Sheepshanks Gift

The Sheepshanks Gift was a major donation of artworks by the British art collector John Sheepshanks in 1857. It formed the basis of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington.^[1]

The Yorkshire-born Sheepshanks had made a fortune as a cloth manufacturer. He was a leading collector of contemporary British art of the late Regency and early Victorian era. He frequently purchased notable paintings at the Royal Academy's annual Summer Exhibition and at the rival British Institution. He amassed works by leading artists such as John Constable, J.M.W. Turner, Clarkson Stanfield, David Roberts, William Mulready, Charles Robert Leslie, and Edwin Landseer. Stylistically, his collection was dominated by the Romantic movement.

The National Gallery in London had been established in 1824 but initially only featured one work by a living British artist David Wilkie's The Village Holiday which was dominated by Old Masters. ^[2] The newer Victoria and Albert Museum was constructed in South Kensington based on the profits of the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. Sheepshanks' gift to the nation was allocated to the newer establishment.he set a number of conditions, particularly that his paintings should be that "the public, and especially the working classes, should have the advantage of seeing the collection on Sunday afternoons". The donation included 336 paintings, drawing and sketches. It was housed in a suite of three rooms specially constructed to showcase the collection. ^[3]