Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: R. B. Beckett English artist research files
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1880s-1967
Bulk dates: late 1940s-early 1960s
Collection Number: mssBeckett
Creator:
Beckett, R. B. (Ronald Brymer), 1891-1970
Extent:
6.5 linear feet (16 boxes)
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains research files of English art historian R. B. Beckett (1891-1970),
chiefly consisting of study photographs collected from the late 1940s to early 1960s documenting the works of John Constable
and other English artists.
Language: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. R. B. Beckett English artist research files, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Acquired from R. B. Beckett in 1968. Transferred from the Huntington Art Library in 2005.
Biographical Note
Ronald Brymer Beckett (1891-1970) was an art historian and English administrator in India. Beckett was born in Yorkshire,
England, on January 17, 1891, and studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, before joining the Indian
Civil Service and serving in India until returning to England in 1917. In England, he joined the Middle Temple before returning
to India in 1918, where he served as city magistrate of Amritsar before being transferred to
other government positions. In 1946, Beckett retired from service in India and moved back to England where he studied English
artists and published catalogues of the works of William Hogarth (1949) and
Peter Lely (1951) and the edited correspondence of John Constable (London : H.M.S.O., 1962-1975), as well as
Constable and the Fishers: the Record of a Friendship (1952). Beckett died on December 1, 1970.
Bibliography
Beckett, Elisabeth. “Beckett, Ronald Brymer (1891–1970).” In
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online ed., edited by David Cannadine. Oxford: OUP, 2004.
Scope and Content
This collection contains research files of English art historian R. B. Beckett, chiefly consisting of study photographs and
clippings collected from the late 1940s to early 1960s
documenting the works of John Constable and other English artists
including William Blake, Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Rowlandson, J. M. W. Turner, and Richard Wilson.
In addition there are also images and clippings related to English portraiture, as well as sporting and comic images.
The artist research files contain study art photographs and clippings, with some occasional correspondence and notes by Beckett.
Six artists (Blake, Constable, Gainsborough, Rowlandson, Turner, and Wilson) are distinguished
as their own subseries, and their files typically contain study photographs, article clippings, some scattered manuscripts
and correspondence, and exhibition catalogues.
The largest of these are the John Constable files (Boxes 3-10), which includes seven boxes of study images organized into
four groups: by county; by year; by subject; and portraits.
Other art images in the collection are arranged either in the "Artists (various)" subseries (Box 13) or in the "Portrait artists"
subseries (Boxes 14-15). In some cases, there
may be images of works by the same artist in both of these subseries.
The files generally retain Beckett's presumed original order, though some miscellaneous and loose images were reintegrated
with similar images
or included in various folders of "miscellaneous" materials. While some of the images are professional photographs acquired
from museums, most of the images are clippings from British
magazines such as
The Connoisseur and
Burlington. Most of the images are not annotated or only contain brief handwritten identifications typically of the artist, painting
title, date, dimensions, etc.
Overall there are very few manuscripts by Beckett in the collection.
Exceptions consist of a sketchbook from the late 1920s containing pencil sketches of landscapes by Beckett and a few documents.
The correspondence is chiefly from galleries, museums, and publishers
related to Beckett's research and publications. Copies of seven published articles, chiefly related to Constable, by Beckett
are included in Box 1, Folder 3.
Within the collection there are also approximately 60 exhibition catalogs. Those related to
Blake, Constable, Gainsborough, Rowlandson, Turner, and Wilson are filed within their subseries; approximately 15 additional
miscellaneous exhibition catalogs are housed in box 16.
The collection also includes ten travel maps for English areas (Box 1, Folders 5-6) and 5 printed volumes:
- Charles Holme, ed.
The Genius of J. M. W. Turner, R.A. (London ; New York, J. Lane, Offices of "The Studio", 1903) (Box 12, Folder 5)
- Charles Holme, ed.
Modern Etching and Engraving (London: Offices of "The Studio", 1902) (Box 16, Folder 7)
- Charles Holme, ed.
Modern Pen and Drawings: European and American (London: Offices of "The Studio", 1901) (Box 16, Folder 6)
- Ralph Nevill.
Old Sporting Prints (London: The Connoisseur Magazine, 1908) (Box 16, Folder 2)
-
Carl Winter. Elizabethan Miniatures (Penguin Books, 1949) (Box 15, Folder 7)
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following series:
- Beckett documents and travel ephemera (Box 1)
- Sketchbook
- Miscellaneous correspondence and documents
- Published articles by Beckett
- Travel maps and ephemera
- Artist research files (Boxes 2-16)
- William Blake (Box 2)
-
John Constable (Box 3-10)
-
Thomas Gainsborough (Box 11, Folders 1-4)
-
Thomas Rowlandson (Box 11, Folders 5-9)
-
J. M. W. Turner (Box 12, Folders 1-6)
-
Richard Wilson (Box 12, Folders 7-11)
-
Artists (various) (Box 13)
-
Portrait artists (Boxes 14-15)
-
Sporting and comic images (Box 16, Folders 1-2)
-
Exhibition catalogs and misc. printed volumes (Box 16, Folders 3-7)
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Beckett, R. B. (Ronald Brymer), 1891-1970 -- Archives.
Blake, William, 1757-1827.
Blake, William, 1757-1827 -- Exhibitions.
Constable, John, 1776-1837.
Constable, John, 1776-1837 -- Exhibitions.
Gainsborough, Thomas, 1727-1788.
Reynolds, Joshua, Sir, 1723-1792.
Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827.
Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851.
Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851 -- Exhibitions.
Art, English.
Artists -- England.
Portrait painting, British.
Forms/Genres
Exhibition catalogs -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Photographs -- Great Britain -- 20th century.