The Times (London)
December 4, 2004, Saturday
Stained-glass exhibition illuminates expanding market for medieval
art
by Huon Mallalieu
SAM FOGG, the London medieval art dealer, could have a riot on his
hands if his second exhibition of early stained glass proves as
successful as his first.
In 2002 the Getty Museum bought the show in its entirety. This left a
good number of frustrated would-be collectors, who might not be too
kindly disposed toward Fogg if the same happened again.
Interestingly, a high proportion of the potential collectors are
British -which would not have been conceivable a few years ago.
Medieval is back in fashion, putting Fogg in an enviable position as
the only dealer in London -and perhaps the world -to cover the range
of arts and artefacts, including sculpture, glass, ivories,
metalwork, enamels, manuscripts and miniatures. He goes beyond Europe
to such related fields as Byzantine, Armenian and Ethiopian art, and
even on occasion to Islamic and Indian paintings and manuscripts.
After studying history of art at the Courtauld Institute, Fogg set
out to be a painter, but rather than starve picturesquely in a garret
he also sold secondhand art books in Portobello Road. This led him to
become a bookseller -until he lost most of his stock in a flood. He
then joined the art-reference booksellers Sims Reed, and in 1986 he
reopened on his own on a Bond Street upper floor, specialising in his
first love, Western medieval manuscripts.
The sideways expansion into related fields has been a natural
progression, and now his staff of nine includes specialists in
medieval artefacts and Middle Eastern art as well as manuscripts. His
exhibitions and catalogues have won unstinting praise. In 1991 The
Bookseller noted that his Medieval Manuscripts was “widely regarded
as the most sumptuous catalogue in the history of the British book
trade”. In 2001 he was able to seize the opportunity of a saddlery
business disappearing with its rent unpaid to take a prime site on
the corner of Clifford and Cork streets. It comes as a slight
surprise to find that he has no languages himself, but for him the
aesthetic properties of a manuscript are even more important than its
content or context. His eye for quality and rarity is greatly
respected among fellow dealers and collectors.
Eighty years ago there was a flourishing market for early stained
glass, although it was largely limited to such omnivorous
accumulators of works of art as William Randolph Hearst and Pierpont
Morgan in America and Sir William Burrell in Scotland. Thereafter,
though, the medieval generally fell out of fashion, particularly in
Britain where a residual puritanism was uncomfortable with “popish”
artefacts. With the exception of Wolseley in Buckingham Gate, which
closed around 1980, the nearest dealers were probably in Paris, and
British museums showed no interest in stained glass.
A number of factors have contributed to the revival of interest.
There is a surprising amount of good continental and English glass
about, often at quite reasonable prices by comparison with other
collecting fields. The worries about provenance which have created
difficulties in the antiquities market are not a great problem,
especially with English glass, which has often been divorced from its
original setting since the iconoclasms of Reformation and civil war
or the equally destructive period of Victorian restoration. Much that
is now available also has the Hearst provenance, since his vast
holdings were sold off half a century ago.
The secularisation of British culture has sparked new enthusiasm for
medieval arts, and so too has the realisation that they can sit very
happily with modern art in contemporary settings. There have also
been great advantages in glass scholarship and in lighting
technology. It is now far easier to display windows and fragments to
full effect using light boxes.
Among the 40 examples of work is a newly discovered Austrian double
panel of the Baptism of Christ and the Adoration of the Magi, dating
from around 1300, for which the price is “on request”. Other prices
range from about Pounds 10,000 each for shields of the de Vere and
Horne arms, to £300,000 for a Burgundian panel of the execution of St
John the Baptist, circa 1235.
Illuminating the Past: Stained Glass 1200-1550 will be at Sam Fogg,
15d Clifford Street, W1 (020-7534 2100) until January 15
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