Letters to Richard Redgrave

The archive comprises approximately 400 autograph letters, from upwards of 120 correspondents, addressed to Richard Redgrave (1804-1888). The letter writers include: George Henry Boughton; Charles Robert Cockerell; Edward William Cooke (16 letters); Charles West Cope, a close friend, including a vivid description of a cricket match (18 letters); Charles Lock Eastlake, including the question of admitting engravers as Academicians (10 letters); Thomas Faed; William Powell Frith (6 letters); John Gilbert; Edward A. Goodall; Francis Seymour Haden (6 letters); Philip George Hamerton, regarding a proposed book on etching; Francis Holl (3 letters); William Holman Hunt, on Etching Club matters (5 letters); John Callcott Horsley (45 letters); John William Inchbold, on which pictures he might send to the Paris Exhibition; John Prescott Knight (10 letters); Frederic Leighton (12 letters); Charles George Lewis; William Linnell, seeking Redgrave's verdict on several new pictures; Daniel Maclise on the choice of pictures for the Paris Exhibition; John Everett Millais, on arrangements regarding etchings (8 letters); Henry O'Neill (12 letters); Edward John Poynter; George Richmond (5 letters); David Roberts, about women painters; William Bell Scott (3 letters); Sydney Smirke on the lighting of the Royal Academy rooms (14 letters); George Clarkson Stanfield on the purchase by the nation of the collection of A.E. Chalon; George Edmund Street (4 letters); Frederick Tayler; Alfred Waterhouse; Richard Westmacott; and numerous others. The active phases of his correspondents span the entire nineteenth century, although the letters fall within the reign of Queen Victoria. Many relate to the affairs of the Royal Academy, exhibitions, etc., as well as matters on painting and etching. Although some exhibit the formality of the period, the correspondence indicates the intimate friendships enjoyed with the major artists of the period.