Thomas Holloway and the Formation of Royal Holloway’s Picture Gallery

Thomas Holloway (1880-1883) used part of the fortune he amassed from the manufacture and sale of his ‘cure-all’ pills and ointment to create a modern art collection for his College, its students and visitors. What is astonishing is that he formed the collection in just over two years at the age of 83. This talk will illuminate the stories that lie behind Holloway’s collecting; addressing questions such as where and from whom he purchased these extraordinary paintings and what do these acquisitions tell us about his own taste and relationships with contemporary artists? The important role Charles Carey, the Gallery’s first curator, played in developing the early scholarship on, and display, of the collection will also be addressed.