Tour of a German Artist in England: With Notices of Private Galleries, and Remarks on the State of Art

The German artist Johann David Passavant (1787-1861) visited Britain in 1831 in order to examine works by Raphael in private and public galleries for a book he was preparing. He had not been able to find any helpful German accounts of British collections, and so decided to publish a narrative of his own travels and observations. The British writer and art critic Elizabeth Rigby (later Lady Eastlake) produced a two-volume translation in 1836, believing that English readers would benefit from Passavant’s descriptions of little-known collections in their own country, as well as from his practitioner’s response to the works themselves. Volume 2 begins with the duke of Marlborough’s collection at Blenheim, and continues to cover Chatsworth, Althorpe, Holkham, and other ‘country seats’, finishing in Cambridge. Passavant also provides a catalogue of drawings at Buckingham Palace, a list of the pictures discussed, and an overview of collections not visited.