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| Anonymous Florentine artist Kneeling man holding a book ca. 1520-40 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
In 1952 officials at the British Museum in London spent £2,000 for an album of ninety drawings brought to them by an otherwise unknown dealer with the glorious name of Leslie Colling-Mudge. The album contained mostly Italian drawings, about twenty from the 16th century, about fifty from the 17th century, roughly another twenty from the early 18th century. The original asking price was £2,500, but Mr. Colling-Mudge reduced it for the sake of keeping the album together and lodging it safely in the Museum. The general quality of the drawings is spectacular and there is no doubt they could have been sold one by one for a much higher sum. "He had acquired them shortly before from a deceased estate . . . there is reason to believe the album was until about 1950 in the library of Lord Chesham." Research by curators managed eventually to track the drawings back through several holders to the person who actually created the collection. This was Nicolaes Anthoni Flinck (1646-1723), the only child of Dutch painter Govert Flinck (1615-1660), who himself was a well-known follower of Rembrandt. Nicolaes Anthoni, the son, was an art collector, amateur etcher, and sometime patron of painter Adriaen van der Werff. When Nicolaes Anthoni Flinck died in Holland in 1723, his heirs (by avenues unknown) sold the album of drawings for 12,000 florins to William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (1672-1729). This Duke's father, the 1st Duke, had built the vast mansion at Chatsworth, but it was the 2nd Duke whose zeal built the celebrated Chatsworth art collections. Hereafter, Nicolaes Flinck's album of drawings became known as the "Cavendish Album." But it did not enter the Chatsworth library, as might have been expected. Instead, it passed into possession of the 2nd Duke's second son, Lord James Cavendish (1701-1741), soldier and MP. After Lord James, the next recorded owner is his great-nephew, George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington (1754-1834). This George Cavendish was the father of Charles Compton Cavendish, 1st Baron Chesham (1793-1863) in whose "library" the album then remained, undisturbed by succeeding heirs, "until about 1950" – at the point where Leslie Colling-Mudge enters the story and more or less completes the circle.
A series of Cavendish Album posts will now reproduce many of its wonders, with this first choice featuring the earliest among the works that were sought out and brought together and pasted onto pages over the course of fifty years – from about 1670 to about 1720 – by the only child of the painter Govert Flinck, follower of Rembrandt.
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| Fra Bartolomeo Woman carrying child and sheaf of corn before 1517 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Parmigianino Seated Astronomer ca. 1518-40 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Parmigianino David with the head of Goliath ca. 1523-24 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Two bearded and draped men in an architectural setting ca. 1520 drawing on vellum from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| follower of Giuseppe Porta Horseman charging through gateway ca. 1535-70 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Anonymous Italian artist Head of a woman 16th century drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Anonymous Venetian artist Old Man, Young Man, and Mature Man 16th century drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Polidoro da Caravaggio Study of youth posed as the Virgin reading, for a painting of the Annunciation before 1543 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| after Polidoro da Caravaggio Copy from the frieze in fresco on the façade of Palazzo Milesi, Rome ca. 1540 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Giulio Romano Study for Diana of Ephesus 1540s drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| attributed to Francesco Salviati Head of man in profile before 1563 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Taddeo Zuccaro Brennus throwing his sword into the scales 1548 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| attributed to Paolo Veronese St John the Baptist in niche before 1588 drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |
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| Agostino Carracci Study for Caryatids 1590s drawing from the Cavendish Album British Museum |