Exhibition of Old Masters Presented to the Nation by the late Earl of Iveagh

Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, died in October 1927, bequeathing Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath together with 63 of his finest paintings to the nation. The press described the gift as “an event almost unparalleled in the history of art.” Before Kenwood itself could be prepared and opened to the public, the collection was put on display in a series of exhibitions at major British galleries so that the works could be seen as soon as possible. The Royal Academy of Arts in London showed the bequest as its Winter Exhibition (the 51st in that series) from January to March 1928, giving the capital its first public view of the newly inherited collection.

Manchester Art Gallery hosted the collection from 2 April to 2 June 1928, becoming one of the first galleries outside London to present the bequest to the public. The exhibition brought together the Old Masters Guinness had assembled in the late nineteenth century, including outstanding works from the Dutch and Flemish schools alongside British portraits of the eighteenth century by Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Romney. Vermeer’s The Guitar Player (c. 1672) appeared in the Manchester showing as it had at the Royal Academy, listed simply as “Guitar Player” in contemporary exhibition records. Kenwood House opened to visitors in July 1928, three months after the Manchester showing closed.

The Guitar Player had been acquired by Lord Iveagh through Thomas Agnew and Sons in 1888, passing from the collection of William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple. It is one of Vermeer’s latest surviving works and the only Vermeer outside the National Gallery and the Royal Collection to remain permanently on public view in England. The painting has hung at Kenwood ever since the house opened, apart from occasional loans including a period at the National Gallery during Kenwood’s renovations in 2012 to 2013.