Ffeil NLW MS 12583A. - Note-book of R. G. Vivian,

A note-book bearing on the fly-leaf the inscription 'R. G. Vivian, London, 6 August 1886' [Richard Glynn Vivian, founder of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea]. The contents consist of miscellaneous memoranda, and a record of expenditure in London and on the continent (Bayreuth, Brussells, Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Liege, Munich, Nuremberg, Paris, Vienna, etc.), 1887-1890. Items of expenditure recorded include travelling expenses, hotel bills, daily disbursements, and sums expended on the purchase of china, enamels, miniatures, paintings and prints, and other art objects. The following are a few of the purchases recorded - a pencil miniature of a lady of the family of the 4th duke of Richmond, by John Comerford, date 1827; a sketch, oil on panels, of two women embracing, by Annibal Carracci; miniatures of Mrs. Siddons and Mrs. Berry, in gold lockets with pearl borders, by R[ichard] Cosway ; a picture of 'The Cathedral Church of S. Nicholas, Newcastle on Tyne', by T[homas] M[iles] Richardson, senior; a framed oil painting 'Foxgloves', by John Constable; 'A Study of Clouds in colours', 9 July 1819, by John Constable; miniatures by Sir W[ illia]m John Newton, including those of Lady Adela Ibbetson, Prince Esterhazy, John Opie, R.A., and the Countess of Oxford, etc. The entries recording the purchase of miniatures, etc., are very often illustrated with pen-and-ink, thumbnail sketches of the object purchased. Many of the items whose purchase is recorded in the present note-book, are now in the Glynn Vivian Gallery at Swansea.