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W.L.Hildburgh, FSA[edit]
Walter Leo Hildburgh (30 March 1876 - 26 November 1955) was a collector and scholar, best known for his donations to the Victoria & Albert Museum and his writings on medieval English alabaster carvings.
Early life and education[edit]
Hildburgh was born into a wealthy New York family, whose ancestors had emigrated from Germany in the first half of the 19th century. He studied Electrical Engineering at Columbia University, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1900.[1][2]
He was elected to the fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries in 1915, and was awarded a D.Litt in the History of Art from the University of London in 1937.[3]
Anthopologist and Ethnographer[edit]
In 1900, Hildburgh set off for the Far East, visiting Japan, China and India. This was followed in the next few years by three further visits to the same area, including a lengthy stay in Ceylon, and then travels in the Middle East and Europe.[4] He presented papers on customs and beliefs to the various learned societies he belonged to in London. Nature reported for its readers on his paper for the Royal Anthropological Institute on Sinhalese magic [5], and the Times was among many newspapers reporting on his japan xxx
Private life[edit]
On 19 December 1928, Hildburgh married Agnes Muir Stewart in a Church of Scotland ceremony at St Columba's Church.[6] He was 52, Agnes 46. Agnes formally returned to her maiden name in 1937.[7]
News of his death was announced on the BBC on 25th November 1955.[8]
Skating[edit]
When an old friend got back in touch with Hildburgh just before he died, she asked two questions in her letter - "Do you skate still? And are you still collecting?".[9] Hildburgh took up figure skating seriously relatively late in life, passing the National Skating Association "gold" level tests aged nearly 40 - after multiple attempts. Before the First World War he was a well known figure in winter sports at St Moritz and Engelberg, and known at the Duchess of Bedford's Princes Skating Club as "The Egg", because of his lack of hair and dome shaped head.[10]
In 1931 he was the United States judge at the ladies event in World Figure Skating Championship in Berlin.
Relationship with the Victoria & Albert Museum[edit]
Hildburgh became involved with the Victoria & Albert Museum "on the rebound" - he had given some ironwork to a minor New York museum and was appalled to find when visiting a couple of years later that his gift had been sold.[11] The Keeper of the Metalwork Department, HP Mitchell is credited with interesting him in applying his collecting passion - and resources - to filling gaps in the museum's collections. Including collections bequeathed in his will he eventually donated over 5,000 objects, mostly to the Metalwork and Sculpture departments.[12] In particular, the collections of English eighteenth century sculpture and of Spanish metalwork were formed largely from his purchases.[13]
For many years he had the endearing habit of giving the museum presents - either single or large groups of items - at Christmas time and on his own birthday.[14] To celebrate his seventieth in 1946, he formally handed over nearly 300 English alabaster reliefs or "tables", and they were shown in a special exhibition later that year. [15]
It's poignant to see the "customary New Year gift"[16] replaced at the top of the accessions list in 1958 by his memorial tablet - but pleasing to see more recent purchases made with the aid of the funds in his bequest keeping up the tradition.
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| Museum number | Title |
|---|---|
| A.1-1951 | Hercules and Antaeus : A late fifteenth century or early sixteenth-century Italian (Manutan) bronze by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, called Antico |
| M.1-1953 | Bearing the Augsburg mark: An ebony and silver parcel-gilt late sixteenth-century German shrine made by Georg Hollthaler (d.1593) |
| A.1-1935 | Time with Opportunity and Penitence: An early eighteenth-century English ivory carving by David Le Marchand (1674-1726) |
| A.2-1948 | Fear: One of the pair of superb eighteenth-century South German boxwood carving given to the Museum by Dr Hildburgh in 1948 |
| M.500-1956 | An Outstanding Spanish piece of about 1400: A silver parcel-gilt processional cross formerly enriched with enamels and bearing the Barcelona mark |
| A.1-1948 | Courage: The second of the pair of South German boxwood carvings in the Hilburgh Memorial Exhibition |
| A.16-1942 | Sir George Savile: A marble bust by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823), signed and dated 1784. Dr Hildburgh presented numerous portrait busts and terracotta sketch-models |
| M.497-1956 | With a coat-of-arms in cloisonné enamel: A Spanish silver parcel-gilt basin of around 1520 which was formerly in the Rothschild collection |
| A.164-1946 | Among the magnificent collection of English alabasters which Dr. Hildburgh presented to the museum on his seventieth birthday in 1946: St Johns Head - a fifteenth century relief |
| Museum number | Title | Object type |
|---|---|---|
| A.1-1925 | Hand from a statue | Egyptian Porphyry |
| A.1-1929 | Lady Rebecca Atkins (d. 1711) | Terracotta Model |
| A.1-1932 | Donatello Virgin and Child | Stucco Relief |
| A.1-1934 | Adam and Eve | Boxwood Statuette |
| A.1-1935 | Time and Opportunity | Ivory Statuette |
| A.1-1936 | Thomas Guy | Ivory Relief |
| A.1-1937 | The Virgin and Child | Limewood Relief |
| A.1-1938 | Sir Isaac Newton | Terracotta Model |
| A.1-1939 | Body of a figure, possibly emperor or the god Serapis | Egyptian Porphyry |
| A.1-1940 | Two cherubs wih trophies | Terracotta Statuette |
| A.1:1-1941 | The Deposition | Gilded stucco relief on slate |
| A.1-1942 | Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham | Marble Bust |
| A.1-1943 | Pax | Carved Rock Crystal |
| A.1-1944 | Female Head | Marble Bust |
| A.1:1-1945 | The Hon. Charles James Fox | Marble Bust |
| A.1-1947 | Lord Chief Justice Robert Raymond | Marble Bust |
| A.1-1948 | Figure of Courage | Boxwood Statuette |
| A.1-1949 | Vertumnus and Pomona | Marble Statue Group |
| A.1-1950 | Altar | Amber and ivory on a wooden carcase |
| A.1-1951 | Hercules and Antaeus | Boxwood Statuette |
| A.1-1952 | Trinity with the Virgin and St John and symbols of the four Evangelists | English Alabaster |
| A.1-1953 | Abraham and Isaac | Ivory Group |
| A.1-1954 | Thomas Wentworth, 3rd Earl Strafford | Terracotta Statuette |
| A.1-1955 | The Harrowing of Hell | English Alabaster |
| A.1-1958 | Memorial tablet to Dr W. L. Hildburgh FSA (1876-1955) | Tablet |
| A.1-1960 | Florentine Boar | Bronze Statuette |
| A.1-1963 | The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni Feeding the Pilgrims | Wax relief |
| A.1-1969 | Victory or Fame from the monument to Admiral Vernon | Terracotta Statuette |
| A.1-2010 | The Sunday Christ | English Alabaster |
| A.1-2013 | Lady Elizabeth Finch | Marble Bust |
Notes and References[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ "Dr Hildburgh and the English Alabaster" Catherine Oakes Journal of the History of Collections, Vol 18 no 1 2006 pp71-83
- ^ "On the production of asymmetrical alternating currents by means of electrolytic polarisation" submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Columbia University 1900 The School of Mines Quaterly Vol XXI No 4 pp358-382 downloaded from https://archive.org/details/schoolminesquar01chemgoog/page/n397 and Vol XXII No 1 pp1-16 downloaded from https://archive.org/details/schoolminesquar74chemgoog/page/n12
- ^ V&A Archive Research Guide Donors, collectors and dealers associated with the Museum and the history of its collections p.46 downloaded from https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/05/02/14/01/30/203468f3-777f-48b1-8b7e-13551dc47462/Donors_collectors_research_guide.pdf
- ^ Times obituary
- ^ "50 & 100 years ago" Nature volume 456, page 452 (27 November 2008) https://doi.org/10.1038/456452a
- ^ "Marriages" The Times (London, England), Thursday, Dec 20, 1928; pg. 1; Issue 45081
- ^ London Gazette 5th March 1937 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34377/page/1544
- ^ Obituaries - Folk-lore, p.50
- ^ Oakes p.80
- ^ "Dr Walter Hildburgh - A correspondent writes" The Times, Saturday, December 3, 1955, Issue 53394, p.9
- ^ "The Victoria and Albert Museum The Making of the Collection" Anna Somers Cocks 1980 p.36
- ^ V&A Archive Research Guide Donors, collectors and dealers associated with the Museum and the history of its collections p.46 downloaded from https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/05/02/14/01/30/203468f3-777f-48b1-8b7e-13551dc47462/Donors_collectors_research_guide.pdf
- ^ "The Victoria & Albert Museum" Michael Darby, Anthony Burton, Susan Haskins and John Ayers, 1983. Scala/Philip Wilson in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum
- ^ V&A website "Object note for Double salt cellar and caster http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93311/double-salt-cellar-unknown/
- ^ "A Magnificent Gift to the Nation: The Hildburgh Alabaster Collection Now Exhibited at South Kensington" Illustrated London News, Saturday, October 19, 1946; pg. 446; Issue 5609
- ^ http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127111/statue-group-delvaux-laurent/
- ^ The Hildburgh Memorial Exhibition. Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, February 08, 1958; pg. 237; Issue 6192.
- ^ Advanced Search at http://collections.vam.ac.uk
References[edit]
- Oakes, Catherine "Dr Hildburgh and the English Alabaster" Journal of the History of Collections, Vol 18 no 1 2006 pp 71-83
- V&A Archive Research Guide "Donors, collectors and dealers associated with the Museum and the history of its collections" p.46 downloaded from https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/05/02/14/01/30/203468f3-777f-48b1-8b7e-13551dc47462/Donors_collectors_research_guide.pdf
- Wellcome Historical Medical Museum - Collection Dossiers - WL Hildburgh downloaded from https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b18328106