Sir Abraham Hume as Collector and Writer

Francis Haskell recognised Abraham Hume as one of the most discerning collectors in England at the time of the exhibition of the Orléans collection in London in 1798-1799. His amateur interests included the collecting of minerals and precious stones but above all paintings of Italian and Flemish Old Masters. This paper will focus on one of the enduring characteristics of Hume’s activity as collector: his passion for Titian, quite unique in the context of the English art collecting between the end of XVIII century and the beginning of XIX century. Among the 21 pictures attributed to the Venetian master bought by Hume, only the Death of Actaeon (London, National Gallery) was actually an autograph. But more important, is the evolution of Hume’s special interest in Titian, that later prompted him to write the first monograph on the painter in English, published in 1829. In the present paper attention will be focused on the analysis of Hume’s changing attitude to Vecellio and on defining the critical approach that underlies his monograph