Bendor Grosvenor

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Bendor Grosvenor
Bendor Grosvenor.jpg
Grosvenor in 2012
Born
Bendor Gerard Robert Grosvenor

(1977-11-27) 27 November 1977 (age 47)
NationalityBritish and Swiss
Education Harrow School
Alma mater University of East Anglia
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Occupations
SpouseIshbel Hall
Children1 daughter and 2 step-sons
Website arthistorynews.com

Bendor Gerard Robert Grosvenor (born 27 November 1977) is a British art historian, writer and former art dealer. He is known for discovering a number of important lost artworks by Old Master artists, including Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Lorrain and Peter Brueghel the Younger. [1] As a dealer, he specialised in Old Masters, with a particular interest in Anthony van Dyck.

Contents

Early life and education

Grosvenor was born on 27 November 1977 in London, England. His parents are The Honourable Richard Alexander Grosvenor and Gabriella Speckert.

The name Bendor is derived from the Grosvenor family's medieval heraldic shield, a bend or, a golden bend (diagonal stripe), which they used until 1389, when it was ruled (in the case of Scrope v Grosvenor ) that the Scrope family had a better claim to it. Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster (1879–1953), was nicknamed "Bendor".

Grosvenor is a grandson of Robert Grosvenor, 5th Baron Ebury, [2] and a fifth cousin of Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster. [3] He is also of Swiss and Dutch heritage. [4] His father's eldest half-brother is Francis Grosvenor, 8th Earl of Wilton. [5]

Grosvenor was educated at Harrow School before attending the University of East Anglia for his BA. He then received an MPhil from Pembroke College, Cambridge, and a PhD from the University of East Anglia. [6] His PhD thesis was entitled The Politics of Foreign Policy: Lord Derby and the Eastern Crisis, 1875–8. [7]

Career

Before becoming an art historian, Grosvenor worked in politics as an adviser, first to the Labour MP Tony Banks (later Lord Stratford) and then to the Conservative MP Hugo Swire (now Lord Swire).

His first major art discovery was a mis-catalogued portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence being sold at a London auction in 2003 as a work by Lawrence's pupil George Henry Harlow. [8] From 2005 until 2014, he worked for Philip Mould Ltd, [7] where he made a number of significant art historical discoveries, including lost works by artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Anthony van Dyck, on whom he is an acknowledged specialist. [7]

From 2011 to 2016, he carried out specialist research for, and appeared in, the BBC1 art programme Fake or Fortune? [9] From 2016 to 2022, he co-presented the BBC4 series Britain's Lost Masterpieces with Jacky Klein (series 1) and Emma Dabiri (series 2–5). [10] [11]

Simon Gillespie working on the portrait of George Villiers in 2017, with Grosvenor in the background Simon Gillespie at work.jpg
Simon Gillespie working on the portrait of George Villiers in 2017, with Grosvenor in the background

In 2016, he sold a newly identified portrait by Joan Carlile, the first professional British female artist, to the Tate gallery. [12] In 2017, he discovered the "lost portrait" of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, at Pollok House in Glasgow, Scotland. The painting was thought to be a copy of a portrait by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens that had been lost for nearly 400 years, but after restoration, it was found to be the original by Rubens. [13]

Grosvenor has been a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, and the Lord Chancellor's Forum for Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research. [14] He also works as a journalist and writer, and presents programmes for BBC2's The Culture Show .

During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–21, he and his wife Ishbel investigated the route of the Roman road known as Dere Street through Lauderdale in the Scottish Borders. [15]

Grosvenor was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as an adult, and he has advocated for improved accessibility at museums. [16]

Jacobite portraiture

Grosvenor has made a special study of Jacobite portraiture. In 2009, he proved that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's iconic portrait of Charles Edward Stuart by Maurice Quentin de La Tour was in fact a portrait of Charles' brother Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York. [17]

In 2013, he discovered the lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart by Scottish artist Allan Ramsay at Gosford House, the home of the Earl of Wemyss near Edinburgh. [18] This portrait is now on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and it has taken the place of the La Tour pastel as the definitive portrait of Charles. [19]

Grosvenor is a second cousin nine times removed to both Jacobite Princes, since he is a descendant of King Charles II and Louise de Kérouaille. Specifically, Bendor's great-grandfather was John Yarde-Buller, 3rd Baron Churston, a descendant of Charles and Henry's male-line second cousin Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond.

Marriage and children

In 2015, he married Ishbel Hall ( née  MacDonald). [6] He has one daughter and two step-sons.

Publications

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Brueghels Return to the Fold". The Times . Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "My theatrical clash with the copyright commissars". The Conservative Woman. 29 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "The 'fake aristo'? - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor". www.arthistorynews.com.
  4. ↑ "Dr Bendor Grosvenor – Old Masters expert and television presenter". 31 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Mosley, Charles (editor). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Volume 3, page 4208.
  6. 1 2 "Grosvenor, Dr Bendor Gerard Robert, (born 27 Nov. 1977), art historian; writer". Who's Who & Who Was Who. 2017. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U289038. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "Bendor Grosvenor". Philip Mould & Company. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Bendor Grosvenor". Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Fake or Fortune?". BBC One. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Britain's Lost Masterpieces". BBC One. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Arthistorynews". Twitter. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  12. ↑ Sawer, Patrick (21 September 2016). "Typical!". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  13. ↑ Slawson, Nicola (24 September 2017). "Lost Rubens portrait of James I's 'lover' is rediscovered in Glasgow". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  14. ↑ "Bendor Grosvenor -". CODART.
  15. ↑ Montgomery, Alan (2025), The Road to Mons Graupius: A Journey through Roman Scotland, Tippermuir Books Ltd., Perth, pp. 67–72, ISBN   9781913836429
  16. ↑ Grosvenor, Bendor (3 March 2021). "'Autism made me an art historian. But museums must do more to welcome disabled and neurodiverse communities'". The Art Newspaper .
  17. ↑ "Gallery admits portrait isn't Bonnie Prince Charlie". The Scotsman. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Lost Bonnie Prince Charlie portrait found in Scotland". BBC News. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  19. ↑ "Historic lost portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie secured by the National Portrait Gallery". The Herald. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
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