London
Highlights of the Gilbert Collection are now likely to be shown in Italy before they go on display in Britain. The Art Newspaper has learned that negotiations are underway to lend some of the treasures to the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. Selected pieces would be exhibited in the Museo degli Argenti. The Florence show would run for several months from this autumn, and afterwards it might go to other venues, such as Milan.
Moving the collection of micro-mosaics, gold and silver, and gold boxes from Los Angeles to London started last November and the final shipment is expected next month. This operation has been supervised by the V&A, where minor conservation work is being done on arrival. Ownership of the £75 million collection has recently been transferred to a London-based charity, the Heather Trust for the Arts.
When the Gilbert gift was announced last year, the V&A stated that it intended to mount an exhibition, “Masterpieces from the Gilbert Collection” in the central Silver gallery in 1997. At the inauguration of the Silver Galleries on 27 November, the central room was left relatively bare, with only sparse displays, so that it could accommodate the Gilbert treasures.
However, the V&A show still needs the approval of the Heather Trust, and no decision has yet been made on what will be lent. Although V&A director Alan Borg is one of the Heather Trust’s seven trustees, Mr Gilbert’s opinion is likely to be decisive. Originally it was hoped that the V&A exhibition might open during the middle of this year, but November now looks more likely, providing agreement is quickly reached on the loans.
The Silver Galleries would need special display cases, and it is hoped to finance these from the Heritage Lottery Fund grant towards the Gilbert project. Last July, when the £18.25 million Lottery award for the Gilbert Collection was announced, it was stated that part of the money would be for “temporary exhibitions before the museum opens”. Exhibitions abroad would have to be financed entirely separately and negotiations are now underway with an Italian and an American company which are interested in sponsoring the Florence show.
In addition to the Florence and V&A plans, it is expected that works will be lent to regional museums in the UK, a venture which has received the encouragement of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Specific pieces will be sent to institutions with which they have close links; these include the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Temple Newsam House in Leeds and the National Trust’s Keddleston Hall in Derbyshire.
The Heather Trust has just appointed a curator for the Gilbert collection. He is Timothy Schroder, a silver specialist with the Bond Street dealer Partridge Fine Arts, who has long known Mr Gilbert and who catalogued part of the collection. Mr Schroder will be working on arrangements for the Somerset House displays.
Last month, plans were finalised for the basic layout in Somerset House. A room in the South Wing is to serve as a Treasury and the remaining works will be displayed in galleries in the River Terrace Building. It is hoped that the Gilbert Collection will open in Somerset House in the spring of 1998.