William Blake Richmond Mrs. Luke Ionides 1882 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
Alphonse Legros Constantine Alexander Ionides 1870s drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900) collected most of the art displayed here – and a great deal of other art besides. He was active in London toward the end of the 19th century, ultimately bequeathing the fruits of his acquisitiveness to the institution that would become the Victoria & Albert Museum. The museum's Constantine Ionides Bequest Study Guide gives a good description of the extended Ionides family as Victorian art patrons and collectors.
The French artist Alphonse Legros (1837-1911) became a political refugee in London after the failure of the Paris Commune in 1870-71. C.A. Ionides gave him extensive support, particularly through commissions and purchases (as above and below). Other living artists collected by Ionides included members of the Arts & Crafts movement (like William Morris) and the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (like Alma-Tadema, D.G.Rossetti, and Burne-Jones).
Alphonse Legros The Tinker 1874 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
Lawrence Alma-Tadema The Visit - Dutch interior 1868 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
George Frederick Watts The Window Seat 1861 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
George Frederick Watts Constantine Alexander Ionides 1880 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
Thomas Jeckyll Perspective design for the billiard room at No. 1 Holland Park c. 1870 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Head of Andromeda 1868 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
Edward Burne-Jones Cupid's hunting fields 1880 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
Louis Le Nain Travellers resting 1640s oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
Jean Lemaire Artist sketching among antique ruins c. 1630 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum |
Jan van Goyen River scene 1630 oil on oak panel Victoria & Albert Museum |
Henri Harpignies The Fisherman 1886 watercolor Victoria & Albert Museum |
William Morris & Workshop Tapestry : The Forest 1887 wool and silk Victoria &Albert Musem |
Nursery wallpaper with vignettes of the Seasons c. 1850-75 woodblock print Victoria & Albert Museum |
Aimé-Jules Dalou Miss Helen Ionides c. 1879 terracotta bust Victoria & Albert Museum |