- Dianne Sachko Macleod
Extract
(b Alston, Cumb., Nov 25, 1820; d Gateshead, Co. Durham, Aug 9, 1895).
English businessman, collector and patron. He was a self-made man who became an important patron in the Victorian period, distinguished by his early appreciation of Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic Movement painters. He began working for a lead-manufacturing firm in Newcastle at the age of 15 and studied chemistry and metallurgy in his spare time. He became managing director of the firm, earning enough money to form a significant collection of modern paintings.
Leathart initially collected works of the English landscape school by such artists as David Cox and John Varley. He later sold many of these in order to purchase works by the Pre-Raphaelites. When he first began to collect he sometimes relied on the advice of the dealer Thomas Agnew. Later on he usually purchased or commissioned works, such as the replica of Ford Madox Brown’s Work (1863; Birmingham, Mus. & A.G.), directly from the artists he befriended. He also consulted the painter ...
