The Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857

In 1857, the Botanical Gardens were joined by an exhibition of incredible scale. The 'Art Treasures' exhibition contained more than 16,000 works of art from around Great Britain and was visited by more than 1.3 million people during its six-month duration. To this day, it remains the largest temporary art exhibition in British history. 

The impetus behind such an undertaking came from Manchester’s wealthy merchants and manufacturers, inspired by recent large scale exhibitions in London, Dublin, and Paris. Manchester was already a heavy weight in terms of commerce and industry, and they wanted to place it firmly on the cultural map.

While the Duke of Devonshire is believed to have stated in response to the exhibition, 'What in the world do you want with art in Manchester? Why can’t you stick to your cotton spinning?' it was evident that Manchester did want art. Thirty-two subscribers pledged £1000 each and a further sixty pledged £500 each to a guarantee fund, to finance the project. After garnering the support of Prince Albert, loans of important artwork were made from significant collections around the country. To display the works of art in all their splendour, an enormous glass palace was constructed in Old Trafford, reminiscent of London’s Crystal Palace. The exhibition was to be like nothing the city had seen before. 

The inauguration of the great undertaking will be accompanied by an almost universal holiday, the factories will be emptied of their tens of thousands of workers, and machinery will have an unwonted day of rest.

- The Observer, 3 May 1857

On 5 May 1857, Prince Albert was greeted by a crowd of thousands, waving flags in anticipation of the grand opening. The royal carriage was escorted by a troop of Dragoons, as well as many of the city’s dignitaries, as the Prince made his way towards the palace. His opening speech was preceded by an orchestral performance of the National Anthem, led by renowned conductor Charles Hallé.

So what splendours awaited the eager ticket holders? Trafford's archive holds some fascinating records which give us a good idea. 

The Art-Treasures Examiner

The weekly illustrated periodical was published as a ‘pictorial, critical and historical record of the Art Treasures exhibition at Manchester’. In October 1857, the issues were published as one bound volume, to serve as a comprehensive record of the exhibition's displays. Articles contained descriptions and analyses of exhibition artworks, biographical information about the artists themselves, visitor statistics and noteworthy events, such as the visit of Queen Victoria, and both the opening and closing ceremonies.

The periodicals were also dotted with fantastic wood engravings. Since photography was still in its early stages in 1857, a great deal of trouble was taken by engravers — such as W.J. Linton, H. Linton, F.J Smythe and R. Langton — to render a faithful copies of the artworks on show. 

Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom collected at Manchester in 1857

John Cassell’s Art Treasures Exhibition

Manchester-born John Cassell was both a publisher and a social reformer, who believed in the value of education for the working classes. The preface to his Art Treasures Exhibition stated that he was ‘determined to keep alive, if possible, not only the memory of the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, but also that craving for Art Education which it had fostered.’

Like the Art Treasures Examiner, John Cassell’s work was first printed as a periodical, although he went further in his descriptions of the artwork and biographical sketches of exhibited artists. He focussed on the ‘principal masterpieces of the English, Dutch, Flemish, French, and German schools’ and the book includes exceptional wood engravings of the artworks he discusses. 

Art Treasures Medals

Sources

John H. G. Archer (ed.), Art and Architecture in Victorian Manchester, (Manchester University Press, 1985)

Tristram Hunt and Victoria Whitfield, Art Treasures in Manchester: 150 Years on, (Philip Wilson Publishers, 2007-8)

Manchester Chronicle, 5 May 1857

Manchester Times, 9 May 1857

Morning Chronicle, 5 May 1857

The Observer, 14 July 1856

Alpesh Kantilal Patel, ‘Towards Embodied, Agonistic Museum Viewing Practices in Contemporary Manchester, England’ in Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius and Piotr Piotrowski (eds), From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum, (Routledge, 2015)

Elizabeth A. Pergam, The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857, (Routledge, 2016)

Royal Collection Trust, 'The Death of Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice', <https://www.rct.uk/collection/406235/the-death-of-francesco-foscari-doge-of-venice> [accessed 13 January 2020]

Susan W Thomson, Manchester’s Victorian Art Scene and its Unrecognised Artists, (Manchester Art Press, 2007)