Picture Lists
The Lincolnshire Archives hold two 19th century picture lists for Belton, transcribed here by Dawn Bowskill & Janet Roworth. The first written in two hands, one of which is likely that of the 3rd Earl Brownlow. The other is a catalogue of Abraham Hume's pictures dated 1824. He lived from 1748 to 1838 at Wormleybury Manor, Hertfordshire. Hume's younger daughter, Amelia Sophia Hume, married the 1st Earl Brownlow. Hume was known as a discerning art collector. His principal acquisition was the Reynold's Mona Lisa last exhibited in 2007. It is still believed to be in Brownlow hands. Originally, hung in the Red Drawing Room; it was not included in the 1984 sale to the National Trust.
Header image: © Lincolnshire County Council
The catalogues are still relevant. The handwritten one records the pictures' dimensions, one facet that helps confirm their identity. The Hume picture list contains a description of the paintings, as above. We recently helped the Old Master Department of the Dorotheum auction house in Vienna, Austria who enquired about the provenance of that 'Titian' painting of Andrea Navagero, before its sale at auction at Christie’s on 3 May 1929 by the 6th Baron Brownlow. Hume's purchases were based on traditional connoisseurship that was often imprecise. The Andrea Navagero (below left) is now regarded as by an anonymous Venetian painter of the sixteenth century rather than Titian.
Image © Lincolnshire County Council
Said to be the portrait of Andrea Navargo - confusingly, the Navagero (alleged copy) looks very much like a younger version of Titian himself rather than extant portraits of Navagero!