Grosvenor Gallery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Grosvenor Gallery is an art gallery founded in London in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay.

The Grosvenor was a rival to the Royal Academy, and displayed work by artists outside of the British mainstream, including Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane.

In 1878, John Ruskin visited the gallery to see work by Burne-Jones. An exhibition of paintings by James McNeill Whistler was also on display. Ruskin's savage review of Whistler's work led to a famous libel case, brought by the artist against the critic. Whistler won a farthing in damages.

The case made the gallery famous as the home of the Aesthetic movement, which was satirised in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, with its oft-quoted line "greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery".

The break-up of his marriage, financial constraints and personal conflicts forced Sir Coutts out of the gallery, which was taken over by his estranged wife.