Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in Kent

In Newsletter 58, Autumn 2003, an outline of the Public Catalogue Foundation was given. This registered charity has been set up to photograph and record all oil, acrylic and tempura paintings in publicly owned collections in the UK, of which it is estimated that some 80% are hidden from public view, being either in storerooms or public buildings in official use.

In November 2004 the fully-illustrated volume on Kent was published, bringing together for the first time all the paintings in this county. In total some 1850 paintings from 41 publicly owned collections are shown in colour, coming from museums, galleries, town halls, guildhalls, mayors’ parlours, libraries, hospitals and even a police station!

The broad range of paintings revealed includes work by artists with strong Kentish connections such as Thomas Sidney Cooper, Albert Goodwin, Charles Spencelayh and John Ward, as well as works by Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Kneller and Zoffany. 770 artists are represented.

Saga Group and Kent County Council were the projects’ lead financial supporters. Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Leader of KCC, said, “The Foundation has produced a stunning catalogue which will do much to highlight Kent’s rich artistic heritage.”

Kent’s catalogue is the second to be published in the series; West Sussex, East Sussex and London: The Slade, will also be published this year.

The Catalogue will be on sale at participating collections or by mail order, at £15.00 paperback (1 904931 03 0) or £35.00 hardback (1 904931 02 2). Proceeds from the sale of catalogues in collections will be held in trust by the collections for use in restoration or conservation. The images and brief descriptions will eventually be available on the internet free of charge, but to order a copy now go to http://www.thepcf.org.uk or ring 020 7932 8460.