Augustus Daniel
Encyclopedia
Sir Augustus Moore Daniel (1866 – 1950) was the Director of the National Gallery in London
, England
, for five years from January 1929 to December 1933.
As a young man, Daniel travelled abroad studying the attribution of paintings with Roger Fry
. He was appointed as a Trustee of the National Gallery in 1925, apparently due to his being a personal friend and golfing partner of the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin
. His installation as Director in January 1929 is seen as a strike against "experts" and the increasing professionalisation of art history, on the part of the Trustees.
In 1929, the Gallery bought the Wilton Diptych and Titian
's group portrait of The Vendramin Family
; these are considered the two major purchases of Daniel's directorship. Also that year the highly controversial dealer Joseph Duveen became a Trustee. Jonathan Conlin's history of the National Gallery describes Daniel as a "self-effacing nonentity" but Fry, for one, admired his "terrific energy and intellectual beefiness". Like many directors of the National Gallery, he was a trustee of the Iveagh Bequest
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, for five years from January 1929 to December 1933.
As a young man, Daniel travelled abroad studying the attribution of paintings with Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
. He was appointed as a Trustee of the National Gallery in 1925, apparently due to his being a personal friend and golfing partner of the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
. His installation as Director in January 1929 is seen as a strike against "experts" and the increasing professionalisation of art history, on the part of the Trustees.
In 1929, the Gallery bought the Wilton Diptych and Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
's group portrait of The Vendramin Family
Portrait of the Vendramin Family
The Portrait of the Vendramin Family is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian, executed around 1543-1547. It presently hangs in the National Gallery in London....
; these are considered the two major purchases of Daniel's directorship. Also that year the highly controversial dealer Joseph Duveen became a Trustee. Jonathan Conlin's history of the National Gallery describes Daniel as a "self-effacing nonentity" but Fry, for one, admired his "terrific energy and intellectual beefiness". Like many directors of the National Gallery, he was a trustee of the Iveagh Bequest
Kenwood House
Kenwood House is a former stately home, in Hampstead, London, on the northern boundary of Hampstead Heath. It is managed by English Heritage.-History:...
.