One way that the Friends of The Bowes Museum can help and support the museum is with financial assistance for projects such as acquisitions, conservation, publishing and the purchase of essential equipment for display.

2007

Already this year the Friends' have provided funds  towards the Streatlam Galleries, the Art Nouveau Exhibition and Costume Cases for the new Textile gallery.

Following the closure of the Merlin Kids' Club the Friends' have funded start-up costs for the new Cygnets Kids' Club. Also the Friends' have sponsored the October 'Withie Lantern Parade.' 

Cotherstone and John Scott

In December 2006 a painting by John Frederick Herring Jnr (1815-1907) depicting the prize-winning racehorse Cotherstone, bred by the Museum’s founder John Bowes went under the hammer at Christie’s New York saleroom. The Friends of The Bowes Museum bought the painting to add to the Museum’s collections. Painted in 1844, it depicts the horse in a loosebox and is signed by the artist. It is inscribed Cotherstone and also carries the initials JB on a rug, determining John Bowes’ ownership.

The Museum recently acquired a painting of Cotherstone’s trainer, John Scott, from Tennant’s at Leyburn. The miniature portrait (English School, 19th Century) is a watercolour on ivory and is inscribed with the sitter’s name and address on the reverse. It is contained within its original 19th century elaborately decorated gilt plaster frame. This purchase was also made possible through the help of the Friends. 

Barbedienne Mirror

A Renaissance revival mirror, produced by Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-92) underwent a conservation programme by Rupert Harris Conservation. It returned to display in Autumn 2006 and is regarded as one of the most remarkable pieces of 19th century metalwork ever produced; the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin was one of Barbedienne’s many assistants and was working in his studio at the time of its creation. The conservation project was funded by the Friends of The Bowes Museum.

The acquisition of the mirror in 1992 was made possible with support from The Art Fund, the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Friends of The Bowes Museum, Durham County Council and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

The Blackborne Lace Catalogue

The Museum has recently been gifted an outstanding collection of antique lace from descendants of the famous 19th century London lace dealers, Anthony and Arthur Blackborne. The collection was celebrated straight away as the centre piece of the exhibition Fine & Fashionable: Lace from The Blackborne Collection which runs until Sunday 29 April.

Fine & Fashionable is accompanied by a full-colour 88-page guide to The Blackborne Collection that is available for puchase from The Bowes Museum and online. The production of this beautifully illustrated publiciation was supported by the Friends of The Bowes Museum and by the Passold Research Fund.
 

Helleu portrait of a lady

In Autumn 2005 the Museum acquired a portrait of a lady painted by Paul Helleu on a ceramic plaque by Theodore Deck. The plaque is quite exceptional, showing a contemporary lady outdoors with a background in the Japanese manner. In particular, it seems to be influenced by the work of Manet and Tissot and must date from c.1885 when Helleu was closest to the Impressionist movement and contemporary art. Degas was a close friend of Helleu.

The painting became an integral part of The Bowes Museum’s 2006 summer exhibition, Impressionist Women and it marks a step forward in the Museum’s collecting policy. Impressionism would almost certainly have featured in the Museum’s collections if not for the untimely death of founder Joséphine Bowes in 1874 – the year of the first exhibition by the Impressionists. John and Joséphine Bowes lived at the heart of the Impressionist revolution in France. Sisley painted their house at Louveciennes, Pissarro painted the adjacent streets, Monet painted a bridge John Bowes helped build at Bougival. This item combines both her interest in ceramics and painting and complements The Bowes Museum’s existing collections.

The acquisition was made possible through the support of the The Art Fund, the MLA/ V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of The Bowes Museum.

Turner In Teesdale

In November 2007 The Bowes Museum acquired at auction a picture entitled Bowes Tower, Yorkshire, by J M W Turner. Friends of the Bowes Museum contributed over £7.000 towards the purchase of this watercolour which has strong local connections.

The watercolour Bowes Tower acted as the frontispiece to Volume Nine of Sir Walter Scott’s poetry. This which contained the epic poem, Rokeby, set in the landscape between Rokeby Park and Barnard Castle. The stilted arch which is clearly identifiable in Turner’s watercolour can still be seen when visiting the ruined castle at Bowes at the present day. Turner has framed Bowes Tower with motifs of a knight holding a sword, a globe and a monk.

Art Nouveau Find at Auction

In November 2007, Friends funded the purchase, at auction, of a glass table service which, by family repute, had been purchased from a sale of the possessions of  Emperor Napoleon III.
All the work is engraved with a crowned N and includes two decanters with stoppers, goblets and four sizes of wine glass (54 pieces in all). While there are no signatures this glass may have been supplied by Emile Gallé’s father Charles in 1861-68. Although hardly anything of Charles Galle’s work is traceable today, in 1861 the Empress Eugénie to known to have commissioned a “verre d’eau” or cabaret set based on this service.
This cabaret service was, no doubt, the inspiration for the “verre d’eau” that Joséphine Bowes commissioned from the son, Emile, at the London Exhibition of 1871 and the starting point for the recent successful exhibition Emile  Gallé and the Origins of Art Nouveau.