The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”
Origin
The 1850s saw a number of international industrial exhibitions held in London (1851), Dublin (1853) and Paris (1855). Their success inspired the proposal of a similar exhibition in Manchester, focussing on fine art. The Exhibition of Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, which ran for 142 days, from 5 May to 17 October 1857, remains the largest art exhibition ever held in the UK.
Thomas Fairbairn (1823–91), a local industrialist, art collector and patron, who had experience as a commissioner at the Great Exhibition, headed an enthusiastic Executive Committee, which brought the project to fruition in less than fifteen months.
‘Art Treasures Palace’
A three-acre site adjoining Manchester Botanical Garden in Old Trafford was acquired, away from the polluted air of the city. The ‘Art Treasures Palace’, a magnificent iron and glass structure, similar in design to the Crystal Palace, was erected, measuring 656 x 200 feet (200 x 61 metres).
Inside, the customised galleries were lit from above via skylights, which were covered with calico in summertime to keep out sunlight. The interior walls were lined in wood, covered with calico and paper, to protect against condensation and dripping. Over the entrance, was the first line of John Keats’s ‘Endymion’: “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”.
The venue had its own newly-built railway station, with an 800-foot platform, which was connected to the Palace by a covered walkway. The railway was used to transport building materials, exhibits and visitors.
Exhibits
In 1854, a book by the German art historian ,Gustav Waagen, detailed how the ‘Treasures of Art in Great Britain’ were hidden in private collections, inaccessible to the public. Manchester’s Art Treasures Exhibition brought together over 16,000 works of art in ten categories:
“Pictures by Ancient Masters, Pictures by Modern Masters, British Portraits and Miniatures, Water Colour Drawings, Sketches and Original Drawings (Ancient), Engravings, Illustrations of Photography, Works of Oriental Art, Varied Objects of Oriental Art, and Sculpture.”
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who granted their patronage to the exhibition, were among the hundreds of private collectors from around the country who loaned items. To encourage participation, Prince Albert advised the organisers to focus on the “national usefulness” of “educational direction”. To this end, the exhibition “was made to illustrate the history of Art in a chronological and systematic arrangement”, with works arranged both by date and the various schools.
Visitors
The exhibition was opened on 5 May 1857 by Prince Albert. He visited again, with Queen Victoria, on 29 and 30 May. Overall, a total of 1,335,915 visitors were recorded. This included admission by Season Ticket (£1 1s, or £2 2s. including ‘state ceremonials’). The usual price of admission was one shilling. On Thursdays this rose to half-a-crown and included an extra display of music under the direction of Charles Hallé. A trial entrance-fee of sixpence on Saturday afternoons to encourage working-class attendance “did not justify its lengthened continuance”.
Visitors from the city centre could travel via ‘Greenwood’s Exhibition Omnibuses’, while special Excursion Trains brought thousands from further afield. However, the working-classes did not always visit voluntarily. Trips were organised by wealthy employers, such as Titus Salt, who treated his entire workforce, of 2,540 operatives, to a day out. Likewise, the Alpha Fund was set up in Manchester to facilitate visits by Sunday school children. The success of these ventures “calculated to improve the knowledge, and elevate the taste of all visitors” has been questioned.
Publications
Controversially, none of the exhibits were labelled, so as not to affect the sales of the one-shilling exhibition catalogue. However, in addition to various supplements and companions to the official catalogue, numerous other guides were available. A series of ‘Critical notes’ printed in ‘The Manchester Guardian’, for example, was reproduced as handbooks to different sections of the exhibition. ‘The Art Treasures Examiner’, an illustrated weekly periodical, was published throughout the exhibition by Alexander Ireland & Co, who also ran an onsite bookstall.
Penny guides, such as ‘Peep at the Pictures’, offered instruction to the working-classes, explaining iconography and the meaning of colours in paintings. Humorous accounts of trips to the exhibition could be read in both Lancashire and Yorkshire dialects.
Legacy
Although no trace remains of the Art Treasures Palace, which was dismantled at the end of the exhibition, decisions made by the organisers had a formative influence on emerging national art collections and future curatorial practice.
The decision to provide daily musical performances in the Palace led to the formation of a permanent orchestra by Charles Hallé. After the closure of the exhibition, Hallé continued to direct concerts at the Free Trade Hall. Today, the Hallé Orchestra is based at the Bridgewater Hall.
Discussion Points
19th-century Manchester was perceived as a city of industry rather than art. How successful was the Art Treasures Exhibition in challenging this view?
What influence did the exhibition have on the display and accessibility of art?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of displaying so many works of art together?
Could the organisers have done more to engage the working classes?
Additional Resources
Helen Rees Leahy (ed.), ‘Art, City, Spectacle: The 1857 Manchester Art-Treasures exhibition revisited’, in ‘Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester’, Vol. 87, no. 2, 2005. (Published 2007)
Elizabeth A. Pergam, ‘The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: Entrepreneurs, connoisseurs and the public’ (Abingdon, 2017)
George Scharf, ‘On the Manchester Art-Treasures Exhibition, 1857’, in ‘Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire’, X, (1857–8), pp. 269–331. Available here.
‘Exhibition of Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, Held at Manchester in 1857. Report of the Executive Committee (Manchester, 1859). Available here.
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