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The Art Treasures of Great Britain was an exhibition of fine art held in Manchester, England, from 5 May to 17 October 1857.〔(''Exhibition of art treasures of the United Kingdom, held at Manchester in 1857. Report of the executive committee'' ), 1859. Many details in this article are taken from this comprehensive record of the exhibition.〕 It remains the largest art exhibition to be held in the UK,〔(Art Treasures in Manchester: 150 years on ), Manchester Art Gallery〕 possibly in the world,〔(Art Treasures Exhibition Returns To Manchester After 150 Years ), Culture24, 5 October 2007〕 with over 16,000 works on display. It attracted over 1.3 million visitors in the 142 days it was open, about four times the population of Manchester at that time, many of whom visited on organised railway excursions. Its selection and display of artworks had a formative influence on the public art collections that were being established in the UK at the time, such as the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum.〔(The Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester, 1857 ), Suzanne Fagence Cooper, ''Antiques'', June 2001 〕 ==Background== Manchester was a small provincial town in the medieval period, but by 1855 it was a city dominated by industrial activity, particularly its 95 cotton mills and 1,724 warehouses.〔(Art Treasures in detail ), Manchester Art Gallery and subpages〕 It was visited by French historian Alexis de Tocqueville in 1835, who scathingly wrote that:〔
Manchester became a city in 1853, and the exhibition was financed by the city's increasingly affluent business grandees, who were motivated by a desire to demonstrate their cultural attainment, and inspired by the Paris International Exhibition in 1855, the Dublin Exhibition in 1853, and the Great Exhibition in 1851; there had been an "Exposition of British Industrial Art in Manchester" in 1845.〔(Catalogue of the books in the Manchester free library: Reference department )〕 Unlike these earlier exhibitions, the Manchester exhibition was restricted to works of art: there would be no industrial or trade items on display.〔(Art Treasures: The birth of the blockbuster ), ''The Daily Telegraph'', 13 November 2007〕 The idea for an exhibition in Manchester was first expressed in a letter sent on 10 February 1856 by John Connellan Deane, son of Irish architect Sir Thomas Deane and a commissioner for the 1853 Dublin Exhibition, to Thomas Fairbairn son of Manchester iron founder Sir William Fairbairn and a commissioner for the 1851 Great Exhibition. The concept quickly gained momentum: after an initial meeting on 26 March 1856, a guarantee fund of £74,000 was soon underwritten by around 100 contributors, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert granted their patronage. A General Committee established in May 1856, chaired by the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire Lord Ellesmere (and, after his death in February 1857, by the Lord Overstone), assisted by an Executive Committee chaired by Fairbairn. Deane was appointed as General Commissioner, on an annual salary of £1,000. The committee took artistic advice from German art historian Gustav Waagen, who had published the first 3 volumes of his ''Treasures of Art in Great Britain'' in 1854.〔 George Scharf was appointed as the exhibition's Art Secretary; he became secretary and director to the newly founded National Portrait Gallery in 1857. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester 1857」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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