The Sheepshanks collectionJohn Sheepshanks

The Sheepshanks collectionJohn Sheepshanks (1787C1863) was born in Leeds, the son of a rich cloth 
maker. He was a associate inside the family enterprise until finally he was about 40, when he 
retired and moved to London in order to indulge his enjoy of accumulating.
One of his excellent 
early enthusiasms was for copies of old masters, however the basis in the Nationwide Gallery in 
1824 in all probability convinced him that there was minimal additional he could lead in that 
industry. He then concentrated on modern day British art, specialising in function by Landseer, 
Collins, Leslie, Callcott and Mulready, among many others. He formed powerful friendships with a 
number of these artists, eating and drinking with them. At the same time as shopping for their 
paintings from salerooms and from the Royal Academy summer season exhibitions, he also 
commissioned works specifically with the artists.
In 1857 Sheepshanks started the paintings 
selection with the VA with a gift of 233 paintings and a similar number of drawings to found a 
'Countrywide Gallery of British Art'. Sheepshanks made his gift in the hope that other 
proprietors of pictures and other will work of artwork may be induced to further the same objects, 
and indeed his generosity inspired some others to give or bequeath pictures.
His gift included 
major operates by Turner and Constable, and substantial groups of pictures by a number of 
important Victorian artists. He preferred the 'open and airy situation' of South 
Kensington to the polluted atmosphere of central London, and believed within the importance of 
making artwork accessible to the public. The first of his galleries opened in 1857 and is the 
earliest surviving part in the VA. The building was extended with further top-lit galleries in 
1858-65.Life-Boat and Manby Apparatus Going Off To A Stranded Vessel', oil painting by Joseph 
Mallord William Turner, about 1831. Museum no. FA.211. Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857The Manby 
apparatus was a lifesaving device of a rope fired from a mortar. It was invented by Captain George 
Manby after a shipwreck in 1807 at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. He became a Fellow in the Royal 
Society within the year that this do the job was exhibited.'Disappointed Love', oil 
painting on panel by Francis Danby, Good Britain. Museum no. FA.65 Given by John Sheepshanks, 
1857This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy 1821. It was the first painting Danby 
exhibited and it became one of his best known works. It depicts a heartbroken young woman while in 
the pose traditionally associated with the state of melancholy. A bonnet, shawl and miniature 
portrait of her lover lie beside her, while a torn-up letter floats away on the pond.'The 
Sonnet', oil painting on panel by William Mulready, Fantastic Britain, 1839. Museum no. 
FA.146. Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857This was one particular of your artist's most popular will 
work. A critic observed: 'The youth is fiddling with his shoe-tie, but casting a upwards sly look, 
to ascertain what effect his lines produce upon the merry maid who reads them...placing her hand 
before her lips to suppress her laughter'.'Ophelia Weaving her Garlands', oil on canvas 
by Richard Redgrave, Terrific Britain, 1842. Museum no. FA.171. Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857The 
depiction of Shakespeare's tragic heroine Ophelia was praised for its psychological insight. It 
was exhibited beside lines adapted from Hamlet: 'There is a willow grows ascaunt the brook That 
shews his hoar leaves from the glossy stream There with fantastic garland did she make Of crow-
flowers ,nettles, daisies, and long purples.''A Jack in Office', oil on panel by Edwin 
Henry Landseer, likely Terrific Britain, about 1833. Museum no. FA.94 Given by John Sheepshanks, 
1857The title is a slang expression for a pompous government official. It is a pun on the 
principal character: a Jack Russell terrier. A critic described how 'the well-fed and much 
caressed dogkeeps other individuals from testing the food of which it has had too much'.'The 
Refusal', oil on panel by David Wilkie, Excellent Britain, 1814. Museum no. FA.226 Given by 
John Sheepshanks, 1857Wilkie took his subject from Robert Burns's song 'Duncan Gray' (1798). 
Inside the story, proud Maggie first refuses Duncan's proposal of marriage, but later changes her 
mind. Wilkie's friend, the painter William Mulready, was the model for 
Duncan.'Autolycus', oil on canvas by Charles Robert Leslie, most likely Good Britain, 
about 1836. Museum number. FA.115 Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857Autolycus was a thief disguised 
as a pedlar who appears in Shakespeare's play A Winter's Tale. He is shown here selling cheap 
goods and sensational printed ballads to gullible country folk. Leslie based the background sky 
and the ash tree at the right on studies supplied by a friend, the landscape painterJohn Constable 
(1776-1837).'A Village Choir', oil on panel by Thomas Webster, Great Britain, 1847. 
Museum no. FA.222 Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857This work illustrates Washington Irving's 
'Christmas Day', within the Sketch Book (1820). His essay was a comical and sentimental account of 
an old-fashioned village choir and its musicians. The painting was in all probability Webster's 
most famous work and was much admired. A critic praised its 'truth and diversity of 
character'.'Blackheath Park', oil on panel by William Mulready, Blackheath, London, 
England, 1852. Museum no. FA.137 Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857John Sheepshanks was a good friend 
and patron of Mulready. This Painting shows the view across the park with the gate of 
Sheepshanks's house at Blackheath, South London. A critic described the picture as 'a refreshing 
green bit of nature'.'My Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman', oil on canvas by Charles 
Robert Leslie, Good Britain, 1831. Museum no. FA.113 Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857This painting 
depicts an incident from Laurence Sterne's novel 'Tristram Shandy' (1765). It shows the Widow 
Wadman trying to stir the affections of Captain Shandy. He peers into her face as she holds a 
handkerchief to her eye, pretending she has something in it. It was a single of Leslie's most 
popular compositions.'Portrait of John Sheepshanks at his residence in Aged Bond 
Street', oil on panel by William Mulready, possibly Terrific Britain, 1832-34. Museum no. 
FA.142 Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857Mulready shows the collector from the drawing room of his 
house at 172 New Bond Street, London. He is surrounded by books and portfolios, while the 
housekeeper brings in his letters and morning tea. Sheepshanks's important assortment of 
Netherlandish prints and drawings was sold to the British Museum in 1836Information while in the 
VA Archive about the Sheepshanks collection
MA/2/S10: Nominal file C Sheepshanks Collection
MA/49/2/1: Press cuttings
ED 84/36: Precis on the Board Minutes in the Department of Science and 
Art, 8 July 1863 to 31 December 1877
Henry Cole: diaries: typed transcripts, 1822-1882
Abstract of 
Art Museum Register of Pictures, 1857-1875
List of your Fine Artwork Numbers
Other archival sources: 
see the National Register of Archives
Selected printed works
List of your bequests and donations to 
the South Kensington Museum, now called The Victoria and Albert Museum: completed, to 31st 
December 1900. London: Printed by HMSO, 1901. NAL pressmark: VA.1901.0001
Reynolds, Richard. On the 
gift of your Sheepshanks selection: with a view to the formation of the countrywide gallery of 
British art. London: Chapman and Hall, 1857. NAL pressmark: VA.1857.Box.0001
Inventory of your 
pictures, drawings, etchings c. within the British fine art collections deposited inside the new 
gallery at Cromwell Gardens, South Kensington: being for the most part the gift of John 
Sheepshanks Esq. London: HMSO, 1857. NAL pressmark: VA.1857 Box.0003
[Deed of gift of your 
Sheepshanks collection]. London: HMSO, 1857. NAL pressmark: NC.99.2121
Layard, G. S. Sheepshanks, 
John (1787C1863), rev. Sharon E. Fermor. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford 
University Press, 2004. NAL pressmark: 920.041 DIC
To locate material within the National Artwork 
Library, please search the Library Catalogue.