, an officer of cavaliers of 1620, a German Reiter of 1640 … about 25 of these martial figures being at present close packed in a small room. In another small office are the effigies … Various other things curious and interesting were grouped round the armourer’s forge; but we must hurry on. Another storehouse or two for armour are in the upper east-end gallery, at the entrance end. Here we found all sorts of weapons, gauntlets and the smaller pieces of personal armour; small fire-arms, from the dragon of 1600 to the pistols, dags, and pistolets of succeeding days; bayonets, pikes, halberds, bills, partisans, &c., cross bows of cherry-tree wood, exquisitely carved, and similar projectiles called “prodds,” … and there were various others which we must pass over. There was a goodly collection of rapiers and two-handled swords of finely-tempered steel … There is a fine collection of morions … There is a splendid collection of claymores, and other swords, real Andrea Ferrara blades, Highland targets &c., from Castle Gordon…. A Chinese-Tartar glaive, for executions is an ugly-looking instrument … A forest of spears, halberds, pikes, partizans, &c., were piled together, between 200 and 300 in number … Altogether the armour will be quite a novel and striking feature of the exhibition.
… The Engravings Court and Oriental Court
both of these are under the hands of the ornamental decorator; but the Oriental Court is the most forward, and its ornamentation seems on the whole richer (as indeed is requisite) than perhaps any other portion of the palace. The roof panels are not only bordered with lines, but their centres filled with elegant moresques, while the borders of the walls are in rich Arabesque designs in bright and vivid colours, in which blues and reds, yellows and greens, are the most prominent. When completed, this court will have a very rich and ornate appearance. Outside (within a temporary inclosure) waiting admittance, are some splendid specimens of Oriental paintings, carvings, textile fabrics, furniture, &c. Some of the pierced floral wood-work of the furniture, especially the backs of couches, chairs, &c., cannot be surpassed for grace or beauty. … [Morning Post, issue 25990 page 3]

The same newspaper a week later on 24 April 1857 recorded that

… The latest arrivals of antique sculpture include three large slabs or friezes from Nineveh, forwarded by the Lord Mayor of London, and a collection of ancient Italian marbles from the executors of the late Mr. Smith Barry….

The Soulages collection has now arrived, and the greater portion is arranged in plate glass cases in the centre aisle. M. Jules Soulages devoted nearly 10 years to the formation of this rich and unique collection, his object being not to secure objects of a merely curious order, but to get together a complete series of decorative objects of utility, and of those minor productions of great artists which are not usually thought to deserve the designation of “high art.” The collection consists of three principal sections, namely, majolica, bronzes, and cinque-cento furniture. … … The collection consists of about 700 objects of art, the whole being purchased for the sum of £13,500. It is to be offered to the Government at the close of the Exhibition, at the cost price, and if not purchased, will then be sold in detail … [Morning Post, issue 25995 page 6]

The Soulages collection is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum having been purchased between 1859 and 1865 by instalments for a total cost of £11,000. The above article mentions ‘Mr Robinson, the curator of the Museum of Ornamental Art, to whose taste and learning the public are indebted,’ this was John Charles Robinson (1824-1913), the first superintendent of Art at South Kensington Museum in 1852 under Henry Cole. As an aside: Robinson was later involved in the Burlington Arts Club as was Pitt-Rivers.

The next day (25 April 1857) there was another long article in the Morning Post about the Exhibition, it reported:

… In the Oriental Court Dr Royle is making considerable progress. The object here is not to present a mere museum of Oriental subjects, but to exhibit the gradual progress of Asiatic art. With this view there are specimens of the textile fabrics of Central India, rich shawls, turbans, sashes, and cloth of gold curiously worked with quaint designs, inlaid armour, cuirasses, gloves, breast-plates, shields and casques, elaborately wrought swords, damascened and inlaid with gold, battle-axes, Hindoo daggers, and other strange weapons unknown to European warfare. From the walls are suspended carpets, saddle-cloths, and rugs from the looms of Heart and Circassia; also specimens from India of all sorts of carpets now in use in the dwellings of the wealthy. From China and Siam there are also interesting specimens of textile fabrics and carved work, including some curious vases of betel wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Among the paintings ar two curious “interiors”, the work of Chinese artists … The Indian armour and personal ornaments are profusely inlaid with gold and silver. … Dr Royle has received some valuable contributions from the Asiatic Society, and nothing now prevents the completion of his department but the deficiency of suitable cases in which to exhibit the specimens to the best advantage. The Oriental court is at present the refugium peccatorum of all the curious and incomprehensible objects forwarded to the exhibition. Everything not confessedly European is supposed to be Oriental, and in this way art treasures from Canada and the most opposite quarters of the world are brought to Dr Royle for classification amid the gems of Eastern civilisation. [Morning Post, issue 25996 page 2]

Dr Royle was John Forbes Royle (?1798 or 1799-1858) of the East Indian Company. Surgeon and naturalist, one of the Commissioners for the City of London in 1851 exhibition, and superintended the oriental department of Paris exhibition of 1855. He was interested in manufacturing and botany.

From the April 27th edition of the Morning Post comes more news:

The arrivals at the Exhibition to-day included several cases of Nineveh sculpture, from Lady C. Schreiber … Mr Joseph Mayers, of Liverpool, a gentleman who has formed a rare and costly collection of art objects, has sent 63 cases of engraved gems, cameos, mosaics, bracelets, fibulae, and other personal ornaments, vessels of vitrified glass, Etruscan vases, and beautiful examples of bronze statuary of Greek origin. There is also a number of curious bronze images from the sacred island of Pato, near the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang, supposed to represent the Bhuddist Deity, Quonyem. They were obtained from the native priests of the island. … [Morning Post, issue 25997 page 2]

From the May 5th edition of the Morning Post:

The East India Court, which opens into the Central Hall for Water-colours, has been arranged under the personal superintendence of Dr Royle, of the East India House. It presents an extremely rich and beautiful appearance. The walls are covered with carpets, rugs, coverlets, saddlecloths, &c. from the looms of Persia, Bokhara, and Nepaul. In the centre of the apartment a magnificent tent is erected, furnished with elegant carved and perforated furniture, the manufacture of Central India. The tent is covered with costly arms of Hindoo workmanship—shields, guns, daggers, and curious-looking implements of war. On the south wall a portrait of the size of life of his Excellency General Jung Bahadoor, Prime Minister and Courtier-in-Chief of Nepaul, is suspended. It is painted by a Nepaulese artist, and is an extremely creditable production. There is also underneath a curious oil painting, with a great number of figures, representing the Shah of Persia with his attendants. This curious picture is contributed by Sir John McNeill. In the same vicinity some admirable photographs are exhibitd, representing ancient Hindoo Temples. The collection of Eastern firearms is large and interesting, and there is scarcely any article of Eastern manufacture connected with the fine arts that is not represented in this department. [Morning Post, issue 26004 page 6]

In King John's House Pitt-Rivers wanted to show the history of art chronologically. This was not a new approach and had been used in England from the mid-nineteenth century, following after the model established by Gustav Waagen in Berlin in the 1830s and 1840s.

The chronological approach was also favoured by Prince Albert, writing to support the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857:

If the collection you propose to form were made to illustrate the history of Art in a chronological and systematic arrangement, it would speak powerfully to the public mind, and enable in a practical way, the most uneducated eye to gather the lessons which ages of thought and scientific research have attempted to abstract. [quoted in Yallop, 2011: 233, Pergam, 2011: 249]

According to Yallop the Manchester exhibition was the first large-scale one in Europe to 'present works chronologically in order to reveal the historical development of art'. [2011: 233] At Manchester artwork was displayed chronologically but also within schools. As George Scharf, who arranged the exhibits made clear

I desired not only to arrange them in chronological order, but to mark as far as possible the contemporaneous existence of opposite schools. The long southern wall as far as the middle of saloon C ... was therefore devoted exclusively to Italian art; and on the opposite wall were ranged the paintings of the foreign nations to correspond as nearly as possible in point of time, with the dates of the Italian ones facing them. [Scharf quoted in Perham, 2011: 62]

The range and scope of the Manchester Art-Treasures Exhibition reflected, and in turn, influenced Victorian English taste, and also reflected and influenced the material arts which were considered to reflect civilization, whether English or ethnic. The following extract from the Circular distributed to explain the modus operandi of the Exhibition [copied from Appendix III of Pergam, 2011], shows how similar the categories are not only to what Pitt-Rivers collected in his second collection (which must be said to be a fairer representation of his collecting in its widest sense, both for public and private consumption) but also how he hoped to represent civilization and the progress of civilization by use of some forms of material culture:

'By the term "Art Treasures" it is meant to include not only Oil Paintings, Water-colour Drawings, Engravings, and Photographs, but the thousand other objects of which Sculpture, in stone, marble, alabaster, plaster, wood, ivory, terra cotta, and bronze - Decorative Furniture, - Works in gold and other precious metals, - Armour, - Implements of Chase, - Musical Instruments, - Glass, Venetian, German, French, and English, - China, Delft, - Tapestry, - Antiquities, Costume, may be given as leading examples. Those who have had an opportunity of walking through the Hotel de Cluny, in Paris, and examining the Treasures of Art which it contains, chiefly those of the Middle Ages, can easily understand that a collection of a somewhat similar kind, which it is quite possible to make in this country, would be extremely interesting.

In the proposed Exhibition it is intended to illustrate in as effective and instructive a manner as possible, English life in bygone times ...' [p.245-6]

There was another similarity between the Manchester 1857 exhibition and Pitt-Rivers' displays at King John's House: the addition of pottery, glass etc to complement the pictures. In a letter by Edmund Potter, included in Perham 2011, there is a contemporary account of these adjunct displays:

We will suppose you have gone through the list of portraits, and have passed before those known historically, but I do not doubt, to some of you ... that the collection is not more extensive in modern worthies - the heroes, statesmen, philosophers, philanthropists, and scientific men of our own day.

You are in the Centre Hall, rich in modern statuary ... I must do little more than refer you to a very choice selection of watercolour drawings, essentially an English art, and one in which we are making rapid progress. You will also trace the progress of Engraving in our collection from the more early etchings to later exquisitely finished plates of the day.

Photography is also beautifully illustrated, and will probably receive no slight practical impetus by the ample use to which it is being applied - in securing photographs of numerous selected paintings, and works in metal and china in the building itself.

We come next to the works in metal. Inspect, first, a fine collection of Armour, from the earliest to the latest-made suit. [Contrasting the medieval warrior with 'modern soldiers'] ... - and our soldiers of the present day... armed with the modern rifle, relying on ... the most scientific weapon the greatest mechanical skill can furnish - another half-century of discovery may see the rifle as obsolete as the coat of mail. One curious specimen of a revolving rifle, made a hundred years ago, will be found in the collection, presenting in the main the powers of Colt's modern revolvers.

You will come next to the Museum of Ornamental Art, contained chiefly in the glass cases ranged on both sides of the Central Hall. Here you will find rare specimens of early art ... I can hardly venture to enumerate them in detail, - glass, china, enamels, and metal work; rich plate ... carved ivory, each in its class beautiful as elaborate works of art, more curious, ... as showing how almost a life of labour may have been spent in finishing by hand with a few simple tools, an article, an ornament, or a piece of furniture ... May 18th 1857 [from Appendix VI, Pergam, 2011: 256-7]

In short, as in most things, one can easily find early precursors to Pitt-Rivers' displays.

It seems certain that Lane Fox did not loan any paintings to the Exhibition. It is known that Lane Fox visited the Manchester exhibition at least five times with his sister-in-law, Maude, and its approach and the incredibly popular nature of its displays were well publicised. [Flood, 2007] He was staying with his parents-in-law at Alderley in Chester in the summer and autumn of 1857 [see 1857 under Pitt-Rivers Life button on menu to right],  the exhibition did not close until October of that year. His father-in-law was associated with the Art-Treasures Exhibition as he had accompanied Prince Albert to the opening ceremony of it on 5 May 1857. [OPENING OF THE MANCHESTER EXHIBITION The Morning Post (London, England), Wednesday, May 06, 1857; pg. 5; Issue 26005. 19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II.]

AP August-September, updated and enhanced December 2011.

Bibliography for this article

Pergam, Elizabeth A. 2011. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: Entrepreneurs, Conoisseurs and the Public Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate

Yallop, Jacqueline. 2011. Magpies, Squirrels & Thieves: How the Victorians collected the world London: Atlantic Books